September 13, 2020- Just wait

They say in Iowa that if you do not like the weather, just wait.
Maybe they say that everywhere.
Just a week ago, Sunday morning,  we were having the first real rain in a month. Sunday morning it rained almost almost an inch. It was a cause of celebration. With the three day weekend it was just what was needed.

But starting late on Monday it became cloudy and cool and then it rained all week.
I do not think we saw the sun from Monday afternoon until late yesterday. Not at all. No blue sky either.
We fortunately did not have any of those big 3 inch in short time rains. Rather we had your basic rain, most of the day. There was a good 6 inches of rain in my buckets when I finally went and looked yesterday.
It also did not get above about 55 degrees all week.
It was quite depressing.
I really did nothing in the garden all week.
No wonder I was going a little crazy at work. (It also did not help that it was one of those crazy busy weeks.)

It dried off yesterday (Saturday). I was able to get outside and clean up a little. I even hummed a little tune as I wound up the front yard hose. I do not think I will need the sprinkler for a while. Putting that away and sweeping the sidewalks really helped my mood. So did planting some of the last impatiens cuttings. 

There could be a frost arriving anytime in October.
That means we could have 2 weeks until frost, or another 6 weeks. The garden could be interesting until Thanksgiving. That is a lot of gardening time left.

How about some pictures.


Last Monday was a holiday.
It was also my birthday.


We went on a long walk down by some wetlands south of town. They were not very wet.
I expect if we went back today it would be very different.

The color on that walk was supplied by the occasional thistle.






















There was wildlife.
















I am told this was a pickerel frog.
Here is more information.
http://www.herpnet.net/Iowa-Herpetology/amphibians/frogs-and-toads-2/pickerel-frog-lithobates-palustris/





The dominant color was yellow. The golden rod was everywhere. There was even blue sky.





The picture on the left is from Monday. The picture on the right was yesterday. These buds just went on hold until the cool rainy weather was done. I think the cactus flowers will bloom today.






The white anemones have started to bloom.



The Persian Shield plants always shines this time of year. These plants are all from cuttings grown last winter.




Mostly everything in the garden hunkered down and waited for the wet weather to end. They are waiting for the sun that will join us hopefully today. The picture on the left is an orchid. The one on the right is an orchid cactus bud.

Julia's recipe

Peach Pie

You should make a peach pie at least once during the summer, as a sign of respect for peaches. It's an easy pie - especially if you have freestone peaches (rather than clingstone). The distinction between freestone and clingstone is as you would expect - you can twist the halves of a freestone peach apart and pop the stone out. Not so with a clingstone, which requires slicing the flesh off around the stone. I got some freestone peaches and made a pie using Betty Crocker's recipe.



The ingredients: an 8" pie crust plus a bit more pie dough for decorating the top of the pie; 6 biggish peaches (to yield about 4-1/2 cups when sliced up); 2/3 cup of sugar; 3 tablespoons of flour; 1 teaspoon lemon juice; 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon; 1 tablespoon of butter and a pinch (say 1/8 teaspoon) of salt. Plus some cinnamon-sugar to sprinkle on top.

Philip made me a pie crust. I think he made a 9" single pie crust so I would have some extra to work with. 

I started by putting the peaches - a few at a time - into boiling/simmering water to loosen the skin. After a few minutes, I fished them out into a bowl of cold water to cool so I could work with them.

Here are the ingredients, out of order but  that's okay.



















Here are the peaches all peeled. Plunging peaches into hot and then cold water is often not completely successful in loosening the skins. I used a peeler to remove the recalcitrant bits.





















Stones removed!

I preheated the oven to 425 degrees.



























I cut the peaches into quarters (half to remove the stone then half again), then sliced each quarter into thin cross slices. 

I added the sugar, flour, salt and lemon juice and stirred. Then I remembered the cinnamon and stirred it in too.


















I piled the peach filling into the pie crust. I cut the tablespoon of butter into tiny bits and sprinkled them around the top.























Next, I took the remaining pie crust and cut it into little circles and put them all over the top of the pie. I sprinkled cinnamon-sugar over all. 

I do not like two-crust pies. Too much crust in my opinion. I think that this decorative top is a compromise: some crust to protect the fruit from over-browning but not a full top crust. I made little circles this time. I have used little cookie cutters on occasion and had little chicken shapes or heart shapes instead. 

Cinnamon-sugar is about 2 teaspoons of cinnamon to 1/4 cup of white sugar. I keep it in a little spice jar with a shaker top.


I put the pie on a rimmed baking sheet to prevent mess in the event of bubbling over.








The pie took about 45 minutes to bake. It is done when the crust has browned and then the peaches offer no resistance when pierced with a bamboo skewer or cake tester.















The pie on the plate. Warning: the pie needs to cool pretty thoroughly in order to hold up when cut. Good with vanilla ice cream or as is.

Odds and ends

It was a long and difficult week, made all the more so because objectively it was a short week.
Getting my hands in some dirt yesterday when the rain stopped was really helpful.
Last night the stars were out, for the first time in a while.
I bought some lettuce seed yesterday.
I think I may go plant it at the 'farm' tomorrow first thing.

Better times are coming.

Philip