Views of Sequim, the Olympic Peninsula. . .and beyond
Here’s another sure sign that autumn is moving in: apples. Branches on local trees are sagging enticingly and the orbs are taking on color.
I harvested the top right apple Sunday from our two year-old tree. The tree has four types of apples grafted onto its trunk. This red gravenstein was the first apple so far that hasn’t caused a cheek-sucking pucker.
I glanced out the window just as one of the trio of deer that’s been calling our backyard home decided it was time for a snack. Our mock orange was just the ticket.
I went to the door and opened it in hope of saving a few branches of greenery. The deer agreed it was time to move on, perhaps to the remaining leaves on the flowering red currant. The shot I didn’t get was the deer, stopped in its tracks in front of me, giving me an unimaginably wide-eyed, innocent look. “Look, I’m just being a deer here, okay?”
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I’ve begun to harvest this year’s garlic crop, starting with the Juan de Fuca Wonder from Blythe Barbo and her Barbolian Fields garlic: great big heads, almost the size of apples. And the shot above shows what they looked like above ground. These are scapes, the wondrous stalks that garlic sends up as it grows. I think they are sort of otherworldly and fascinating as they bend and curl. Eventually they straighten and face skyward. Scapes can be sautéed and can be used as flavoring. They have a mild garlic flavor.
This is what they look like if they start to “bloom.” There are tiny bulblets inside that can be cultivated like seed to grow more garlic, though it’s faster to plant cloves from a head.
It remains to be seen how my garlic does as it dries. We had a rainstorm that thoroughly wetted the ground right around the time I intended to harvest – not good. I waited for the ground to dry out. . . I’m not sure if it was quite dry enough. We’ll see.
I’m growing kale this year. Because I got my usual late start, I skipped seeds and planted a six pack of little baby kales. I knew it would be more than we are likely to eat but hey, kale’s good for you. You know, it’s one of those superfoods, chock full of the nutrients lacking in all the foods we really love. It also loves it here. It’s growing like it means to turn into a heritage plant. Like a tree.
We’re eating it sautéed, steamed, braised on spaghetti, mounded under fish or chicken. Kale salad, kale chips. Cooked and tossed with balsamic vinegar or salad dressing. Neighbors are beginning to hide when they see me coming. (I think the wheelbarrow of kale leaves must be a tipoff.) Want some?
This miniature iris isn’t more than two inches in height. From our kitchen window it looked like a bit of flotsam. . .yet, that color. . .Husband insisted it was an iris. I couldn’t remember planting any there. But he was right. It qualifies as a classic belly flower, the kind you must get up close and personal to see. Woohoo! The daffodils aren’t far behind.
So, Iris Spotter: Here’s a post for you. Happy birthday, Honey!
We’ve only had about an inch and a half of rain so far this year. I’d be hard pressed to complain about that since it rarely rains long enough or hard enough to make it truly miserable. But it leads me to admit that I’m enough of an amateur that cloudy, grey days are a challenge to me. I haven’t really learned to see the photo possibilities and yet I do prefer and like to be out of doors. So I raced out recently thinking the rain had stopped, looking for raindrops. The rain hadn’t stopped. And I hadn’t noticed, but it was windy, too, and pretty cold. It was a quick series of shots and this was the best of the bunch.
It’s not too soon to think about next year’s garlic crop and I discovered that Blythe’s garlic seed crop at Barbolian Fields is disappearing fast. I could – and will – use some of this year’s garlic crop to seed next year’s. But Blythe sells a veritable rainbow of interesting and exotic garlic, making it impossible to stick to the tried and true. And I find it really hard to keep from getting excited when talking garlic with Blythe. She holds them with the gentle reverence of an artisan. In her hands garlic heads become beautiful jewels as she points out richly colored stripes, discusses their origins, or compares one head to another. She has collected garlics from garlic growing regions worldwide – Romania, Georgia, Uzbekistan, Czechoslovakiah, Asia. Who can resist planting a United Nations of Garlic?
This is a little more than half of Blythe’s remaining crop, much of which she sells by mail order. Needless to say, it wasn’t a quick visit or easy decision-making.