The Beauty of Life

There is more to life than the useful...(I thought about this while I was making this little dyed piece of fabric you see here.)

Thanks to Mary Anne, an online friend, who led me to Paula Hewitt's blog, I was reminded of something that I sometimes forget.

"You may clear from the surface of the land every plant that is not edible. You may fell every tree that does not serve for telegraph pole or pit wood. You may tabulate the food-productive qualities for the whole earth, and serve it out in a blue-book as literature for the people. You may manufacture electricity, till there is no longer any night, and the mysteries of twilight and the moonlight and the starlight are lost to us forever. You may destroy the birds, till there isn’t one glad song left in the caterpillar-riddled orchards and gardens. You may harness the rivers and streams for mechanical purposes, and drown the voices of the weir in a whirr of wheels, till there isn’t an ounce of energy flowing to waste throughout the length and breadth of the country. You may turn all nature into a huge commercial enterprise that is last word in economics and efficient organisation.
and what is the result? Machines in place of souls! Though this may seem but a parable, to some the reading will be clear: where there is no vision, the people perish.”

The Cottage and the Flower patch: the Best of Flora Klickman. Compiled by Brian Kingslake

Mesquite Bean Jelly

The mesquite bean jelly turned out great! It has such a pretty natural color to it. I made 4 pints plus a bit more for my first batch and still have lots of juice to make more tomorrow. The little bit I had extra, over the 4 pints, my DH and I ate with biscuits and butter. It was soooo good!

I went outside after lunch today and picked up about a sack full of choice mesquite beans. I will boil them up tomorrow to make more juice. The juice will keep for awhile and I can make more jelly later on.

Cicada Haiku

Dog Day Cicada
Popping their tympals for love
Serenading us
--Yvonne Quarles

Fried Squash Blossoms

Well, I've been out in the garden early this morning, while it is still a cool 81 degrees. Believe me it WILL get hotter today. But the heat doesn't seem to affect my squash, as we are still getting plenty for us to eat fresh. In addition to eating the squash we like to eat the blossoms. I picked the blossoms this morning, and the bees were flying everywhere. Bees are a good thing.

Here is the recipe I use.

Fried Squash Blossoms

Pick your blossoms in the morning

Wash and pull out the green stamens from the center

Soak in water and check for little critters hiding anywhere (today I found a ladybug and took her back outside)

Shake dry but leave the blossoms a bit moist

2 shrimp, minced, per blossom

1 clove ,minced

dash salt, dash sugar

Stuff blossom with mixture.

Heat oil to medium and after dusting lightly with flour add blossoms to oil

(They will close up in the heated oil)

When shrimp is pink they are done, about 3 minutes

Drain and serve right away.

You can also saute them in olive oil with some minced garlic. Pick them with the tiny squash still attached... and serve with rice and a fish sauce.

Recently I found another good way to fix them...Stuff them with ricotta and basil (1 T cheese and 1-2 chopped basil leaves per blossom) and dust with flour and fry up. Serve on angel hair pasta with a good tomato based sauce.

Oh yes...they are also great in omelets...just leave them whole and put them insde your egg omelet.

Ummmmmm Good !