Rainy weekend

This was a slow weekend, with rainy weather. Not so nice outside, but perfect for making jam. I had three little sweet pumpkins that I had harvested from our „three sisters plot“, and for the longest time, I didn´t know what to do with them. They seemed too precious to just carve up as Jack o´lanterns for halloween, and I´m not such a big fan of pumpkin pie. Finally, I came across two recipes for pumpkin preserve, and my three little guys met the knife at last. One recipe is pumpkin orange jam (I used blood oranges, for dramatic effect), and the other is a savory pumpkin spread with chili and ginger. I have not tried them yet, but they sure look very nice in their little glasses.

We also had some friends over for brunch which included, among other dishes, squash soup made from our own squash. Due to my friend’s garlic aversion I couldn’t do my favorite butternut and roasted garlic standard. Instead, I tried a recipe with onion, cream, honey and balsmic vinegar. I don’t know. It sounded good on paper, and our guests claimed to like it, but I’m not so sure about the vinegar. Maybe it would have been convincing with a more savory type of winter squash, like Hokkaido squash, or Muscat de Provence pumpkin. I have some seeds for both and am planning to plant them this year for the first time. Can’t wait for summer!

Meanwhile, the garden looks totally soaked and the grass in the paths is higher than the plants in my (raised) beds. I weeded just one path on saturday, before deciding that it was too wet. Interestingly, this path now has puddles of rainwater standing on it, whereas all the other paths are wet (and weedy), but the water is not standing on them. The ground must have been totally compacted by me simply standing on it for a few minutes! I guess it is true then that you should never ever step on or work your ground when it’s wet. Hmmm. Guess I had to try that one out for myself.