Wednesday, May 12, 2010

May My Favorite


Oh May! My favorite time of the year here. Finally the flowers bloom and the plants start their fast and furious reproductive sprints. I find myself walking circles around the house over and over again, checking and double checking every plant possible for signs of sudden growth. What an exhilirating time of year!
Yesterday it struck me, though, that besides the inherent beauty of a lush landscape, every effort I make, every plant discovery that excites me, every future dream I build - all of that somehow revolves around my passion for food. Good food. Real food. Not the kind of stale produce we can pluck from the grocery store, certainly not the ubiquitous nausea of corn syrup or obscure frankensteinian corn additives, not even the tasty treat of a tired day restaurant dinner. Nope, I'm talking the kind of food that bursts in your mouth in an explosion of colorful flavors, the kind of food that only can come from lovingly tended soil, the kind that withers within minutes of disturbing. Oh, food, glorious food. There is something almost magical about growing or making one's own food. Knowing the cycles of life and nutrients that produced whatever amazing chemical reactions that might briefly caress the tongue. Knowing the honest cost of the bite. Perhaps its the knowing that really instills the savoring. Regardless, taking a snip of spring terragon here and a tip of new garlic green there, something inspiring transpires: the quest for flavor drives all the labor and time and thought and makes it all worthwhile.

Parmesan Ice Cream
Finally we have our raw cow's milk. Fresh cream... ohhh nothing better! Above is pictured one of my favorite uses for cream - Parmesan (actually Asiago in this case) "Ice Cream" with snipped fresh rosemary and garlic. Smooth as butter and absolutely addicting! Here's a recipe:
Parmesan Ice Cream
Ingredients: 2:1 ratio of high quality block parmesan cheese to cream.
garlic, thinly sliced, to taste
a sprinkle of nutmeg
freshly ground black pepper to taste
sprigs of fresh rosemary
Warm cream, garlic slices and nutmeg til boiling. Meanwhile, grate cheese. Turn cream mix to very low. Add cheese and stir continuously until smooth. Mix in cracked pepper and rosemary if desired. Temper at room temperature then refridgerate. Spread on fresh bread.
This can be scooped with an ice cream scoop to resemble french vanilla ice cream. Try drizzling with a reduced balsamic and everyone will swear its vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce. Its a good trick to play on an unsuspecting dinner guest. :)



"comb cling"

Now... the bees. They arrived 8 days ago in fantastic condition from an overnight plane trip from California. I allowed them to accustom themselves to their very new queen for another 24 hours before hiving them. Hiving went well enough - the weather was far more cooperative than last year, and everyone settled in quickly and calmly. I placed both organic sugar water and the package feeding can within the hive, then checked feed levels once during the following week. They did not eat much. I think the later hiving time (May rather than April like last year) probably gave them more opportunities to gather wild nectar and pollen.

Today was my first real hive check. I did not observe the queen, but was surprised to find a fairly large comb with nectar and EGGS already constructed. Unfortunately, it was hanging diagonally off the still attached queen cage. Obviously the queen is there somewhere, and becoming prolific at that, but the comb had to be detached and the queen cage removed. I placed the comb at the bottom of the hive in the hope the bees will know what to do with it and will start building comb in the appropriate places - off the topbars! They did have good "comb clings" hanging off multiple bars, so I suspect next week there will be more order - well, human order - to the hive.



The serviceberries are once again in full bloom... the entire hillside is smothered in their white blooms... there is no other sight quite like it.