Pussy Willow Wreath

So while it snowed, and it was too cold to go outside, I made a couple of pussy willow wreaths.

 This is my favorite.

A little ragged and blousy looking.

If perfect, it wouldn't fit with the rest of the "decor".

As I was making wreaths, 

Jackson was "lab"oring (such a bad pun) 

under the misconception that I had brought sticks into the house for him to chew.  

He would pull a branch from the box and then strip it of the catkins.  

I swear he was chuckling as he did it. 

Fortunately, lots of pussy willows, so no harm done.

Any other ideas what to do with armloads of pussy willows?

Snow is not a sign of spring

Bluebirds are a sign of spring, which began on Tuesday.

Right?

Pussywillows are a sign of spring, which began on Tuesday.

Right?

Bluebirds huddled in a snowy tree.  Not a sign of spring.

It just seems wrong!

I went out and emptied the bluebird box of last year's nest, so the bluebirds would have a clean place to start building this year's nest.  Now I feel bad.  It must have been really cold for them last night without the additional nest padding.  I'll go out to the barn and get some hay for them to cuddle into tonight.

 Strawberries and rhubarb are sitting in the garage waiting to be planted, but it snowed all day yesterday and then this morning again, so that won't be happening for awhile.

The snow is beautiful. But I want it to go away!  

Let's get on with spring.

Blackberry Ketchup

A recipe that I promised to share with several folks.  Around here blackberries are everywhere in the fall, so it seems to make sense to do something with them.  We can only use so much jam and jelly.  Last fall I discovered blackberry ketchup. Use it like tomato ketchup....on burgers, french fries, yummy with salmon and pork.  


This recipe is based on the number of cups of blackberry puree you have rather than the number of cups of blackberries, so I hope it makes sense. It is a combination of several recipes that I found.


Puree blackberries through a food mill using the smallest holes. I heat the berries up first with a little water so they won't stick and then run them through the mill.  This will get rid of most of the pesky seeds.


The recipe is based on two cups of puree.  So if you have 4 cups, double the recipe, 6 cups, well you do the math.


2 cups of puree
1/3 c vinegar
1/3 c brown sugar
1/3 -1/2 tsp cloves, ginger, salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1 Tblsp butter
1/8 - 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper


Optional: a tsp of lemon, lime, or orange zest.


In a saucepan over medium high heat, bring all ingredients to a boil, simmer until thickened to your liking.  For me that's about 20 minutes.  It will still look pretty thin, but will thicken when it cools down.


Store in the fridge.  Or it could be canned in a hot water bath.


The ketchup gets better after the flavors have had time to hang out with each other for awhile.  In fact, the cayenne pepper may give it a lot of heat initially, but then it mellows out in a few days.


There is nothing magical about the amounts.  The original recipe called for about double the amount of sugar, so do some taste testing and vary it according to your own likes and dislikes.


If you froze blackberries last fall, and are now wondering what you were thinking, give this a try.

Teach us delight....

Teach us delight in simple things.

Rudyard Kipling

We woke up to more snow this morning.