Chocolate Box Cottage Diary Vol. 1
Week 31: August 6, 2021

Once upon a time, a man and his wife went for a drive up a steeply curving mountain road not so far from home.

The road wasn’t long, but it was dry and dusty and as the man and wife wanted to breathe in the mountain air with windows down, it necessitated a slow pace for the car.

Once they stopped and the billowing clouds of dust settled, their eyes opened wide at the scene before them: they had been here before, but it was somehow different. Somehow they had stumbled onto a scene so picturesque it most certainly belonged in a fairytale: The Land of Berries and Wildflowers.

Wildflowers dotted the landscape, with colorful butterflies fluttering to and fro.

Acres of laden huckleberry bushes stretched out before them.

It being a dry year, they did not expect to find many berries, making it an unexpected gift.

Can you guess what they had for dinner?

Sourdough Huckleberry Hotcakes! End of fairytale? I don’t think so.

In the Garden ~

It is time to put in a late crop of beans. Meanwhile, we are enjoying Dragon Tongue beans on our table! The broad, flat pods are light yellow streaked with vivid purple and a wonderfully rich “beany” taste.

Find Dragon Tongue beans here: https://www.rareseeds.com/store/vegetables/fall-favorites/dragon-tongue-bush-bean

I harvested a bounty of culinary herbs this week to refill the spice jars.

Working with fresh herbs fill the kitchen with heady scents and makes a house feel like home. The herbs that don’t fit in the dehydrator will be bundled and hung from the kitchen beams.

We are contentedly wallowing in zucchini. Are you as impressed with the versatility of zucchini as I am? I serve it at least once a day in some form or fashion and we never tire of it!

Bubbly, hot pizzas, fresh from the baking stone!

I didn’t follow a recipe, but used half fresh-ground whole wheat and half bread flour with my Dakota Pioneer Everlasting Yeast, which gave it a complex, almost wine-like flavor. You can use your sourdough starter for the same effect.

Pizza is a good way to use a young starter that isn’t quite strong enough to raise a loaf of bread. If you use a well-preheated baking stone like I do, the intense heat will raise airy bubbles in the crust, giving it that brick-oven texture you crave.

I am relieved the roses started blooming again. I was concerned the intense heat of July may have finished them off for the season. Perhaps I will add some more rose petals to my ongoing jar of Half Century Potpourri.

And now, I wish you farewell. Thank you for being here, Dear Reader.

Blessings to you ~ Michele

If you have a few minutes to relax…

Last week’s Cottage Diary entry is here:

https://chocolateboxcottage.tv/cottage-diary/weekly-tea-date/

Chocolate Box Cottage Diary Vol. 1

Week 22: June 3, 2021

A week of flips flops and dewy grass, wisteria in bloom, and screen door mornings, and a cloud swallowtail butterflies flitting over a puddle created by sprinkler overflow.

It was a beautiful, sunny week, unseasonably warm for the first week in June with daytime highs between 94-99F (34-37c) here in the countryside in southern Oregon. The garden is planted as of May 29. The main crops, including tomatoes (transplants), zucchini, pumpkins, butternut squash, cucumbers, melons, cilantro, parsley, beets, carrots, kale, kohlrabi, shallots, radishes, and lettuce (everything planted from seeds) went in May 8. I held off on planting pepper, tomatillo, and basil transplants, along with beans (from seeds) until May 28 – just to make sure they wouldn’t get shocked by heat and cool nights. I’m glad I did. They are adapting well, after a week or so of night-time protection under milk jug cloches.

It is an exciting time, watching seeds germinate and push skyward! I am absolutely taken in by the miracle of sprouting seeds every year.