janestarz | Elderberry syrup and bunnies

Spring is officially nearly over and in the last throes of this season I decided to make elderberry syrup after all. I've been drinking a lot of lemonade made from bought syrup and not only is home-made syrup nicer, elderberries are rumoured to have all sorts of good qualities.

I remembered the lemons over at Lidl and bought a three-pack, and on the way home hoped to find some elderberry bushes. This is one of the plants that are still on my "I want this in my garden" list and one that should be ridiculously easy to fulfill -- except that most places don't sell elderberry shrubs. Bushes. Trees. Green, leafed things.

Luck was with me while I cycled down the Lovense Kanaaldijk towards home, a bag of potatoes for tonight's dinner in my bag. As I passed under the Gelrebaan, connecting the North industry zone to the city, I noticed an elderberry up on the fly-over. And a handy staircase leading right up to it!
I parked my bike, ran up the stairs and startled a handful of brown bunnies that were enjoying their afternoon silflay^*.

I picked a few last blooms of the elder, accidentally ripping half a branch off the shrub, and packed everything into the other bag on my bike. I was in luck: the blooms were very fragrant and pollen-filled while actually the season for elderberry blossoms is over. This particular plant already had many wilted flower umbrellas that will nourish us come September (because I now know where to find you, har, har, har.)

At home I cut up one of the lemons, cut the flowers from their stalks and added everything in one of the Anarquendor jars. The jar is now in the windowsill getting some sun and somewhere next week I'll run it through a sieve, boil it with sugar and I should end up with a lovely syrup. It's as simple as making tea, or near enough.

Of course, while reading some recipes for this on the internet I realised I should have an elderberry syrup from Ikea still in my pantry, but that won't go sour any time soon.

The ripped-off branch also found a good home: it's planted in a jar with rain water (because we've got plenty where that came from!) and I'm hoping to find a truth to the myth that elder is really easily reproduced from cut branches. If this proves to be true, I suppose we'll have a new shrub to go next to our raspberry!

Everything gets better with bunnies.
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*) Read Richard Adams' Watership Down and then we'll talk. Go on, I don't want to see you reading my blog until you're finished reading it. Literary barbarian.