Native Plants

Perhaps you would like to check out how the California Native Plant Society is celebrating California Native Plant Week? For those of you who follow this blog you know that the author is committed to native plants whether in Sonoma County, California or in Santa Fe, New Mexico. While living in Sonoma County I have been a member of both the state Native Plant Society as as the local chapter. One benefit is a discount on plants purchased at California Flora Nursery where most of the plants were purchased for PageRefuge. 

During this post what is blooming in PageRefuge's garden will be featured. The first featured is in the West side yard:

Aristolochia californica (Dutchman’s pipevine)
with both flowers and fruit.

Strawberries in bloom

Moving North towards the backyard: 

Pink Pearl apple tree:

this is the tree that 

produces the pink

applesauce I make

with the ripe apples.

Fava beans adorned
with their stunningly beautiful flowers

Viola odorata (Wild violet)

Then walking East one encounters an area covered with lovely green tile. An antique wheelbarrow and various sizes of clay pots are located here. 

Viola tricolor (Johnny jump up)

I love these pansy related plants. They have a tendency to vociferously reseed anywhere and everywhere. Come each year about this time I walk around and pull out those that have relocated where I do not want them. Yesterday when I was delivering tomato plants I had started from seed, I dug up some of these, placed them in an empty 4" plastic pot and delivered them as well.

Then walking towards and through the East most gate to the front yard, and across the minuscule driveway:

Three Sisyrinchium californicum (Yellow eyed grass)

are near a down spout since these love water.

Lonicera involucrata (Twinberry honeysuckle)
is along the West side of the garage.
This is my and Dwight's all time very favorite native bush!

In the foreground 
Ceanothus (California wild lilac ‘Dark Star’)
and in the background 
Sisyrinchium bellum (Californian blue eyed grass)
Sitting near the house is Dwight's
sculpture he created in Santa Fe.
She is honoring the spot on Mother Earth
the pueblo peoples
came from below to above.

As I walk about my garden marveling at the transformation of the plantable space and growth of the plants, I

Impatient

Well, I certainly lacked patience when I posted previous pictures of Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum (‘Heart’s Delight’). As you can see from the two pictures below, the fully open flowers are now stunningly beautiful. This bush seems to have grown faster than of any the others planted in the front yard. Shasta and I walk past it every morning as we begin our morning walk. I so very much enjoy!

This bush, along with other bushes and a Buckeye tree, planted between the road and my front yard, will hopefully sooner than later offer a beautiful buffer. They were planted parallel to my very short driveway and continue to the wooden fence which delineates the West boundary of my property.

The fava beans seeds I planted late last Fall in the backyard are flourishing. Some of the plants even have flowers which I find so pleasing. Once the plants are stripped of their beans I often lay them atop of my raised beds to slowly decompose. This adds beneficial nutrients to the soil where food is grown for my health and well being. Dwight and I use to enjoy the beans shelled and combined with organic broth for a very tasty light evening meal. Our main meal was, and still is for me, midday when my digestion is more "top notch".

Sisyrinchium bellum (Californian blue eyed grass)

This "grass" I grew at MuRefuge as well now at PageRefuge. I have planted six plants in front of the West front corner of my house. Each plant has a slightly different shade of purple flower. Each is lovely to behold. Purple has always been my very favorite color.

The maple tree that borders my West fence
is now leafing out. Dwight loved maple trees
so this is one of the few trees remaining 
from when we purchased this property.

The tree has branches from which I can hang the wind chime Dwight gave me long ago. During the warmer months the branches also hold  three pots of Epithytes, each with a different color of flower.  Since the Winter has been exceptionally cold at night (often below freezing), the pots were moved in November to sit against the back of the house. This location is a bit warmer than hanging exposed from the leafless maple tree. 

As puttering outside in my garden on this sunny day I enjoy a belly

Gray Water Hare

 January 22, 2023 is the Chinese New Year. It begins the Year of the gray water hare (rabbit).

To begin each Chinese New Year
I change the paper cut.

These paper cuts come from Artistic Chinese Creations so I can order them online. During the two, month long visits Dwight and I took to China with Charlotte and Da Jin Sun, I saw paper cuts for the first time. I was so impressed that someone could cut these intricate paper cuts!  So at  each market place we visited in various cities I looked for paper cuts. Some came in a "bundle" while others came singularity. I purchased many that I brought home to be used in card creations for friends and family members' birthdays, anniversaries and such. That supply has long been exhausted so now I order only a paper cut to frame for the beginning of each Chinese New Year. 

I like to use Taoist Astrology: a handbook of the authentic Chinese tradition by Susan Levitt with Jen Tang each year to read about their astrological viewpoint. In addition, I receive a regular email from Susan. Below is a copy of her email: "2023 YEAR OF THE WATER RABBIT" that each of you can read.

Join me for my annual Chinese New Year talk on Zoom:
2023 YEAR OF THE WATER RABBIT
Saturday January 28, 2023 at Noon PST.
Water Rabbit year is time for peace, healing, and diplomacy after Tiger year. Rabbit Year info link.

2022 GEMINI FULL MOON in RAT LUNAR MONTH

December 7, 2022 at 8:08 pm is a full Moon in Gemini. Air sign Gemini rules the third house of ideas and communication. Therefore, the remaining weeks of December are good for planning, interactions, and travel before Mercury retrograde on December 29 until January 18, 2023. The Mercury retrograde influence begins the week before on December 23, so get your affairs in order and stay healthy during this bustling holiday season. Contact me for your tarot reading or astrology forecast for 2023.

This full Moon conjuncts Mars in Gemini. Mars in Gemini can be a bright strategist with the natural ability to see both sides of a situation. But a full Moon blended with Mars can bring irritability leading to confrontations. For some, it can be challenging to maintain your equilibrium. Plus Mars is retrograde until January 12, 2023. Avoid extremes of temper, especially during this Tiger year.

Stay balanced by using foresight and planning instead of acting impulsively or exercising your will. 

This full Moon marks the peak of Water Rat lunar month. Rat is an excellent strategist and planner. With the element Water, it will be easier to follow your instincts and intuition. Do not get swept up in emotion as the full Moon, and Sun and Venus both in Sagittarius, all square Neptune in Pisces. There could be a gap between reality and your ideals, and unrealistic expectations of loved ones.

Opportunities for new ideas and approaches are for all, and are strongest for Air signs Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius and those born in Rat, Ox, Tiger, and Pig years.

Happy full Moon,
Susan

SUSAN LEVITT
Tarot - Astrology - Feng Shui
susanlevitt.com

I am relishing the sunshine. It is coolish outside: in the low 40's but the actual sunshine is absolutely fabulous!!! Below is a picture of the fava beans stretching towards the sunshine. They seem to fond of both all the rain and now the sunshine. I am so looking forward to have fresh fava bean soup as well as fresh fava beans atop pasta. Both are delicious. I have always enjoyed them seasonally since I only prepare them when they are fresh.  I do plan to dry for keeping some for planting this upcoming early Fall.

Shasta is now insistent about getting her midday meal so I best bring this to a close and "get to it". 

Shasta tuckered out after a long day.
She is such a dear and wonderful companion.

May each and everyone of us have a frequent and full belly

Sprouting

I moved Between Earth and Sky created by Dwight
 from the back yard where
she kept getting knocked over by the rowdy Shasta.
Her arm was broken off . . . again . . . reglued . . . again.
So now she has a safer home in the front yard.

Many, many, many weeks ago I planted fava beans seeds in the four circles where I plant the Three Sisters beans, corn & squash)

and in both raised beds. 

West most raised bed

East most raised bed

Everyday I have been checking . . . nada green sprouts. And then the rain came with 4.0" falling in 24 hours. You can see from the above pictures that there are now sprouts.

I was advised by a friend and now local neighbor as well that fava beans need moisture to germinate. Well, the abundance of rain of late is just what the fava bean seeds needed to poke their little green heads through their casings and soil.

Once the fava beans mature and are picked, the stocks make for the very best additive to the soil for raising deliciously tasting food. As I did at MuRefuge I will top both raised beds with these stocks. It seems that I recall in one growing season the stocks decomposed. I plan to plant tomatoes through the stocks in the West bed as well as lettuce, carrots, peas in the East most bed.

The rain continues to fall. So far this week over 7.1" has collected in the rain gauge positioned near my front walkway. Every morning I go out early to see what the gauge has collected then dump out the rain. All of Northern California is in need of the rain continuing at the present rate through January, February and into March. This entire area is anywhere from 30% to 50% behind in the "normal" rainfall. So, although it makes for messy walking when Shasta and I go out for our morning walk, I tell her "it is worth it" so our garden reaps benefits from the rains.

May your weather wherever you are be not too intolerable . . . or deadly as in some parts of the Eastern United States. And as we are all more house bound may we

Turning

A few mornings ago while sitting looking South
two Anna's hummingbirds appeared to
be dancing to catch the other's attention.
AND then they mated, an events I had not
previous been witnessed. WOW "it knocked my socks off."
The native Manzanita here at MuRefuge
are in full bloom providing nectar for the year
round resident Anna's hummingbirds.

The cyclical turning of the seasons continues with Imboc, or as most of us think of this season, Spring, arriving on Monday, February 1. “The Wheel of the Year is a series of eight holidays, or sabbats, practiced in Celtic and Wiccan spirituality. The sabbats are the solstices and equinoxes plus the four holidays at cross quarters with those solar based dates. There is a sabbat every six to six and a half weeks. They mark the seasons - the journey of the earth around the sun. When you live each day attuned to these rhythms, your life is grounded in the earth and its place in the cosmos.” explains Clea Danaan in her Living Earth Devotional: 365 Green Practices for Sacred Connection. I find recognizing and honoring this turning fosters my connection not only with the web of life here at MuRefuge but to what the Enneagram calls “higher self” where my “personality” rather falls away and boundaries disappear. 

I love this particular turning of the seasonal cycle, Imboc or Spring. Green is such a vibrant color with so many hues. And here in Northern California with a previous month of El Nino rains, GREEN is the operant word if ones looks about the landscape.  

This view of MuRefuge is looking North from the front of our house. 
In the forefront are native bunch grasses interspersed with Cinquefoil (Potentilla gracilis), 
on the right are Beach Asters (Erigeron glaucus) amidst the low growing 
'Bee's Bliss' (Salvia leucophylla x S. clevelandii); near the oak tree trunk 
in the upper middle are Deergrass (Muhlenbergia rigens) and Brandegee's Sage (Salvia brandegei).

I know many of you reading these words are still experiencing the ground blanketed with snow at best, sleet or mud at worst. Green will arrive soon! 

The days are lengthening so I spend less time sleeping. And here at MuRefuge, the asparagus is beginning to send up its delicious offerings, the fava beans planted last Fall are about 4 to 6 inches tall, 

and weeds are flourishing, giving the landscape here a very green hue, calling my attention to BEing outside and digging in the dirt. Less time sleeping in bed provides me with more time for my very favorite activity of “playing in the mud.” My paternal grandmother fostered this activity by allowing me to make mud pies on her kitchen floor when I was “a little tike.”

My earliest, clearest recollections of garden was at preschool age when our neighbors, Emma and George Oxley of Corwith, Iowa, planted asparagus. In Northern Iowa planting asparagus was a rather labor intensive event. We dug a huge hole/bed in the ground layering this with manure, straw and rich Iowa dirt. This elderly couple not only allowed me to participate but praised highly my efforts. What a satisflying gardening experience for a youngster. As I take care of our asparagus beds here at MuRefuge, I am forever grateful to Emma and George for supporting within me a sturdy foundation for growing our food.

Asparagus shoots growing in our veggie garden, in
a raised bed, of course, to protect the roots from gophers.

As we honor Imboc, aka Spring, may we each