a heaving black mass and sour cream chive scones

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 cityhippyfarmgirl

cityhippyfarmgirl

I watched the heaving black mass for a minute. Shuddered a little and averted my eyes, hoping I’d imagined it as I slowly turned back.

Alas, no. There they still were, running the chive gauntlet, acting all busy like. Busy with what you say? Sucking the life out of my chives it seems.

My tiny potted permaculture garden had been doing reasonably well, condsidering all the growing conditions. At a distance everything looked pretty healthy and well tended. Up close, it was a little different though. The mint was munched, the lemon balm looked a touch fried and the chives well…were a black heaving mass. A black heaving mass of which I wanted no part of.

I noticed them, I observed them, I squished them between my fingers, I thinned the chive cluster out a little, I squirted high powered water on them. They seemed to love every second of their well tended honeymoon and bred like bloody aphids. I watched a little more, the ants below ‘farmed’ them, making sure they were ok, feeling loved and nurtured. No more, I muttered, it’s you or me… and quite frankly, well it really has to be you.

I pulled them all out, bar a few sad loners that the aphids weren’t partying on yet. My perfectly balanced permaculture pot was now looking a little unbalanced. But at least the black heaving mass was disrupted and I could once again think about eating chives without wrinkling my nose and furrowing my brow.

sour cream and chive scones

Sour cream and Chive Scones

250g sour cream

250mls water

one large handful of finely chopped chives, (optional black aphids)

1 tsp salt

whisk these ingredients together in a large bowl and then add

2.5-3 cups self raising flour (375-450g)*

mix through with a butter knife

tip out on to a lightly floured bench top and knead quickly with finger tips, pulling it together to a light dough.

Cut shapes, onto a tray and bake at 220 for approximately 20 minutes (depends on their thickness.)

25 thoughts on “a heaving black mass and sour cream chive scones”

  1. These look delicious Brydie (the scones, not the aphids). My chives are, at present, aphid free, so I just might give them a go! The good thing about chives is that they will always grow back. My lemon balm is self seeding in the cracks between the brick pavers after looking a bit sad last summer, and my neat courtyard herb garden is starting to take on a slightly untamed, permacultured look. Lemon balm scones, perhaps? x

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    • “my neat courtyard herb garden is starting to take on a slightly untamed, permacultured look”… I love everything about that sentence, (I also love seeing things pop up in unlikely places like between brick pavers, I hopefully mine will bounce back.)

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      • I use it medicinally… the aerial parts are used. The leaves are crushed and can be used to stop bleeding. You apply them as a poultice. This is a civil war medicine. Yarrow is edible, but it is a bit bitter. The flowers are used as a cold medicine. Yarrow has the same active constituent as Chamomile (they are in the same ragweed family… so if you are allergic to Ragweed do not ingest either) both have azulene (Chamomile more so than Yarrow). Yarrow will help in the reducing the production of mucus in the nasal cavity. Oh on a side note about aphids, read my post on “Learning to Love Gardening”

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  5. Don’t worry Brydie, the aphids will add protein 🙂 Just grind in some black pepper and you won’t notice them at all! My poor eggplants and tomatoes got terribly frost burnt this week with minus 2, but tomorrow it will be 32, so they’ll probably get sunburn 😦

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    • The weather is so up and down at the moment isn’t it, your way would be even more so than here.
      Aphids for extra protein eh? I wonder if they would have a taste. When you squish them they leave a purple mark, maybe they could be used like the cochineal beetle? 🙂

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