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Hi Reader,

What's blooming in your world? The only spring flower emoji was a tulip, which I hope you're able to enjoy, but I don't have any because the deer love them.😂 So once the daffodils are done (they never bother them), it's up to the creeping phlox to provide blooms - and do they ever:

They are so pretty spilling over the rock wall, aren't they? They bloom for almost two months and then are green the rest of the season.

Other than a lilac bush blooming and the catmint just starting to bloom that's it for our yard. But we're able to "borrow" the purple blooms in the hayfield next to our property:

They bloom every year in fields and ditches all around our county, but I've always just called them "bluebells" though I knew they didn't look either like the Texas bluebell (a Prairie Gentian) or a type of hyacinth or scilla. So I finally plucked one from the roadside and took a photo of it:

Then I used the small info button in my iPhone at the bottom of the photo to find out the name (it's a circle with a small "i" and if there are stars on the circle it means there is some info you can see). It's wild Camas! They grow all over the western Pacific Northwest so I should've known this. 😀 At least now I can stop calling them bluebells, lol.

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Preserving Ideas for Spring Produce

Strawberries ​How to freeze strawberries (+ my fav smoothie recipe)​ ​No cook freezer jam​ ​ ​

Peas ​How to freeze snap and snow peas (no blanching needed) ​

Cherries ​Honey sweetened cherry chutney​ ​How to dry cherries​ ​Honey Cherry BBQ Sauce (can or freeze)​ ​

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From The Blog

​The BEST Roasted Almonds Recipe - Perfectly Salted​ I've updated this popular recipe with cooking steps, tips, and larger photos. If you haven't tried this yet, you will be amazed at how much better they taste than store bought. ​ RECIPE HERE! ​

A Few More Things

​Gap Factory is having a 60% off sale and I bought a couple of spring-summer dresses, plus a clearance shirt (just $6.20 with the extra % off!). I pretty much wear flowy dresses all summer, as they are more flattering than shorts and a lot cooler. I got this linen blend midi dress in black and this all cotton midi dress in green. The sale runs through April 30th and the deals are so good that I wanted to mention it to you.

Brian and I are listening to this classic Pulitzer prize winning book and are really enjoying it so much! (Oddly, I got the audiobook on Audible probably a year ago and now it's not available anywhere...) Brian was skeptical at first thinking it was going to be a trite western but the characters and writing are so well done (hello, Pulitzer...). After we finish we're going to try to find the 1980s mini series to watch which I haven't seen since it first aired. 😀

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Here's to a beautiful week - thanks for hanging out with me!

PS- Remember to tag me on Instagram so I can see what you're making!

Remember it's easy to save recipes on An Oregon Cottage! Just click the heart when browsing to save your personal favorites! TIP: when you click on the link, it will take you to my site - click the heart like you see here to the left - it will be on the bottom right on the site. A pop up form will come up for you to create an account (or sign in if you already have). You need to create a password for this account (no info is kept besides your email) and then you can save all recipes and articles to this account and access it anytime to remember what you want and choose what to make!

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