T and I made our first strawberry rhubarb pie thanks to the garden lovingly nurtured by the family who lived in our home for over half a century.
We are the second family to live in our late 1950s side split. The home is old and we are slowly fixing it up over time but the bones are good.
The best part is the garden, so lovingly cared for in the family’s lifetime.
This is our second Spring here and it’s been so calming to spend time in the backyard and watch the rainbow of colours emerge the past few weeks.
The mesmerizing purple of the checkered lily (pictured at the top) and many other purples, oranges, yellows, pinks and blues.
We learn to be present because the moments are so fleeting, like the white cherry blossoms, which we enjoyed with delight during a recent week.
The garden has been a Godsend during this pandemic, because it is a space for T to run around in and burn his energy.
Now that the weather is warmer, our family enjoys spending time outside. We miss the public pool so much and so we set up our backyard sprinkler to give T a taste of the water park.
The unexpected delight has been the crops the family planted – which yield wonderful ingredients.
We never took advantage of these perennial crops last year, but this year, we were prepared.
We used these wonderful chives as garnish for a recent chicken congee that I made.
And we harvested this lovely rhubarb today to bake my first ever strawberry rhubarb pie, using this wonderful recipe from In Diane’s Kitchen.
The best part is T helped out. Because we are taking advantage of every opportunity during lockdown at home to turn into a learning moment – whether it’s getting him to help out in the garden or with cooking and baking.
We never have T’s attention for very long – but in the short moments that we do have him engaged, he does such a great job.
This pie was baked lovingly together with my sugary sweet little boy.
I am thankful he saw the process from the ground up – literally, seeing the rhubarb we harvested to the pie coming out of the oven. Having T appreciate hard work and see the fruits of his work is so important for us to teach him.
The hubby worked hard in the garden in the late afternoon, planting new vegetables like beans and carrots, while T ran around outside with him. I baked the pie inside and T came in to help.
While we waited for the baked pie to settle, the hubby cut T’s hair and mine and then I cut his. We’re all getting showered now before enjoying dinner and then the dessert.
This was a wonderful way to end our weekend and we look forward to seeing what other delights – and learning and bonding opportunities – will bear fruit from our garden.
This garden looks so amazing. Nothing can be more wonderful than eating from your own backyard full of organic veggies. I want to grow my own plants someday but as the current house is a bit small and has a cemented area around I won’t be able to. But I have planned to put up some plants this year in my balcony. A little prep maybe this will be before the actual work. Thanks for sharing this lovely post.
Best wishes from The Strong Traveller and have a great day.
Do have a look at my blog whenever you find the time. There are some travel and lifestyle content which you may find interesting. Your thoughts will surely be very valuable. Stay connected. 😊
Thank you for dropping by and for your nice comments. And best wishes with your balcony plants. Perhaps some herbs and simple vegetables? Good luck and enjoy!
I’m a travel junkie and miss travel the most during this pandemic so will be sure to drop by your blog. All the best!
Yes I think herbs could be the best way to start off. I miss travel too so much. Happy blogging 🙂
That is a beautiful garden! And how great you can use the items from your garden to cook and bake with. At our old house, I had vegetables like tomatoes and squash growing. Then one day I saw the dog pee in my garden and I thought, “huh. those are water-based vegetables….” There went my garden 🙂
Yah, no wonder those tomatoes had a funky taste to them! Hahaha. I’ll remind the hubby not to grow tomatoes. 😉
Yah, we’re so blessed with this garden. If we ever hear from the son again, I wanna be sure to ask him to pass our thanks to his now very old parents who worked on it.
And btw, I’m gonna try to do the reading to the cats activity this week. I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the inspiration! Have a good week!
Sure! Hope it works out! You too!
You are SO lucky to have all the plant life already established when you moved in! It took me years to get my yard and garden to where you are now. Keep enjoying all your hard work and stay safe! Thank you so much for sharing my recipe link. 💕
Thank YOU for the recipe. My hubby loved it and said the recipe is a keeper. 🙂
And yes, I feel so grateful and know how blessed we are to inherit the garden in this condition. It’s so important for me to acknowledge the previous family’s hard work. They did this over a lifetime.
One of the now-grown son gave us a hand drawn map showing us what plants to expect. We could just tell there was a lot of love in this home and we’re gonna try to do this family proud and build on their hard work over our own lifetime. 🙂
You’re welcome and I’m glad he liked it!!! ❤️