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.)