Diary 10/30/13

Finally getting back to the shop project. We bought some metal beams from the next door neighbor. Another friend brought a plasma cutter up last night for us to use. Still a third friend who is a welder and has some experience with the plasma cutter is doing the cutting of the pieces to make angle chunks to put at the base of each upright. Just for starters we need 24 of them. They will need to be drilled so that a bolt can hook them to the 12x12 beams. Then there is the metal plates for the horizontal beams and all the beams on each side.

 Lots of work ahead!

Diary 10/28/13

Busy weekend with a one year old birthday for a grandson, a visitor and her dog who learned about skunks, a four point deer in the cooler, helping a with a senior high school project, and seeding the fields with 100 lbs of rye grass just before the rain shower on Sunday afternoon!! A little calmer today. A friend was entertained by the leaf blower and blew all the leaves off the roads and trails. Most of the trees are done shedding; the bulk of the leaves have fallen.

 The colors are fading and brown is taking over. Cold nights ahead with rain over next weekend and lowering snow levels.

Diary 10/27/13

All of sudden, the sky clouded up and it started sprinkling. Really, it came so suddenly and unexpected. I had heard there was a chance of something just sliding by north of us, a remnant of the typhoons that hit across the Pacific. Hard to imagine weather traveling so far! Anyway. We disced the fields again and planted the rye grass and now it is a light rain that is gonna be perfect, I think.

Diary 10/24/13

Another day in Paradise. The weather continues to be amazing. Working on firewood and a little canning today.I have a request from my grandson for strawberry jam and as I am known as Grama Berry, I must provide, lol! Meanwhile the colors in the orchard in the early morning are so beautiful. Here's a few pictures...

Added bonus to blueberry bushes is the red leaves they display in autumn

Diary 10/22/13

Another bluebird weather day. Cleaning up this and that in the yard. Tearing out frosted plants, blowing leaves, raking a load of gravel on the driveway that makes everything look sharp. Stir fry tonight had green beans, zucchini, Napa cabbage, basil, and bell peppers~ all from the hot house. The dry weather is staging a come back for a few raspberries, and the cherry tomatoes are not splitting anymore as they had been when it rained. Plenty of good things to eat still coming from garden, hurray!

Diary 10/20/13

             
                                                           DUSK AT THE FARM

Diary 10/18/13

The empty fields that were thinking of growing weeds and thistles are disced up and ready for a cover crop of annual rye grass. I will wait until I see rain is coming to seed them and this point there is no rain in sight. So much for my prediction of a early winter and no Indian summer. That will teach you to pay little attention to any of my future predictions. One time I had a dream that someone murdered Barbara Bush, our former first lady. I don't know why I dreamed about her, I certainly never voted for her husband. Anyway, I told my kids just in case something did happen. I would become the great prognosticator.

 Nothing happened and I let other dreams go by un-noted!

Diary 10/19/13

Picked the last of the pears before the deer could stand on their back legs and get them. Pretty tasty!

Diary 10/16/13

Score one for the elk. The hunters are fairly frustrated as the weather is more like summer than a fall hunt. The large moon at night give the animals ample time to eat and then get back to their hiding places before dawn. The hunt disbanded today as other responsibilities started to call. The good weather had many other possibilities than the search for the elusive elk. Meanwhile, the dogwood trees are putting on a fine pink show.

Edible Fall Mushrooms in the Pacific Northwest

We have been sampling a variety of fungi over the last few days. Some are from the coast and others are from the forests at high elevation. The Chantrelles are more apt to be white under the Douglas fir trees at about 4000 feet elevation. These golden ones are under pines at the coast. They went on a pizza very deliciously. The Comb Tooth is from the fir forest and can be found on logs or certain rotting wood. We have found them on elderberry trees, but this one was out of a rotting log. I sauteed it in a light garlic butter until it was limp. The Hedgehogs are new to me. I believe they are a Bolete. Most of these when yellow pored are edible. They have spongy under parts rather than gills which make them easier to identify. It is best to have someone who knows show you which ones are which. In this case one of the visiting hunters is an avid mushroom forager, so I felt comfortable trying the new shrooms. I am making a beefy mushroom soup with them soon. I dried a few, but most of the leftover mushrooms were softly sauteed and frozen for later use.

Chantrelles

Hedgehogs

Comb Tooth

Diary 10/15/13

Last week I made my first flour tortillas. It was super easy, and I really enjoyed their fresh taste. If you want more details and the recipe, you need to comment. 61 people looked at the blog a couple days ago, and I have little idea who that was, but of course I welcome you all, comments or not!

Making flour tortillas. The cat was hoping it was elk...

Diary 10/14/13

There are some important perks for me during elk season. One is a quiet house all day, but that can happen other times as well. The more delightful extras are things like the chicken curry prepared by one of the hunters last night, and homemade clam chowder from coastal razor clams the night before that. Add to the meal artisan bread made in a Dutch oven that arrived to accompany the chowder. Tonight we are having homemade enchiladas courtesy of another hunter's wife who is off spending time with her mom for her over ninety birthday~ a worthy annual recognition. The other fine thing that usually occurs during elk season evenings is acoustic concerts in the living room. What's not to love about hunting season

even if no success with hunting to date.

Diary 10/12/11

Elk season has begun. The hunters did not actually have a view of elk through the day though they were in the vicinity of the big ruminants several times. On the hunters' way back to here, though, they saw a cow elk about a mile away. At least they got to see elk! More autumn color photos, and more on the way...

Dairy 10/11/13

There are a few last flowers blooming in the greenhouse. They are brave in the face of frosty mornings and day lengths of under 14 hours. I appreciate them for their spots of color in the midst of all the deteriorating gray and browns of everything else giving up.

Diary 10/10/13

On a drive yesterday to look for where the elk might be hiding, there was many irresistible

views of fall leaves. Once, many years ago, I swore off of yellow tree pictures, but now that I have this blog, I am happy to take as many as I wish so that I can "share" them with those who do not have this color parade in their "neck of the woods", (L.A.?) We hit the show perfectly for the top of the hill. Another cold night and these leaves will start to fall which is good for hunters, but bad for the photo ops.The reds are all viney maples. The yellows are the big leaf maples, also the trees that give sap for syrup in spring.

Diary 10/8/13

I am very happy to have my row of strawberries along the top side of the greenhouse. They have been a treat all summer and now they are star performers while everything else around them is coming to an end. If I keep the soil fairly dry under the plnats, they will not mold. Eventually

the short days and the cold temperatures will do them in. Even in December when you can wander in the greenhouse and still find a red and white berry that gives a sweet reminder of hot summer days.

Diary 10/7/13

Meanwhile, back in the greenhouse...some things won't give up, and others are just getting started.  The upper greenhouse receives the most sun and thus stays driest which is important for late arrivals. Fun to have vegetable choices so late. Everyone deserves a hoop house.

the last zucchini?

Late planted beans are just about filet size, tender and sweet.

Diary 10/7/13

Mud, tape, and texture on the two bathroom walls yesterday, thanks to my neighbor(the one who did the initial texturing and was able to match what he did before perfectly.) Closing in on painting just as hunting season and house guests arrive, ha-ha. The color I ended up with is "Summer Sky", a pale green with a hint of blue, but in other lights, a more celery tint. Yesterday was a delightful day and probably our last one that warm for this year. We spent some time getting loads of wood split and stacked at the front door. I love the look and feel of a good rick of wood. It is similar to the scene of jars of produce in the shed. I think, as I said before, that we will not have an Indian summer with endless nice days into November. I would say that autumn has been more like the old days when we would have heavy frosts in September and rain starting in October that ends up as snow by Thanksgiving. We'll see...

 .

Diary 10/5/13

Garden Girl has traveled north again for awhile. We had a couple days of fun including a tea party or two. Time to get on with everything else: making salsa, prepping the bathroom for drywall mud and tape, tearing frosted plants out of the garden, and bringing in firewood for these cool mornings. Elk season and hunters arrive next Friday, so guess I might clean the house a bit, but they really don't care!

Diary 10/4/13

Went for a walk in the freshly watered woods to see if by chance the mushrooms were up. The only ones I saw were the little guys that grow specifically in Douglas fir cones-amazing. The warm temperatures we will have the next few days will certainly make them pop up and then there will be the best prize of all, Chantrelles. They look like inverted umbrellas and their gills go all the way to the lip of the top. Easy to identify and oh so delicious. When you cook them they initially turn watery, but if you continue to cook them down they firm up and taste like popcorn to me. Their flesh stays together in stir fries, stroganoff, or stew which I can't say for lots of other mushrooms that tend to turn to mush when cooked. The white Chantrelles are choice, but the yellow ones we have here and equally appreciated. There are puff balls, too. They must be white when cut in half. The yellow or grey insides tell you they are not edible.  They have a flavor similar to Parmesan cheese. Always cook your fungi as they have some pretty strong microbial action that can cause havoc in the intestines. I will take pictures when they

arrive...

Diary 10/2/13

My husband has returned from another hunting trip to the far reaches of Oregon. This time it was the Trout Creek Mountains just north of Denio Junction on the Nevada border. It was a vast and desolate. Nice to see no human habitation in a  photo. The area is harsh, dry, and alkali. He camped in 65 mph winds. Needless to say, he is glad to back on this side of the Cascades where we received 3 inches of rain last week.

Diary 10/1/13

Aha October! Canned a box of tomatoes this afternoon. They are still trickling in and I appreciate each one that makes it at this point. I saw that there were plenty more ripe raspberries, but I need a dry day to pick them. Sunshine coming soon, but not tomorrow. Some plants are deteriorating with the cold and wet, mostly things I am done with anyway. Always sort of sad to get to the end of the summer garden produce, the last cucumber and such...