Asparagus

Jess and I were a bit late to forage wild asparagus this year--we found only a few stalks and most of those had gone to seed. But we did manage to get to the 104 Street market and picked up a bunch of asparagus, both to eat and to preserve. I blanched and froze enough for about 26 pizzas this coming winter. We'll likely not pickle any more this year as I see there are still a couple of jars left from last year (we'll do beets, instead).

While we were out tromping around, a pair of hawks hovered overhead, looking for lunch. I managed to get one good picture (our of several dozen)--the sun was in my eyes as the hawks moved east along the edge of the valley.

Today we did the last of the planting, putting in four cucumber plants. I notice we spend a fair bit on condiments over the course of a year so I'd like to make relish (ideally without getting jalapeno in my eye, this time) along with some ketchup. We also plunked a new saskatoon bush in the front yard in among the raspberries and reseeded some zucchini out back (the seeds I've been using are a couple of years old and the germination rate is pretty poor after four years). Tonight I will start to do a tally of our jars and lids to see what we'll need for the summer.