• Bees,  Gardening adventures,  Other Insects,  Permaculture and Edible Forest Gardening Adventures,  Vegetables

    Nitrogen-Fixing Plants

    Sweet pea

    If you’ve read my posts from this spring, you’ll have endured me going on and on about peas and beans and how they fix nitrogen in the soil.  For those who nodded off during those episodes or who have just tuned in, I’ll go over it briefly.

    Some plants have the ability to fix nitrogen in the soil.  Actually, a type of bacteria called a rhizobia invades the roots of plants in the Fabacea family and a few others, and fixes atmospheric nitrogen in nodules on the plant’s roots.  This is beneficial to both the plant and the bacteria, a process called mutulism.  It also benefits whatever grows around the plants because, when the plant dies, the nodules release their nitrogen into the surrounding soil.  In the case of long-lived shrubs and trees that fix nitrogen, as roots die off or are replaced, they release their nitrogen.

    An edible forest garden is one where man mimicks the dynamics of an old-growth forest.  Why?  Because forests succeed without the aid of fertilizer, tilling, mulching, irrigation or any interference or ‘help’, as it were, from man.  How does it do this?  The plants that grow complement each other, providing what each other needs.  These relationships are called plant guilds.  You can create plant guilds, substituting plants that provide food for humans.  In a guild there is a taller tree which provides shade and leaf droppings (mulch), shrubs which provide more shade, mulch and habitat for animals and insects, plants that fix nitrogen in the soil, plants that have long tap roots called ‘miner’ plants, because they take up nutrients from deep in the soil and deposit them on the soil surface when their leaves die off, plants that attract pollinators, and plants that are ground covers to regulate heat and moisture.   Using permaculture practices for water harvesting and organic gardening, when the guild matures it should be almost completely self-sustaining.

    Say you want to plant an apple tree.  That would be your tall canopy tree for the guild, which drops leaves as mulch.  Beneath it, you could plant a shrubby herb such as rosemary (another edible), daikon radishes (miners, leaving the cut leaves on the surface after harvesting the edible root), bush beans (legumes) and herbs such as dill, parsley and basil, some of which you allow to flower for pollinators.  As the tree grows, the plant guild can widen and others planted.

    Beans

    There are many plants, trees and shrubs that fix nitrogen in the soil.  All beans and peas including soybeans and fava beans do; when the plants are finished cut them above the soil so the roots stay put and decay where they are to release the nitrogen.  Cover crops such as clover and hairy vetch are grown and turned under to improve the nitrogen in the soil.  If you are from the Southern California area, perhaps you’d be interested in knowing what native plants are nitrogen fixers.

    Ceanothus (California Lilac) at Elfin Forest

    The native Southern California nitrogen fixers include: ceanothus, lupine, deerweed, California peashrub (endangered) (lotus),  and redbud.  Non-natives that are commonly used are alders, acacias, calliandra, sweet peas, guaja, and many more, as the Fabacea family is very large.  Use any of the natives in ornamental gardens and not only will you be improving the soil and the vigor of the surrounding plants, but providing much needed habitat for our native birds and insects.

    Try building plant guilds; it is challenging and fun.  Many combinations of plants are suggested on permaculture

  • Breakfast,  Dessert,  Grains,  Recipes,  Soups,  Vegan,  Vegetarian

    Jook

    Jook with sesame oil and chopped cilantro

    Jook, Juk, Chinese rice soup, rice porridge, congee… these are many names for basically the same food, rice cooked with a lot of water. There are equally as many ways to fix this wonderful comfort food. Jook can be made with plain water and white or brown rice, then served with toppings such as cilantro, sesame oil, chopped peanuts, bits of cooked tofu, soy sauce, chopped hardboiled egg, preserved or cooked vegetables, chives… as little or as much as you’d like. Jook can be prepared with or without salt; I prepare mine without, then grind a little on the top when serving for that little burst of flavor. Jook can be served with cinnamon and sugar for dessert; this is especially nice for those who love rice pudding but don’t want to eat or can’t eat dairy. Commonly eaten as a savory breakfast dish, Jook is also a perfect food for when you are ill. Not only is it comforting and filling, but it is easy to eat for a sore throat, easy on a troubled stomach, nutritious, and if you are a victim of Montezuma’s Revenge (if you know what I mean), rice is very good for helping you to stop going. Ah-hem. Jook is a very good baby food for those little mouths that are just getting into semi-solids.

    You can find hundreds of different versions of Jook on the Internet.  Many make it with part broth, part water.  Some throw in fresh ginger, some cook bones in it for added calcium.  Cooking it plain allows you to top each bowl up the way you want, which is what I do.  Leftover Jook can be mixed with water to loosen it up, or eaten in its more solid form.  You can’t get a much easier comfort food to make that is so versatile.  It is particularly good for celiacs (those who cannot eat gluten).  With cooler weather upon us, make one dinner a Jook day!

    Jook
    Author: 
    Recipe type: Main
    Prep time: 
    Cook time: 
    Total time: 
    Serves: 6-8
     
    Jook, rice porridge, rice soup or congee, is a wonderful versitile comfort food.
    Ingredients
    • 1 cup washed white rice (short or long grained depending on your taste)
    • 8 cups water (if you like it thick)
    • or
    • 10 cups water (if you like it medium)
    • or
    • 12 cups water (if you like it very thin and soupy)
    • optional: 1-2 tsp. salt)
    • optional: substitute broth for equal parts of the water)
    • optional: add a thumb-sized knob of fresh ginger)
    • Topping suggestions:
    • sesame oil, peanuts, fresh cilantro, chopped hardboiled egg, cooked tofu, seaweed, soy sauce, freshly ground salt and pepper, butter, cooked vegetables, pickled vegetables... leftovers. Also make it sweet with sugar, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, dried fruit, chocolate chips!
    Instructions
    1. Put washed rice and the desired amount of water in a dutch oven
    2. Heat until boiling
    3. Turn down heat to a simmer and cook uncovered 2½ - 3 hours, depending on how thick or thin you want it.
    4. Serve hot in small soup bowls with choices of toppings.

     

  • Gardening adventures,  Permaculture and Edible Forest Gardening Adventures,  Photos,  Ponds,  Rain Catching

    The October Garden

    Weeding

     

    The weeds took advantage of the warm weather and my absence last week to really get some growing in. I’m pulling each weed by hand, shaking off the dirt (trying not to get showered with it in my eye), and composting them.  The greens when layered with brown material (dead clippings, etc.) will cook nicely for use next year. I have a tall wire cage set up in one of the raised beds I haven’t filled yet, so the compost will be made right where it will be used.

    Meanwhile the garden grows.  Melon vines are dying, but the squash continues on!

    Luffa vines grew up the palm trunks, then down again to the ground!

    With permaculture the idea is to mimic a forest dynamic, with lots of plants helping each other grow by providing elements other plants lack, such as nitrogen, mulch, shade, flowers to attract pollinators, etc.  You can fit a lot of plants into a small area.

    You can fit a lot of plants in a small space with adequate nutrients and water

     

     

    Trouble with citrus

    The orange tree above is receiving too much irrigation water due to its placement on sloping land and the nearness of water-loving plants.  Planning beds with compatible plants providing adequate initial nutrition and water can result in happy masses of plants.

    The palm walkway has become a jungle tunnel

     

    Bamboo and sugarcane

     

    Bee and butterfly seed mix

     

    The pond, now six months old, looks as if it has been on the property for years.

    The pond looking natural

    The melon vines and pumpkins have not only protected the land from the scorching summer sun, but will provide good compost and certainly are decorative as well as sources of food.  I always wanted to wait for the Great Pumpkin!

    Cinderella pumpkins, with purple cosmos across the dry streambed

    Sages, mints and butterfly bushes continue to flower, providing much needed pollen sources for bees in this season of dearth.

    The entranceway

     

    Bananas and sage

    Meanwhile in the vegetable garden many crops have had their day and I’m composting them as I get to them.  Some such as the eggplant are still going strong.  (See my steamed eggplant recipe!  Yum!) .

    Another giant eggplant hiding in the strawberries

     

    A garden as large as this can be overwhelming, especially in its first year.  I’m trying to think in sections.  I enjoy working the garden, making it mine and seeing the surprises that show up.  My back and hands aren’t as happy, especially the morning after, but… too bad!  “Get over it, guys!” I say, then realize I’m talking to my body parts.  Alone in my garden, only the plants really care, and they aren’t looking.  Or are they?

    Sunflower keeping an eye out in all directions

     

  • Travel

    What I Did on My 50th Birthday

    Waking up again in Oahu, I met my son for brunch at the Sheraton Waikiki.  I was there last about 14 years ago with my young children and my aging parents, and for the first time about 39 years ago with my parents on a business trip.  I remember the dining room because between the large glass panels that separate the outside from the inside, there is nothing… only space.  No screen doors.  House sparrows come and go, and there are no flies.  It made such an impact on me when I was young, that concept of bringing the outside inside and the absolute freedom of having no bug or weather problem, that I’d always remembered that room but didn’t realize where on the several islands we visited it was until yesterday.  The buffet caters to international tastes, so there is a Japanese area with miso soup, seaweed, tofu, pickled cucumber and plums, and many other goodies.   There is a salad area, a cheese area, an area with assorted breads and freshly made pastries, the hot foods sections, fresh fruit and yogurts, and cereals.  Throughout all this is the taste of the isles: fresh pineapple and papaya (it doesn’t taste as incredible anywhere else in the world), coconut syrup for the taro flour french toast, loco moco (egg on Spam on rice covered with brown gravy), guava juice, passionfruit pastries.  There is no way to just eat a little, and no way to eat everything you’d like to.

    Afterwards we walked along the beach back to the Moana, then drove out to the Manoa Falls rainforest, not far away.  As soon as we got out of the car it began to pour.  We purchased cheap rainjackets and mosquito wipes (don’t come to Hawaii without mosquito repellant!) and took the long, slippery, muddy and breathtakingly gorgeous hike up to the falls and back.  The Manoa Arboretum is above and we walked around their pathways enjoying the incredible flowers.  There are side trails up to the falls, and many pathways around the arboretum that we didn’t have time to hike.  My son had to work at 5, so very muddy, we headed back towards town.  We stopped at a Chinese restaurant and ate, then after leaving my son, I returned to my hotel.  I was lucky enough to speak to my daughter for a long time, reply to many wonderful well-wishers on Facebook and a few emails as well.  Then I dressed in one of my new Hawaiian dresses and walked with the crowds up and down the street, watching street performers doing magic tricks, balancing basketballs, pretending to be silver or gold statues, and playing electric violin to the radio.  It was just the kind of day I’d hoped for.  I spent it with one of my children doing something fun and adventurous, had great food, great exercise and a new start on life as I begin my next 50.  Saturday, the 22nd I fly home.

     

  • Travel

    More Oahu

    As the time is three hours ahead of San Diego time, and being an early riser anyway, I’m up at 5 am with the dawn chorus.  I’m able to walk out onto the beach in the dark, do my yoga stretches in the sand, swim a little in the man-made coves which create safe swimming areas away from the riptides, and watch the sun brighten the day.  On Wed. we drove to the North side of the island, to Waimea Falls botanical park.  An incredible collection of plants arranged in gardens representing the flora of different islands.  It was very humid but lovely.  We ate the now-warmed leftovers from dinner at the Cheesecake Factory in the car down the road at Shark Cove.  There are incredible tidepools there.  We waded, taking care not to slip on the craggy lava rock.  I collected an impressive array of mosquito bites, but I”m always happy to contribute to local sustainability.  Then we drove around the Eastern perimeter of the island, which is where the Hawaiians live.  Incredible, majestic scenery.  The mountains have real presence.  When it looked as if we were going to drive around a curve directly into the mountain, there was the Wilson tunnel.  Then we popped out to the other side with a completely different view, and on back to Waikiki.  In the interest of time I’ll post the photos gallery style below.

     

  • Travel

    Traveling Again: Oahu

    Oahu from the air

    I’m visiting my son in Oahu for a few days… good excuse, huh?  After some of the usual flight and traveling difficulties, and some very welcome sleep, I’m sitting in my pre-dawn hotel room listening to the morning chorus of birds and Waikiki traffic.  This is my fifth time visiting the isles; my third here.  All over the hotel, the beach, the vendors is a memory of being here with my parents at various stages of our lives.  My mother loved Hawaii so much.  So different from shoveling snow in New Jersey layered in sodden cold clothing.  If she had more than one life to live I’m sure she and Dad would live on Maui.  I was here last with them when my children were small, just after my divorce.  It feels like a hundred years ago.  As it is, I’ve left the mainland as a woman who is forty-something, and returning a fifty year old.  I need the warm scented breezes to cushion the impact.

    Waikiki is like any American resort: expense and commercialism and pretense of class turning its back on the dirt, pollution, noise and poverty that seeps through cracks from the other side of the International Marketplace just across the street.  Tourists shouldn’t roam far at night.  Making Hawaii a state did it no favors; I agree with the natives that they’ve lost so much. Next time that I visit it will be to a bed and breakfast in the hills where there is greenery, birds and quiet.

    Today we’ll go to one of the beautiful areas of the island and see some of that incredible nature that clings on to this poor volcanic rock.  Hike and birdwatch and listen to the lack of human machines, if possible. Feel the freedom of not being in competition with slender young women, for at my age I am invisible, which is comforting.  Let the scent of the flowers seep inside.  Enjoy the company of my son as an adult.   Here are a few photos of my first afternoon here:

     

  • Travel

    To Land’s End

     

    The Land's End Hotel

    This will be the last of my Cornwall travel experiences: Land’s End.  At the very south-west tip of Cornwall is Land’s End.  When you stand at the clifftop of Land’s End and face west, the next main body of land is the east coast of the United States.

    No main land until the USA

    It was astoundingly beautiful, with cliffs full of history, danger and excitement.  We stayed at the Land’s End Hotel (http://www.landsendhotel.co.uk/) which perches at the edge of the cliff.

    Breakfast in the dining room with an incredible view

     

    Treacle Tart... yum!

    The dining room windows and our room window faced the ocean and the setting sun.

    Sunset over the Isles of Scilly

    From the hotel you could see a small group of rocks and a lighthouse.

    Many a sailor's saviour

    I watched both the moon and the sun set every day we were there.

    The moon setting pre-dawn from our room

    On good days you can see the outline of the Isles of Scilly, which we regretfully didn’t have a chance to visit.  Although we still were buffeted about by the remaining winds of the hurricane the weather was beautiful.

    Wind-tipped waves

    In Cornwall they say that if there are clouds on the horizon it is going to rain, and if there aren’t then its raining already.  We had some predictable showers, most notably in the morning, but nothing to complain about.  And the sea… oh, the sea!  We spent our last morning there walking the cliff paths between rock and heath, which even in September were quilts of purple and yellow flowers.

    Gorse and heather in glorious bloom

    The rock breaks into large chunks rather than crumbling away, which creates massive natural sculptures on which you can imagine giants of legend sitting, chin on fist, mesmerized by the waves.

    Rocks like giants' chairs

    The relentlessly pounding surf formed caves which made the waters  home to smugglers.

    These be smuggler's waters!

     

    Natural caves were great for smugglers

    The giant rock cliffs formed enormous tombstones for the countless sailors of countless ships, all foundered on the hidden stones by wild tides, since man first took to the sea.

    No guardrails on the trail to disturb the beauty

    The cliff pathway followed the edge without restraints or hand-holds of any kind, and it led all the way to the historic southernmost town of Mousehole (pronounced MOWzzle).

    The cliff path leads several miles to Mousehole

    Although the wind kept the number of birds low, there still were the pelagic inhabitants using the cliffs for protection and warming themselves in the sun.

    Seabirds resting

     

    Rocky islands are perfect for seabirds

    A RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) center sat in the hotel complex on the cliff from where my daughter sighted a peregrine falcon.

    RSPB Center, with an inviting Blue-footed Booby at the entrance

    The area around Land’s End is mostly empty, with a few farms and another historic hotel The First and Last (depends on which way you are going!) which boasts of a smuggler’s tunnel to the sea and the horrible end of the woman who turned them in to the Crown.

    Epitaph for a squealer

    There are people who travel from Land’s End up to the farthest point on mainland Britain, John O’Groats, and call themselves End-to-Enders.  Many do it for charity; some walk or bike.  When we visited Scotland several years ago we took the ferry from John O’Groats to the Orkney Islands, so we’ve been at each end, just not in direct line. This Cornwall coastline is the most dramatic I’ve ever seen.

    Incredible colors and textures

    I left part of my heart in Cornwall; something in the heartiness of the people and creatures that live there, braced against the wind and weather, calls to me.

    A tough bunny

    I could have spent days like the giants, staring out at the roiling waves, watching the next storm blow in.

    Mesmorizing

    As long as I could be inside nice and cozy when it hit!  I want to thank my daughter for the use of many of these photographs, and for being such a good traveling companion and navigator.

    Sunset
  • Fruit,  Permaculture and Edible Forest Gardening Adventures,  Recipes

    Freezing Apples

    Growing your own food is marvelous.  Having it all come ripe at the same time is not.  My apple tree is producing well this year, and the apples need to be stored in some way.  Since I don’t have a cold cellar, I need to can or freeze them.  My plan was to can apple slices in either a light water and sugar mixture, or make Pie-In-A-Jar pie filling.  However, two days of 101 degree heat took the wind out of my sails, and used up the time I had allotted for canning.  The apples, however, are still there.  So I froze them instead, which is probably the better solution because it doesn’t add any sweetener ahead of time.

    Another good time saver if you are keeping apples for pies, is to make the apple pie filling, pour it into a pie pan and freeze it.  After freezing, slip it out and into a freezer bag.  When it comes time to bake, make the crust (which you actually can do ahead of time and freeze separately as well) and slip in the frozen pie filling.  Add baking time.

    The best apple peeler I’ve ever had was purchased at the Del Mar Fair many years ago and given to me as a gift.  It is easy to hold (I have arthritis) and I can zip through peel like nobody’s business.  I know that design (in photo) is sold elsewhere, so don’t wait for the Fair.

    Freezing Apples
    Author: 
    Recipe type: Side dish or dessert
    Prep time: 
    Total time: 
     
    Freezing ripe apples allows you to have easy, ready-to-use apple slices whenever you want.
    Ingredients
    • Apples
    • A bowl full of cold water
    • A lime or lemon, or a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
    • cookie sheets that fit into your freezer
    • Freezer bags
    Instructions
    1. Add the juice of a lime or small lemon, or the vinegar, to the bowl of water.
    2. Wash the apples.
    3. Peel several apples and drop them into the water to keep from browning.
    4. When bowl is full, slice apples into wedges that would be appropriate for pie, and drop the slices into the water.
    5. Place dipped slices onto a cookie sheet so that they don't overlap.
    6. Freeze cookie sheet with apples (about 20 - 30 minutes).
    7. Remove apples from sheet, place in marked freezer bag, flatten and squeeze out extra air, and place flat in freezer so that the bags can be stacked.
    8. Keeps for about a year.

     

  • Animals,  Gardening adventures

    Stuck Rat

    I wasn't sure what I was seeing from the kitchen.

    Tree rats are part of life in a rural area.  They have cost me hundreds of dollars in damage to my cars, since they love eating the tubing and enjoy the warmth inside for nesting.  However they have their place… just not in my stuff.  So when I looked out the window this morning while eating breakfast and saw a very un-birdlike creature in the hanging bird feeder, I had to go outside and see if it really was what I thought it was.  Already the temperature was over 90 degrees in this heat wave, and it was only about 8 am.

    Wood rats are one of three types found in San Diego County

    Rats don’t like the sun, being nocturnal, and the way this youngster was just hanging over the edge made me think he was ill.  Then I thought that he looked as if he was stuck.  I took a shovel and put the end up under his head, and he stirred, then gracefully stepped down on it and jumped off into the columbine.  I think he was just a kid who had a bad case of the Where Am I?’s.  I told him not to go into my cars.  He did pose in a very picture-book fashion, becoming the most adorable rat I’ve ever seen.

    A long way down for a young animal.
  • Gardening adventures,  Recipes,  Vegan,  Vegetables,  Vegetarian

    Heavenly Steamed Eggplant

    Black Beauty eggplant

    I love eggplant, but always thought it had to be salted, pressed and fried or baked.  Cookbooks always talk about bitter juices that need to be leeched out. The recipe for Coucharas (see recipe list) calls for steaming eggplant until it is very soft so that the pulp can be mashed and combined with other ingredients.

    Japanese or Chinese (long) eggplants have few seeds

    Now with an abundance of eggplant, both Black Beauty and Japanese, in my garden, I looked for some simple eggplant recipes.  Maybe everyone else in the world knows how incredible lightly steamed eggplant is, but I just found out!

    Choose glossy, firm eggplants

    I took a Black Beauty (globe) eggplant that I’d harvested the week before and was beginning to go soft, cut off the stem end and quartered it lengthwise.  I steamed the slices for 8 minutes (no more than 10!).

    Slice long eggplants into bite-sized chunks

    The texture was silky and smooth, not at all bitter and incredibly light.  Over the top of the quarters I spooned a very easy sauce.  The eggplant, which is notoriously spongy, soaked up the sauce.  Slicing the eggplant, skin and all, was a dream and eating it was sublime.

    Eggplant is in the same family as tomatoes and potatoes

    It was so good in fact that I did the same with Japanese eggplant the next night, but instead of quartering them, I cut them into bite-sized chunks, then after steaming poured the sauce over them in a bowl and stirred them around to absorb the sauce.  I served both with very thin noodles.  Photos of cooked eggplant are rarely delicious-looking, so you’ll have to let your imagination guide you.

    An enormous double eggplant!

    There are many sauce mixtures on the Internet, but here is mine:

    Heavenly Steamed Eggplant
    Author: 
    Recipe type: Main Dish
    Prep time: 
    Cook time: 
    Total time: 
    Serves: 2-4
     
    Quick, light, tasty, low-calorie and wonderfully different, this eggplant recipe is a gem.
    Ingredients
    • One large Black Beauty eggplant or 3 Japanese eggplants
    • 2 Tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar (or other mild vinegar)
    • ⅛th cup Bragg's Amino Acids, Tamari Sauce or low-salt soy sauce
    • ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
    • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
    • ½ teaspoon grated fresh ginger
    • If you like garlic, dice or grate a small clove and add it in. You can also include chili paste to taste.
    • Fresh cilantro (optional)
    • Toasted sesame seeds (optonal)
    Instructions
    1. Cut stem end(s) off the eggplant
    2. If using one large eggplant, cut it into quarters long-wise from end-to-end. If using long eggplant, cut into ¾" - 1" bite-sized chunks. Do not peel.
    3. Steam eggplant for 8-10 minutes until a knife easily slides into the skin; do not overcook!
    4. Meanwhile, mix all sauce ingredients except cilantro or sesame seeds, if using.
    5. Plate the eggplant quarters and drizzle the sauce over the top slowly so it absorbs, or put chunks in bowl and mix with sauce, then plate. Offer extra sauce separately.
    6. Sprinkle with fresh, chopped cilantro and/or toasted sesame seeds.
    7. Very good with noodles or rice.