Sausage filling

Sausage filling

Early morning

69 degrees and mostly cloudy.  8 am.

I woke up early this morning to make waffles for my housemates.  So early.  We’re talking 4:30 am early.  My coffee has yet to kick in, but I managed to drag myself outside for an early morning photo session in the garden.  So many bloomers right now!

A gorgeous poppy

 The trees will not be outdone, as you can see by my Hop Hornbeam.

And keeping an eye on me the whole time…

Red, of the Rhode Island variety

I finished knitting a pair of white socks yesterday, but they are stained with ink from my purse.  I suppose I will dye them.  Perhaps later today I can scavenge some natural dye stuffs.

Late May

Whole wheat flour and brown rice

Candles

71 degrees and sunny 1 pm

A fine day for hiking up Mount Norwotuck, picking up the bulk grains (50 lbs of whole wheat flour and 25 lbs of brown rice), and making beeswax candles.  Gotta love summer!

Spring Rain

7 a.m. 50 degrees.  3rd Day of Rain.

It’s been a while since I last blogged, and I apologize for that.  I went through a little phase where I thought no one really read my posts, and then I went through a phase of forgetting, and now I am back here at my kitchen table thinking that I need to write.  Perhaps it is because of the weather.  A brilliant, sunny stretch of days was followed by rain, which will continue all week.  I weeded and planted and tended to the animals in the sun, but now I am stuck inside watching the weeds grow out the window.  Ah well.

At least the chickens are doing alright.

This is when they were babies...

Back to School

High 75.  Sunny.

September first.  Although my school doesn’t start until next week, I saw my first school bus of the year yesterday.  It’s kind of exciting.  I remember feeling the anticipation of the new year, a new start.  I liked school, and I loved the first day.

A storm blew through this past weekend, and the air has been cool ever since.  If you can ignore the height of the sun in the sky and the vibrant green of the plants, it really feels like fall.  I am heading up to D.A.R. State Forest in Goshen to kayak this morning.  I am in training for the Josh Billings Triathlon!

Tomato Blight

Every summer I look forward to canning tomatoes and making spaghetti sauce, but this summer my kitchen will be quiet.  The flooding rains and cool temperatures of June and July stunted tomato growth and provided Phytophthora the optimal conditions for growth. 

Phytophthora is the genus of fungus that causes late blight.  It’s the same genus responsible for the Irish potato famine and sudden oak death in California.  It is not a true fungus, meaning it does not belong to the taxonomic kingdom of Fungi, but is instead a member of the Protist kingdom.  Commonly called a water mold, Phytophthoras spread by flagellated spores that swim through water.  If one wet plant is infected and it touches another wet plant, the fungus spreads, feeding on the photosynthates of its host.  Photosynthates are sugars and other chemicals that plants make through photosynthesis.  Usually, these chemicals are used for reproduction and the plant produces fruit.  But if a parasite attacks, those chemicals get sucked away, and the plant won’t be able to make fruits/tomatoes.

So all this means that tomatoes (plants and fruits) have suffered in New England.  A New York Times article published in June predicted this crop failure, as did others I am sure.  And now it is late August, and local tomatoes cost an arm and a leg. 

Thankfully, tomatoes are just one crop grown in my region-the Pioneer Valley.  Kale has done wonderfully, and I have a freezer full of steamed greens for winter soups.  My own kale plants have gone above and beyond my expectations (maybe they can sense my disappointment about tomatoes), and have provided me with POUNDS of leaves. 

I am glad that the theory of farm diversification has been put into practice in my area.  The Pioneer Valley has several small farms, and many of them plant a variety of crops.  I hope the loss of the tomatoes doesn’t cause too much economic stress for any farmers in my area.  I can survive without tomatoes, and I hope the farms can.

Hiking on Summer Vacation

High 82.  Cloudy and humid.

New England has been drenched by rain storm after rain storm this summer.  Consequently, I haven’t been getting outdoors as much as I would like.  I don’t mind hiking in the rain, but the trails can’t take it.  They start to erode with rain, washing down hill, and hiking on them only exacerbates the process.  So, I’ve been staying on the pavement-running and cycling. 

After a spell of dry weather 2 weeks ago, I went hiking in the Berkshires with an old high school friend.  It was great to catch up after so many years apart, seeing how we both have changed and how we both have stayed very much the same.  I liked high school, and I like looking back on myself at that time.  It’s reassuring to realize that my personality and temperament have remained fairly constant.  And the hiking was great.  We climbed Alander Mountain, and the trail was very easy to follow.  There were great views from the summit, and we enjoyed the sunshine amid the blueberry bushes there.

Luckily, I planned a vacation to a tougher landscape.  My husband and I spent last week camping in and exploring Acadia National Park.  The granite that is so prominent in the mountains and sea cliffs is very resistant to erosion, so the paths and trails of the park were in fine shape for hiking.  And hike I did.  Up Mansell Mountain, the Beehive and on various smaller paths.  I even saw a program on how crews build the paths, cutting each granite stone by hand.

Trail up Mansell Mountain

 We did so many things on vacation, and I am not going to list them all here. 

Happy Hiking!

Turtle Season

Cloudy and warm.

During early summer you can catch turtles out and about, looking for love.  On a five mile run a couple weeks ago, I spotted (and almost touched!) a snapping turtle that had at least a 10″ diameter carapace.  All dark and spiky, the shell looked wet, as if the turtle had climbed right out of the stream a hundred yards away.  (I know I should use metric…)

Here is a picture of some painted turtles I caught sunning themselves on a branch overhanging Perfume Pond in Easthampton, MA. 

Ravenel’s Stinkhorn

This is the second summer in a row that I have found these beauties outside of the Bartley Center on the Holyoke Community College campus.  Stinkhorns are named for their shape and have a characteristic odor.  Some say the odor is of rotting flesh, others say it smells like semen.  To me, it’s a toss up.  They just reek!

Phallus ravenelii

Here is the emerging stinkhorn.  Caught in the act!!