Lancaster County Rhubarb And Pennies In Progress...


Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is known for good cooking.
Rhubarb is grown on many of the farms in our area.
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie and Rhubarb Sauce are common foods here.

I was raised on Rhubarb, pulled fresh from the garden.
We often had Rhubarb Sauce as a dessert or snack in the evening.




The Humble Rhubarb Plant...
at first glance there isn't much to it.
It has large leaves and grows in a mound.
In fact it likes to be planted on a mound, because it doesn't like "wet feet".

(The plant is an "ornamental" and can easily grow 2 ft. high by 3 feet wide.  
I have mine planted throughout my gardens.)



The "gold' is the red stalks.
Is Rhubarb a fruit or is it a vegetable ??  I have read both.  
In the USA it is more common to call it a fruit.
When harvesting Rhubarb, you want to firmly pull the stalk.  
Don't use a knife or scissor to cut the stalk, 
because it invites disease into the crown of the plant. 

Our family recipe...

Orange Rhubarb Sauce


10-13 Rhubarb stalks, trimmed and washed.


Cut Rhubarb into 1 inch pieces.
Place in a large pan.
Add 2 Cups water and simmer until soft.


Rhubarb will break apart and look like above picture when ready.


Add one 3 ounce package of orange jello and 1/4 Cup of Sugar.  
Stir until dissolved.
Add 2 large cans of Mandarin oranges that have been drained.


Sweet and mildly tart, "old fashioned" goodness !
(Instead of oranges, you can substitute 
strawberry jello and halved strawberries.)



Pennies In Progress...



Continuing to blanket stitch the wool pennies on my sheep...




This is one of those projects that fits perfectly "between" projects !  
Easy to pick up and put down.




Not much more to go...

Colorfully stitching along...
Rose




6 comments:

  1. My grandfather used to grow rhubarb and made rhubarb pie. I don't recall ever eating any rhubarb as a child but did have rhubarb soup on and Iceland ship once as an adult. I enjoyed it but it was different.

    Pennies are looking nice and orderly with perfectly distanced stitches.

    Saundra

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  2. The pennies look like a fun project....perfect for busy people. Thanks for the recipe.

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  3. I love your pennies. In fact it makes me want to get out some wool and just play around so I can sit and sew that stitch. I love sewing that blanket stitch more than anything. I love Rhubarb. It is too hot here for it so mine grows under a bench with shade cloth all around it. This summer has been really hard on it. I would love to be able to plant it in my garden like you do. Yours is just beautiful.

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  4. Good afternoon Rose,
    Oh my goodness you posted about one of my favorite things...Rhubarb.
    I planted a shoot from my grandfathers original plant - it has to be 70 years old and could be more - it doesn't like where I planted it because there a Black Walnut tree not 20 feet from it in a neighbors yard...and BW trees are very poisonous to Rhubarb.
    I must find a good spot for it but we don't have much sun - that was about it.
    So anyway...I get enough off of it each year to make a batch of sauce (which I grew up on as a dessert) and 2 delicious Rhubarb cakes (recipe is on my blog in the Recipe tab).
    Oh I love Rhubarb...lol
    Great pennies!!!

    Blessings,
    Karen

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  5. Your post on rhubarb reminds me of my grandfather (raised Mennonite on a farm in York Co.). He was a fan of rhubarb as I'm sure they grew it on the farm. Me, not so much. I just couldn't develop a taste for it.

    I so enjoy looking at your pennies. The simplicity of their design and the neatness of your stitches is eye candy for me.

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  6. I just love your fun and colorful penny sheep!

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