A food word of the day for the gardener

Bullrush - Massette - An aquatic plant which grows along the edges of ponds and swamps and the banks of rivers. The leaves and young shoots are eating in salad. The roots, which are fleshy and full of starch, are also edible.

From Larousse Gastronomique

Zen Garden

A Carrot by Any Other Name

A Carrot by Any Other Name

Farm Aid: 25 Years of Making A Difference

The garden at the Loleta Cheese Factory

After a nice lunch at the Loleta Bakery the girls and I took a nice walk in the late summer sun and enjoyed the gardens at the Loleta Cheese Factory.  What a great place so spend a sunny afternoon.

My New Garden

I'm in my new place and have a new yard to play with. Now to get all my garden tools dusted off and see what I can do with this.

High Class Chicken Coop

I work with a crazy lady  who has an endless obsession with chickens these days.  She got a wild hair this year and decided to do the urban chicken thing in her backyard.  She's discussed so many different kinds of chickens with me that I can't remember all of the breeds she has now.  All I can remember is that there are some silkies, banties and auracanas.  Over the past five months she has spent endless hours building the coop for these lucky little fowl.  Today she shared the final result with me, and I tell you, these are some lucky chickens.  These are some fancy digs.  Turns out she's a pretty talented lady.

Carter House Gardens

Today I stumbled upon one of my favorite restaurants gardens.  The Carter House Restaurant 301 has been raising it's own edible flowers and herbs for 27 years.  The Carter House maintains one of the most extensive organic gardens of any Inn on the West Coast, most of the herbs being used in the restaurant the very day they're harvested. 

Not only does the garden have a daily supply of herbs and vegetables for the inn, (the Inn's guests are invited to help the chefs harvest for the meals to be served that evening - a nice way to get close to your food, I'd say) but the master gardener also puts on lectures and garden tours.  The garden is also home to organic garden seminars and horticultural education.  I found today that not only does it supply food to the inn and an opportunity for education, but it's just a beautiful and peaceful place to roam around in, smell the intoxicating smells of the herbs in and to just relax in.  I'll be back soon.

Sunday Flowers

Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw Challenge

Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw Challenge

Stop by and check out the essay I entered in the challenge. If you like it please feel free to vote for it.

From Ignorant to mad to sad gardener

This year I lose my garden.  It's killing me not to be able to buy starts at the nursery and dig in the dirt.  But next year will be different. 

In the mean time, I am reaping some benefits from my hard work in the past.  This is the first year I've had such a great crop of strawberries and the apples are coming on strong. 

A final gift from my garden that I'm extremely grateful for. 

From Ignorant to Mad Gardener

Lately I've been out of my mind.  For quite a while I've been out of my mind.  I've been down right mad lately, and not in an angry sort of way, but more like a Mad Hatter sort of way. 

And when the gardener goes mad you can see just how mad she's gone by that state of her garden.

The mustard went wild, the carrots buried alive in weeds, the turnips gave up and the lettuce was being taken over by volunteer potatoes.  My artichokes are dying and the asparagus is all but gone.  The kale and cabbage went to seed and the weeds are so bad not even the mint can survive. All a reflection of what's been going on in my head.

But, lately, I've been trying to do some weeding or de-cluttering in my head.  It's a slow painful process, but I'm feeling better, and just like my head, my garden is slowly getting de-cluttered, which is also a slow painful process, but just looking at it after one session of weeding it's already looking a little better.  I've got a long way to go, with my head and my garden, but at least I feel like I've made some progress, which has lifted some weight off of my shoulders.

The lettuce, mustard and carrots were salvaged.  The dead and dying removed and fed to the goats.  A great many weeds pulled, but many more to go.  Just seeing the difference after this give my mind a small amount of much needed peace. 





And a small amount of bounty for the dinner table.

Mustard greens, lettuce, carrots and a few beets. 

Hopefully I'll reap some bounty after clearing out the weeds from my head as well.

http://ping.fm/WtihB

Spring is peeking around the corner

I'm noticing on my morning walks and in my garden that, even in the 3rd week of January, Spring is poking her little head up above the cold dirt.

The Salmon berries are blooming!  I'm hoping I can beat the birds and the County road crew to the berries this year.

 

Daffodils are popping up everywhere and all the plum trees, including ours, are going into full bloom.

 

My apple tree is starting to bud out and it desperately needs a good pruning.  I hope we get another awesome yield in the fall.  My big chore in the garden now, is to get it all cleaned up and ready for the spring, and to decide what I'm going to grow this year and get some seeds ordered.  I'm itching to garden!

Winter

Well, I haven't been able to spend much time in my garden.  It's in desperate need of weeding, no watering is necessary, and thankfully my seedlings are growing right along.  Not much else to share.  So I'll share this picture of the beautiful bloom on my Christmas cactus.  This cactus is a cut off of my great grandmother's plant.  I'm not real good with houseplants, so I've made it a priority to keep this one alive.  I was so please to see it bloom, and at Christmas time no less.

When you're done enjoying the cactus blossom, be sure to stop by Omnivores Delight and read my little rant about American's and there silly New Years Resolutions, and then you can read about my silly New Years Resolution.

Happy New Year.

Winter Garden

Mustard Greens

                                                                             Carrots                      

Oriental Spinach

Chinese Kale

Walla Walla Onion

And plenty of Romaine lettuce that I somehow didn't get a picture of.