it was a berry good weekend (sorry, i couldn't resist)

it is a very good year for strawberries. they came on just in time for sabin's party last weekend and we were able to pick a huge, impressive bowl that day. then we were too busy to pick more than just enough to eat instead of after dinner, until saturday. saturday, i decided i'd do a major picking of the entire bed (whose bright idea was ten rows of 50+ plants each?).

i thought it might take me a couple of hours, but i was wrong. my first bucket was full after moving only one meter (yard) down the first row. i managed to enlist some help from a couple of teenagers, but, as you might imagine, they didn't last that long, tho' admittedly they lasted longer than i thought they would. by the time i entered full-on burnout and decided to just continue the next day, four hours of picking had gone by.

picking strawberries apparently just made the girls hungry and they went off to make waffles to eat with a big bowl of...you guessed it...strawberries. we were going to have fresh honey to go with them as well, but husband checked the hives and decided to wait another week before our first harvest. that was ok, because i had enough to do with picking and cleaning and hulling the berries.

woody was very helpful. he would lie on the best berries, protecting them, i'm sure. the cats were all happy that we were out there, hanging out in the garden and molly and little bear also stopped by to "help."

with so many berries, i was on the lookout for creative ways of using them. we're not big jam eaters around here and tho' i will make some jam, i didn't want to use all of these berries for jam. so with the help of some suggestions on facebook and a bit of browsing around pinterest, i made a couple of 1.5 liter jars of something called a strawberry shrub (just google it, i can't be bothered to hunt down a link and i didn't use one in particular, but combined several). it's a vinegar-based drink that can be mixed with alcohol or just fizzy water - kind of a new (or perhaps ancient) form of tangy cordial. i ended up making one of cider vinegar and another of balsamic, as strawberries and balsamic vinegar make a surprisingly good pair.

i had a 3 liter box of vodka, so i also made three kinds of strawberry-based vodka: one with only strawberries, one with rhubarb and strawberry and a bit of ginger and one with strawberries and elderflower. can't wait to make cocktails using those. it's rather interesting how quickly the vodka begins to strip the color from the berries. when i strain them in a few weeks, i'll have to bake a cake or something with the boozy, but faded berries.

and speaking of berries, it won't be long before the blackcurrants are ready. they're some of my favorites of which to make cordials. we planted a couple more bushes, but they're still small and not producing much yet. but the two larger ones are doing well and we'll get some cordial to hoard away for the winter.

we have loads more redcurrant bushes and they are doing well. the first few berries are starting to get their ruby blush, but it will be a few weeks before they're ready in earnest. they have such high pectin, i always have to be careful that my cordial doesn't turn to jelly!

after a friend told me how dead easy and very delicious elderflower champagne is, i gathered some of the last elderflowers and made a vast vat of it. what's awesome is that you're supposed to forget about it for a week or so and let it start to ferment. turns out i'm pretty good at that. too bad i always threw it away when i did that, rather than realizing it had turned to alcohol and trying it out. silly me, i didn't know! i'll definitely let you know how it turns out.

five and a half hours of picking berries and another four hulling and preparing them over two days resulted in 9 (tho' only 7 are pictured) bottles of cordial, in addition to the vodka and shrubs above. it's a gorgeous, deep red color and is going to make for awesome cocktails.

working in the strawberry beds, i was reminded of why we moved out here to the countryside. picking berries, while time consuming, felt good for my soul. in this hectic, crazy, distracted world we live in, it's nice to do something that just takes the time it takes. i listened to music, but mostly, i enjoyed being in the garden, talking to the cats and picking the bountiful berries, just being in the moment with the task at hand, knowing that come next winter, i'd be glad i did it, as we enjoy the fruits (literally) of my labors. i think it's good for us to do things that result in something tangible, rather than the rather ephemeral labors we engage in on a daily basis at our desks. my berry stained fingers will attest to my labors tomorrow when i'm back in the office. and i will smile as i look down at them on the keyboard, happy from a productive, sweet weekend.

wherein we actually have summer

summer is actually upon us.

that's not always the case in july in denmark.

but we've had an absolutely glorious few days.

the kittens have spent time outside, learning to climb trees and chase frogs.

there's been time for tie-dye projects.

sabin's transforming a brand new pair of white vans into a bright rainbow.

the good bit about our summer is that it's never too hot.

it's actually just right - upper 70s and a nice breeze.

i hate to be one of those bloggers who seems to be bragging about a perfect life.

but it has been pretty perfect for the past couple of days.

what's better than creativity and kittens in the garden?

even my old, faded, scuffed yellow converse got a rainbow facelift.

i can't wait 'til they dry so i can wear them.

rainbows are just so happy and cheerful.

these long summer days stretch out and there's time for everything.

time to wander the treeline separating our property from the neighbor's

and pick a basketful of wild rose petals.

our strawberries are in full production mode.

we picked more yesterday than we've ever picked in one go.

i didn't weigh them, but that's an enormous bowl.

and it was heaped to the top.

a little break during the strawberry picking.

i hadn't put the beers in the fridge, so i just poured it over ice.

that was good too.

a separate bowl of strawberries set aside for dessert.

we're eating strawberries every night right now.

 fresh, fragrant, sprinkled with a bit of sugar and some cream.

i must remember this taste of summer

when the clouds and rain inevitably return.

this is the summer we actually had some summer in denmark.

what a weekend

despite the rain and cold of our sad excuse for a typical danish summer, the strawberries are producing. three buckets we managed to pick today. there were more, but the energy faded before we could pick them all. they'll be there tomorrow as well.  energy was low because we got home around 4 a.m. last night after attending husband's middle child's gymnasium (high school) graduation festivities. on graduation day, the kids got to the ceremony in the morning, then drive around in a decorated and highly dangerous looking open truck, drinking all day long. they visit each student's house, where the parents try to get salty snacks down them and the odd red bull to keep them going as they go back to their beer and cider and odin knows what else on the truck. hmm, i don't seem to remember my high school graduation being that much fun.

i'm also tired because i've probably got a case of borrelia, which you may know as lyme disease. husband removed a tiny tick from the back of my arm a couple of weeks ago and on friday, it felt like my whole body was breaking down. it started with nighttime leg cramps, which hurt so badly they caused me to throw up from the pain. then, i developed a fever and chills felt generally very unwell. this was no fun because i was visiting friends and not at home.

i called my doctor back at home and he recommended that since i wasn't home, i should go to an emergency room. i did and ended up spending the whole day there, getting a battery of blood tests while doctors ruled out a blood clot in my leg (which i feared it was initially). while lying there waiting for the various tests, i read webMD on my phone (i do not recommend doing this) and diagnosed myself with addison's, deep vein thrombosis and type II diabetes. however, i came across a reference to lyme and remembered that tick from a few weeks ago, so it wasn't all bad. i told the doctor about it and she immediately nodded, saying it made sense in light of my symptoms.

i had actually been to my own doctor last monday with a strangely achey, stiff neck and a swollen lymph node but they couldn't find anything then. the blood tests on friday showed that my body was in full swing fighting some kind of infection. i will have to have some more tests with my own doctor this week to have it confirmed, but they started me on the heavy antibiotics recommended for borrelia immediately.

what's worrying is that i've read that borrelia is on the rise - doctors are seeing more and more cases of it. sometimes people realize it very early (like me) and sometimes it takes years. if it takes years, it can cause serious damage to nerves and joints that people never really get over. i'm hoping since my tick bite was only a couple of weeks ago that i'll escape that fate. tho' i got a little freaked out on friday, thinking my body was suddenly failing me, i'm glad it made a commotion over this so i could get treatment.

a berry good monday

when the strawberries first come in earnest, we eat them with a sprinkling of sugar and a splash of cream. there will be time for creativity down the line. sometimes simple is best.

the first

 

red, juicy and perfect. 

the first one. 

plucked.

eaten.

not shared.

but that's ok.

soon there will be more.

what the plants learned at school

today, as you can see, i haven't spent much time here...

that's because the weather has been beyond glorious outside, so i was called out into the garden by birds singing and sabin's cheerful voice and husband asking me exactly where i wanted that new purple rhododendron planted. so i came in the house only to make a big pitcher of fresh lemonade and then to make dinner late in the day. but we ate it outside. and now although it's nearly dark out, we've lit candles all over the garden and will stay out until we can't stay out there anymore. but first, i had to sneak in and share a bit of the gorgeousness with all of you...

in danish, a nursery--as in the kind for plants--is called a planteskole. i love that name, because it makes me think that the plants go there to learn how to behave when they come home to your garden.

and here's a bit of what the plants learned at school...

and then, after dinner, we ate our fill of these...the first of the local strawberries. with sugar and cream.

it would have been a fitting end to a wonderful weekend, but tomorrow's a holiday, so it's not over yet!

note: these photos are just as they came out of the camera. no retouching, no turning up the colors. they've never been near photoshop or lightroom and i didn't even do the little snazzy iPhoto enhance magic wand. nikons are just that good at color.

made my day!!!

thank you blogger!!! please accept these strawberries dipped in chocolate! you totally made my day and prior to this it was a pretty shitty day, but now it's awesome!!!

i wonder if this is because i mentioned sex yesterday?

friday loves

big 2 kilo boxes of strawberries for 50DKK in the grocery store:

dipping said strawberries in white and milk chocolate:

tomato plant seedlings in the sunshine:

thank the higher being it's friday...

things i learned in the garden

i've horribly neglected the upper garden.
it had gotten a little outta control.

weeds everywhere.

roses can actually thrive even tho' you

woefully neglect them.

although beautiful, roses are kind of a mean plant.
i got stuck multiple times by thorns today.
i probably deserved it.
but i'm still not that fond of roses.

despite neglect, there are tons of strawberries in among the weeds.
learned today: i talk to myself more than normal while i'm weeding.

they taste like beyond amazing.
and i didn't even have to do anything to get them.
other than pick them.

also learned: strawberries that are growing where you don't want them to be are weeds.

i'm only halfway through cleaning it all up.
will post pictures of "after" as soon as it's done.
that might be on the weekend.

getting on my nerves

i was just ordered by the doctor not to type anything with my left hand for 3-4 weeks! apparently, i have a nerve in my left hand/arm that is a tad ticked off at my fabulous new, very flat, paper-thin, gorgeous, awesome iMac keyboard. so the coming weeks will be more pictures and less words. starting with these strawberries from my very own garden. yummy.