garden to table

welcome, sovereign rio leon staal-robles

we just had a visit from the newest member of the staal family.  sovereign was born to gabe (staal's oldest son) and his lovely june on the first of this month.

welcome, sovereign.  thanks for making the long journey over to say hello to us and best wishes for you on your journey through your new life.

mugwort moon (winter solstice 2018)

gathering mugwort
in the light
of the full solstice moon
a scent
a light
to guide me through the dreamworld
on this
the longest night

wet feet

rain beetle

last night after dinner we started hearing occasional knocking/banging on the windows.  it happens every year when we start having wet weather.  it was raining last night and the rain beetles were out.  the females cannot fly so they wait by a burrow they have dug and send pheromone signals to the males who fly around looking for them.  once a male finds a female they mate and she lays eggs in the burrow.  if the males happen to find themselves in an area near a house they are often drawn to the light coming from the windows and make quite a racket banging their big, hard bodies into the glass (hopefully not hurting themselves in the process). 
a little while ago i was out with the ducks and as i was coming back in i saw this big guy near the greenhouse door...

rain beetle, complete with raindrops

offering gratitude

tomorrow is thanksgiving day and we'll be enjoying spending some time with family.  today is also sort of a thanksgiving day (probably all days should be) for me.  i spent the earlier part of today out in the fig orchard sowing wildflower seeds in preparation for the rain that has just begun and is forecasted to continue off and on over the next few days.  it's become something of a tradition for me over the last few years and is my way of offering gratitude to the birds and insects, to this place and my life here with staal and the critters, to those who visit or pass by on the road, to the rain and the sun...

pretty quiet out there right now but the winter rains and snows will get things growing and it'll be buzzing with color and life in the coming spring and that will be something to be grateful for too.

hermit thrush

squash harvest

the last couple years i've had a hard time getting a decent squash crop because gophers

and pill bugs will ruin any part of the plant or fruit that makes ground contact.  this year i grew the plants in nursery pots set into the ground under the drip line and trellised the vines.  it worked out really well.

the following two photos show the plants growing up their trellises in july (the amber light was provided by the ferguson fire).

kabocha squash

banana squash

today's harvest:

lost label, possibly hubbard or mixed maxima from saved seed

kabocha and sweet meat

pink jumbo banana and scarecrow

i think we'll be eating well this winter.

happy birthday, zane grey!

seven years old today, 11/12/18

dung beetles (a bedtime story for staal)

one day
on a quiet little hill
two dung beetles happened upon each other
after spending some time together
side by side
each pushing their own ball of dung up the hill
one remarked to the other how like the story of sisyphus it all seemed
the other reflected on this thought
and came to the conclusion
there might be another way
the beetles discussed the alternative and found it worth a shot
they consolidated their balls of dung into one
and took turns pushing it up the hill
one taking over when the other tired
it was easier and much more enjoyable than toiling alone
and they made quick work of the hill in this way
at the top
they caught their breath
and took in the view
tired from their trek up the hill
they rested their bodies against the ball of dung
and drifted off to sleep in the warm sun
they shared a dream
of what it would be like to be a pine tree
feeling the peace of standing quietly
being rooted in stillness
branches and needles caressed by the breeze
when the beetles awoke
they found that out of the ball of dung
a pine tree had sprouted
the beetles decided to give up the busyness of dung ball rolling
and stayed together
at the top of the hill they had climbed together
tending their little pine tree

shiitake logs

in march of last year i inoculated a bunch of oak logs with shiitake mushroom spawn.  it went something like this:


the logs have to be drilled so the spawn can be introduced.  i bought a special drill bit (as well as all the spawn and inoculation tools and supplies) from field and forest products, a mushroom culture supply company.  the bit is designed to make holes the right diameter and depth for inoculation.

holes get drilled in sort of a diamond pattern 4-6 inches apart along the whole length of the log (my logs are about 32-36 inches long)

after the logs are drilled the spawn is packed into the holes with a special tool.  i chose a thumb inoculator because it only takes one hand to operate leaving the other hand free to manipulate the log as needed.

sawdust spawn and brass thumb inoculator

the inoculator is really easy to use.  the tip is plunged into the sawdust spawn a few times to load it.

once loaded it's placed over a hole and the spawn is pressed into the hole by pushing the spring-loaded thumb trigger at the top of the handle.

drilled hole packed with sawdust spawn

after all the holes are filled with spawn they are sealed with melted food grade paraffin wax.  i used an old crock pot i found at the local spca thrift to heat the wax.

applying melted wax with wax dauber

after i sealed the logs i labeled them with aluminum tags.

these tags are actually meant to be marked with a ball point pen to impress the information into the tag...not sure why i used sharpie but it has not held up in the weather.

then the waiting.  it takes at least several months after inoculation before log grown shiitakes will begin producing mushrooms.  it's important to sustain the moisture content of the logs so i've been watering them since inoculation.  i noticed a few days ago that (after more than a year after inoculation) a few of the logs are starting to fruit.  i suspect that our hot, dry climate contributed to the extra long period between inoculation and fruiting.   i'm curious to see how productive they'll be.   it's definitely been a fun experience.

shiitake mushroom pushing off wax cap at inoculation site

only a few so far but once things cool off a bit more and we get some more rain i think we'll get a pretty good flush from the logs that haven't started fruiting yet.  and then mushroom dinner for us.

hitchhiker

i was out working in the garden today and started feeling like i'd gotten something stuck in my sock at the top of my boot.  i figured it was just some dried plant material but when i pulled up my pant leg to have a look i found this little guy...

out and about

weekly erranding and a stop for coffee at the pony expresso with my two best guys...

first rain

                         

 
summer's fiery trial
in country too long dry
the trees hold their breath
in hot, still air
then
like a fever breaking
fall's first rain
the trees
the soil
all the animals of the forest
even the mountains
exhale together
in a deep collective sigh of relief
sweetening the night air
                                       

 

hi, turkeys!

a group of wild turkey toms passed through while i had the ducks out yesterday.  the little whities were really curious about them and actually walked out a ways to get a closer look at the weird looking birds in their yard.

short video:

'migo

when we bought the place across the street we inherited about nine feral/semi-feral cats that lupe, the previous owner, had been feeding.  i told lupe i'd feed the cats after she moved.  most of the cats have moved on in one way or another.  now there is only one.

'migo

 he used to be called fluff/floof but after a dream i had, in which he appeared as a benevolent figure offering me help, i started calling him 'migo (short for amigo because in the dream he said he was my friend).  i walk over to bring 'migo some breakfast everyday.  usually he is waiting for me on a pine round behind the woodshed.  when i don't see him in his usual place i call him and he comes running out of the blackberries down by the creek and up the slope to me, yowling all the way.
today, like always, i gave him his breakfast and petted him a little until he got interested in eating and then i wished him a good day and went to check some trees and do a little watering.
when i was on my way out the gate to go back home i heard 'migo yowling me and i stopped to ask him what was up.  he kept yowling and walking toward me, pausing a little uncertainly a few times before he made it to the gate.  i bent down to pet him but he was skittish, he seemed to want petting but was not comfortable being so out in the open.  he kept yowling me and leading me back over by the woodshed.  when we got close to the woodshed i bent down again and he allowed me to pet him.  it was more than an allowance.  he seemed to really want and need to be petted.  i stroked his head and back and rubbed his ears and neck and he purred and rubbed his head and body against my leg.  we did this for 5-10 minutes and he probably would have liked more but i had to get back home to some other furry critters who need things from me too.  i thought about how difficult it must be for him to live in the loneliness of not quite being a wild cat and not quite being domesticated.  i told him it was alright as i stroked his soft coat and looked into his friendly yellow eyes.  i told him he could be wild or he could be tame and i'd be his friend either way.

staal's happy birthday feast

beef and veggie spring rolls, long beans and purple pole beans (from the garden), and rehydrated oyster mushrooms from our winter crop

i cooked the beans and mushrooms together with some garlic but didn't get any pictures because we (nick came over and helped) were too busy eating it.

the first few i roll are always a little clumsy but i usually get pretty good at it by the end

porch swing

a year or two ago staal and i found a really great little porch swing at a yard sale.  the paint was peeling but structurally it was sound.  it's been sitting around our place since then waiting its turn to come up on one of our lists of millions of things.  staal hung it up outside the front door a couple of weeks ago to get it off the ground and seeing it hanging there with peeling paint got me inspired to do something with it.  staal helped me chip and sand off the worst of the old paint and after experimenting with mixing some paint colors for it i gave it a fresh coat of paint.

before:

after:

it's now a cheery place to enjoy some morning coffee and by late afternoon it's a great spot to sit in the shade and cooling breeze as the heat of the day starts to break.

wings: a demonstration

follow the rice

ferguson fire update

very smoky here this morning.  yesterday was mostly clear air and blue skies (conditions can change hourly).  lots of air tanker activity yesterday...laying down retardant along the tops of the ridges to the northeast and north/northwest of our place.  on the map (credit dave toussaint) below, the red lines running along the tops of footman ridge and buckhingham ridge are the areas the planes have been laying down retardant lines to reinforce dozer and hand lines. triangle rd is the very light yellowish squiggly line that runs somewhat horizontally directly below buckingham ridge (better view in cropped map below).

 
on the cropped map below, if you draw a line from the little green mountain symbol on top of buckingham to the little suitcase symbol to the south, our house is somewhere near where that line intersects with the curvy yellowish line (triangle rd).

below is our house with a smoky buckingham mt. behind it.

looking dusky at about 11am

it's not always like the picture above.  yesterday it was quite clear and we got to see a nice blue sky...and lots of air tankers.

an air tanker outfitted to drop retardant

also had a pretty good view of a pyrocumulus cloud (huge billowing clouds that form above fires due to the intense heating of the air and its subsequent convection and contact with cooler moister air above) forming above the fire to the northeast of us.

we are doing alright.  trying to stay out of the smoke as much as possible and keeping an eye on what the fire is doing.  recent reports from fire officials have been optimistic for our area so unless there is a major change we likely will not have to evacuate.  it will most likely just be a matter of watching and waiting it out.