March 24, 2024- We have a winner-

What a week.

First, now that spring is officially here, the temperatures stayed below normal, all week. That included a couple of nights when it got down to 20 degrees. I guess on some level, it was a comfort that the temperatures cooled off. 

It was cold, but no real damage. An exception was the star magolia. Magnolias are like that. 

Then to cap it off, on Friday we had 2 inches of snow, before noon.

It was all a little discouraging. 

But we did finish the picture contest. And 

We have a winner.

The stripes in the petals really are rather remarkable.

Here was the full vote.

So what happens next? The contest is over.

I will try to find some energy someplace and will return next week.

Maybe I will try to think about 10 positive things to think about in the garden.

Julia did this nifty recipe, getting ready for Easter.

Julia's recipe

Bird's nests

     It's a spring thing: confection bird's nests with candy eggs. Maybe you made something  like this in the past with kids. Maybe not. Maybe you're thinking about desserts for Easter. Maybe not. This recipe jumped off the page at me (from Michael Knock's column in the Iowa City Press-Citizen, of all places), and the next thing you know I had bought some butterscotch chips and chow mein noodles and milk chocolate wrapped eggs. Like I said, it's spring when thoughts turn to springy things, although we did get 2 inches of snow on Friday in a couple of hours of furious snow-globe-like snow.  It's still cold, if sunny, and we will have a fire this evening. 

The ingredients:

1 cup chocolate chips;

1 cup butterscotch chips;

1/2 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth);

4 cups chow mein noodles;

neutral flavored cooking spray; and

some candy. (I used wrapped chocolate eggs. You would use M&M peanut candy or jelly beans or skittles, I suppose or little peeps, if you prefer your eggs hatched.)

I started by putting about an inch of water in the bottom of a dutch oven. You want the water to simmer. You do not want the water to touch the bowl. I put it on the stove, topped the dutch oven with a bowl that fit nicely and poured in the chips. I turned the heat to medium-low and let the chips melt. 

I do not own a microwave. If you do, you can melt the chips in the microwave. I used a big bowl to do my melting, as I would be able to do all of the mixing in this one bowl. I think microwave users will end up using two bowls. Not a big deal. 

Stirring the chips as they melted.

When the chips were melted and smooth, I added the peanut butter, turned off the heat and mixed the peanut butter in. This was easy because of the residual heat in the bowl. 

I removed the bowl from the dutch oven (using pot holders as the bowl was hot) and poured the chow mein noodles in. I did the addition of the chow mein noodles in two batches, stirring the first 2 cups in before adding the next two cups. 

It all mixed in although you might think too many noodles to be adequately coated. Not so. 

Philip sprayed the muffin cups generously with cooking spray - an important step! 

I used a 1/4 cup measure to scoop out the mixture into the cups. Then Philip used a soup spoon to make a dent in each mound so there would be a place to deposit an egg and also to assist in the illusion that these chow mein noodle, melted chip and peanut butter concoctions were bird's nests.  

I ended up with 15 nests. I put the muffin tins and custard cups in the refrigerator for maybe an hour, to firm up the nests. 

Then I used a table knife to work around the edge of the muffin cups to pop the nests out. Worked pretty well. One fell apart and we ate it. Here they are (there were others on another plate), holding their shapes and each with a chocolate egg. 

I then put the plate back in the refrigerator to stay firm. 

Now I have to figure out what to do with 14 bird's nests. I'm sure something will occur to me. 

Odds and Ends

The snow mostly melted yesterday.  Guess what? More snow is coming. It will only be a "trace" but it is the thought that counts.

It will be 64 one day, and then drop to 19 a few nights later.

The daffodils and scilla (little blue flowers) are tough. I think they see snow as just a photo opportunity.

Baseball will start this week. The Caitlin Clark show continues. Things start and then they end.

I did get a wonderful contribution to the food bank plant sale last week. There is a nice couple, with some midwest roots, who have spent the decades growing and developing flowers. Jan Sacks and Marty Schafer have a mail order garden outside of Boston named Joe Pye Weed Garden.

https://www.jpwflowers.com/

They have personally developed many of the fancier Siberian Iris over the years.

They have also selected and nurtured several different varieties of bloodroot, the wonderful spring wildflower.

Two are "Snow Cone" and "Venus."

I have a few in my garden from them.

Here are descriptions from Tony Avent, from Plants Delight. He has and sells some of the most remarkable plants in the country.

https://www.plantdelights.com/products/sanguinaria-canadensis-snow-cone

https://www.plantdelights.com/products/sanguinaria-canadensis-venus

In January I told Jan Sacks about our plant sale for the food banks. I asked about perhaps getting me some bloodroot, thinking wholesale.  She said she would contribute about 50 of Snow Cones and Venus varieties.

Well those plants arrived last weekend. She sent 50+ of each variety. I add the + sign as each group was closer to 70.

I have potted up at this point 129 of these little wonders. They go outside during the day. 

Let me show you some bloodroot pictures from the archives.

This is Snow Cone.

Snow Cone

The wild kind.

Venus

This is the "highly double" form I have grow for 15 years. I got all of mine from JPW. It has been in the contest many times.

I hoped you have enjoyed this bit of beauty.

I now have 129 bloodroot to sell. The JPW people sell them retail for $15/each. I have not yet figured out my pricing. They will be hitting the sale table soon.

In the meantime the world and the country goes forward. Iowa is not such a great place to live. 

Pray for peace.

Pray for reconciliation.

Let us do the work we can do.

Embrace your friends.

Philip