We’re in the sweet spot of the growing season right now. For the next two months, the land will be giving up its bounty. Each week will bring us something new. This past week at the Farmers Market, zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots made an appearance. One vendor had fingerling potatoes. Cucumbers, new potatoes, and summer squash will soon be arriving. The spotlight this week, though, is on blackberries.

The blackberries this year are spectacular. The weather this spring was perfect for this gift from Mother Nature. The bushes are loaded with plump, juicy fruit. Some of the clusters are so ripe and sweet that all it takes is a little shake and they fall into the basket. No picking necessary. Blackberry cobbler and syrup, maybe even another attempt at making jam, is in our near future.

Wild blackberries abound in Wythe County. Find a spot and pick yours before the birds do.

We’ve picked about a quart and a half of strawberries the past two days from our 5′X4′ patch. Thanks to the wet weather, they are the plumpest, sweetest, and juiciest we’ve ever grown. We added a scant tablespoon of sugar to the first pickings, but we probably shouldn’t have. These little beauties are just fine by themselves. The bushes are full. It’s a race now between us, the birds, and the assorted furry little fornicators with whom we share Our Little Piece of Paradise to see who gathers the most berries.

In the top picture, the berries are served with a slice of homemade pound cake purchased yesterday at the Wytheville Farmers Market.

Springtime in the Blue Ridges is heaven on earth. Can I get an amen?

Ann Barrett, author of Having It Y’all, an insider’s guide to life southern style, describes it as The Pod of the Gods. Here in the Mountain Kingdom and the rest of the U.S. of A., we call it okra.

Okra is one of those “super vegetables,” so called because of its beneficial food qualities and its multiplicity of uses. 40% by volume of okra seeds can be extracted as oil, second only to sunflower seeds at 60%. Though I’ve never had it, okra oil is described as, “(a) greenish-yellow edible oil (with) a pleasant taste and odor, and is high in unsaturated fats…” Okra oil is also being tested as a bio-fuel and is said to have medicinal purposes, especially as a diuretic.

In this area, and much of the South, okra is battered and deep fried. It is also prevalent in stews such as gumbo, and it makes a really good pickle.

I prefer the baby pods lightly sauteed in butter and olive oil served with steamed rice, black-eyed peas, and chopped raw onion. Hmmm…throw in a little cucumber salad and some roast chicken and a biscuit or two, and we got dinner. Bon appetit!

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Your Basic “Oh, Shit” Moment

I took the following pictures in Shallotte, North Carolina, during our recent vacation:

On the plus side, the wild flowers are starting to bloom and the creek banks are fragrant with mint. Also, we’re still finding new patches of wild asparagus.

ox-eye daisy

For the last two years, I’ve been moving the asparagus from the tangled slope to a more manageable bed next to the house. However, once that is done, it will take three years before the transplants will again produce those fat tasty stalks. This year, I’m leaving the wild stuff where it’s growing and just cultivating around it. I guess the big story flower-wise are the iris. We’ve got them coming up all over the place…wild, cultivated and a lot that are somewhere in between. The familiar wild yellow irises are dotting Galena Creek from its headwaters to the New River. The previous owner planted iris bulbs all over the hillsides in hopes that they would grow as densely as the day lilies do, choking out weeds and preventing soil erosion. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case. As a result, we’re constantly digging and transplanting the delicate-looking flowers into areas that are more hospitable.

We’re almost through planting the vegetable garden, and I’m headed out later today to purchase some apple trees. Last night, we had an arugula salad from the garden and fresh strawberries. If you haven’t planted arugula before, I highly recommend it. It has nutty flavor with a slight peppery aftertaste. I tossed it with my own Caesar dressing, some homemade garlic croutons, freshly ground black pepper, and shaved, imported parmesan-reggiano cheese.

Iris Photographs

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Palin Watch

America’s leading retard is at it again. Sarah Palin declared yesterday, “It’s time for Americans across this great country to stand up and say, ‘We’re all Arizonans now!”  She’s thrown her support behind Arizona’s appalling immigration law that is so flawed that even the Arizona Association of Police Chiefs doesn’t support it.  Palin seems determined to become the Al Sharpton of the Nut Case Right.  My 2012 Republican dream ticket would be Palin and Virginia Attorney General Ken “The Coochie” Cuccinelli. That would gives us voters the opportunity to tell both of them, “Shut up and go away!“

]]> http://www.wythenotes.com/wp/2010/05/18/where-the-wild-things-grow/feed/ 2 http://www.wythenotes.com/wp/2008/09/23/well-have-nastyshams/ http://www.wythenotes.com/wp/2008/09/23/well-have-nastyshams/#comments Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:38:00 +0000 Ron Dees http://www.rondees.com/wp/2008/09/23/well-have-nastyshams/ The fall lettuce crop is coming in and we’re having some excellent salads. We’re harvesting the mesclun mix as well as thinning four other types of lettuce. The arugula, spinach, and turnip seeds went in the ground this weekend.

Anne added some nasturtium blossoms to the baby lettuce for last nights salad. Nasturtiums are easy to grow self-seeding annuals. The edible flowers have a slightly peppery taste and make even the most ordinary salad look and taste special. We dressed ours with Anne’s vinaigrette and a little cracked pepper. It was yummalicious. I sure hope our first frost decides to hold off for a few more months.

The traditional recipe calls for this soup to be cooked, and served warm. I took the basic ingredients, and gave a different riff to them. The results were pretty spectacular I think. For a brief moment after taking the first bite, I imagined a Roman Gladiator, his sword raised to the heavens, booming, “I Will Eat This, And Nothing But This, For All My Days!!”. Part soup, part salad, it’s a great way to serve the excellent tasting heirloom tomatoes that are at their peak and in abundance right now.

Use whatever combination of tomatoes you have, and the best quality ingredients you can obtain. The recipe is for one person, but it can be multiplied to serve as many as you wish.

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup chunked tomatoes

1/2 cup water.

6 fresh basil leaves

1 medium banana pepper, sliced into small rings

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/2 cup stale bread, torn into bite-sized pieces

parmigiano reggiano freshly grated for service

Early in the day, smash a couple of cloves of garlic, and place in a small bowl with 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil. I used Ottavio, a Spanish olive oil that has a spicey fruitiness to it. Cover and set aside.

Later in the day cut one cup of tomatoes into bite sized pieces. I used a red and yellow from my friend John. I failed to get the names, but I’m pretty sure one of them is a Lemon Boy and the other could be a German Johnson. I also used some Lemon Pears from our garden. Be sure to include some of the caviar, the center of the tomato with the seed mass that is often thrown away. Place the tomatoes and water in a glass bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients. Cover.

Around two hours before service, stack the basil leaves on top of each other and slice into small strips. This is called in French, a chiffonade. You may slice the leaves either lengthwise for a large chiffonade, or across for a smaller. For this recipe, I used the smaller. Add the basil, sea salt, ground pepper, sliced banana pepper and half the garlic infused oil to the bowl and lightly toss, making sure all the tomatoes are coated. Add the bread and toss  again.

Let me take a moment and talk about the bread, for it is key. I used half a focaccia roll baked by Ecce Panis in New Jersey for Wal-Mart and warmed, but not served the day before. You may use any good, day-old,  hard crusted artisan bread available to you, the drier the better. You want the bread to soak up the juices and still have some chew to it. A soft bread will just dissolve into a soggy mess.

To serve, transfer the soup to your favorite soup bowl. Remove the garlic and pour the rest of the oil over the top, along with a little more sea salt and ground pepper. Top with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano. Anne brings a chunk back from Trader Joe’s in Centerville when she has to spend her week in the office every month. If you can’t obtain the real deal, use a good quality domestic parmesan.

The smells of the basil, the garlic infused oil, and the cheese combine to make a heady aroma as you bring that first bite to your mouth. Cool and refreshing and perfect for this time of year, the taste is that of an Italian summer in a spoon.

If you recall, I wrote a post last month about blackberries. I ended it by promising to tell you how my first attempt to make jelly turned out. Well……. I have a half-dozen jars of really tasty pancake syrup. I won’t go into details, but when the directions state the exact ratio of fruit, sugar, and pectin, they aren’t just making  suggestions. Being a creative chef is not a plus in this situation. Though, if you didn’t know better, you’d think I did it on purpose. The wild blackberry syrup I ended up with is delicious on pancakes. Who’s to know? I did it on purpose. Yeah, that’s the ticket! Anyone can make blackberry jelly, but I really like the syrup on pancakes.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.