A Red, White, and Blueberry Holiday

A Red, White, and Blueberry Holiday

    Happy Independence Day!  One of my favorite holidays has arrived.  Come to farmers market to buy all of your party food needs.  Our meat vendors can supply a wide range of products for the grill from hamburgers and hot dogs to chicken breasts and pork chops.  Green beans and sweet corn would make nice side dishes.

    For days now, I have been entertaining myself while I am working by singing all of the old patriotic tunes that I learned in elementary school.  If you were to happen upon me in the field you might catch me in the midst of a lively version of “You’re a Grand Old Flag” or “I’m a Yankee Doodle Dandy.”  These songs make me happy and I’m not ashamed to admit it. 

            According to the old saying, corn is supposed to be “knee high by the Fourth of July”.  With today’s modern, high-yielding corn varieties, corn that is only knee high by the Fourth of July seems to be behind schedule.  Much of the corn I see right now is almost shoulder high.  Perhaps we need to change the saying to be more accurate in our modern agricultural era.  “Thigh high by the Fourth of July” would be a more appropriate description for most fields.

            Last week I was asking for rain and I certainly had my wish granted.  Unfortunately, I figured out that my rain gauge leaks if it is filled past a half inch, so until I remember to buy a new one, I have no idea how much rain we have actually received.  Suffice it to say it has been a lot.  It has made some tasks difficult to accomplish because the field is so saturated. 

It is interesting how spotty and isolated the rain has been.  For example, I was on the north end of town the other day and the store clerks said I just missed a storm which brought down a lot of rain plus large hail.  When I got back to my place on the south end, not a drop of rain had fallen.  Luckily, there has been no repeat of last year’s deracho, which occurred on June 30^th.  I remember last year several of my friends had not gotten power restored by the Fourth of July so they all gathered at my house for the day.

I have spent the last couple of days with a bunch of kids, all under the age of nine.  I must still be a kid at heart because I have to admit that I was silently bummed when there weren’t enough sparklers for me to have one without shorting a child.  I may have to buy a box of sparklers just for myself.  Here is a fun summer recipe that would be good to serve to a group of children. (www.spoonful.com)

Red, White, & Blueberry Freeze Pops

• 10 (5-oz.) plastic or paper cups
• 1 quart raspberry juice
• 10 Popsicle sticks
• 1 pint frozen vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup fresh blueberries

    Assemble the cups on a cookie tray. Pour an inch of raspberry juice into each cup, then place the tray in the freezer. When the juice is partially frozen, set a Popsicle stick in the center of each cup and let the juice freeze solid. Pour 1 cup of water into a blender. Add 4 large scoops of frozen vanilla yogurt and blend until smooth. Pour an inch of the vanilla mix on top of the frozen raspberry juice layer in each cup and freeze again. Once the vanilla layer sets, blend 1 cup of water, the blueberries and a large scoop of frozen vanilla yogurt. Spoon the blueberry mix into the cups. Freeze overnight. To serve, dip each cup into a bowl of warm water for an instant. The pop should slide out easily. Serves 10.