Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, Feb. 21

KT,
You know no matter how one feels about the world, it still spins around the sun tilting this way and then that way. Here is a little February beauty for our enjoyment. Be glad, much is good in life.

Best,
rdohd

A wonderful photo, and a great thought to go with it!

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

From By-Tor:

More from the test kitchen for LA County Fair potential. Homemade applesauce.

Why make your own? It’s quick, easy, has three ingredients, you can adjust the taste to your liking, and it’s just way better.

Here I used 7 lbs of apples (honeycrisp, but buy whatever is the cheapest you can get). Pared, it came to about 6.5 lbs.

1 cup water added to the pot to keep it from burning
1 cup sugar to start, add more if you like it sweeter
1/3 teaspoon cinnamon, add more or less or none
Simmer the apples until soft, drain off excess water, stir in sugar and cinnamon, then puree with a stick blender or in a regular blender. That’s it.

If you have a lot of jars you can water bath can them for 10 minutes or so. Shelf stable basically forever. I got two quarts which will stay good a long time in the fridge but will be eaten before they would go bad so no point in canning them.

Mmmmm.

If you like chunky applesauce, you might try what one of By-Tor's friends did. Use a combo of one variety of apple that falls apart when cooked and one that stays chunky. Skip the "blend until smooth" step. Some people also do this with apple pie.

You can also try adding a little crushed cardamom to your applesauce, with or without cinnamon.

Any other ideas for jazzing up homemade applesauce?

Ah, Nature

There are plenty of cyclamens which grow wild in Israel’s forests, near tree trunks and rocks. I’ve seen this one grow every spring in the same rock niche for as many years as I can remember passing it on my walks in the Jerusalem Forest:

Then of course there are the domesticated variety that are showing up in many a building planter and public and private gardens in a variety of colors:

Regards from Jerusalem,

Biden’s Dog

p.s. FYI a few days after I took the pic of the cyclamen in the rock, someone decided they needed to decorate their home with it and uprooted it.

YIPES

Someone dug up some daffodil bulbs from our front yard once.

Adventure and History

Quince tree in the Padua Botanical Garden, the first ever, founded in 1545. Venice had Padua as one of its mainland outposts, and wrote the charter.

The Goethe Palm, planted 1585 still thrives. Named because the author noted it in one of his writings.

My great-grandfather’s walking stick. He may have brought it from Marienbad, then in Germany, less likely, bought it in Chicago. If you use the, please note me as WWPaulKlee.

What great historical connections to plants! That quince walking stick is certainly a wonderful family heirloom.

Gardens of The Horde

From Rex Nemorensis

Winter here in New England. Gazebo I have that I fitted with pexiglas panels and put in a propane gas heater. Pictures from in my orchard.

I understand that there is a paw paw tree in the foreground.

Gorgeous structure! Inspiring!

Puppies last week in the Pet Thread.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden at g mail dot com

Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.

Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, Holiday Weekend

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on that post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.