Parsnip cake with orange frosting

What is more quintessentially winter than parsnips? Don't like parsnips, perhaps? But, do you like cake?

This is an interesting twist on carrot cake.


Ingredients

• 5 eggs
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup maple syrup

• 2 1/2 cups baking flour of your choice (gluten free, or whatever)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp baking soda
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts 
• 2 1/2 cups freshly grated parsnips (they brown quickly, so do it right before you put them in the recipe

Bee roundup for this year

Beekeeping has a very steep learning curve, and not a lot of leeway for errors. So far going into winter my own hive seems strong-ish, and the one that I'm looking after for a friend is dead. Getting a sneaky walking pneumonia for a month and a half really put a spanner in the works, and probably killed the second hive. Welp, at least my friend will be getting honey from his first year's investment. We can buy a box of bees in the spring and just install them into a hive that is full of drawn comb (ie. full of the wax cells arranged on frames and ready to go). He has a flow hive, so that's going to be interesting to see.

I finally got my own bees wrapped up for the winter and a mite treatment on them a few weeks ago. I also put some loose sugar sandwiched between sheets of newspaper. I tried making a solid candy block, but I did something wrong and it was quite liquid even when dry. Something to try again for next year. Maybe I didn't leave it on the heat long enough, or I didn't use the hand blender long enough to put in adequate air bubbles.I did use my cheese thermometer, which doesn't quite measure high enough, so perhaps it didn't hit the right temperature. I'd never tried candy before, so it's a bit of a mystery to me.

When I put the mouse guard on the front they started coming out at me, so that feisty-ness is a bit encouraging. I knew they wouldn't like the hammering on their hive so I saved that for last on purpose. Good thing, too. Despite the cold they were out for blood! I got out of there before they could sting me. May they stay feisty and alive through the next long months. And then promptly calm down and become docile again in the spring.

I can always hope...

So, I got 2kg of half-finished honey out of my own bees when I took out a frame to keep them from getting honey bound earlier in the summer, and I'll get 1/3 of my friend's honey when I go in there this week and remove and spin out the frames. I don't know how much that will be, but I'm hopeful. And so are some of my friends who have a standing order for honey, too, I'm sure.

I will make mead, darnit. I will. I have everything now except the honey.

Spring gardens up-springing

My angelica (left) and betony (right) are much happier in their new place in the yard. They are both forest plants and need a bit of shade and a bit of sun. It's too dark for many flowers and herbs in that area, but they're happier than ever.

Kale (the sprouts) and winter savoury (the herb with dark leaves at the top). I'll need to thin out the kale a bit eventually. I didn't expect the seeds to be so prolific after a couple years of hanging out in my seed box.

 My first garden from last year. I have a second row of lasagna garden to the right of it now. It's settling in and getting ready to be planted. (My birthday gift)

The blueberry bushes seem to have survived the minor depredations of a rabbit over the winter.

The flax is coming up nicely.

Meadowsweet (top) and horehound (front)

The sweet violets and strawberries are doing fine even though Stew the squirrel uprooted one.

Columbine

Columbine (left), beebalm (center), and beardtongue (bottom) are all well-loved by pollinators. They were part of my birthday gift. I was tired of having a barren wasteland of lawn out front. Going to the garden centre was part of my gift. I love the way it smells. I think the added oxygen in the atmosphere gives me a bit of a high, actually. Or, maybe I'm just kinda crazy and love plants that much...
It's been raining for the past week straight. Yesterday the sun finally came out, and it continues today, although it did go down below zero last night (Celsius not Farenheit). I'm hoping my plants did okay. I was so tired I forgot to cover them. Oops.

Bee balm

Beardtongue

Winding down for the winter

It's quite cold out there. There's something about damp air which ignores layers and insulation. And that lazy wind doesn't bother to go around... it just goes straight through.

But, my lasagne garden has some gorgeous, large worms in it now, and I uncovered a centipede (Chris called it a 'bazillopede' and got a bit squicked) whilst digging around. The soil is improving immensely. These are good signs. I have two composters digesting leaves and a bit of veggie scraps, but I don't want to put out much more than that because we seem to have rats. The green bin is for everything else. Thank goodness for that. I can feel less guilty about it.