We found a giant and I mean giant rhubarb plant in an out-of-the-way, seldom visited corner of the yard last week. There were some babies as well, but the mother plant was a sight to see.
We have a whole new yard and chunk of land to explore and discover through the seasons yet again this year. As my children happen to be very fond of nibbling at things around the yard, they have found their discoveries here to be quite satisfactory. The violets have already come and gone, the best wood sorrel spots have been scouted out, the many patches of wild strawberries are picked over daily, with occasional tastes of the thyme growing wild throughout the lawn, while the raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and autumn olives continue to be monitored, with hopes of a good harvest in the future.
What to do with the bountiful rhubarb? We made tarts. We’ve been eating mostly grain-free lately, in an effort to curtail the very painful abdominal migraines of one of the children, as well as other things. It’s challenging but it’s helping. It’s helping a lot. So we carry on. I took my basic gluten-free pie crust (found here) and changed it around a bit. Instead of the flour ratio listed, I used 1 cup each of almond flour, coconut flour and arrowroot flour. I left the xanthan gum out altogether. I’ve never been big on adding gums to my baked goods and since reading this I haven’t used them at all. Otherwise I just made one batch, in exactly the same way. Ok, well, I didn’t chill the dough. It was still baseball season after all and who has that kind of time?!? The chilling just makes it better for rolling out. I skipped all of that an just pressed it into pans. And it was not just good, it was *wonderful*. Yum, yum, yum. I think I might go check the yard for some more rhubarb today.
p.s. I added a little list of links to the sidebar. Just some random little things that strike my fancy; some books, some recipes, some crafts, some music, some pretty little things. I plan to change it from time to time, so take a peek every once in a while.
are some of her favorites. We’re also loving lemon balm right now (and I’m dreaming of the spring time when I can see if my beloved lemon balm plants made it through both the move and the winter. Ah! Fresh lemon balm sun tea! Oh, I am looking forward to that.).
~I’m working on perfecting my gluten-free zucchini bread recipe. I used to make the *best* zucchini bread, and then along came food allergies…. in it’s current incarnation, the flavor is great, but the texture is kind of meh….at least there are plenty more zucchinis to experiment on.
~I’ve actually been putting aside my knitting needles in favor of a crochet hook lately. Who knows? This just might lead to something…like, you know, actually learning how to crochet.
~I’m reading Anne of Green Gables again, for the umpteenth time, just because it makes me happy. In fact, I’m inclined to read them all again, but alas the 
of my girlhood is no more; the old mold house deprived us of many favorites. And our local library doesn’t have them (what is up with that?!?). I think about replacing them from time to time, but then I feel guilty about spending the money on books that I’ve read many time already. It would just be such a comfort to have them somehow.
~Galen and I have some herbal massage oil steeping on the window sill. It’s to be a Christmas present for Màiri Rose. We harvested some of his calendula flowers that he grew from seeds and some of my lavender. She does enjoy her lavender massage oil and he’s going to decorate the jar real pretty like.
~ I’m 2/3 or so through Iain’s birthday sweater, but it’s been stalled for several weeks now since I ran out of yarn and haven’t yet made it to the yarn store.
~It finally occurred to me that a kiddie pool was in order. We spent that last eight summers within easy walking distance of a creek, three ponds and a lake and the thought never even crossed my mind. It wasn’t until I was sitting, watching all four of them trying to get into the 24″ galvanized tub at the same time that occurred to me that there might just be an easier option. We had to order it on-line, since we couldn’t find one locally and it arrived just in time for the heat to break. Which left them filling the pool while wearing jackets and sweatshirts (because of course they had to fill it) and me pondering the likelihood of developing hypothermia in July.
~loving the wise mama words 
and started a new tv series (we don’t have a tv, but I sometimes watch shows through nextflix or on-line after the kids go to bed. I’m currently a couple of episodes into the first season of 
