In Search of Spring

Dodecathon aka 'Shooting Star'

Springtime is officially here with arrival of the Pacific Tree Frogs. These are the ones that I've always heard on TV or to those of you familiar with the song "Down of the Farm' by Little Feat-they say....RIBBIT!

This is our first Spring here in the Pacific Northwest, and being plant and nature enthusiasts, we are both naturally excited to see what's right here growing on our 14 acres of wooded meadow. We moved here in August and California is not called the Golden State for it's gold, which is what I had always assumed...nope, it's the color of the land most of the year. . Cali is world renowned for it's wildflowers and The Sierra Nevada and central foothills have the largest concentration, due to it's many elevations and micro climates. 


I got a real taste of this when I wen to Mt. Shasta last Sept. with my daughters, camping. The alpines are simply luscious! I cannot wait to return and see what Spring is like at Shasta. What a real blessing that it's only an hour away!

Panther Meadows

Alpine Scabiosa aka Pin Cushion flower-perhaps?

Not identified. Looks somewhat succulent in nature.

Pasque-love these things!

Pasque flower in seed- My hike part-way up Mt. Shasta.

Onamentals

Went to a Succulent Society Meeting in Sacramento this week. I'm still kicking myself around for forgetting to grab my camera-the drive was so beautiful with Almond groves in full bloom right now. We drove all around marveling at the landscaping and admiring the Camila trees have to be my favorite. I simply must have a red and dark pink one! John, loves the palms, and he did spy his beloved tree ferns growing down there, so I'm sure that's going on our wish list as well... We had a few hours to kill, so we also strolled around a garden center and I picked up a new Abutilon. I adore Abutilon, and did not bring any along during our move as they are such thirsty things, but since they are hardy here, I will not be able to resist collecting them, I'm sure... I also picked up a Hardenbergia-a sweet little purple vine.  I'll need to create as much shade as possible up here and my answer is quick growing vines.

Close-uo of  'Chalo'

Abitilon 'Chalo'

Hardenbergia

The meeting was so inspiring...a member, Mark, showed a movie he shot on a tour a few of the group went on down in Peru. This was well put together set to Peruvian music and his sense of humor made for a very enjoyable hour. Mark is also a potter and he brought his collection to sell. I've been needing a bit of inspiration to get me going on new pot styles, so this was a truly inspiring meeting.

On another note-my Kaffir lime put out only one bloom this year, compared to about 6  last year, but considering the plant stress this year, I'm thankful.  I was able to come up with enough seeds from about 6 limes for a flat of 72 seedlings, so I'm anxious to see how many I come up with.. The nice thing about the Kaffir, is that the leaves are used in cooking and not the fruit.  I love this little tree I picked several years ago and covet these leaves dearly for my Thai dishes.

The Loquat seeds that I brought back from Maui last Winter all came up and really putting on some new growth. I love the flavor of the Loquat and it puts out such mega amounts of fruit.

Loquat

Screaming Cows

We live in cattle country. Everyone on this large ranch (couple thousand acres?) is expected to fence in their acreage and cowgirl up-well...we don't have the $ to do this at this point and sooooo we are homesteading with free ranging cows until May. They get released in December to graze, and breed in March, then they leave come May.  This year we are in drought right now and these poor cows are in rough shape..ribs and haunches sticking out. Breaks my heart to see the Mama's with babies so undernourshed. They should be supplemented with hay brought in every few days until the grass is under way. What kind of people are these any way? I do not understand ranchers and the cattle/meat industry in the least, and this is just wrong. When animals become business that's where compassion is lost.

So.... we've got one out of three hearding dogs that have the instinct to move the cows out of our area. Out two bearded collies come from show people stock and max the shepherd is all about sticks, but they are catching on.... They keep bringing the cows back to our area because we have a pond and our grass is a bit higher as we are on higher ground. With the new cows screaming all night long-well, they are actually mooing very loudly, but in the middle of the night it sounds like screaming to me-plus I can hear them chomping and eating and I'm worried they are all over my gardens and newly landscaped projects. Being the light sleeper that I am, I got little sleep last night and I'm a bit cranky. The good news is I was able to maneuver a large group of the cows back down the road and over near the neighbors that  invited the ranchers up our hill.. They have a pond too and I'm sure our grass is not any longer or sweeter! If the dogs don't catch on soon, I'll be on the lookout for a rescue Border Collie or Kelpie that's trapped in someone's house without a job to do and driving them nuts!

Chocolate Sun Cookies

Got an fairy good opportunity to try out my new oven. Although the sky was clear when I boiled the sudsy water to clean the interior before using (recommended), The sky became a bit hazy during the cookie baking, so this batch took a few hours to bake, with temps moving anywhere between 350-200 degrees.

Sun Oven loaded with cookies 

33 cookies in one batch- I was impressed how well this worked on parchment paper instead and on three stacked racks

mmmmmm baked to chewy crunch~   Definately worth the several hour wait!!

My recipe for Vegan Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from choc chop recipe in The Joy of Vegan Baking
4 1/2 tsp. Ener G frothed with 6 TBS water
1 c. Earth Balance
1 1/2 cup  Florida Chrystals
2 TBS Vanilla paste
2 1/4 c. flour
1 TBS
1 tsp salt

I will be purging gluten from our diet, so things are going to become a bit more challenging very soon...thanks (or no thanks, maybe;) to an in depth article on wheat and gluten in The Huffington Post rececently. We've known about these problems, but after reading the article that John so carefully printed off, stapled and put on my laptop for me to read, I am also convinced it's the right thing for us to discontinue.
 ARGH!! just after I found the secret to making my Seitan such a perfect texture!!



Today if the sky is clear, I will make some cornbread. Another thing I do not make often as we stay fairly clear of corn due to it's gmo issues, but hey, we're celebrating here for awhile, now that I have the ability to bake. I've been without an oven for the past 6 months, except of course for the cob, so I've loving this solar oven just fine right now.....

Jute Rug
Started crocheting this last weekend with jute I've been picking up over the years at resale shops and yard sales. It's 36" now but hope the jute hold out for at least another foot in diameter.
I've got a sweater started too, but this might have to come first for now....

The sun oven has arrived!

Looking forward to doing a little baking using sun power.
This is the Global Sun Oven made right here in the USA.
It supposedly can reach temps of 400 degrees. I can also use this to dehydrate with using the stacking racks they threw in.
Sweet! Literally. Tomorrow I try chocolate chip cookies. Mmmmm can hardly wait!

Berries!

I attended a berry pruning class at our local garden center, and learned quite more about Highbush Blueberries, Blackberries, which I purchase and sit waiting to be planted. This area is the place to plant these two types of berries, so I got several varieties of each. The Highbush get's quite tall, so I'm happy to used them in and around the yurt as part of my planned permaculture planting system. I also purchased a miniature peach and nectarine as well as three types of seedless grapes for raisins and a Back Mission Fig to add to the other two fig trees already planted.

I learned from others talking to others the best way to plant citrus so I will be getting a Meyer lemon and a Mandarin Orange for the big bell pots I brought along here specifically for this purpose. Big pots are mega expensive so I'm sure thankful  I had the for thought to keep my precious bell pots, as we practically gave away our inventory of pots when we left WI.  I so can't wait to smell citrus in bloom!  I did plant one of my Orange Jasmine trees to test the weather and it looks pretty good so far-I'll plant the other two soon. Also planted a few other Jasmines in my one ornamental garden along with the two roses that I picked up in a 2 for 1 sale last week. Also purchased a pink water lily, some horsetail for the pond and two Pampas grass'  I'll be taking the grape pruning class next Sat, so will finish up by getting my the rest of the trees I wanted-Olive, English Walnut, Almond, Persimmon, Avocado, Citrus, Prune/Plum, Apricot, and Asian Pear. Then I gotta stay clear of that place!  I so realize how limited we were living in Wisconsin and although it's only early Spring here there are sooo many things that neither of us have seen!  Now I will get a taste of what our customers were going through coming in every week trying to control themselves...A Zone 9 opens up a brand new world of edibles as well as exotic ornamentals!