Holey Rhubarb!

Some really big leaves popped up in the lower level of one of my raised bed gardens this summer. I hadn't planted anything there. I assumed it was a weed. Things were so busy, I didn't bother pulling it.

My dear friend Sue from Mr. Micawber's Recipe for Happiness educated me. Once you have a rhubarb plant, you have rhubarb for life. That suits Lizard just fine; strawberry rhubarb pie is one of his favorite deserts.

I assume some critter planted the rhubarb for me, perhaps a bird, but I guess it could have been a racoon or squirrel. Whatever planted it didn't come back to eat it. We have had more than our fair share of grasshoppers this year, and they have stripped my salad greens to the stalks. Made a mess of a few peppers, too. I keep finding chew spots on the giant rhubarb leaves, and I assume they come from our ranch of grasshoppers. Perhaps that's helping keep the numbers less than what it could be. One leaf bite, and no more grasshopper...

The rhubarb is definitely a photogenic plant. I've read new leaves look like green brains. So I keep trying to get photos, but the leaves grow and spread out too fast. I think the stalks are beautiful when they turn red.

I finally worked up the courage to snip a few stalks. If I was still natural dyeing, those giant leaves likely would produce some wonderful spring shades on yarn. For now, I'm just composting them, but not for the vegetable garden.

I bought a big container of strawberries (because I've never been successful in growing my own), then chopped them and the rhubarb stalks. I put them in a glass casserole dish with about a quarter cup of agave syrup. I baked for 45 minutes.

Lizard enjoyed the jam-like concoction warm out of the oven with French vanilla ice cream. I also put some in our plain yogurt, and I froze the rest.

I had never tasted rhubarb. Now I'm as hooked as Lizard. I might even start buying rhubarb from the grocery store when I'm not growing my own!

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