Slow

This year, probably due to the very late start of warm enough temperatures, the tomato plants in my garden are incredibly slow to produce tomatoes. 

This morning I went out to survey my backyard as the sun was rising. ALL of the ripe tomatoes had vanished during the night. I am sure the mice did not eat the tomatoes. So did the raccoons visit and find the ripe tomatoes delicious? Well for sure some critter or family of critters did while I was slumbering.

This year my meager food producing garden has been a challenge! I cannot remember when it has been so difficult to provide edibles for human consumption. I miss having Dwight to confer with . . . to discuss possible solutions. Living in this house by myself is a challenge! I question whether I will ever adapt to living alone.

It is the end of a long and difficult day for me yet I am able to

Harvest

Listen to the air.

You can hear it, feel it,

smell it, taste it.

Woniya wakan, the holy air,

which renews all by its breath.

Woniya wakan, spirit, life, breath, renewal,

it means all that.

We sit together, don’t touch,

but something is there,

we feel it between us, 

as a presence.

A good way to start thinking about nature,

talk about it.

Rather talk to it,

talk to the rivers, to the lakes,

to the wind,

as to our relatives.

                            JOHN LAME DEER

As the temperature warms . . . finally summer? . . . the Cascadia pea plants finally are ready to be removed. The seeds saved from last years' crop were planted on March 05. Peas are a cool weather crop. Usually by now they would have long ago been pulled up. As we all know climate change is wreaking havoc globally. AND here in Northern California is no exception. We have had unseasonably cool temperatures thus the peas have been harvested here in midJuly.

Why Cascadia peas you might ask? Jim Bagget at the OSU Vegetable Research Farm created this particular pea because you can harvest the pod or wait for peas to fill the pod. They particularly thrive in the Northwest.

As is my long time practice 4 or so seeds were planted in each of the concrete block's holes on the East side of the West most bed and on the West side of the East most bed. Once the plants are 4 to 6 inches tall all but the strongest looking is pulled out. When I had ducks these would have been put in their huge watering bowl. The ducks gobbled them up in nothing flat as the saying goes. Now, since I no longer have a compost pile they go into the green waste bin.

Wire is secured against the blocks to support the vines.

From this pile of pulled up vines the pea pods were picked.

I partook of just plain old shelled peas with my lunch. Delish!!! The peas that were too old to eat will be dried for planting next year. My plan is plant way earlier in the Spring of 2024.

When we moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and had covered raised beds

I planted Cascadia pea seeds when snow was still on the ground. These seeds had been gathered from my garden at MuRefuge.

  Calycanthus occidentalis (Western spicebush)
Today when I was watering
in the front yard
I noticed the bloom on this shrub.
The color of this shrub's flower
is most unusual . . . not
truly orange nor pink nor red
rather a combination of all these.

So on this sunny, now windy, Summer day I

Home

Recently the hedge in the back that screens my house from the apartment dwellers was pruned. Once the crew cleaned all the cuttings up and deposited them in their trailer to be mulched at Grab n Grow then left, I was checking the hedge. Below is what I found. Home for some well taken care of baby birds. I had noticed a very young warber in the tray with sunflower seeds and cracked corn. S/he seems surprised to find itself there as though to say "how did I get here?" Perhaps s/he came from this nest?

The nest was comprised of some dried herb, pieces of long grass and wood bark and seemed to be lined with some of Shasta's fur as well as my long hair. What a labor of love the parents took to provide such a safe place for their young.

Once I had retrieved the nest, I thought "oh no, I should have left it for perhaps another clutch of babies birds to be raised." However, I did not think like that when my curiosity drove me to take the nest out of the hedge. Now what? It is way too an awesome home to just throw it away. So I have it sitting on a small table where I can see when I perform my morning qi gong.

Before when the sunflowers 

were just beginning

to grow after all the "extra" plants

were removed.

The grass is Muhlenbergia rigens (Deergrass).

I plant quite a few seeds in each planting area. Then once all the seeds have sprouted and are growing, I cull all but the healthiest plant in each planting area. This practice seems to then produce the most spectacular 

Helianthus annuus macrocarpus (Hopi Black Dye Sunflower Hopi name: Tceqa' Qu' Si) flowers. As I have probably shared on an earlier post while in Santa Fe, New Mexico, I learned of these sunflowers.

This morning my project was to fetch arbor mulch from Grab n Grow. Without a pickup just my Prius I filled a large plastic barrel I took with me + white plastic bags provided. Luckily the bags I can return . . . YEAH . . . rather than deposit into my recycle bin from Sonoma Marin Recology.

So as is my practice I laid down saved cardboard boxes, cutting them carefully to leave adequate space around each plant. This area use to be my compost pile which attracted rats . . . eek! so I removed the rats food. 6 Ricegrass plants, purchased from Native Foods Nursery, and 3 Grindelia hirsutata (Hairy gumplant) recently shipped from Annie's Annuals were planted. Each were planted on designated leaf and flower planting days respectively. I find planting in this manner gives all plants I bring to PageRefuge their best chance to thrive.

Holodiscus discolor (Cream bush)

Heteromeles arbutifolia (California toyon)

This year is unlike no other

that I remember for this

particular Epiphyte.

The blossoms have been bigger

with the plant is producing 

more flowers than I can ever recall.

The neighbors to the West of me are so impressed. They have visited, taken pictures and requested some cuttings. Of course, I provided "a cutting" from each of the three Epiphytes I have hanging in the maple tree.

As I enjoy all the wonderfully amazing flowers in my garden I

Glorious Mornings

  "Waking up this morning, I smile,

                          Twenty brand new hours are before me.

I vow to live fully in each moment

and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”

                                                    THICH NAT HANH

                                                  

This morning when Shasta and I left for our morning walk I looked over to beneath the maple tree where the epiphyles are hanging . . . the last epi to bloom has a HUGE open flower. Magnificent is the only way to describe the stunning beauty. Perhaps it was  magnified by the sun shining on the flower. 

The other two epiphytes also have lovely flowers as well. I am so ecstatic to have three pots hanging in the maple tree.

As I enjoy these flowers I also