Oh lovely soft fresh rain....

The weather gods fulfilled my pluviofylic needs: it is raining!!
Being very quiet you can hear the grass sing, the trees whisper and the flowers rejoice greatly.

Some parts of my lovely country had heavy showers and thunderstorms earlier but here we only had a few drops that evaporated immediately. I heard stories of people switching the lights on at day time because of the dark clouds. Not here. We did not have much sunshine but we didn't have much needed water drops from the clouds either.
Well, they made it up today! The yellow roses bow due to the weight of the water, their scent is extra strong.
Birds sheltered in the trees and just came out to sing again. You can almost see the grass wiggling due to a growth spurt and my Hydrangea's are feeling great!

And so do I, I love rain. Yes, it is a little dark (or cosy) in the kitchen but that is also caused by the fruit trees which I checked yesterday for apples and pears but the storm of 2 weeks ago blew most of the tiny young fruit away. Much to the joy of the youngest dog who thinks they are toy trees throwing balls at him.
I was so much looking forward to apple pies, chutney's and marmalades in Autumn but it looks like it will only fill a jar or two, three. We'll see.

Last week I got 2 kilo's of strawberries, still warm from the sun and freshly picked. Oooohhhh.... the smell!! Mouth watering! They needed immediate attention; I washed and cleaned them, held a few back that could last a little longer and put one kilo in the slow cooker to make a Spicy Indian Strawberry Chutney. I never did that before but the taste is delicious. You need to keep in the freezer.
The other kilo also went into the slow cooker and is now marmalade with the lovely taste of Summer, even today with the dark clouds poring out water.

I know I should not go on about my Butler James but I love him so much! He is so useful!
Soon I will try to bake a cake in a special oval mould on top of what James is cooking more that day (with of course a layer of cooking (baking) paper to separate the dishes).

Speaking of cakes.... the friends who gave me the strawberries, gave me this morning 2 litres of colostrum.
Not everyone will be familiar with colostrum (from a cow in this case) and some will say just by the sound of it "No, tank you", but I love it. The beautiful yellow creamy substance tastes lovely! The Internet is full of recipes for pancakes, puddings etc.
The cake with the lovely name 'Lariekoek' ('fiddle faddle' or 'balderdash' in English, I like those names even better) are on my to do list for tomorrow as it is a very good recipe for the slow cooker.
And why not today? Well, James is already cooking my curry minced meat peas dinner and I want him to pay careful attention to the Lariekoek.

And last but not least: from cows to chicken.
In the chicken indoor pen are two baskets to lay eggs. I always find it fascinating that chicken who lay eggs for the very first time, know they need to do that in the hay filled basket. It might be the smell of hay anchored in their genes that tempt them shuffling to make these beautiful soft round holes for their eggs.

Although both baskets contain hay from the same bale, they all prefer the right basket and leave the left alone. And not only to lay eggs and to walk away again. No, broody hens love the right basket too. And not just a single hen! A community brood! My question is: how many broody hens fit (voluntary) in one basket.....?

Enjoy the Wednesday, tomorrow is heading towards the weekend.

Helen