CSA Week 7

I have a lot of veggies to eat over the next week - most of the week 5 and 6 share left when I picked up week 7 share. There are going to be two full meals each day that are heavy on veggies (salad or stir fry are my favorite generic recipes to use lots of veggies fast)!

The veggies in the week 7 share include lettuce, leeks, zucchini, cucumbers and onions. There was a choice between carrots, beets, okra, eggplant, or cherry tomatoes; I chose the tomatoes even though I know in a few weeks I’ll probably be overwhelmed by tomatoes and be looking for ways to preserve them to use after the season.

I was also allowed a pick from the overage table and I couldn’t resist picking up a small purple cabbage; I like the additional color it adds to salads.

Josey Ranch Lake - July 2015

Every time I visit in Carrollton TX, I walk around Josey Ranch Lake and post some photos (February 2015, and August 2014). There is quite a seasonal variation.

The swans are a year round residents. There were adult swans this July - no juveniles (there was a juvenile in August 2014).

They were preening quite a lot - with down feathers stuck on their bills afterward.

I picked up a large white feather; it graces the pencil pot on my mother's desk now.

There are birds to hear and search for in the trees

and the cattails.

The nutrias that were evident back in February and last year were not around at all. Did the city manage to get rid of them somehow? They are invasive and probably made the maintenance of the wetland end of the lake more challenging.

The birds that come when someone throws bread/food to them are not as varied as in February. I only saw ducks, pigeons and the swans (the ducks always beat the swans to the food on land!).  In February there were acrobatic seagulls and coots too!

The ducklings from this year were getting their adult plumage. They tend to look a little scruffy and are doing a lot of preening.

The desert willows were blooming. The color of the flower highlights the light green of the foliage and the blue of the clear Texas sky on a very hot day.

There was a low growing plant with similar colors in the xeriscape garden beside the library and senior center on one side of lake.I was disappointed that I only saw one egret and no herons. In August 2014 there were several different species of herons at the lake. What a difference a month of so makes!

Sunflowers at Monticello

The sunflowers had a large bed to themselves in the vegetable garden at Monticello when I was there in June. I took a huge number of pictures and am just now getting around to looking at them again. I’ve picked a series that show various stages of flower development.

The flower stalks were much taller than a person and the flowers larger than a dinner a plate. As the seeds begin to develop the petals fade and the tops of the plants must get heavier because they bend over rather than continuing to turn toward the sun.

Sunflowers are always bright spots of the day!

Red Yucca

Red yucca is a popular landscaping plant in the area around Dallas where I’ve been the last few weeks. This time of year they are blooming and seed pods are beginning to form.

The long stalks with blooms lean over and move with each list breeze. They add color and motion in gardens that require relatively little water.

I managed to get a picture of the same branch on July 1 and July 6. Notice how fast the purplish seed pods developed. Soon they will be green….and along their growth to split open in the fall and spill their seeds.

Homemade Zucchini Hummus and Orange Marmalade

I have discovered two recipes recently that are so easy to make at home that I won’t be buying the equivalent in the grocery store any time soon.  Both recipes are the ones I will make again and again this summer - the 'condiments' of Summer 2015!

Zucchini Hummus

(This recipe uses zucchini rather than chickpeas. A version of it was included in a newsletter from the Gorman Farms CSA on the first week zucchini was included in the share. I modified it slightly - part of joy of cooking as far as I'm concerned.)

1 cup diced raw zucchini

1/3 cup tahini butter

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 cloves garlic minced

2 teaspoon cumin

Salt to taste

Put everything in a food processor and process until smooth. Refrigerate and use as dip or salad dressing!

Some variations I am going to try:

• Add fresh basil or mint or both (since I have them growing in deck pots)
• Season with no-salt seasoning blends
• Add lemon or orange zest
• Add a little extra tahini or some olive oil for better salad dress consistency
• Add 1 tablespoon flaxseed meal for thicker consistency

Orange Marmalade

Cut the ends off an orange. Cut into wedges, removing seeds. (Option: If you have the skin and pulp of a lemon after making zucchini hummus, cut it up and add to the orange to make orange/lemon marmalade!). Process in a food processor until skin and pulp are reduced to small bits.

Place process citrus in a small saucepan. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Set timer for 15 minutes and bring to boil on high heat then the lower the heat to simmer.

Cool. Place in a glass jar with a tight lid (I use a wide mouthed jar that salsa came in). Refrigerate.

I enjoy marmalade in warmed pitas (small) or on toast. It is a wonderful salad dressing either alone or combined with olive oil. Use as a component of dressing for carrot/raisin or celery/apple/raisin or spinach/strawberry salad.

CSA Week 6

I am going to have a lot of veggies to process or eat when I get home next week. My husband picked up the week 5 share last week and the majority is still in one crisper of the refrigerator. It’s a good thing my refrigerator has two large crispers since the second one is now filled with the week 6 share from the Gorman Farms CSA share.

This week we got beets (I’ll make fruit beety as soon as I get home), leeks, onions, carrots, yellow squash, cucumbers, green beans (he put them in a mesh bag, and purple basil. He realized that I had green basil growing in a pot on our deck so when he had to choose between green and purple --- he picked the purple.

There was a cut sunflower as part of the share this week too!

I can hardly wait to pick up next week’s share since the ‘overage table’ has been started since I have been away - and is a new feature of the CSA this year.

Celebrating Southern Magnolias

I am contemplating my history with southern magnolias this morning. My grandparents had one in their front yard in Wichita Falls, Texas that struggled with the high heat and low humidity of the area. The same was true with the tree in the front yard of my first house in Plano, Texas. I noticed them more when we moved to the mid-Atlantic piedmont area in the 1980s.

In Maryland, there are some large specimens but the weather sometimes is too cold for them. They survive well with care. Belmont has a large one in front of the manor house. I photographed a seed pod from the previous year back in March. The red seeds that remind me of M&Ms were already gone. The buds for 2015 were already showing on the branches.

Richmond is where I first noticed very large magnolias. The short trip to the area in June was well timed to see them in bloom. Maymont has a number of large specimens with ropey trunks. They were trimmed high enough to walk under and it was a popular place to position a bench!

The classical picture with the white flower and glossy green leaves is very appealing but in this series - my favorite has rust petals and developing seed pods!

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens - June 2015

Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens are full of lotuses in bloom this time of year….and dragonflies and waterlilies. We made our first day trip to the place last week on the first sunny day after a huge rain storm. Some of the grassy paths between the ponds were flooded but the circuit wide path was passable. We’ll go again before the end of season.

Eventually I’ll get better at recognizing the different dragonflies. The Blue Dashers are the only ones I recognize easily (the ones that look like they’ve been dusted with light blue powder).

The surprise this year was pots of red hibiscus near the visitor center. I wonder if I somehow missed them last year.

Enjoy the Kenilworth Gardens via the slideshow below!

Brookside Gardens in June 2015 - Part 2

The small animals on or near plants are sometimes the challenge I choose for photography. The walk around Brookside Gardens resulted in a few worth sharing:

The spider on the yucca flower

A damselfly that must have been tired since it stayed put for such a long time. It is an ebony jewelwing!

A mourning dove enjoying the summer sunshine in the garden

Bees at the hollyhocks. I always associate hollyhocks with a great aunt’s house. She always had them planted around the side steps to her house.

A bee on a hydrangea. Brookside has quite a variety of hydrangeas these days and this type seemed the most popular with the bees the day I was there.

Brookside Gardens in June 2015 - Part 1

Brookside Gardens is blooming all over! The renovation to the ponds that had so much of the garden fenced off is open and green. The drainage areas are much improved and many of the bridges were replaced too.

I found myself doing some photographic experiments as I wondered through the garden - a red fire hydrant with white hydrangeas (1) and one yellow leave among so many green ones (13). There were lots of opportunities for looking closely at flowers (2, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 14), capturing the range of colors for cone flowers (3,6, 9), and remembering caster beans in gardens during my childhood prompted by seeing the plants at Brookside this year ( 8). I couldn’t resist a photograph of the cycad (12) in the conservatory either; I notice the plant every time I walk into the conservatory!

Wheatland Arboretum

The grounds around Wheatland and the LancasterHistory.org building have been transformed into an arboretum with careful plantings and signage for the trees. There was a map provided but I decided to walk around and photograph rather than reference it frequently. It was a very warm day and I found myself staying to the shady path whenever possible. The bright sunlight made the pine needles glow!

There was a large camellia in a shady area and I did some close…and closer shots of the flowers.

The dogwoods (non-native ones) were still blooming. I’d seen this same kind at the National Arboretum a few weeks ago.

The tree that caught my attention the most was the ‘tri-color beech’ which is an import from Europe. It was a striking tree in an otherwise green landscape.

And after my walk - I was ready to be in an air conditioned environment for a bit before heading out for lunch and then driving toward home.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 27, 2015

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

No Bake, No Stovetop Cookie Bites - I’ve always been intrigued about ‘no bake’ cookies. I like all the ingredients in these so maybe it’s a recipe to try.

Electric Motorcycles Used By Over 50 Police Departments - I like technology that is good for the environment and also is has a positive impact on the mission (they are quiet!).

Smart insulin patch could replace painful injections for diabetes - New technology hones delivery of insulin based on when the body needs it….much more like a correctly functioning pancreas.

Once and Future Nut: How Genetic Engineering May Bring Back Chestnuts - These trees once grew in Maryland. It would be great to have them part of scene again after 100 years.

Climate change threatens to undermine the last half century of health gains - Increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events (heat waves, floods, droughts and storms) as well as indirect impacts from changes in infectious disease patterns, air pollution, food insecurity and malnutrition, involuntary migration, displacement and conflict….it adds up.

The rise of Africa’s super vegetables - Indigenous foods…rather than imported…to feed the continent. And trying the preserved the variety available while studying only a few of the species.

Doctors often misdiagnose zinc deficiency, unaware of impact of excess zinc - Wow! I remember a few years ago when it was widely suggested that zinc helped recovery from colds….I wonder how many people developed zinc induced copper deficiency (anemia, low white cell count and/or neurological problems?

The Prairie Ecologist Goes to the Beach - Photos of the gulf coast beaches in Texas.

How the US, UK, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, & Italy Can Each Go 100% Renewable - The article and the comments - lots of potential ways to get it done.

The Best Weather Photos of the Year Will Blow You Away - I couldn’t resist. Good photographs. I was a little surprised that a rainbow picture was not in the group.

Winterthur Garden

Most of the gardens at Winterthur are woodland gardens (my earlier post about the museum is here). Henry Francis Du Pont was a naturalist gardener. He did include some exotic plants…but otherwise his garden exemplifies all the principles of woodland gardening.

The plants are arranged in natural settings.

There are plants in every nook and cranny.

Patches of light spotlight different plants during the day. There are lots of different textures and types of plants.

There are pergolas as destinations within the garden…and paths that go from meadow to forest to wetland.

Most of the garden is green and brown but the eye catches on white

And red

And orange.

I was not looking for animals but two appeared very obviously - a chipmunk

And a spider.

I noticed a violet with a double seed pod.

Closer to the museum/mansion - there was a lotus in the koi pond that used to be the swimming pool!

There is more lawn as understory closer to the mansion…still a lot of big trees.

Mt. Pleasant Farm - June 2015

I am missing treks to Mt. Pleasant Farm for elementary school field trips. Since they have ended I’ve been doing other things/other places but I did take one short hike around one of the loops last week - just because I was missing the place.

The water lilies in the water feature of the Honors Garden have buds.

The summer flowers are beginning to unfurl.

The early ones - like butterfly weed - are already attracting butterflies.

I was thrilled that a bluebird stayed on a branch long enough to be photographed.

This is my favorite to bring groups to look up the stream and ask ‘which tree trunk has been has been across the stream the longest.’

One sharp eyed second grade student looked through the foliage and pointed out the shelf-fungus on the stump beside the stream nearby.

Last but not least - the milkweed is just about to burst into bloom. Hopefully the Monarch Butterflies will find the plants and plenty of eggs….and set the stage for a larger than usual cohort of Monarch Butterflies in summer 2015.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 20, 2015

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Soft Tissue Detected in Millennia-Old Dino Bones - New ways of looking at very old bones reveals unanticipated results (but not DNA).

Far From Sterile, Some Hybrids May Start New Species - Coyotes in the eastern US are quite different than their western counterparts and they are beginning to fill the niche left by wolves. Maybe they will help control the too large deer population!

Renewables Reach Highest Share of U.S. Energy Consumption since 1930s - Historical stats about renewable energy...with emphasis on the 1990-2014 time period.

Two similar articles: Why doctors should treat the healthy too and Interventions among healthy people save the most lives - The challenge is that most doctors are trained to treat illness and disability…not help people retain their health.

Data scientists find connections between birth month and health - The data for the study was from 1985-2013…1.7 million patients treated at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/CUMC. It interesting result but the researchers point out that the risk related to birth month is relatively minor compared to the more influential variables like diet and exercise.

The Weirdest (And Most Violent) Ways That Plants Release Their Seeds - Short videos. As with so many things botanical…I could not resist including it in the gleaning list. It includes how violets disperse their seeds and I’ve just started noticing the seed pods this year (I have several locations where I am watching the plants to see the seeds disperse).

Global freshwater consumption crossing its planetary boundary - Scary result.

Biodiversity reduces human, wildlife diseases and crop pests - Another reason to worry about the extinctions happening in the world right now.

Sunrise and Sunset Photos Capture Stunning Wildlife Silhouettes - Ending with some great images…and a reminder of the special light at the beginning and ending of the day.

Deck Garden - June 2015

Mid - June - and the garden is mostly green. The only plant that is blooming so far is one of the purple pea vines. It is climbing on the peacock pot sticker that the gold finches like to perch on.

There are buds on some of the other plants. By July there should be more color.

I am enjoying the greens at the moment.

Some purple basil came up in the pot that I planted some seeds from a packet that was over 5 years old. More of the seeds were viable than I anticipated! I’ve been pulling seedlings to use in salads so that there will be a mix of green and purple basil leaves in plants that have enough room to grow.

The mint in the turtle sandbox is root bound and can’t seem to grow any more around the edge. I’ll give it a through trim at some point then churn up the sandy soil and start over. There is a very thick mat of stems entwined over the surface so I’ll start the churn with long handled pruners!

I’ve already harvested some of the red potatoes (posted about it here) but there are several more plants from those same sprouted potatoes. My plan is to harvest when any of the potatoes peek above the soil. The pots are probably not large enough to get an outstanding crop….but maybe over the course of the summer they will all yield a serving!  The lighter green leaves of the celery that sprouted in the kitchen window sill is a nice contrast to the the darker greens of other plants.

I was trying to use old seed so I probably have cucumbers in some of the pots too. There were a few seeds left from last year and the cucumbers did well as ‘spillers’ in many of the pots. Thrillers will be whatever is not green. I am anticipating zinnias and sunflowers but there could be some other flowers too from seeds in the soil from last year. July will tell! RIght now i am enjoying the delicate red in the stems of last December's poinsetta!

Zooming - June 2015

The ‘zooming’ post is a little earlier than usual this month…but it was such a good month for outdoor subjects that I didn’t want to wait. Can you find:

• A wild flower?
• A garden flower?
• Dogwood?
• A wood frog?
• Rattlesnake fern?
• Garlic scapes?
• Milkweed?
• A feather?
• A goldfinch?
• Birds nest fungus?

Bird’s Nest Fungus

As I hurried back to the car to meet my husband after his walk at Centennial Park I spotted some tiny birds nest fungus in the mulch of a raised bed beside the path near the canoe and paddle boat rentals. Photographing them took a few just minutes.These fungi are only a little larger than a pencil eraser. I noticed their color first

Then some dimples

And finally some ‘eggs’ where the covering had torn away to reveal them in the ‘nest.’ Notice the one at the top middle of the image below that still had part of the covering.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 13, 2015

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

18 beautiful houses for tiny people - Photographs of doll’s houses …inhabitants and furnishings too.

How past Native-American settlement modified Western New York forests - Larger nut-bearing trees were more abundant near settlements!

Rebuilding Sandbars in the Grand Canyon - I had learned about the attempts to rebuild sandbars in the recent Coursera offer on Water in the Western US…so this acted to remind me of the class, probably locking in what I learned through a surprise repetition.

Ultrasound is making new waves throughout medicine - Ultrasound is being used for more and more imaging these days….and is more portable than a lot of the other imagining technologies.

10 Ways to Save Pollinators - This is not just about honey bees….it’s about all pollinators.

Multi-tasking: Benefits on exercise - So doing something else while you exercise may not be such a bad thing!

Beyond Automation - Five paths toward employability is an automated…augmented world of the future.

Sewage Pollution: The Next Great Threat for Coral Reefs - 96% of places that have both people and coral reefs have a sewage pollution problem (85% of the waterwater entering the sea in the Caribbean is untreated). Sewage that reaches corals includes: fresh water, endocrine disruptors, heavy metals, pathogens, toxins. Ewww! Not good for human health either.

The Shifting Sands of the Sahara Are a Lesson in Dune Dynamics - Illustrations of dune patterns (seen from above)

5 Ways to Make Environmentally Conscious Food Choices - I had thought of all 5…but this is post is a good summary to: support good companies, buy local, storing your food, growing your own, and choose less packaging.

Nature and History Hiking

There are lots of ‘stories’ that we create for ourselves while hiking. Hiking is active and invites narrative. The theme can be about interaction with an animal or plants or a hiking partner. There could be an activity done with hiking that becomes part of the story: photography, bird watching, climbing, camping, etc. Recently - I’ve been creating stories using the history theme.

The longest timeframe history is in rocks - in layers. It is easy for this narrative to emerge when hiking the Grand Canyon…..the feeling of the vast amounts of time for water to wear away the rock is part of the place.

Sometimes rocks tell history with a shorter timeframe. For example, rocks along trails in areas that are near developments show up in buildings; the Master Naturalist hike along the Trolley Trail early this year was an example for me of rocks linking to history of the past few hundred years. A building not far from the trail was built of Ellicott City Granite with bits of amphibole for contrast.

Human impacts. Sometimes the changes caused by humans are evident along a hiking trail. Trash is always unwelcome and we may not hike that trail again - or help in a clean up project. It is a sad story. In fact - lots of the impacts are sad: eroded stream banks from changes in runoff patterns from housing developments and invasive plants. Many of the impacts happen quickly.

Other examples of human impacts take a longer period. The view of the forests on the east coast has changed dramatically now that the American Chestnuts are gone (almost all of them succumbed to the Chestnut Blight in the 1900s); they were the dominate (most numerous) tree in the forest. That history is harder to realize because it is about something missing. As I look into the forest behind my house - the most numerous trees are the tulip poplars. They are tall - but they don’t produce the large and reliable crop of nuts that the chestnuts did (for animals and people).

What about organisms that are not usually noticed? If you take a walk shortly after a rain - there might be earthworms on the forest path. Did you know that they are not ‘native’ to North America but brought in ballast from Europe during colonization? How did they change the forest? The leaf mulch was not cycled as quickly by the native organisms which means that the forest floor in precolonial times was cooler and wetter than it is now. How different did those forests look?