Flowers and Rhubarb for Mother’s Day

            Last week kicked off the 2012 season of the Zanesville Farmers’ Market, which is held on Saturday mornings from 9:00am to Noon at the Muskingum County Fairgrounds.  Judging from all of the smiling faces, it was a happy and friendly crowd.  Vendors and customers alike were glad to return to the place that will be part of their Saturday routine for the next six months.

            Don’t forget—this Sunday, May 13^th is Mother’s Day and Farmer’s Market is the perfect place to shop for a gift.  A wide selection of flowers is available—flats of annuals to plant in her beds, vegetable plants if she has a garden, hanging baskets to dress up the porch, or pots of perennial flowers that she can enjoy year after year, are some of things you can find to make your mother feel special.  If you buy her flowers, I hope you will take the time to help her plant them as well.  That will mean more than the plants themselves.  If your mother does not have a green thumb, I bet she won’t refuse a pie that she didn’t have to bake herself, some good cheese, or a handmade craft item.  Our market has a lot of variety.

            If you think about it, there are very few vegetables that are perennial in our climate.  Things such as tomatoes and peppers, perennial in their native tropical environments, are killed by our freezing winter temperatures, and here they must be replanted every year as annuals.  Asparagus is a good example of one vegetable that is a perennial in our region.  Another plant that is technically a vegetable, although not always thought of as such, is rhubarb.  Rhubarb is also a perennial, coming back year after year in the early spring.  It seems like everyone’s grandmother used to have a rhubarb patch out in the backyard.  Based on the number of requests we get at market for rhubarb and from the way it flew off the vendors tables last week, it seems that many of these old-time patches have gone by the wayside. 

            One rhubarb plant needs about one square yard of space to grow, but even just one plant would probably provide your family with plenty of rhubarb each season.  I think we should renew the popularity of rhubarb, that old-time favorite, by increasing the number of back yard rhubarb patches.  Here is a yummy rhubarb recipe from “The Joy of Rhubarb” by Theresa Millang.  Give your mom a great reminder of “the good old days” by making this treat for her on Sunday.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Cobbler

Filling:

1 ¼ cups granulated sugar

3 Tblsp. All-purpose flour

1 ¼ tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp. finely shredded lemon rind

6 cups fresh rhubarb, diced

3 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Topping:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

3 Tblsp. Granulated sugar

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

3 Tblsp. cold butter or margarine

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400º.  Filling:  Mix sugar, flour, and cinnamon in large bowl.  Add lemon rind, rhubarb, and strawberries; gently toss until coated.  Drizzle top with vanilla.  Pour mixture into greased 13x9” baking dish.  Bake 10 min.  Topping:  Mix first five topping ingredients in a large bowl.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles pea size.  Stir in buttermilk with a fork just until a soft dough is formed.  Drop dough by the tablespoonfuls on top of hot fruit mixture, creating 12 portions.  Continue baking at 400º until topping is puffed and browned about 25 min.  Let stand 10 min. before serving.  Serve warm with strawberry ice cream.