Plums

The plums are luscious. So many on the stem right now at the community garden that the branches are practically bending to the ground. I actually ate a few while there earlier. It will be only a matter of weeks before I can pick enough to dry. I had a neighbor in Yakima who made a sweet plum dessert. She was German and it was one of her family recipes. The plums were sliced in two and set on top of cake batter. I imagine brown sugar and cinnamon and butter crumbled over the plums. When the whole thing was done, powder sugar was sifted over the plum cake. Very good. Very much a fallish dessert. For more recipes see Peaches, Pears and Plums:40 Recipes for Fine Dining At Home

Also in the garden, the sunflowers are full of seeds and the birds are flocking to them. I grew the giant sunflowers in my Yakima garden and when the birds came in the fall, it felt good to see them there they, eating at their natural bird feeders. The birds are also gleaning seeds from cones now. In the fall they move through the trees, chattering away. So sweet and soothing, all those tiny birds eating and chattering away.

On the island, we had a herd of deer in the meadow beyond our cabin. They were gleaning from the apple trees. At the farmer's market, the smell of fruit and vegetables is sweet and tangy. Many baskets of blueberries and tomatoes. At my garden, I discovered something I haven't seen before. One of the stems of the tomato plant rooted where it touched down to the ground. I know you can plant a tomato deeply and it will root along the stem, but I'd never seen it happen on its own.

Okay, then. Tomorrow, try putting in a fall crop. For many of you, it's not too late. For others, you may be getting frosted soon. Then there will be other things to do in the garden, like pick all those pumpkins and squash.

Best in gardening,
Flower

Gulls

Here in the PNW gulls sit on roofs and telephone poles and boats and pickups, etc.. They eat dog food out of bags folks leave in the backs of their pickups while shopping for hardware. It's a sad thing, all that shat, not to mention the owner must buy another bag of dog food. Here at the condo, the gulls wake me early every morning. They sit on the peak of the tennis club, a big green building across the street. Sometimes they just soar in circles over the parking area, perhaps the air currents are good between the three buildings, I don't know, but while circling, down comes the shat. And what happens next is of course ruined paint jobs, especially if you are out of town for awhile, like my neighbor was one exceptionally hot summer week.

Always, I've been a watchdog in my neighborhood and report things that go wrong. Even the gull thing I've reported. Because, it was my belief that the big old birds were making a nests on the roof of the "C" building. This was never confirmed nor denied; however, it improved after my complaint. In Yakima, I called Woody the neighbor frequently, usually because his cows were out or because a hunter was walking the edge of my garden. I had sheep and goats and chickens and ducks, and I had a young child. So he'd say, kick em off and say I said so, so I'd stomp on out to the barbwire and yell, no hunting, blah, blah, blah. The hunter would get defensive and leave. I'd feel all jacked up, sort of proud of my territorial behavior.

Once a calf fell in the stream in the pasture out past the garden and couldn't get back out. Turned out it was sick. Woody had gotten a little tired of my calls, but since I saved his cattle he started to like me. Until one of his cows died leaning up against my fence just on the other side of the sunflowers. I thought she was sleeping there. Didn't have a good view of her, and then it was over. A quick death, I think. Actually many cows died while I lived on that mini farm. Also Mt St. Helen's erupted and there was a small flood. I had a pig run away and return home all fattened up and I sold two goats to a Mexican family who promised me they would eat them. And I sold vegetables out of my garden. It was a good thing, growing all those vegetables. And a good thing eating them too. And a good thing having a mini farm. I'd have one again in a flash. Condo living is for the birds, or gulls, whichever comes first.

Flower