Butterflies in the Summer Garden

Butterflies may be one of the least effective pollinators, but they sure are the prettiest.  Within the last two weeks, the gaudiest members of the butterfly family have been active in my little neck of the woods.  The swallowtails have been out in force, reminding me of God's generosity - a gift to be treasured.  There's an area where I work that is planted with masses of garden phlox and mealy cup sage, and it's simply alive with butterflies, especially swallowtails, and a host of other happy pollinators. This area is known as the healing garden and was created in memory of a little girl who tragically left this earth too soon.  Could there be a more fitting symbol of transformation, rebirth and resurrection than a butterfly?  What a gentle reminder of God's amazing grace.

Black form of a female eastern tiger swallowtail

  Obviously swallowtails are my favorite as I continually mention them, but who would disagree?  I love trying to photograph them and watching their unique personalities emerge.  The eastern tiger swallowtail nectars deliberately, opening it's wings slowly and keeping them wide as it investigates each individual flower.  The spicebush and pipevine swallowtails move at a faster pace making it somewhat hard to get a good photo and even harder to tell them apart.  My colleague Greg gave me a great clue the other day: spicebush are extra spicy and therefore have two rows of orange spots underneath their lower wings while pipevine swallowtail only have one row of spots.  The giant swallowtail greedily gulps nectar, fluttering its wings so rapidly as it flits from one flower to the next it hardly sits still long enough for a decent picture.  The zebra swallowtail is so elusive that I'm not sure if it nectars at all as I seem to only find them hovering over flowers almost if they are absorbing nectar rather than sipping it.

Eastern tiger swallowtail nectaring on garden phlox

Attracting butterflies is a snap.  Plant nectar plants in large groups or sweeps, in plenty of sunshine, to catch the eye of a fluttering butterfly.  Nix the pesticides - including organic ones - as butterflies and caterpillars are quite sensitive.  Provide puddling areas with dampened sand, and provide shallow dishes of rotten fruit.  And by golly, provide host plants for larvae - caterpillars prove to be picky little creatures who host on quite specific plant species.  Swallowtail larvae are no different, and each of the different species has it's own particular diet.

Eastern black swallowtail caterpillar munching on fennel

Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.

~Nathaniel Hawthorn

 

The rapid fluttering of a giant swallotail

Pipevine swallowtail on Peter's Purple bee balm

The zebra swallowtail seems to say "Catch me if you can!"

Zebra swallowtail puddling on sand at an east Texas lake

Cowboy Crack - aka Cowboy Candy

     We can sure grow some jalapenos here in the South.  Some peppers like Italian frying and poblanos give us fits in our climate, but jalapenos are a piece of cake.  And when you have a husband that looooves spicy food, you tend to grow more than a few spicy peppers and subsequently have more peppers than you know what to do with!  

     So you get a little creative with what you do with peppers.  There are the obvious things like salsa and grilled stuffed jalapenos, but then there are things that are a bit more involved like pepper jelly or candied jalapenos.  I learned how to can because of a bumper crop of hot jalapeno peppers.  And I can't begin to tell you how ADDICTIVE hearing the first "POP" of successfull canning can be!  I now have a canning addiction and peppers are soooo easy to work with.  Well, except for the intense burning sensation left behind from working with capsicum-charged fruits.  (Yes, peppers are fruits.)  Oh, and we shouldn't forget the wonderful nasal and occipital burn that occurs with cooking vast amounts of capsicum filled pods!  Oh.  And the sensation that occurs when you forget to wear gloves and forget to wash your hands before touching things like yours eyes or your....

     One of the drawbacks to making Cowboy Candy is that it takes a mountain of sliced jalapenos to make a scant 4-6 half pint jars.   And, there's always leftover syrup that seems like such a waste - except that when you are in the throws of cooking the jalapenos in the syrup, it never seems like it'll all fit together.  I can the extra syrup to use as a meat marinade, but I've yet been brave enough to try it.  I suspect that it's just the thing a pork tenderloin needs to be fabulous.  

     I'm always looking for an easier way to accomplish tedious tasks - like slicing 3 1/2 pounds of skin burning jalapenos.  So I cheat and used a good quality food processor and make 7 pounds of (nearly) perfect jalapeno slices in no time at all.  I made a double batch of Cowboy Candy which fit perfectly in my canner.  I actually slice more than the recipe calls for and still had enough syrup for 4 half pints.  I'm just going with it and calling it Sassy Sauce.  

     I'll share the recipe, but I won't drag it out step by step - something I loathe with some bloggers.  If you are not an experienced canner, PLEASE invest some time researching canning and food saftey.  Ball offers some wonderful online resources at www.freshpreserving.com - be safe with your canning and do your homework!

Cowboy Candy

Yields: 4 half pins 

Prepare canner and jars

3 pounds firm, fresh jalapenos, washed and sliced into 1/4 inch slices

2 c cider vinegar

6 cups white granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

3 teaspoons granulatd garlic

1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper

In a large saucepan, bring all ingredients except peppers to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce heat and simmer roughly 5 minutes.  Add peppers and simmer exactly 4 minutes.  Using a sloted spoon, ladle peppers into hot jars leaving 1/4" headspace.  Turn heat up on syrup and bring to a rolling boil.  Boil hard for 6 minutes, then ladle into jars leaving 1/4" headspace.  Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if necessary.  Wipe rims down with a paper towel moistened with white vinegar.  (I use a paper towel wetted with hot water and then dry rims with a clean paper towel.)  Center lids and tighten bands to fingertip tight.  Place jars in canner and process in boiling water for 10 minutes for half pints.  Turn off heat, remove lid from canner and let jars sit another 5 minutes.  Remove jars to a quiet resting place. Refrigerate any jars that don't seal.  Let jars mellow at least a month for the best flavor.  This is a great idea for late summer canning to save for Christmas gifts - if you can stand to let them go!