» blueberry FoxRaven Designs

OK. So I have made blueberry preserves twice already this season (the last batch used lemongrass and cardamom for spices, mmmm) and today, what did we do? We found another place to pick berries,at $2.00 a pound. Needless to say, we picked a lot! I am a bit preserved out for the week, so we made an upside-down blueberry cobbler (recipe below) and I am drying the rest of the berries in the deydrator. We began building a solar dryer today, but it’s not quite ready yet — maybe by next weekend!
Also among today’s harvest was three pints of white mulberries from an old tree near our town green behind the bank. A bit weird to look at, but good in a cobbler (hey, when you’re baking, might as well fill the oven, right?) Mulberries are not as sweet as other berries, so generally they need up to twice as much sugar in a recipe.

* UPSIDE-DOWN COBBLER *

2 Cups fruit
1/4 Sugar
6 Tbs Butter, Melted
3/4 Cup Flour
3/4 Cup Milk
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Preferred Spices (optional)
Oatmeal or Granola (optional)

Preheat Oven to 350*F
Pour butter into 8″ pie dish
Mix Flour, Milk, Baking Powder and Salt together, pour batter over butter in pan. Spices, Oatmeal or Granola are all tasty optional additions to the batter.
Mix Fruit and Sugar and pour over batter in pan.
Bake 30-35 minutes.

YUM-EAT!

I’m very disappointed in my pole bean teepee. My plants all grew beans on them (I pulled them off yesterday and put them in a quiche) but they are only 1 foot tall!! We have had a month of nothing but rain, almost no sun, which I believe is the culprit. I am hoping once the sun comes out they will take off — and still produce beans??? They are blue lake pole beans which are supposed to be a”renowned pole bean for its stringless, tender pods. 15 cm long. Early. Nice fresh or for freezing and canning. One of the best. 60-65 days.” HAH! As if. These are closer to three months old. Does anyone have any idea what might have gone wrong other than the weather? Ah well. The fava bean plants are doing better — two feet tall, and full of flowers.

Yesterday I made blueberry preserves — they were on a major sale at the market, 4 pints for $5, so each jar cost around $1.00. These are very easy to make, and take about 1 hour.