Plum crazy...

Mom and Dad planted this Brooks Plum tree in the back yard about 27 years ago, I think. Brooks make the best dried prunes you ever chewed on - like candy!

At this stage, they are ALMOST ripe. A few are getting to the characteristic purpley-blue-black that means...

... the coons will be arriving soon. We aren't the only ones who adore these morsals from heaven. This is the first year in a long long time that the 2-strand electric wire fence, just 15 or so inches high (optimum for coon-zapping) has been put up as the plums reach this point. We were willing to share. This time.

But those little bandits had to go and squeal to the resident deer tribe. The plums the coons knocked off were scarfed up by the twins, the mamas and the one papa lurking about. One morning I caught one mama helping herself right off the tree. Shameless.

We were generous, though. And managed to get our share, too. Those plums are the BEST. They are European plums, not Asian. The Asian plums have that bitter skin, even though the flesh and juice may be sweet. The European plum family are sweet and fleshy, top to bottom, inside and out, through and through! Dark purple skin with golden flesh. Gorgeous.

And free-stone, to boot! The pit just drops out when you cut the plum down the crease. I like to simply pull them apart at the crease, saves time packing a knife when I'm working in the garden. Dessert was never so easy!

While we love them best fresh, a lot of them made it into canning jars over the years. Last year, I froze halves on cookie sheets then dumped them into quart freezer bags. They are tasty with only about 5 minutes of defrosting, nice and icey and sweet.

Usually, besides the coon raids, we lose a good deal of the crop to rain (cracks the skins on the ripe ones, then mold sets in), or nasty hornets start gnawing on them, letting rot start. The tree has had problems with some diseases off and on, but has never been sprayed and manages to keep pumping out those superb plums.

Last spring we had the Master Gardener class come prune the tree. Mom was afraid we'd lost the crop for the year. But nope, it gave us gobs of plums. This year there were even more. The tree is the healthiest I've seen it, and the plums are huge and clear of any disease. So we could afford to share.

Actuallly, we had no idea that tree produced so MANY plums. After foiling the coons each year, we could never get those highest ones picked, and the birds helped themselves, too. So we were never sure just what the yield could be. But this month, the pits were the only thing left behind as the nightly raiders ate their fill. Every morning we had a nice crop of pits all over the ground, as the plums ripened and were scarfed down. Now the tree is bare, and there are some mighty spoiled coons and deer out there. Hope they enjoyed it, 'cuz we may not be so generous next year...

And I wish I had a nickle for every pit I've picked up off the ground each day the past couple of weeks. Enough for a plane ticket to Arizona, betcha!

Ode to Blueberries

Remember those blueberries I traded for? Well here they are in one of their best forms - SCONES!!

The recipe is currently in the side bar.

After some looking at about 1,327 scone recipes, I settled on this one. It just barely edged out the Oatmeal Blueberry Scone recipe. But Ina Garten, Barefoot Contessa, has always come through for me, and this time was no exception. A simple, elegant, delicious scone, perfect texture and moistness. Doncha just cringe at dry scones?

One of the many delicious things about really great scones, you can put most any fruit into a good basic recipe. Hmm - that reminds me - there are still a few of those monster Gravenstein apples left. Oatmeal Cinnamon Apple scones, anyone? I think I can smell them now...

Venison on the hoof

The photo isn't up to my sister's standard, but considering it was through the kitchen window (with Birdie trying to leap out), and pouring rain, I figured it was worth a try.

We may live in the middle of our small coast community, but we have to share the space with local wildlife. Quite a variety manage to traipse through the yard at one time of year or another. The ones who think they OWN the place are the resident deer.

Every June we can count on a doe or two showing up with one or two fawns. This year it was both. Plus a buck who had obviously been raised in town, and a couple more single doe, and some yearlings from last year. The past two weeks or so, the yard flowers, plum tree, and garden greens have attracted a lot of attention from them.

A couple nights ago they got me involved in a middle-of-the-night adventure (in the rain), rescuing one of the fawns who had managed to get stuck in the garden area and was bleating like crazy right under my window. Sounded like a broken squeaky toy. His mama needs to teach him that's a two-way fence, 'cuz I'm not getting up 3:15 a.m. and slogging out for anymore gate opening exercises.

So this afternoon, it was no surprise to look in the backyard and see our lovely three-point buck, who has recently shed the velvet from his antlers, bedded down for the rainy afternoon under the maple tree outside the dining room window. About 30 feet away, the mama and twins from this year were also snoozing away the wet afternoon.

Wet grass doesn't mean a thing to them. Their hollow guard hair and thick undercoat is perfect rain gear and insulation. True Oregon coast weather-proofing!

I did mention out the window, that hunting season was just around the calendar corner...if they are smart, they'll stay in town. After all, what do the woods have to offer that we don't have right here in our back yard? With fresh strawberries on top.

A picture is worth...

...all the schemes and plans and construction and watering and fertilizing and praying.

A vine ripe tomato. Wow.

Not impressed? If you lived on the Oregon coast, you would be...

It's all in the crust...

An old dog CAN be taught new tricks - even from their kids! Or maybe that should be ESPECIALLY from their kids ... thinking on all the computer lessons I've had over the phone.

Anyway; far far away and long ago, before she was married, Carrie attended a Young Single Adult activity in Silverdale, where the gals were taught how to make THE PERFECT NEVER-FAIL PIE CRUST. When she came home for a visit and made us a pie, I just about swooned! It WAS perfect! And perfectly easy. I've never looked back, it has been committed to memory from use over lo these many years. Here's an example:

I like to brush the top crust with milk, then sprinkle with sugar, sometimes adding a dash of cinnamon for pzazz. Notice the flakey layers in the cut-out?

Love the sparkle! It makes for a super crispy top layer on all those flakey layers - the crunch is soooo enticing as you cut in with the fork.

One of the blessings of having gardener friends is that we trade and barter produce and fruit as the crops come on. Recently a friend gave me some rhubarb, of which we have none at this time, after I had presented her with a loaf of that scrumptious Pineapple Zucchini bread/cake. Then I took some of our beautiful Brooks Plums (had to arm wrestle the coons for them) to another gardener friend, and in turn she invited me to pick the last of the blueberries on her lovely high-bush plants. So I went home with a quart of blueberries, after leaving her a small bowlful - we try not be be complete hogs when it comes to fresh-off-the-bush berries.

Well there wasn't quite enough rhubarb for a pie; but my sister had recently delivered a box of stunningly huge Gravenstein apples (the apple by which all others must be measured, in our opinion). So.....

Peek-a-boo....what are you hiding?

Rhubarb Apple filling, that's what! The sweetness of the apples let me add the minimal amount of sweetener to the rhubarb, a nice trade off. And get a look at that flakey crust again!

Our resident pie-tester (mom), was more than ready to taste-test this beauty.
Dare I say it again? The CRUST, folks, the CRUST!

But doesnt' it look just a teensy bit naked? When you live in Tillamook country, it's sacriligious to serve pie without icecream! So out to the freezer where the Vanilla Bean Ice Cream lives.

With a drizzle of the buttery sauce from the pie pan, here's the final presentation to the jury.

Verdict?

DELICIOUS!! Each bite was drenched in cinnamony apple-and-cream flavor, with pieces of tangy rhubarb hitting the sides of the tongue like sparklers.

And the crust was ... PERFECT!!

Magic Zuchinni

Yep, it's that time of garden again...zuchinni trying to take over the world, one bush at at time. I've tried a lot of innovative recipes over the years, everything from zuchinni jam and pickles to face mask (NOT a pretty sight).

I've decided, through trial and error (there have been a few...), that it's best to not try to disguise the green bats, but to use them as they are meant - vegetables.

This is one of my favorite ways to 1) use a not-too-large zuchinni and 2) use up left-overs.

I slice the zuc length-wise, scoop out whatever seeds (there won't be many, very small cavity at this stage), and make a long "well" down the middle. Then I nuke the two halves for one minute, maybe a little more, until they are medium soft when lightly prodded with a fork. Do NOT punch all the way through (go ahead, ask me why I know this important fact).

NOTE: if you DO have a large zuchinni, (and you know the one I'm talking about - it was well-disguised under that big leaf), do the same cut-and-scoop process but put it on a baking sheet instead of nuking it (it won't fit in the microwave, doncha know), cover it with foil, and bake it at 350 degrees for maybe 15 min. or so, or until the fork test works. This one is for when you will be feeding a crowd, or at least the whole family!

Then I drain the "juice" that has formed in the bottoms (that's actually one of zuchinni's better characteristics - they are moist), put them in an oven-proof dish, and rummage in the frig for what can go in the hole.

This time it was a cup of left-over rice-onion-hamburger mixture. Fill the hole heaping, then throw on a few slices of cheese, bake uncovered at 350 degrees until the cheese starts to bubble, and wah-la! You'll like it, honest. And don't be afraid to try different "stuffings". In fact, left-over stuffing works great, too! As long as what goes in is already cooked, this is a FAST all-in-one meal!

Mom really liked it. But she likes Pineapple Zuchinni Bread even better. I take that back. What she likes better is "spice cake with pineapple and grated zuchinni added". It's a mystery to me how it ever got to be labeled "bread". I guess the zuchinni puts it in the realm of "healthy food" - just like "carrot" bread. Ha. But it IS tasty...and I cut the sugar waaaaaaay back...and use olive oil....

Like I said - stick to the veggie version, it's a lot healthier.

Blackberries - kissing summer goodbye

We are so blessed to live where the blackberry vines are prolific (to the point of being labled as "invasive" - silly people), verdantly healthy, and easy to find in our own backyard.

As kids, we were able to earn pocket money, and sometimes more, by picking the wild berries by the bucket and dishpan, hauling them down to our little local grocery store, where they were weighed, put in large flats, and hauled out to the Willamette Valley canneries.

Only the brave could get those big, juicy top berries. It involved either a plank (filched from dad's scaffolding pile), or a ladder. We would haul them up to the edge of the blackberry patch, stand them on end and then let them fall into the vines. THEN - then the kid with the most guts and determination "walked the plank" out through those grasping thorns to reach the jewels at the tippy tops of the long vines. Berries are always best just out of your reach, doncha know?!

Besides money, the other wealth from the blackberries was the scrumptious pies mom made. There is not a lot better than slightly warm blackberry pie, with a scoop of Tillamook Vanilla Icecream floating on top! World Peace, coming right up.

Last week we had 8 nieces and nephews show up on our doorstep; they were camping at Bar View and came by to pick just a couple cups of blackberries to add to the dutch oven peach cobbler they had on the menu for the evening. 30 minutes later, this was the result of walking along our block. About a gallon and a half of end-of-summer kisses!

Sun-warmed black gold! If you've never had a perfectly ripe, slightly soft, tangy juicy blackberry right off the vine - well, put it on your Bucket List! And bring the bucket...

The only thing that is possibly better than Blackberry Pie - is Blackberry Cobbler! Depends on whether you like thin crispy, sugary crust, or thick buttery, biscuit-y crust! The icecream is a given...

Wanna bite?

PS We joined the gang around the campfire that evening. We had Blackberry Pie AND Peach Blackberry Cobbler. Just call us Oink!