Invitation

Fendler’s Sundrops (Calylophus hartwegii fendleri)

beginning to bloom in the front yard. 

I love this plant with its bloom time spanning late Spring

and into the Fall until the first frost.

Inviting each and every one of you to cake and tea . . . virtual, of course.

Steamed Orange Tea Cake

2 T. softened organic unsalted butter for buttering the glass bundt pan.

2 1/2 C. organic sprouted spelt flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. sea salt

Mix together the above 4 ingredients in bowl.

5 organic duck eggs at room temperature

Beat the eggs vigorously with electric mixer set on highest speed for about 5 minutes so the eggs are light and lemon colored tripling in volume.

1 C. organic maple sugar

Add to eggs and beat for 3 minutes.

1 C. organic Greek yogurt            Beat well into eggs.

2 tsp. organic vanilla extract        Beat well into egg/yogurt mixture.

4 T. finely minced orange zest      Fold into egg/yogurt/vanilla mixture.
     (remove bitterness by dropping into boiling water for 10 seconds
     and draining immediately)

Add juice of 2 organic Valencia oranges into above mixture and beat together well.

Fold in dry ingredients. Pour batter into greased glass bundt pan.

Fill a wok with enough water for steaming and heat until boiling. Place the

glass bundt pan on empty tuna can in the boiling water. Cover wok and steam over high heat for an hour or until the cake springs to the touch. Check the water level after a 1/2 hour; add additional boiling water if necessary to maintain steam. Remove from wok and let cool before removing the cake onto a pretty cake plate. Dust with organic powdered sugar if desired. Cut into slices and serve warm or at room temperature with tea. I like organic Dawn Chorus Tea from Mountain Rose Herbs.

Later to enjoy the remaining cake reheated in a bamboo steamer for 10 minutes.

And as we partake of our cake and tea, let's do some bird watching. We are having spectacular birds with stunning color visit our feeders just now. The Western tanagers sometimes visit singularly but often there are four or five at a time eating the fruit from the fruit suet in a hanging cage as well as eating the organic fresh orange halves put out mostly for the visiting orioles: Bullocks and Scotts who love the fresh orange leaving only the section dividers in each half of orange. We also see daily a plethora of Black- headed Grosbeaks, both male and female.

Desert Beardtongue (Penstemon pseudospectabilis)

with "shocking pink" flowers along the West side of our home.

They bloom profusely in the Spring a

nd again more lightly in the Summer.

It is interesting to me 

how the blue-green, triangular leaves 

are fused together around the stem.

As we relish our time together sharing steamed orange cake and tea, and watching the abundance of gorgeous birds, may we

Beltane 2020

Johnnie Jump Ups are just such a "happy" flower
blooming profusely and providing
 abundant seeds for the following season.

May 1 is Beltane, also know as May Day. It is the Pagan festival of fertility with the Goddess and the Green Man coming together to create new life. 

The Goddess sitting among newly emerging Pipevine leaves

with a Pipevine Swallowtail in her hair.

As we are sheltering in place may we recognize the vitalness of connecting with nature. And may we innovate ways of doing so when it would be best not to venture out into the beautiful places nearby when way too many others are doing so. This practice is putting people at risk who live in these sparsely populated areas, and minimizing the possibility of "social distancing."

Chokecherry (Prunus virginiana) in her glorious Spring bloom.

Let us be creative at home with our family ways of connecting with the wild and free energy of nature: create May Day baskets filled with flowers from your yard, build a house for the fairies, plant a flowering plant you would not otherwise choose to do but are drawn to the beauty of the flower, begin a victory garden during the pandemic so as to nurture yourself with fresh produce you might not otherwise feast on, sit outside at sunset and enjoy the glory of seeing the stunning colors created in the evening light. Connecting with nature puts us in touch with our most elemental BEingness. At this time when the "veils are thin" as they are also at Samhain, may we celebrate the miraculous things that can happen.

Go wild today! Staying at home, of course. And as we exuberantly in our own backyards leap up and down, as frisky Spring lambs do, may we happily