I’ve been trying out a dairy-free and grain-free diet recently, and it’s very hard to come up with a good dessert recipe! Thanks, Deborah, for giving me something to bring to my sister, Deborah’s, thanksgiving dinner!

Yes, I hope to make my own elderberry jelly this year. The fruit is quite seedy and you need a lot of it to get enough juice. But the jelly I’ve had is delicious!
Around here the plants grow on stream banks and the fruit is ripe in late August. In the next week or so I’ll be scouting out a good stand of bushes. Summer fun!

Apricot jam is just about my favorite. Soon, I’ll be knocking on the door of a neighbor who has a gigantic apricot tree- I pick the fruit and share the jam with them.It’s perfect!!

I just returned from a nostalgic tour of Davis, Winters also along with a stop in Newcastle (East of Sacramento). I agree driving does have it’s benefits! I brought back pluots, white nectarines, and a belly full of those Blenheim apricots...one of my favorites. Here in Idaho we also have lots of wild elderberries. I’ve found they make a terrific jelly.

Amen to Rhubarb soda. that is my go-to afternoon drink i the spring!

I love raspberries with rhubarb- I cheat the seasons by stashing some fall berries away in the freezer. That way I don’t have to wait for the strawberries here in Boise.

Yesterday Mike and I had a fantastic lunch of Grilled Sturgeon sandwiches at the Snake River Grill in Hagerman, Idaho. We were on our way home to Boise from Death Valley and it was the best restaurant meal we’d had in a week! Hagerman is most famous for it’s trout farms...as in Idaho Trout,but they’re becoming known for their sturgeon also- and the setting in the Snake River Canyon is heavenly.

I’m not a vegetarian, but I do eat a lot less meat during the week because I belong to a vegetarian dinner coop. In fact, among the 4 families in our group, only ONE of them is really vegetarian. The rest of us like eating mostly vegetarian for the variety of foods and nutrition. And on the weekend, when I’m cooking just for my husband and I, Roast Pork with Blueberry Balsamic sauce is Soooooo good.

I can’t wait to try this with the Rocky Mountain Blueberries I picked at the local farm.

Great background on lambs quarters. Since I first collected miner’s lettuce as a kid in Northern California I’ve been a gatherer. Now I’ve got another yummy green to look for.

I never thought about freezing it either! That fresh lemony taste is just what you need to spark up winter gratins and stews.

I planted kohlrabi for the first time this year-Now I know exactly what to do with my harvest-Thanks all!

I like to eat things that usually don’t go together. That’s how I discovered that sliced strawberries are fantastic on hamburgers!

I’m excited to try vertical butternut squash this year. I’m ready with the pantyhose, but I’ve heard that butternut squash stems become more sturdy as the fruit gets larger so they don’t actually need any extra support-fact or fiction?

It’s amazing what a little shelter will do in the garden. In my home garden I’ve been able to over-winter broccoli, leeks and kale here in Boise with just a bit of plastic draped over 5 gallon buckets.
In our school garden we’ve gotten a little fancier, making small greenhouse covers from metal electrical conduit that’s easy to bend into A-frames. The frames fit nicely on our 4’wide beds without being too tall-But yours are much prettier!