It’s blueberry season here. I have ten bushes, but haven’t been able to harvest more than a handful as the birds and the chipmunks get them. One of these years I’ll build covered fencing* around them, but for now I stock up on blueberries from farmstands and from carts at the side of the road. I wash the berries and spread them out on a large sheet pan, freeze individually, and then put them into zip freezer bags so that I have blueberries through the winter. Invariably those get used up before springtime and I end up buying frozen blueberries from the supermarket. They’re good, but not as good as local. Now that it’s blueberry season again, I want to use up what I have in the freezer, and that means making muffins.

I am very, very fussy about muffins. I like them light, both in texture and fat content. I want a berry muffin to be chockfull of berries, but not mushy. I want them to be normal portion size (I’d much rather eat two than down one huge muffin!) I want the recipe to be so easy that I can stir up a batch on the spur of the moment. Which is what I did yesterday afternoon.

Blueberry Muffins

1                         egg
1 cup                 buttermilk
1/3 cup             vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon   vanilla
2 tablespoons  honey
2 cups                all-purpose flour (10 ounces)
1/2 cup              sugar
1/4 teaspoon    salt
1 teaspoon       baking soda
1 1/2 cups        blueberries, fresh or frozen (if frozen, don’t defrost)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 12 muffin cups or use paper liners.
2. Whisk together the egg, buttermilk, oil, vanilla and honey.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking soda until thoroughly mixed (nothing ruins a baked good more than a clump of baking soda!)
4. Using a spatula, combine the wet and the dry ingredients until all is moist. Lumps can remain.
5. Gently stir in the blueberries.
6. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups.
7. Bake for 22 to 30 minutes. If the berries were frozen, the muffins will take the longer time to bake through. They’re done when they spring back to the touch and there are no edges of raw dough around the berries.

*I’ve tried the netting that supposedly protects berry bushes. Both chipmunks and birds trapped and died in it. This year I tried the balloon that look like big scary eyes. The birds sat on them. Suggestions are welcome.

I’ve got a lot of interesting programs coming up. Some are open to the public, some are not. You can see all of the listings on my events page. On Wednesday I’ll be doing a program at a Girl Scout camp. I’m thinking about bringing Veronica. What a noisy hen – those of you who remember Marge will understand when I say that she is following right in that hen’s footsteps. (If you have an iPhone, you can hear Marge and get her ringtone here.)

There will be a Chicken Keeping Workshop in my backyard on Saturday. Three spots remain, so you can still come!

Saturday evening I’ll be doing a storytime for young children who wear cochlear implants. As many of you know, I am deaf, but because of technology and a very good surgeon, I function fully as a hearing person. I am so looking forward to reading Tillie Lays an Egg at this pajama-time event at the Northeast Cochlear Implant Convention.

On August  26, I’ll be doing a talk, quite far from home, in Kingston, Ontario. Details will be on my site soon.

I’ve just scheduled another workshop here at Little Pond Farm on Saturday, September 21. Sign up is now open. Do so soon, as this one is sure to sell out fast. It will be leaf peeper season here, and I know of several people planning on making the workshop part of a vacation to New England in the fall.

Keep an eye on the events page. More programs are in the works!

I found this tidbit in The New England Homestead from 1938.

My goats could certainly use more exercise, and it’d be nice if they were even a tad useful around the place, but I fear that after five minutes of this that I’d be more exhausted than them!

The the last few days it’s been hot and unbearably humid. I’ve been trying to get my chores and gardening done in the morning. Even so, after ten minutes, I’m sticky, dirty and drenched with sweat. Thank goodness for sports bras, cotton tees and shorts. I went through 3 outfits yesterday. Thank goodness for showers and washing machines.

How did women work in corsets? In dresses that required starching and ironing? The woman pictured below (circa 1900) is wearing an everyday dress. She would likely have worn an apron while doing chores, and possibly took it off for this photograph, but still! That collar! The tight cuffs! The creases! Can you imagine churning butter, or standing over a hot stove canning vegetables in that?

Many households didn’t have running water. Once a week the bathtub was filled by hand. The last one in cleaned up in lukewarm, murky water.

I have to say, as I sit in front of a fan and drink iced coffee (ice!) that I am not feeling at all nostalgic today.

I’ve got a new man in my life. I’ve been wanting this for a long time, but I had certain criteria. I didn’t want to travel too far for the relationship. I’ve got a bad back and shoulder, and so he couldn’t be too physically demanding. I didn’t need someone too young. Experienced and sane was what I was looking for. Also, I like my men handsome. And smart.

Meet Mica.

Mica is a friend’s Hafflinger. He lives only two miles up the road at a nice barn that’s right on the trail system. Mica is twenty years old. He’s had a bout with Lyme disease and he has some hock issues. And he’s a tad – ahem – wide. We’re not about to go out galloping or training in dressage. He needs long, steady walks, which is all that my body can handle now, too. He’s got a pony’s cleverness about him, but Mica isn’t at all mean. And he’s not at all tall – so easy for me to saddle him even with my bum shoulder. My friend doesn’t have time to ride him daily, so I’ll help out a few days a week. Sounds like a good match, doesn’t it?

Besides, how could anyone resist those adorable perky ears?

Luckily, the other man in my life isn’t jealous at all.