Apricots

 Hanging in the tree yesterday morning. 

Made into Apricot Preserves this morning.  

There is only one tree in this valley which bore apricots.  All others froze, including mine.  

Apricots make my favorite preserves. 

I asked around, even on Facebook. 

Low and behold, only a street away, my good friend M'lisa has an old Apricot tree and it is loaded with apricots.  

It pays to have good friends.  Cherish them as long as you can. 

Gina 

 

So, So many

Apricots 

And so many more left in my tree.

All of my favorite flowers growing in my garden.

Looking like blushing Brides

We like apricot preserves.  

Easy recipe follows.

Recipe

5 cups of cut up apricots

3 cups of sugar

Zest from 2 oranges

orange segments from 2 oranges 

Combine all ingredients

cook for 30 minutes 

bottle into half pint jars

No water or thickener necessary

There are more apricots in my tree.  Come and get some.  

Gina 

http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

A juggling act.

This time of year I keep the jam pot boiling and my artist brushes busy.

It's a juggling act. 

The fruit is ripening and needs attention. 

Red Currants first and then the apricots. 

My owl didn't show up this year.  The marauding birds have become very brazen. 
They have eaten every single cherry from our tree.  

Can't make Kirsch Likör this year. 

Have several commissions for hand painted tiles. 

Have finished some of them. 

Rows and rows of vegetables need to be harvested.

Dilly beans, or what I call cocktail beans,  go into jars next. 

A hundred flower pots have to be watered every single day.

 Pots get moved around to add color where needed. 

Choke cherries need to turn black before I can harvest them. 
  Have to cover the tree with netting to save them from the birds. 

Choke cherries make the finest pancake syrup. 

Weeds are outgrowing the crops.

Must pull a few. 

But there is always time to sit and admire Summer.

Hope your Summer is going well my dear 

Blogging Friends. 

I appreciate each and every one of you.  Thank you for your visit.  

Gina

Is this when I panic?

When my Garden goes into overdrive.

Invert plate over thinly sliced cucumbers and place heavy weight on top of plate.
Let stand for a few hours, pour off liquid,  then season with salt, pepper and a little honey, and chill for a refreshing summer salad.

Beets, Cabbages, Cucumbers and Peppers are ready.

I planted Dill and Fennel on either side of my cabbages to keep the dreaded cabbage worm away. 

It's not working too well.

 Blanch each cabbage leaf for a few minutes to make Cabbage Rolls.

Fill leaves with ground beef and onion mixture.

Saute in a little unsalted butter and olive oil.

Make a flour gravy and pour over cabbage rolls and bake in oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Peppers are ready to be stuffed and put away for winter months.

Blanch for a few minutes to soften skin.

Then stuff with a mixture of ground beef, onions and rice, flavored with home made tomato sauce. Bake in oven for forty minutes at 350 degrees.

Charlie has seen it all before.

Lucy is ever hopeful that a morsel or two will come her way.

 Gene  helped our neighbor by taking the sheep wagon to the high mountains.  Then he had to move the cattle to a new pasture. The new pasture has three territorial bulls on all sides just waiting for a little excitement.  A temporary fence was installed.

 Apricots were waiting for me and made into preserves. 

My reward?

Flowers from my Garden.

Wishing you well

my dear

Blogging Friends.

Gina

j

Something to Share

First, there are the blossoms and then the fruit

A mornings worth of work, that's all

A couple of hours later and it's time to affix the labels. I always use images from my hand painted ceramics

Now I have something special to share with my Family and Friends

Gina