Hi, everyone!
We’ve had a lot of rain lately! It started raining hard last Thursday and Sunday was the only dry day. On Saturday it was misty, but Grandma took me for another hike at Alasa Farms. This time, we hiked in the woods, not along Second Creek. It was drippy and soggy in the woods, so I stayed in my backpack! The trail went down into a gully and there was a stream there that nobody expected! I made a lot of mushroom friends on this log.
Once we crossed the stream and climbed out of the gully, the path continued on another old logging road. We saw a plant that nobody could identify. Do you know what it is? The leaves have a really interesting pattern of crinkles! After we hiked in the woods, we walked back next to a pasture and I made two new horse friends.
Guess what? The local strawberries are starting to get ripe now! We got some today for the first time this year. They’re my very favorite strawberries! I helped Grandma wash them and cut them up. Don’t they look nice? We put sugar on them and put them in the refrigerator so they would make some juice before dinnertime.
Grandma and I haven’t made a shortcake for strawberries since last summer, so I had to look up the recipe. I mixed the melted margarine and sugar. When Grandma put the dough on the baking sheet, I helped put on the topping. The topping looks really nice after the shortcake bakes!
I helped Grandma make real whipped cream to go with our strawberries and shortcake. After dinner we put everything together to have our first strawberry shortcake of the season. It was yummy!
Love,
Lion-san
PS Now I know what the plant is! It’s a plantain-leaved sedge (Carex plantaginea). My friend Emily from the Genesee Land Trust found out for me!
It has been very wet here too! It is still too early for strawberries yet, but you make us all hungry looking at one! It is always good to have mushroom friends, we saw the mushroom person (and got some fresh morels) and the goat cheese lady today at the market today. It is sunny today and the sun feels hot so we are sure that Nancy-san will go in swimming no matter how cold the rest of us are!