HAPPY 2013!

We wish you a very healthy, peaceful and happy new year. Perhaps sanity all over the world will prevail for a change! Let us hope!

I don't want anyone to think I have forgotten our wilderness friends....herewith the tracks of  a very large bobcat. It sat down and took a look around and then ambled off.
He/she was very pretty as she streaked past my window, alas I was on the phone and couldn't follow immediately,



We had another 4  inches of snow, yay! So now we will have all new tracks to follow.
  And moisture for the plants.  Happy, happy, happy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!

This is this year's Stollen, JB's favorite Christmas treat!

Planned ahead this year and bought all the wonderful dried and candied fruit fillings early and they are amazingly delicious!   This is the first time I've ever had the bread almost double in the oven,
usually it rises as much as it wants to before I ever send it to the heat!

New oven!!! What do I know?

Merry Christmas and heartfelt peace to you all! Love and good wishes!

Obama, Congress...stop the guns now!

Today's horrific killings in Newtown, Connecticut are just the beginning if we don't start to control the guns, to help the mentally infirm and to help the public learn that only sick people with guns, who shouldn't have had the opportunity to own them, need to be monitored so that they don't kill randomly.

To the NRA, you are not the answer, you are the problem.

Finally....

We could not believe that we have finally gotten a little tiny bit of moisture...albeit in the form of four inches of frozen precipitation! Cold and gorgeous, makes one feel that winter is really on the way! Thank you all from the Northwest who sent it down our way! More, please!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL!

Someday I will get it right and manage to make a 'punkin pie' without cracks, altho I'm not sure it's one of my bucket list items!  My buckets are full of sweet potatoes, beets, and apples from my most wonderful drought survived garden.

Tonight we had Potatoes and Swiss Chard from the garden, the turkey is resting in the 'frig with a coating of garden-raised Rosemary, Thyme and Sage and awaiting my very own garden's garlic! I spatchcocked the turkey yesterday and will cook it according to the New York Times garlic filled recipe from last week. They claim it should cook in an hour. I'll let you all know if they are right.....

It has been an interesting autumn, the bears are still wandering around and our resident Bobcat has taken to sitting on the banco outside our dining room and peering in to see what we are up to. Never thought I'd become a 'scat' authority but with this group it isn't a real challenge! Bears in the driveway and bobcats on the portal!

Whoooooooooooooooooooo

We aren't prepared for visitors requesting "Trick or Treat"...so when the door bell rang this afternoon, I was not ready for what arrived!

Here she is in all of her glory, the Witch of All Time!
 

My wonderful niece, B J, made this amazing creation and she had it delivered to us on her 50th Halloween! Thank You, thank you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, B J...we love you very much!

Larva, larvae...the world is yours

Papilio rutulus rutulus, aka Western Swallowtail

Here is today's insect...poor thing is begging me to stop with the camera, already. It is in its fifth instar and desperately looking for a safe place to pupate for the coming winter. I helped it along by placing it in the grasses near some large trees that will offer shelter from the frosty winds.  When I went back a couple of hours later it was nowhere to be found.

Good luck little guy, the ravens were swarming today...what do they know that we don't? This little creature had a personality and great determination. I think I spent about half an hour photographing it. Very interesting.

Bears, bugs, and finally rain!

Oh, it has really been a gardening month to remember. A neighbor alerted us to the presence (he claims he had really seen them!!!) of two young black bears in a local drive way. Probably mine! Since I have a  very large compost pile, lots of expended plants due to drought, and a few buggy/bird-pecked apples in the compost I can see where it would be the local diner for bears. I found a few tracks that could be suspicious but nothing compared to what I'd seen of bear prints all winter and spring past.

And the bear snorts haven't been anywhere as prevalent as this past spring. My question is where are the bobcats, mountain lions and coyotes? 

To return to a more normal pest, here is "Anthony," the monster Tobacco Hornworm!  I've never seen one bug eat so much in a couple of days as this little bugger did. How did he know to only eat the tops off the determinate tomatoes? Left all of the indeterminates alone. When I met him, he had a mouth full of leaves and was happily munching away. Took me too long to find the camera and have him/her pose! Well, perhaps they know that the cold weather is coming and they have to help the plant adjust. It is to be 38 degrees F. tonight. We had the first real rain last night, one and a half inches. That brings us up to 6 inches for the entire year. Happy is a gardener who gets a good rain. Which will help the plants survive.

Apples, apples, apples, apples, apples, apples

This is my very favorite apple from our five apple tree! It is known as the Orange Pippin, and has the best flavor imaginable!

These are Orange Pippins, 'Boiled Shaker Style.'       Heavenly!

It has been a very dry summer but we are blessed with an over abundance of apples on our wonderful tree.
I have been getting very creative in ways to use them rather than the same old apple pie. The other day we had fresh apples juiced with carrots, celery and lemon. Last week we had Swedish Apple Pie. I make mine with pecans instead of walnuts, not too keen on walnuts with apples.

Being a very serious cook, I thought I had every tool necessary to do what I like to do in the kitchen. Ha! When one has a "great plenty" (as my M-I-L used to say) of apples one would think I'd have an apple corer. Wrong! Thus the square holes where the seeds resided.

We had a good crop of spinach and potatoes, but, the Swiss chard is out of sight. We have so much of it, it will last until 2013. I have to try to steam it and freeze it for winter.  Planted  new crops of arugula (from saved seeds), spinach, onions, mustard greens and lettuces. I'm not worrying about the Swiss Chard! It takes care of itself.

The tomatoes are good but a disaster compared to other years. It is just too dry. We have an adequate crop for our needs.

Where does the time go?

I can't believe that a month has gone by, well, it is summer now! And the monsoons have arrived. Thank goodness.

Talk about nature and it's problems. We've had the most interesting events ever in the garden this month.I couldn't understand why the Rufous-sided Towhees were so hysterical all the time. They hardly ever left the south garden's trees. Talk about noisy, very, very noisy almost all the time, and if I walked under the trees they went nuts. This being the first year that we had had them for such a long period of time, we were fascinated by their behavior. All was explained one afternoon, I went out to photograph the currently blooming plants, when they were dive bombing the daisy plants. I went over to see why, and this is what I encountered. See below:

Masticophis flagelllum, aka, Coachwhip or Sonoran Red Racer

This darling had been living in the trees above the garden, eating eggs and insects and occasionally making a foray into the garden to eat mice and lizards. Now, we don't mind if they eat the deer mice but leave my lizzies alone! Those Towhees were not about to give up once they had him on the ground, they chased him across the yard into the vegetable garden (we didn't have fresh Swiss Chard that night) and you should know that birds cooperate. The largest one pretended he had a broken wing while dragging it around in circles in front of the place the snake went to ground while the other two waited to attack. It was the most amazing sight. End of story, we don't know who won. The birds have departed, the mice are gone, as is the snake. But, not too far as the Doves were going crazy this morning to the north of the house.

While the Towhees were watching the snake one of them encountered this moth that had the audacity to

fly in to the south garden. Mister Moth made a major mistake, as I had never seen such an attack by a bird before the snake attacks. This is what the poor moth looked like when I tried to save it from the Towhee predator. As far as I am able to identify it with my books, it may be a Black Witch but then again it could be anything else. It was about 4 inches across with wings fully extended. Any hints, I'm open to info.

The rain has come and with it the diminution of the fire threat. The plants are greening up as they only can when they get the nitrogen from the rain. The apples are getting red and the vegetable garden is burgeoning and bolting. Tomorrow I replant for fall and winter crops. The rabbits are jealous but I keep them fed with prunings from the gardens. Pedro Conejo has learned to jump the east garden wall and attack the sweet potatoes in their large garden pots! Pots are now surrounded by chicken wire, very chic! 

Please send rain, soon!

I call this hybrid hollyhock, "Annie's Blush"!  It has taken me three years to get it to this wonderful stage. Isn't she beautiful?

We are in desperate need of rain. We have fires burning all over the state and nearby Colorado. It is tragic and this is only the beginning of the fire season. The monsoons are a few weeks away. Perhaps since everything else is three weeks ahead we may get lucky and have the rain start soon.

It has been a most unusual Spring, our area is very verdant even without rain and we have an amazing number of plants that are going to seed  early. It may be due to the heat or my theory is the altered tilt of the earth in the last three years. My humble opinion, you may challenge it if you'd like.

Aaarrrggghhh!

Aphids, black spot, beetles! Ah, the joys of gardening. The moths are subsiding, finally. To top it all off my beloved camera  bit the dust. I guess I worked it to the repair shop. All told it has been faithful, over 6 thousand photos that passed my lens to the computer. What will I do while it is, hopefully, being repaired?

But, the joy is being able to go out to the garden and pick a bunch of near perfect radishes, arugula, spinach, Swiss chard and varied lettuces now! Peas are on their way and I actually have two tiny tomatoes on the 'Momma Mia' tomato plant. Adorable.

I spend  almost every day working on one area of the garden or the other. Yesterday, my pal, Carlos, delivered some wonderful rocks for the cactus garden and for the secret garden. Until the monsoons arrive there is no way I can plant the secret garden so I am heading toward doing a contemplation garden instead.
There is much to contemplate! See below:

      A section of the left side of the herb garden....rose with four different sage varieties.
North side of the front xeric garden. It loved the rain we had two weeks ago. The dark violet roses are the most fragrant rose grown. They make wonderful rose beads and potpourri. Just a side line when I'm bored!

This is one of the rewards of being patient and curious. When we had the severe cold two years ago
the graft died on this rose bush. It was supposed to be a climbing rose.....never really wanted to climb and
just sort of sent up a long shoot that wouldn't produce anything terrific. There were suckers with leaves that looked interesting so I left it to grow last summer and fertilized it in the fall and again this spring.

My patience was rewarded with this gorgeous red rose. I totally love it and it looks like it will take over the space!   Stay tuned.

It had to happen...

We are being held captive inside the compound by the following fellow/gal...

We came home from town the other afternoon (5:00 p.m rabbit feeding time) and I went outside to water the lettuces and what to my horrified eyes should appear but Pedro Conejo's grandchild!  He/she was in pluperfect heaven with many tempting morsels in view. If only someone had been here to video our attempt to remove said bunny rabbit from the garden, we'd have made an all time high score on YouTube. JB with a bamboo pole, me with a hose with a shower head on it and bunny with excellent avoidance skills. After about 4 or 5 minutes of negotiations and persuasion we convinced it to leave the premises. This photo was taken the next morning, it was letting me know that no matter what, it was still here. So, besides the rabbit proof fences, we now have had to barricade the gate to the garden with large pieces of wood topped with rock! Each night it still digs....

Any attempt on our part to remove the barriers will result in an invasion of baby bunnies....and the garden is flourishing! So, what to do?

Being a kind soul, I'm planting a garden just for them on the other side of the wall. However, a higher power is in charge of watering it. Stay tuned...today they were given a basket full of parsley that had outgrown its space.Wonder if they like it.

Eeeee...ouuuuu, yick!

We are being attacked by the miller moth, aka Euxoa auxiliarus. The cutworm infestation of the century! It is so bad that we can't go outside without being besieged from every angle. They hide everywhere, under the bonsai planters, in the cushions on the portal, under the door frames, window frames, you name it! Hate the bloody things, but read an interesting article about the fact that they are a major food source for black and grizzly bears! I'm glad. Eat up!

Evidently they have a caloric value of 1 calorie per large moth...yum!

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I need your help identifying these flowers. I lost the tag years ago and there isn't a catalog that I've perused that sells them. What are they called? I love them and they do very well with little care. Please, if you know, let me in on the secret! They seem to be happy with the Sweet Woodruff, too. From which I'm making May wine tomorrow for this weekend's party!

Wheeeeee, taxes done!

 Weeping Crabapple showing off this year. It is the most glorious display we've had in years.

Spring has sprung in the south garden. The tulips mimic the colors of the apple blossoms.

Now to start gardening seriously once again. I'm hoping the cold nights are past and that things will once again begin to grow. We managed to escape the deep freeze the other night and I opted to not cover the apple tree with sheets of row covers! Instead I went outside after it started to get really cold and sprayed the tree with water so that the blossoms were all dampish. Didn't lose a one! We didn't have a single edible apple last year but if we are lucky this should be a bumper crop.

Happy Easter....

Spring is so wonderful.
After a pretty dull winter, in so many ways, it is a joy to have all the new growth appear.This is the section of our multi-apple tree that bears the Orange Pippin which is not really hardy here and so gets very special attention. It is also the first to flower which makes it even more tender as our last frost isn't for another month. Time to get out the tree blanket!

The peas finally decided to make their appearance yesterday and jumped an inch out of the ground. We will also have an abundance of salads this year also. The poppy seeds I scattered just before the big winds in March are up in one case, not in another. Don't know whether to blame the seeds or the wind. Have about two thousand seedlings of the American Legion poppy and none from the multi-colored poppies. Oh well, that's gardening.

Happy Spring wherever you are!

Just wait a minute

It had been in the 70's all week and then yesterday afternoon a front pushed in bringing snow, sleet and rain. Yes! 
We need the moisture so badly and it was the very best kind of a storm as the snow buffered the cold air from the newly formed blossoms. It is now in the 50's and some very interesting things are happening in the vegetable garden. Where the peas are coming up the snow melted in a line just above the emerging shoots. Fascinating.

What a great day.....

This has been the year of the most wonderful daffodil displays!

There is nothing in the world like the first tree blossom! Happy and willing to be the queen for the day!

I am very happy...Black Forest Birthday Cake!

What a surprise....usually I have to go out and find a very tiny birthday cake for myself, if I want one....but, today my other half brought this delight home! Totally wonderful, I cheated and had a slice  a day early! So did he!  We have a new patisserie in town and this is one of their current delicacies.

Spring has arrived. The apple tree has flowers and baby leaves, the Swiss chard and lettuces I planted St.Patrick's Day are up and trying very hard to grow. It still gets cold at night and we are supposed to have a freeze on Sunday. Alas! But, the sun is out and warming the earth! Be patient, be patient!

Spring is coming....Tuesday!

New Design for Vegetable Garden

Took this photo this morning before the winds hit us. I am sure that all of the tiny herb seeds that I spread on top of the soil so that they would have light to germinate are now in Kansas. I doubled the size of the vegetable garden and replanted the iris as a simple barrier between the flowers and the lettuces. I know, I should have waited, but I am willing to forgo the flowers for the veggies!

However, all of the cold weather crops were planted as of St. Patrick's Day, such as: Beets, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Snap Peas, Radishes, and multiple types of lettuce. Potatoes will go in newly painted pots next week when the weather improves. Should have bumper crops if we get rain!

A belated Happy Valentine's Day to you all...this heart was made by one of my favorite rabbits!

And which of our neighborhood cats made this track? Bobcat, lynx or baby puma?

Some thing thought this old Halloween pumpkin was delicious! It will be interesting to see where new pumpkins appear through out the garden this summer. That is if we have enough rain for them to germinate.
The compost is looking good beneath the shell.

Welcome, I'm back!

Back by popular demand....what used to be "Wheneverwillbe" is now "Annie'sFriends"! It will follow with the same nonsense that I'm willing to share of my life and some of my interests!