Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

On By Daphne Cybele Van SchaickIn Home & Garden, The Birds & the Bees

Every spring when the rhubarb gets big enough to pick, I make a strawberry rhubarb pie, from scratch.   This is when I know that spring has really, truly, finally arrived. sliced strawberries IMG_3586

a pie in the making.... strawberries and rhubarb and butter and sugar
a pie in the making…. strawberries and rhubarb and butter and sugar and a crust with some more butter… a lot more butter…
strawberry rhubarb pie means it is finally spring
… a mere two sticks of butter in each pie, one pie for a neighbor and one pie for us.  I use the Joy of Cooking recipe for the filling, and a recipe from my mother for the crust…

I think I have some new fans of this spring-pie-from-scratch ritual; the chickens love to eat the strawberry hulls.  Do you recognize these guys without their baby chicken fluff? Mottled java hen eating strawberry hulls

mottled java flock eating strawberry hulls
Pie is fine by us! Keep it coming!  The Barred Rocks are eating their own pile of hulls outside the coop.
Mottled java rooster and hen, almost two months old
Mottled java rooster and hen, about two months old
mottled java rooster and hen on some rough rock steps
Coop door, a young roo, a hen, and my improvised rock steps

And, we have a fancy automatic door, with a built in daylight sensor, which shuts once dark, and opens in the morning.  Powered by a small solar panel on the south gable end of the coop.  The chickens are in the coop about 15 minutes before their automatic door shuts each night, settled on their roosts well before it gets dark.  I check on them after the door shuts, and haven’t run into a straggler yet.  I’m glad there’s no chicken wrangling involved, no chicken herding, no coaxing necessary.  The door does re-open, one minute after closing, for a ten second final all in for the night last chance.

mottled javas explore the outdoors
Small section of the fenced in chicken yard (more on the fence in another post).  The Barred Rocks are also doing well, and both breeds have been integrated into same coop. Those windows open in warm weather, with hardware cloth screening inside.
IMG_3612
A very old 5 gallon cast iron kettle near the coop door, now planted with hens and chicks sedum.

Happy spring to all.

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14 thoughts on “Strawberry Rhubarb Pie”

    1. Yes, yes, gave them watermelon rind this past weekend, definitely a hit! They were wary at first and them they caught on. Love that we can give them all the trimmings and ends from veggies and fruits, and weeds from the garden.

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      1. debc

        It was! I’ve never made jam before, so I was so happy that it gelled right and tasted so good. I was afraid I’ve have 19 jars of syrup! Not that strawberry-rhubarb syrup wouldn’t have tasted just as good, but you can’t put that on toast.

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      2. Yes I have made jam a couple of times and remember it being syrupy in the jars at first, and worrying it wouldn’t gel (thankfully it did). You’ll probably have enough jam to go through the winter!

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  6. smfarm

    I’m envious of your rhubarb, it doesn’t grow well here. But my mom freezes plenty for us from her Iowa garden. I love plain old rhubarb crisp.

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