Our kiwi is going to bloom for the first time this summer! We probably won’t have fruit, since only the female plant has buds, but I’m looking forward to seeing what, exactly, a kiwi flower looks like.
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Do you like plants? Do you like standing in line in the morning? Well then you must love the Seattle Tilth spring plant sale. (Also, you’re likely athletic, hirsute, and/or have a kid in you, on you, or under you.)
These are just the people who, like us, had 10am wristbands (had to get there by 9:30 for that).
Potato progress: all three kinds of potatoes have sprouted! (Look closely, they’re there, I swear.)
Buckwheat crepes
via Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian:
Blend or whisk the following until smooth
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 cup all purpose flour
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 cup water
2 eggs
You will also need
2 tablespoons butter
(for cooking)
Let batter rest in fridge for one hour (clean up the kitchen, bug your spouse who is still in bed).
Heat a large skillet over medium (on our gas stove: low) heat with a small bit of butter.
Once pan is hot and you have coated the pan with butter, stir the batter. Use a large serving spoon to add a dollop of batter to the middle. Use a crepe tool, a spoon, or tilt the pan to spread the batter thinly and evenly. When the top has cooked through, use a thin spatula to flip the crepe, cook briefly, and then add to a plate. (The first one is usually lumpy and misshapen — eat it with your fingers as you make the rest.) As your stack grows, you may want to keep them in a heated (200 F) oven. Add extra butter as your pan dries out.
Toppings/fillings can be sweet or savory. We had strawberry jam, scrambled eggs, Field Roast sausage, cooked pear slices, and maple syrup.
Xerophyllum tenax flower. Most of the year the plant is a tidy little grassy clump (one of its names is Indian Basket Grass). In the spring it has spiky tall creamy white raceme, putting on quite a show. Ours are near the sidewalk, where people (kids) sometimes pick our plants, and I found this stalk laying on the pavement — a perfect size for a bud vase.
Buds and blooms in the garden today: interlaken grapes, raspberries, bearded iris, thimbleberries, broadleaf sedum, western columbine, beargrass (which smells amazing!), sicklekeel lupine.
The orchard bees were just hanging out of their holes yesterday morning — all of the blocks had one bee each just poking out and sitting there. Waiting for the sun?
Tiny French Breakfast Radishes! (I’m on a garden salad kick — in the background that’s red romaine, butter crunch lettuce, arugula, cabbage, and Freedom lettuce mix.)
