What a great weekend! The weather went from sunshine and t-shirts to blustery and jackets over 48 hours but I made the most of the last warm day.
Before 9 a.m. Saturday, I'd made a pot of Black Bean Soup, a pot of Bean Without Bacon Soup, a vat of spaghetti sauce, and a batch of vegan parmesan cheese. Two loaves of whole wheat bread are baking in the oven now. I wish you could smell them.
I cleaned out the garden, hand-tilled the beds and put down a layer of leaves, and tucked it in for the Winter.
4 quarts of curly parsley
yielded a pint of dried parsley (cleaned in shirtsleeves to the tunes of Mumford & Sons, 
while the farmer harvested wheat across the road in front of the abandoned barn, and an immature Bald Eagle circled over the house).
It seems there's a Red Squirrel invasion but we're just noticing them more with the leaves off the trees. When they're not chowing down on sunflower seeds,
they're feasting on Honey Locust pods.It's time for the little birds to fatten up:
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Tufted Titmouse.
The IOCG (International Order of Common Grackles) convened this weekend.
What a racket they made!
The flock of thousands was lovely, wheeling and gliding in unison above the treetops.
9 comments:
Hi Jain...Great post...
I sure am hungry now, aren't you just a busy little lady!!
Don't know who Mumford and Sons are but I,m going to find out encase I decide to do some dried parsley..lol ; }
Nice bird photos and love the
old barn.
Have a great week!!
Soup and fresh baked bread is a good meal for saying hello to colder weather. I haven't had a large gathering of birds in the trees this year!
Looks me me like more of your leaves are down than around here…yet; but I think the last of 'em will be on the ground by the end of this week.
I'm always amused by those recipes whose name incorporates an ingredient they don't have—i.e., meatless meatloaf, no-apple pie, and now your Bean Without Bacon. Not that I was salivating any less at the end of your paragraph. I am curious about vegan parmesan cheese—how is such a thing possible?
Loved the pix, especially the old barn with the big oak off to the left.
Great post, Jain. It makes me feel like hibernating.
We don't usually get gigantic grackle congregations here at my natural area, but they do aggregate in other parks around. And, naturally, the neighbors get up-in-arms over the birds. Geez...
Grammie,thanks so much for your nice comments. Have a lovely week, yourself!
Greetings, Wanda. It's been a bit since you've posted; I hope all is well with you and yours.
Grizz, the bean w/o bacon soup is my version of an ol' favorite, Campbell's bean w/bacon... mmm, mmm, loved it as a kid. It's just a basic white bean soup with a couple splashes of bacon-y yet bacon-less liquid hickory smoke.
The vegan parm is ground walnuts, some sea salt, and cheesy-but- unfortunately-named nutritional yeast. Not quite the same as dairy parm but a fair substitute. I forsook all dairy recently when dairy farm abuses hit the news.
Thanks, Scott, happy hibernation! We're really lucky not to have too many neighbors who would get their panties in a twist over a few birds.
Great pictures. Looks like my back yard. I just love this time of year. Comfort food, sweaters, jackets, crisp air. I love living in the country.
Thanks, Judy, I love this time of year and country life, too, I wouldn't have it any other way.
Funny, when I was much younger bean with bacon soup (from a can) was one of my favourite comfort foods but I haven't had it for ages (it's been around 15 years since I've had bacon). Reading about your bean without bacon soup has me thinking I'll have to test out some recipes to see if I can come up with something that reminds me of that soup.
Love your bird photos - they're always so entertaining to watch, aren't they.
Hi Heather, good luck with the soup. I think any ol' white bean soup recipe would do, then add the magic ingredient: liquid smoke! Mmm... pigless bacon.
Seems like my life has completely filled up with chores--I could use more bird watching time.
Post a Comment