Quick and Easy Rhubarb Cake: From the Recipe Box

Rhubarb is one of those plants I think everyone has grown up with. It is actually a vegetable. I have heard stories of friends going out in the garden and just pulling the stalks and eating them raw. I always waited until somebody like Mom or Grandma put it in a dessert or sauce of some kind. Today I harvested my first crop of rhubarb of the season.Now that I raise rhubarb I have collected quite a few recipes. I always make strawberry rhubarb jam later when the strawberries are ripe. I also like rhubarb better baked in a recipe with another companion fruit. Peaches, mandarin oranges, and again strawberries come to mind. The recipe below lists strawberry jello, but another recipe had raspberry. You can experiment. This cake is quick, easy, and delicious. I will post other rhubarb recipes as spring turns to summer. Enjoy!

Quick and Easy Rhubarb Cake

Ingredients:
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
4 cups rhubarb, chopped
1 (3 ounce) package strawberry flavored gelatin mix
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Line the bottom of one ungreased 9x13 inch baking pan with the diced rhubarb. Sprinkle the white sugar over the top. Then sprinkle the gelatin over the top of the sugar. Next sprinkle the cake mix over the top of the gelatin.
Melt the butter or margarine and pour it over the top of the cake mix. Pour the water over the top of the cake.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes.
If you are using frozen rhubarb reduce the amount of water used to 1/2 cup. It can be served warm with frozen yogurt, ice cream, or whipped cream.

Spring Bouquet #5: Shades of PInk and Purple

" Simplicity is the essence of happiness." Cedric Bledsoe

Another Lake Roosevelt Gem: St. Paul's Mission

As you leave Ferry county where I live and cross the bride over Lake Roosevelt into Stevens County, you find St. Paul's Mission. It is on a road behind a historical museum close to the lake. St. Paul's was a Jesuit mission church established near the Hudson's Bay Company's Fort Colville, on the bluff overlooking the Columbia River. When you stand on the bluff behind the mission you can see where the Native Americans fished before Grand Coulee Dam was built and the Columbia River became Lake Roosevelt. Here is a stanza of a poem by Ronald Webster that captures this place :

" founded by Jesuit blackrobes

in 1845

in a silent landmark of search

rising up as if Saint Ignatius

and Saint Paul were the only two

visitors in sight; I'm alone,

alone with these two visitors

unseen; Saint Paul's mission

church stands twenty yards

away, inside this aloneness.

An empty church.

An empty church whose stillness

is aloneness spreading out into

pine trees toward the river."

This is a peaceful place to visit. I have brought students here for field trips and a few weeks ago we took the drive behind the museum to take in the natural setting of the mission. It is worth the trip to northeastern Washington to visit this historical site.

A Garden Tour After Ten Years: A Labor of Love

It was ten years ago this month that I got serious about landscaping my land. I went to classes, read gardening books, and listened to advice from my mother. I watched "Gardening Naturally", "Gardening by the Yard", and "The Victory Garden." I took pictures today from different gardens bordering the house. Here is a visual tour after ten years, lots of manure, much trial and error, and hours and hours of time spent at this labor of love. "In search of my mother's garden I found my own." Alice Walker

National Day of Prayer

"The National Day of Prayer is a day designated by the United States Congress as a day when all Americans regardless of faith are asked to come together and pray in their own way. It is held on the first Thursday in May. "
I received this plaque with this lovely prayer from my husband right after we were married. It has hung by my desk with the beautiful words and flowers ever since. It is a reminder of the blessings that surround my life.

A Gem on Lake Roosevelt: Sherman Creek Orchard

One of the treasures in my area is Sherman Creek Orchard. I was amazed when I moved to this location that it was warm enough to have fruit orchards. Located down both sides of Lake Roosevelt from Kettle Falls are a variety of orchards. The longer growing season along this "banana belt" makes for perfect conditions for cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, apples, plums, and pears. One day last week the cherry trees were still bare, but Saturday when I returned home I saw that part of the orchard in bloom. As each variety of fruit blooms, the orchard evolves into a different look each week.

Sherman Creek Orchard is family owned and operated. Their sign advertises the orchard, but throughout the fruit harvests wood signs advertising the fruit available hang in view of motorists passing by. If you arrive to get fruit when the family is out working in the field, they leave the warehouse door open with a sign that says "put your money in the drawer". I love the trust and community spirit in my area. The Robinsons also host a gathering each fall to celebrate the end of the harvest. Last year Rich even made homemade cider! He also provides apples for the Marcus Cider Fest, which is an annual event in a small town north of Kettle Falls.

The fruit is reasonably priced, and he stores and sells apples all year as long as they stay fresh. When the trees are pruned he offers fruit wood to area hunters that smoke wild meat. Rich also made a deal with our school to provide fruit. A staff member stops every Sunday and picks up fruit to hand out each day for lunch. The students love the locally grown pears and apples.

I will provide other posts on the Gem of Lake Roosevelt as the growing season continues. Right now I am just going to enjoy the blooming trees, but dream of juicy peaches and crisp apples.