Now is the time of year to dig out the ice cream maker and take advantage of the fresh produce available.  I picked up some fresh peaches from the farmers market and decided to make some peach ice cream.  Because we have an overabundance of fresh wineberries I just had to add a few to the mix. 

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 1/2  cups sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 3 eggs beaten
• 1 real vanilla bean.  may substitute 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• Touch of salt
• 5 fresh peaches
• 1 cup wineberries

Cook the cream, sugar, eggs, honey, salt and vanilla bean over low heat for about 20 minutes.    Split open the vanilla bean and scape out the black gold!. Add this to your ice cream mixture.  Do not allow the mixture to boil

Remove from heat and allow to cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Remove the skins from the peaches by dipping them in a bath of boiling water for about 10 seconds,  the skins will peel right off.  Dice up the peaches.

Add the peaches and fresh berries to the mixture.

Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and let it do it’s magic.

Enjoy a great summer time treat.

Join the Kluge wine club and receive a $50 gift card for the Inn on Poplar Hill.

Couple exchanging vows under the Mulberry Tree

Raspberry Cone

People sometimes confuse raspberry fruits with blackberries. A raspberry is hollow. When you pick it, it leaves a cone-shaped receptacle behind. A wine berry is a type of raspberry, it has a tart rather than sweet taste.. 

The Blackberry is really made up of lots of tiny, round, shiny berries stuck together—an aggregate fruit. Each tiny berry in the cluster has its own seed, so one animal eating one fruit spreads many seeds.  Unlike raspberries, there’s no receptacle protruding from the stem after the fruit has been removed.  A dewberry is related to the blackberry but grows very close to the ground. 

A Blackberry Smile!On the hunt for wild berries

Beware of the sharp, curved thorns, and of poison ivy, which has similar leaves and often grows along with blackberries.  We recommend that you wear long sleeves, pants and closed toe shoes while picking.  It is also important to check yourself for ticks after walking in any tall grass. 

Poison Ivy Look for the grouping of 3 leaves

 Mulberries also edible, resemble blackberries, but they grow on thorn-less trees, not thorny canes, in late spring and early summer, the tree in our side yard attracts dear who love to snack on the tasty treats.

Blackberries ready for harvest

Butterfly on wild flower. Does anyone know the name of this flower?

One of the benefits of our wild flower meadows is the abundance of butterflies.  Several of the flowers are particularly attractive to the beautiful insects, especially the Milkweed.    This is a great site to identify Butterflies.   http://www.gardenswithwings.com/identify-butterflies.html 

Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca)