Cucumbers Gone Crazy

The cucumber vines have gone completely nuts, producing huge amounts of fruit. I decided to make  a cucumber and tomato salad from the garden, with mint from the herb spiral, and added kalamata olives, feta, olive oil, and lemon juice. I want it to sit overnight and have it for a picnic lunch tomorrow (we're going canoeing on the Russian River), but it's hard to leave it alone that long, it looks so delicious!

The only other plant that is rivaling the cucumber in terms of production is jalepeno peppers. We have SO MANY! What to do with them besides make salsa? Cucumber and jalepeno recipes appreciated.

Pickles

How sexy is a man who makes these, with cucumbers and beans from the garden?

Just sayin'. 

Outdoor Days

With only a couple weeks left of school, the kids and I have been spending lots of time outdoors. Yesterday we went up Mt. Diablo to Rock City, a trailhead with lots of sandstone wind caves and large boulders for climbing. We took a walk on the Trail Through Time, which has amazing views; but what struck me more on this particular trip was the wonderful manzanita forest. Manzanita is a local treasure, there are so many different varieties, they are an essential part of the Chaparral plant community, very important for local wildlife, and are lovely when blooming. However, I'm entranced by their red trunks.

It was hot and sunny, and I admired the shadow of pines on the sandstone trail.

For a completely different nature experience, today we drove to the Marin Headlands and the Northern Pacific Coast. We visited the Marine Mammal Center, a neat place where they rehabilitate sea lions, harbor seals, and elephant seals that are found injured or motherless in the nearby ocean. They had about 60 sea lions, two elephant seals, and five harbor seals in residence, more than usual for this time of year.  Apparently there is a toxic algae bloom off the Monterey coast. Here's a little more information on that: Toxic Algae Bloom. We watched the keepers feed the animals, and insert IV's in especially sick sea lions. It's an interesting place and they do good work.

Then we headed down to foggy Rodeo Beach to stick our feet in the 66 degree water (quite warm for these parts). The kids ended up soaked from the waist down, but that's part of the fun. There were plenty of surfers and some decent swells, so lots of action to watch as we picnicked.

The dog enjoyed running around, sniffing the flotsam. There were scores of valella valellas, washed up on the sand. Also known as 'purple kites,' they are a creature from the cnidarian group, and they eat plankton. They are quite beautiful, and it's unusual for so many to wash up this time of year - it might be due to onshore winds pushing them onto the beach. They have little transparent 'sails' that allow them to skim across the water. The dog kept trying to eat them, but then spit them out.

There were lots of flowers blooming, stuff that is played out in our neck of the woods already. Lovely naked ladies, in a deeper shade of pink then in my yard, decorated the marsh near the lagoon.

It's wonderful to have the time to enjoy our great Northern California outdoors. I'm so glad we live in a place that has such a variety of interesting areas.

Cooking from the Garden

I continue to really enjoy cooking from the garden. There is nothing more rewarding than picking your supplies from your yard. Tzatziki? No problem, just grab some cucumbers, and dill and mint from the herb spiral. Pesto? Great, time to harvest basil anyway. Salsa? Sure, pick some tomatoes and jalepenos. Need a side dish? Some pole beans will do nicely.

The corn will be ready soon, potatoes are not far from harvest, and the pumpkins are getting larger and starting to change color. The winter squash is growing like mad, and the apple tree is providing all we can eat. I'm noticing tiny tomatillos beginning to form.

Today was a pesto day, and the basil was starting to flower, so I harvested the last of it. Basil is so brightly and beautifully green.

I make it very simply, with pine nuts, parmesan, garlic, and olive oil. I usually make more than we need, and freeze it in mason jars, which works as long as you cover the surface of the pesto with olive oil before freezing.

I'm also grilling some chicken, so for a marinade, I went out to the spiral and picked oregano, marjoram, thyme, rosemary, sage, and chives.

To this I added lemon juice from lemons grown in Mom's garden. Lemons in summer! Weird, but welcome.

All you need to add to this is olive oil, and the longer it sits marinating in the fridge, the better. Delicious.

I sent Kate out to pick tomatoes for a garnish, what a wonderful dinner this will be.

I have sunflowers, cosmos, zinnias, and sages blooming in the garden. The bees have been all over the Russian Sage, but I'm not sure what else they could possibly be foraging.

Today while walking Joe in a local park (sort of an open space kind of park), I came across two dogs, both collared and tagged, but they wouldn't let me come near. No owner in sight. After a bit, I heard a growling and yipping and commotion. The two dogs had cornered a coyote and were fighting it. It was a horrible noise and horrible to watch. The poor coyote finally got away, and snuck under fence into a neighboring yard, limping. I called animal control, but I never heard what happened. I feel bad for coyotes, I'm not sure why, they seem so shy and yet curious, they never bother me while I'm hiking, and they never bother Joe, though they seem lonely. Also so skinny and scruffy, and they aren't ever very large.

We've had hot hot hot weather with significant humidity, which just makes me wilt - I'm such a wimp. The shorter days make me long for Autumn and braised meats. And yet I don't want summer to ever end. All our camps and planned activities are done for the summer, and the kids and I are just starfishing all over the place, quite lazy, but we do manage to get out for a bit of every day and go exploring. It won't be long before we are shopping for school supplies.

Lizards

As I was giving some salvias supplemental water over the weekend, a creature leapt out and scurried across the front stoop:

I was so excited, I called everyone to come out and meet our resident alligator lizard. I've been trying to attract lizards to our yard for years. I've piled rocks, I've stacked wood. I certainly have enough bugs for them to eat, plus a water source. I've seen salamanders near the water feature. But this is the first lizard I have ever seen in our yard. This is a terrific sign of the health of my little ecosystem.

Lizards are certainly not in short supply in Northern California. It's a rare hike that I don't see at least one. Today, hiking in Acalanes open space in Lafayette, I saw swarms of lizard babies. They are the same color as the fallen oak leaves, but quite active, so I was able to see lots of them. They're so cute! I couldn't determine what kind I was seeing today, but there are lots of native lizards here.

Lizards are diurnal, meaning they are active during the day; also crepuscular, active at both dawn and dusk. They have babies in summer, which might be why I saw so many today. They are opportunistic eaters, not fussy at all, and eats scores of insects.

I wonder if they also feed on the dead and dying bees beneath the hive?

Speaking of the bees, we opened the hive this past weekend, and all is well. They still have plenty of empty bars, but no new comb is being built since there is little nectar coming in. There are two bars dedicated to only capped honey, and it looks as though they are converting a previously used brood comb to just honey. This makes me happy, as they will have lots to eat over the winter. I can't imagine what they might be collecting right now, although I have seen lots of bees in my cucumber blossoms. Did you know that bees collect from only one kind of flower on each trip? For instance, if they collect from a sunflower, than they will only collect from sunflowers on that foraging trip. This is why bee experts suggest planting swathes of flowers, rather than just one or two. I've been horrible at this all my life; I like having lots of different flowers and plants, so I often just plant one of something. I'm trying to correct this for the bees.

I put out the farm stand this morning, hawking surplus cucumbers, beans, peppers, and the first of the apples from the tree. I had very few takers. I won't be making a living off the garden any time soon. At least I can supplement our own grocery bill in a significant way.

I experimented making salsa this past weekend, it was delicious but too runny. Next time I'll make it chunkier. I like the 'hot' peppers from the garden, they have a very fresh taste, not hot at all. We'll have the mild peppers tonight with our grilled steak. They're delicious sautéed or grilled with olive oil and salt. (But pretty much any veg is delicious prepared this way.)

The corn is maturing and I have several ears getting quite large. Yay!