Gardening + Nature

You are currently browsing the archive for the Gardening + Nature category.

Lazuli Bunting

House Finch & Rufous Crowned Sparrow

Yellow Warbler

Bullocks Oriole

House Finch & Dove

White Crowned Sparrow

Robin & Spotted Towhee

Yellow Rumped Warbler

Scarlet Tanager

Common Yellowthroat

Chickadee

Green Tailed Towhee

Female American Goldfinch

Rabbit

I don’t know what special alchemy was afloat, but boy howdy, did we have the most wondrous migration season in the garden this year! Though I included some of our regulars (finch, robin, spotted towhee, chickadee, and dove), because we enjoy their company, too, I was astounded at all of our visitors. There were little flocks darting and singing and eating and bathing. What a joy!

Hopping on quickety-quick to say H E L L O !

If you reside on the Front Range of the great state of Colorado, I sincerely hope you weren’t blown to bits today. Good grief, what a fierce wind! We waited and waited to promenade our most precious pooch, and it was such a misery. We only made it one block. Better days ahead, but not tomorrow, so the weatherman says. Soon.

The photos were another quick dash in gorgeous afternoon light around the garden. The green is coming, and I could not be happier about it. If I had one complaint about my home state, it would shockingly not pertain to wind, but winter and spring brown-ness. We do have ample amounts, save in the verdant high country, so I must keep my eyes further afield so as not to lose my spirit. Blue skies and mountain vistas are, indeed, the answer.

Hoping it is lovely wherever you may be…

I continue to make the super easy berry margaritas! You can, too. Fill a pint or quart jar with berries, this was quartered strawberries, top off with your favorite tequila, let sit in the fridge for a week, strain, and enjoy in your preferred recipe. Mine, perhaps?

Homemade red chile, possibly my best batch ever, topped a deliciously rare flank steak, with perfect pintos and homemade tortillas, too. We do alright.

I am a big fan of Korea (the Southern part, anyway) and their wonderfully tasty food and bought a super cookbook by Aaron Huh called Simply Korean. This salad is topped with a close riff on his beef bulgogi patties and my own gochujang dressing. I’ve also made them into some freaking fantastic Korean burgers. Highly recommend.

This is what happens when you mix lye and prickly pear juice (home grown and made) to make soap. It will all eventually be the golden color at the bottom but still feel pretty luxurious on the skin. Chemistry!

Saving the most beautiful until the last, with the sweetest scents of the season for the moment. It has been a slow unfolding here, with us late to clear the gardens of their fall and winter accumulations, unearthing green and ruby shoots aplenty. While I clipped and piled and raked, Greg spread compost from our massive pile, the not-so-magical alchemy of debris and time that makes our garden thrive.

Tags:

A couple weeks ago, we got the most snowfall since moving back to Colorado, and the greatest in my personal memory since the Blizzard of ’82. It started sweetly, with the quiet magic of a snow globe, and it kept falling for a good 48 hours.

Up top is how it looked on the first day, which was about 8-10″ and some of the heaviest snow these arms have ever shoveled. Juniper could happily frolic, in her usual blissful ignorance that snow is actually her arch nemesis water, fluffed up and beautiful. By the end, and captured in the final photo, are two feet of slightly less heavy, but uncomfortably above her chest depths in the back garden. Greg (a.k.a. Pops) was her champion and created a series of paths for her to run and play and get business done.

But, gosh, how lovely and magical…

marigold
zinnia
orange horned poppy
prickly poppy buffet
rabbit brush
morning glory
hawk
visitor

The final garden hurrah is upon us, with a cold snap to arrive by the end of the week. It was a challenging summer: the deaths of two beloved children, a horrible job left, a knee injury, a surgery, and wretched COVID. We are ready to move forward, to welcome the frost and snow. A new season to begin again. Cheers to that!

« Older entries § Newer entries »