Rhubarb, rhubarb everywhere!

I set aside this morning to harvest the rhubarb, make sauce, and pop it into the freezer . . . no sweat.
Things did not go as planned. It took me all day to put up the 50+ pounds of rhubarb I picked. At any rate, when I was lugging the white bag with 2/3 of the stalks, it felt like a big bag of chicken feed (the 40# size). Follow the photo journey of a rhubarb day, and may there not be another one like it anytime soon!

This is a LOT of rhubarb stalks! The plants grew like crazy while we were gone. Red, tender, and long, it was an overgrown rhubarb jungle. And honestly . . . it doesn't look like I even touched it! 

I lugged the 50+ pounds of water-rich, tender rhubarb stalks into the kitchen and set to putting it all in an assembly line:

1) whack off root part into bucket. 

2) toss into sink. 

3) hold stalk in the air by left hand, hold knife in right hand, and start whacking each stalk into smaller pieces. 

4) load into quart measuring cup in preparation for . . . (see next picture)

 

5) Cooking. Load pans on stove, add sugar and just a teensy amount of water, and let it cook. (Note: the previous picture and this picture were taken at the same time. Did I mention there was LOTS?

6) Cook for a LONG time.

7) Dump hot sauce into large bowls to cool (which took a long time too!)

 Final count: 15 quarts to put into the freezer, with 2 quarts in the refrigerator for fresh eating.

 And that was my entire day. *whoosh*

It's . . . It's . . . Sunshine!

Quick! Before it rains! I planted our new little garden. The size was determined by the amount of deer netting we had on hand (Walmart was out). Along with this little mini-delight, our 7 blueberry plants and one Italian prune tree huddle in safety from those leaf-chomping varmits called white-tailed deer.

I have to say that the dirt here on our homestead is the best dirt I've every worked with (and that's saying a lot, having grown gardens for most of my married life). No rocks, except bitty ones; fine, crumbly loam/silt, with just enough clay to hold the water but not drown the plants. It rototilled up so fine and nice! Even after pouring down rain yesterday, I could plant today and it was NOT MUDDY! I am saddened to think that my poor DD back in Enumclaw is anxious to plant her garden on our old place, which they are renting. But alas, it is not to be. It is sloppy mud with a clay content of about 80% and the water table is about 12" down these days. Bad news for them.

That is why I am so pleased with our little experimental garden. There is one row of spinach, two rows of beans, a row of broccoli, a row of cilantro, and three rows of corn. Oh, and a tiny hill of acorn squash.

I hope this weekend warms up and everything comes up soon!