The scent of spring is in the air. I walked by my tall hedges and they were filled with fragrant blooms in spite of the drought. Thankfully, the December storms gave us 9.5 inches of rain. It may be all we get this year, but better than last year’s 2.78 inches and the previous year’s 6.5 inches. Usually, along with the flowering of the hedge, a mass of bees arrive. I have yet to see one bee. In spite of my back yard being planted with a lot of native flowering plants that are flowering now, the bees have not returned. It is not technically spring yet, but we have had two very warm patches of heat in the high 80’s that has brought everything out to bloom. Above is my apricot tree. Last year it didn’t get leaves until June. Now we have leaves and flowers.
The red clover seed I brought in large quantities is barely up, and a lot of the seed didn’t take at all. The bees love red clover and it is very good for the soil. The borage I planted has come up but is not really growing. In between the heat waves we have had very cold fronts with lows in the 30’s at night!
The ground is bone dry. There are relentless winds blowing since January. Any hints of a possible rain shower get blown away by our the strong, drying winds.
I approach each new year with the hope that it will be better than the last. It has certainly been colder at times and then reverses to summer like temperatures. With all the fruit trees and grapevines flowering, you can only hope the frost doesn’t kill them off or the wind doesn’t knock down next year’s avocados. I think of the farmers constantly. We have extreme weather and no rain. I grow a lot of fruit and vegetables but my livelihood doesn’t depend on it.
My valencia oranges are finally almost ready. I picked some along with a neighbors cara cara oranges and blood oranges to make marmalade. I make it in the English style which takes two days, one to half the oranges and lightly juice the into the pan, even wrapping up the pips in cheesecloth to dangle in the pot. I then add enough water to cover the oranges and bring it to a gentle boil, for an hour total time. Then you turn off the heat and let it sit covered overnight. I have the most wonderful large copper French jam pot. Its huge and I can get carried away with how much jam I am making. The second day you need to remove the oranges, pulling out any remain membranes and shredding the rinds into thin threads. Bring the juice and water mixture to a boil with the sugar. I don’t like my marmalade sweet and do not add as much as is usually suggested. I made 15 pints the other day and it took a whole pound plus 1/3 cup of organic sugar – fine not large crystals. Taste and adjust to your liking. Add the orange peel shreds and turn down the heat, letting it cook down slowly for about 3 hours if you made as much as I did. You can judge the cooking time by how much juice is in the pan. At that point you can turn up the heat and boil until is sets or pours together in a drop from your spoon. You will need to stir the mixture occasionally during the initial process but once it is turned up to boil, you should stir it almost continuously. While the jam is cooking you should boil however many jars you will need and add the lids and liners right at the end. After I spoon the marmalade into the hot jars, I close the lids and return them to the pot for another boil of 10 minutes. You should hear the lids pop signaling that the jar is sealed and the jam will be preserved for about eighteen months. My friends who are English, Irish, and Australian especially like this marmalade.
We are expecting rain tonight. I certainly hope so. We need more to get us through until next fall when we look to the sky again with hopes of rain.
Reflections Outside My Window 