More preserves in the rain

The rain continued last night. During one of the breaks in the rain, I liberated some rhubarb from the abandoned house across the street. I do love the free rhubarb and the sense of "Detroit" that an empty, moldering house adds to the neighborhood.

I wanted to try some rhubarb chutney and brewed up two litres. There were a number of complaints about the smell and the recipe used a bit too much cider vinegar. But it was not bad with some bread and a cheese. Not as good as mango chutney, but mango don't grow here! This is not as good as Monday's rhubarb-orange butter.

With sunnier weather today, I cleaned the elm seeds from the gutters (which overflowed yesterday). Nothing like scraping out 120 feet of oatmeal that smells like low tide while balancing on a ladder. Assuming the weather holds, I'll be weeding tonight and preparing to receive some rhubarb and raspberry plants.