Since being off-pond nearly three weeks, I’m hungry. Hungry for the view of the pond from my apple tree, hungry for the first fruits of my garden, hungry for writing.

Yet, I’ve been filled. Filled with the love a Mum has for her children no matter how old they are or what they are doing. It’s easy to say I’m proud of them when they’re making terrific leaps in life. But I’ve also been here long enough to understand that they struggle, too. We all do.

Life is like a rhubarb season. Rhubarb grows where planted, but comes into fruitfulness slowly, within it’s own timing. Rhubarb has amazing fruit, but toxic leaves. Life is like that, too–the good intertwines with the bad.

So we bake cake! Another metaphor for life–make something tasty out of it.

Rhubarb Snack Cake

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups fresh rhubarb stalks

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. If you have a Kitchen Aid like I do (and yes, I brought it with me when I drove over to Montana) just toss all the ingredients except the rhubarb into the mixer and mix until creamy and smooth. That’s the easy buckaroo way. My son-in-law is a talented baker and would first cream the butter, then add the sugar, wet ingredients and finally the dry ingredients. But we both agree on folding the chopped rhubarb in at the last. Pour the mixture into a 9” x 13” baking pan and bake for about 45 minutes. Give it the finger-press-test: gently press a fingertip to the middle of the cake. If it leaves no indentation, then it is done. Set on a rack to cool.

The following is a snack cake (no frosting needed). Easy, tasty and fulfilling!