Bamboo is not for the faint of heart.

Spring cleaning of the Bamboo Garden - should be easy right? It's just a grass, so it should not take more than an hour, right? Wrong in the extreme! Yes, it's a grass, but, left on it's own for even one year, it can make a solid mass of tangled branches twenty five feet tall. After mowing the grass, my husband and I went to the bamboo garden to do some cleanup that we thought would easily be done in one hour. That's not what happened. In fact, it took at least 3 hours for both of us. It required me getting on a ladder and climbing onto the roof, where I hung out, leaning over the edge, for 3 hours, often until my arms and back were wracked by spasms. At times the bamboo trimmings were so thick we could hardly see each other though we were less than 3 feet apart. It took every yard waste can we have, eight in all, stuffed full, with one of them approaching the 75 pound limit that the trash collectors will agree to lift. It took at least an hour to get them into the cans, and of course the tools were not sharp enough to cut through the bamboo which had grown tough, so in many cases, it took numerous strokes to cut them. And let's not even talk about how my back feels after all those hours of bending, cutting, and lifting. The yard waste cans clogged the alley where we hold the trash until collection day. Moving the cans to the street required wearing gloves and long sleeve shirts, but still we have lots of scratches and cuts on our arms. So why do we bother? Well, for one thing, if we don't the bamboo will overtake us, and that is something we will have to confront every year, which becomes more frightening as we are now in our sixties. At times like this we regret putting bamboo in our garden. But then, we sit down in our plum garden, and watch the bamboo that is still left moving freely in the breeze, each culm swaying gracefully and unencumbered by its neighbor. Gone are the dead, dried out and tangled branches. From the dining room, we can see the sky through the bamboo and the arbor that provides support to the bamboo. We know that the bamboo is no longer draping over the chimney, ready at any moment to turn into a torch to destroy the home we have so lovingly created. Bamboo is not for the faint of heart, or for those who want low maintenance gardens. I insist on low maintenance. This was my ONE breach of that principle, and I hope it was my last. Do I love the bamboo? Yes! But I hate it too. Such is life with bamboo.

Persimmon Pie Recipe

Persimmon Pie Recipe from the Kitchen of Ilene Holmes Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Dry Ingredients: 2 c All-Purpose flour 1 c Sugar 1 tsp Baking Powder 1 tsp Cinnamon ½ tsp Allspice ½ tsp Salt ¼ tsp Ground Nutmeg Mix dry ingredients well, with a whisk, in a large mixing bowl. Wet Ingredients: 2 c Persimmon Pulp 2/3 c Whole milk 2 Large Eggs 2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract Pour persimmon pulp into a medium mixing bowl. Pour 2/3 cup whole milk into a 2 cup measuring cup. Add 2 eggs and vanilla extract to the measuring cup. Using another (dry) whisk, mix it together well, then pour it into the persimmon pulp and whisk it again until well blended. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients in the large mixing bowl slowly, while turning the bowl and whisking all the ingredients together until all are well integrated. Pour the batter into a prepared graham cracker crust. Place in center of oven. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Center will rise and then fall when the pie is taken out of the oven. Test the pie by inserting a tester into the center and then feeling the tester with your fingers. If it is sticky, and not wet, it is ready to take out. Cool it before serving. Some people like it a little bit warm, when the pie is still light and fluffy. After it has cooled thoroughly, it will become stiffer and more compressed. Garnish with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg. If you prefer to eat it as 2 inch bars, make 2 graham cracker crusts, press the crust into a sturdy 12X17 cookie sheet with sides about 1 inch tall and bake for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Cool the crust while mixing the batter. Double the batter recipe and pour the batter into the crust on the cookie sheet. Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool thoroughly in refrigerator then cut into 2” squares. It will yield about 48 squares. You can use a quilter’s ruler to cut the squares evenly.