Yesterday I told a story about our rhubarb thief in the golf cart from many years ago, and my resulting passive aggressive response. I’m not happy about that. Honestly, we very gladly and willingly give from our garden. It was the cutting of the stalks at the time that irked me more than anything. (pull your rhubarb people, don’t cut it!) I found this great video on youtube about how to harvest if you’re interested..
I had a conversation with one of my sisters last night, about open hands and closed fists. I’m not sure where the quote originated from.. but I found these 2 on line..
“We cannot sow seeds with clenched fists. To sow we must open our hands.”
“When you clench your fist, no one can put anything in your hand.”
When we hold on too tightly to things, we cannot receive.. and we can often crush/destroy those things that we hold on to the tightest. Jesus himself said “it is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35) .. and if you yourself are a giver.. you know exactly what He was talking about. If you’re not a giver.. you may never understand that until you open your hands and give – and find out the true blessing it is.
Honestly I don’t give in order to receive, but I’ve found it a really wonderful byproduct.
A year ago, we had to reallllly quickly move our veg/rhubarb garden for the construction on the back deck/patio. We gave away about half of our rhubarb plants at the time- and we moved the rest to a temporary dirt pile beside our fence, with the intentions of building a new raised bed dedicated to these wonderful vegetables that we treat as fruit…
Guillermo built the fabulous new bed this week, a little over a year later. (WOW, time flies!!!) A raised bed for our poor aging backs that suffer when bending to pull the delectable stalks.
Pic below, moving the old rhubarb patch April 2019.
In the past year since we moved the rhubarb one shovelful at a time, it’s more than doubled. We gave away half, and now we have double what we started out with! So today again I put a call out on Facebook.. first come first served.. and gave away 7 mounds of rhubarb plants.
One friend brought me grape hyacinths in return! (Thanks Helen!!!)
This year we’ve only been able to pull a tiny amount, enough to give a handful to my mom, and for one strawberry rhubarb crumble/crisp.
Recipe:crumble with big fork or pastry cutter:
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup Brown sugar
1 cup softened butter
1 cup whole wheat flour
Cinnamon to taste
Reserve about 1.5-2 cups of the crumble. Press down about 1/4 thick layer on bottom of greased 9×13 pan, and bake for 10 minutes in 350F oven.
cut up rhubarb & strawberries in a bowl – about 6-8 cups.. depending on how much fruit you want (more the better for me!!), cover with about 1/2 cup white sugar and 2 tbsp of corn starch and coat all the fruit. (i do this same recipe for blueberries, apples.. you name it.. adjust the cornstarch and sugar accordingly. (Add a tbsp lemon juice when doing apples/blueberries.)
after 10 minutes baking the crust, pull out of oven, top with fruit mixture and then the reserved crumble, and bake for 45 minutes. Let cool before slicing.
The rhubarb we’re keeping (for now) has been moved to it’s new bed, with room for 3 mounds of zucchini I planted beside it.
The first I heard about the concept of “clenched fist vs. open hand” was from a dear friend, Laura Schular many years ago.. and it was in regards to prayer.. we need to have our hands open rather than clasped when we pray in order for us to receive. Not that God is beyond the posture our hands are in.. but it really helps us to ready our hearts and minds when our posture is involved.