It is a delight to be the spouse of a hard working, joy-filled, dedicated man.



Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Breakfast Anyone?

Monday was a "spare" day for Dirt. He had been able to finish his lawn care duty on Sunday along with a few other things so that left him with the morning to bottle up his wine that sits along the wall in my kitchen in carboys. Carboys are big, my house is small. I look forward to bottling day but then when the carboys and their pretty colored fluids are gone I'm kind of sad. Kinda.


One can't possibly bottle up the wine without a taste so early Monday morning found us sipping away at Dirt's O' Eight Raspberry wine for breakfast and then his O' Eight Apple for brunch.
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Both are very promising. I won't boar you with all the fancy wine talk, okay I really don't know how to "wine talk" even after all my good lessons from Jim, but I think I have a better understanding of it all and a larger capacity for anticipating what the finished product will be. And I am just sure that Dirt's raspberry, and his apple, that he bottled yesterday will be excellent.
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Oh but look, what is that in one of the bottles Dirt was about to clean? And sterilize!


EEK! Its a mouse! Okay calm down it is a thoroughly saturated and deceased mouse. Proof once again that moscato wine can kill. You gotta ask yourself, "how the heck did he get in there!"
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I suppose that this is telling about our life, we don't find a genie in a bottle, we find a moscatoed mouse in a bottle. At least we know the Ratters aren't hanging out in the wine celler, or that may be where those missing bottles went to and how the mouse was able to get in. Martin?...Janie?...
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I have requested and extra sterilizing step or two into the process,
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They said it was a Microbe and a Hotbed of Disease;
They steamed it in a vapor of a thousand-odd degrees;
They froze it in a freezer that was cold as Banished Hope
And washed it in permanganate with carbolated soap.

(swiped from one of my fav's, Strictly Germ Proof, by Arthur Guiterman)


The raspberries on my fence almost got ripped out one year, until Dirt made wine from them. The raspberries had found their destiny! Amazing how the wine making process brought out flavor that was undetectable in the fresh state. Or the alcohol content makes you not care.

Another fruit rescue was also part of Monday's breakfast.
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As a kid I used to sit on my front porch with a big stalk of rhubarb and a bowl of sugar and needed nothing more in my life.
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But lately I've been feeling rather frustrated with the lack of pretty red stalks from my rhubarb plant. I didn't want to have to wait to get rhubarb form my daughter who has nice big fat very red stalks. This was the third plant that I have put in here at the farm and still no red.
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The first was wiped out by renegade swine and the second I didn't bother to rescue from the tree crashing on it. Why would I, like the first one, the second one had never developed beautiful red stalks, just green with a few grains of red but it never "ripened" and then put up a load of flower stalks before I knew it. And now this third one was doing the exact same thing.
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So I went online early Monday morning to see if there was something I could do or was doing wrong, even though all the garden books and info I have read already said essentially if you can fall off of a log you can grow rhubarb.
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I came to a site that claimed there were quite a few varieties of rhubarb and many had different characteristics. Really?! I remember the name of the rhubarb I bought, I wonder what it says about it...
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It says that Victoria rhubarb is green stalked with pink speckles. Nooooo!!
So I made waffles to go under my strawberry rhubarb sauce, through some thick cream and vanilla simple syrup in the whip cream maker thingy and was catapulted into near ecstasy. My life is now complete.

Oh Dear Reader, I know how you love to go to nurseries and see all the beautiful plants. Please don't feel that I left you out of a wonderfully exciting trip this last Saturday, this is the scene just outside the doors at Lawyer's Nursery.

And this is what I bring home. Bare naked sticks. No soil, no leaves, no flowers. Dead looking sticks. Gathered up from big wood bins lined up unceremoniously inside a concrete bunker like cold storage.
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This years collection included very very prickly old fashioned roses. I forgot my gloves, big mistake when getting muddy naked sticks, even bigger when you are getting prickly muddy naked sticks out of big bins.
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I'm still squeezing prickles out of my hands and finger tips, makes typing painful, but your worth it. Have a great night Dear Reader and look in your wine bottles before drinking, mice can get in there you know.
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God bless and have a restful sleep. See you bright and early in the morning.

12 comments:

KathyB. said...

OOOOH! Can I sample Dirts' wine? Pretty please?

Love the picture of Dirt in B & W with the cherry red wine . The photo shop course is showing .

I too am wondering how the mouse got in to the bottle and where were the ever present, trusty rat terriers?

I so enjoyed this post Lanny!

Susie said...

Could you please send a couple of bottles down to MS? Gosh those sound wonderful.

Ick to the mouse!!! I would have hated to run across that.

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

sarge put out some of those sticky paper thingies for crickets in the basement and there were two MICE on them, stuck and dead! ewwwww...

smiles, bee
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

The raspberry wine does sound good. I've never eaten rhubarb before, I'm not sure why. I remember my Mom growing it. It looks really good on the waffles.

deedee said...

You are a woman of many talents.

Sparky said...

Pass that wine this way, would ya? [hic] Gosh, they sound wonderful. Y'all lead such an idealic life. I know it's hard work but the rewards are many.

I have very thick leather gloves I use with my roses. They are a thorny situation to be sure.

Anyway, back to the wine, would you care to make a post on "How To"? Really, we would like to learn how. The Elderberry is in bloom here ... :^p I'll go have a beer while I wait for the recipe.

Cliff said...

We had our first rhubarb crip last weekend.
The strawberries are about to go crazy and the asparagus patch is in full production. Yes life is good.
We have to buy our wine.

Far Side of Fifty said...

The wine looks so red, and you had it for breakfast and lunch..such is the life of a Vinter! LOL.. Mice, how nice, especially nice to share!! I used to order dead stick stuff from Lawyers all the time, I believe they have two locations ( Montana and Wash) I could be wrong on that I got out of shrubs and trees early on, as it was back breaking work..great bare root stock! I think I still have one of their catologues around here someplace. So What kind of Roses did you get? I have a Theresa Buget that is no problem, and some John Cabot climbers that drive me nuts, I want them to go up, they want to go out.. Oh and the rhubarb, there are several different varities.. :)

A. Joy said...

Awesome stories and awesome photos!!! Dirt and the red red wine makes you feel so fine photo is a keeper and hanger on the waller!! The mouse in the bottle... not so much!

Connie said...

Oh no---that mouse---ay-yi-yi! Yuck!

The waffles and raspberries look yummy though. :D

Tipper said...

Wow Dirt's wine is sooo pretty-no matter how it tastes! I hate hate mice-I'd rather have snakes anyday.


(I can never hear taps without tearing up-I like your post)

LindaSue said...

I've been missing you - we can't both take time off from blogging concurrently -