A bit of Deutchland Sommer

The locals seem to love summer here, and who could blame them?  The weather is lovely!  With winter being so long and dark, Germans really squeeze every drop out of summer that they can.  Very much an “enjoy it while it lasts” mentality.  Part of that mentality is the garden.  Every where you look there is a riot of color spilling over the base of each window and every porch or balcony has planters brimming with blooms.

With the help and guidance of a friend I decided to try my hand at this gardening thing and I have been quite pleased with the fruits (or should I say “herbs”) of my labors.  I have a small plot of blue and white mixed flowers grown from seeds, and huge terracotta pot filled with red geraniums and petunias, two pots of lavender, and 4 potted herbs, which I have been using in my cooking nearly every day.  I feel like Martha Stewart over here!

I’m happy to say that despite my history with plants they are all doing quite well.  The morning and evening ritual of watering them is soothing and I’m always surprised at how many bees my little garden draws. It still needs a few touches here and there but I’m very happy with it!  I wanted to start on my back porch but it is getting late in the season, so I may just make plans for next year and get an earlier start.
Another wonderful thing about a German summer is the Erdbeeren or strawberries!  There are so many fields where you can go pick them yourself and pay by the kilo.  I got just under a kilo of erdbeeren for 4.50 EUR!  That translates to a little over 2 pounds of berries for about $6.  Well I had so many berries, and it’s been so hot, I made some ice cream.  Strawberry-Lavender ice cream and it turned out fantastic!  I had looked and looked for lavender gelato while we were in Italy to no avail, so I made it my damn self. 

If you’ve never had lavender gelato or ice cream, you should try it if you ever come across it.

Until next time friends, Tschüs!