Spring Surprises and Peach Buckle

One of the wonderful things about spring is the daily surprises that I find outside.
Yesterday... this....


Spring also brings back memories of years gone by and the babies we have had
here on the farm.
It's hard to believe that it's been four years since Faith and Hope joined our farm family.
There is nothing a sweet as a lamb...


and these two were the sweetest!


Still sweet, but all grown up now...
and definitely too big to hold!


I'm not sure what to call this.
It's not "bed-head", but maybe "bed-beard".


I cleaned out the sheep houses yesterday,
so everyone was wearing their fresh bedding.
It's definitely time for shearing!

The twenty-four hours that followed the writing of yesterday's post 
were wild and crazy.
A rather large storm pushed through our area from the south...
bringing rain and wind and hail and thunder and lightening.


We were under a tornado watch... which luckily didn't materialize.
We did, however, lose power for ten hours.

We have a generator that takes care of our refrigerator and freezers
and our hot water tank and water pump when the power goes out.
And here in the country, power outages happen on occasion.
We can still cook on our gas stove,
but conveniences like most lights and other appliances are off until the power is restored.


I had planned to do laundry yesterday morning, but with the power out,
plans had to be modified.
I took the opportunity to do a little knitting.


I am almost finished with the Farmhouse Cardigan.
With any luck, it will still be cool enough to wear sweaters when this is finished.



The power was restored by late morning, but the wind continued to wail in the trees
and occasional showers passed over the farm.

I managed to get a little garden work done between showers...
planting a dozen kohlrabi seedlings.

And while it rained, I tried out a variation of my Blueberry Buckle recipe.
It's a favorite of ours in the summer... and quite useful with the volume of blueberries
that we our bushes produce.


Yesterday, I made the recipe and substituted peaches for the blueberries.
I had a container of farm-grown peaches in the freezer which I thawed and drained,
then added them to the batter.


Peach Buckle... I guess.
Regardless of its name... it was delicious!
I am thinking that this recipe would work with just about any tree-born fruit.
Here is the basic recipe (and it's a good one!)

Blueberry Buckle 

½ stick butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
1 large egg
2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup milk
1 pint blueberries or other fruit

Crumb Topping

¼ cup butter, softened
⅓ cup flour
¾ cup brown sugar
½ tsp cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts

Cream butter and sugar.  Add egg and mix well.  Add dry ingredients alternating with milk.
Add blueberries (or alternative fruit)
Pour into a spring form pan, or a 9X9 pan.
(I use a springform loaf pan.)
Mix topping ingredients with a fork until crumbly.  Sprinkle on top.
Bake at 375 for about an hour (more or less depending upon what type of pan used.)

Comments

diane in northern wis said…
Wow Bev....two posts in one day and both so awesome. I share them with my daughter and granddaughter too and they just love your posts! Your garden is already looking super good and coming up fast....I remember when my folks used to have asparagus and raspberries in their yard....you're bringing back great memories for me. I love seeing your beautiful Spring flowers popping up too...I can smell those wonderful hyacinths from here! Love seeing your runner ducks out galavanting! And those lambs were soooo special. Thanks for these great posts! Hope all your little people are feeling better soon!
Anonymous said…
Thanks for the recipe, it looks so good!
jaz@octoberfarm said…
i forgot how cute they were as babies! i drove by a farm several weeks ago and saw just sheared sheep all clustered together as it was snowing. i felt so bad for them.
Anonymous said…
Love the 'bebe' pix and esp. the shearing beard. I'll give the buckle a try-looks yummy!
Mick
Anonymous said…
we had that same storm/tornado warning here - it was definitely the strongest storm i've ever seen in my life, and i'm nearly 70. the winds really were relentless, as much as 80mph, the tv said. i live along the ohio/pa line, and in no time - just minutes - it was gone from here and about a third of the way across pennsylvania already. it's only the second time in the dozen years i've lived in this house that i've been scared enough to go to the basement, but both of those times have been in the last month, so that's scary, too. i didn't lose power or have damage, but i don't know how. my twin bro lives about 10 miles north and lost his power for about 12 hours. and there was lots of tree damage around me. i really think that storms are growing worse each year. --suz in ohio
Mmmm, the peach buckle looks good! That's a strange cake name to me -- "buckle" -- I wonder why it is called that?
This N That said…
Aww..Faith and Hope..so little..It doesn't seem possible that it was just four years ago..What sweeties..Peach Buckle sounds yummy..Pretty soon you will bw modeling that sweater..Have a great week..
Lynne said…
Are you tempted to have more lambs?
Sure are cute!
Kim said…
Hi Bev. Would you be able to add your buckle recipe to your pinterest or Instagram? I too have peaches in the freezer and this sounds delicious but with no time for baking right now I fear I'll never find it again. Thank you so much for your inspiring blog!
Dr Purva Pius said…
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.