As Winter Begins...Flowers?

Meyer Lemon Tree Flowers, originally uploaded by gardenpunk.

Today's weather was strange. Our high was about 68^oF and it was nice and pleasant outside, but it is freezing cold inside of our house.

I escaped for a little while and read magazines in the garden, and retreated out front for a minute where the sun was stronger. Then I saw them - loads of purple flower buds on my Meyer Lemon tree!

We planted this little guy last spring, and it hasn't grown much. I am excited to see that it is doing well after being subject to persecution by grasshoppers this summer.

Flowers in winter. Who knew?

That's more than we bought!

Today I had a really long to do list outside...it was more like a wish list of things I needed to do but certainly knew I wouldn't get done. But at least I got to mark a few items off of the list.

Last year we bought 50 strawberry plants. I think we ended up planting about 30 of them. We also overseeded the area with clover to boost the nitrogen and get the strawberry plants off to a good start (we didnt' expect much fruit this year, plus between the birds and bugs, there wasn't a whole lot left for us anyway). I cut back all of the clover today and cleaned up the strawberry bed.

Guess how many runner plants I was able to salvage to replant?

No really, guess. It's a crazy number I tell ya.

...

...

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102

102 runners are suitable for replanting! We will plant many of them in areas where there isn't anything, and put some in pots. I'm going to try and plant them all that way we have lots of fruit, as well as lots of plants to give away. I will be busy tomorrow!

Here's the strawberry patch after it was cleaned up. Runners had all but encroached upon the stepping stones around it. I trained some of the runners under the wall, and plan to put more to the right of these along the rest of its length.



The peas are getting taller and starting to flop over on themselves, so I strung them up.



After starting more fava beans in pots up and away from the racoons (on a table in the backyard), they were finally large enough to put back against the fence. I also strung them up.



I weeded around the garlic, which is looking fantastic! We eat so much garlic, I wonder if this will even get us through the summer next year.



Chris dug a hole and planted one of our two Mandarin 'Clementine' trees that have been in pots since fall of 2007. They are quite healthy but were in need of a permanent home. I took pictures, but the light wasn't right and the pictures looked terrible. I shall try to get some tomorrow when I coax Chris to dig ANOTHER hole for the other Mandarin!

Thankful

Chris / family, especially great in-laws / my happy life / art, especially photographs / good friends, be them new or old, online, bloggers or not, those from college and especially childhood / my camera / my beautiful well-tended garden / our ambition / simplicity / fog / the ability to read / physical health / trees / Jake the dog, and maybe the cats if they're nice to me today / a beautiful house in a great place to live / seeds / employment / Flickr / all the online tools I use, including bodacious websites / everyday beauty

Happy Thanksgiving!

A while back I posted the recipe to my Gluten Free Pumpkie Swirl Cheesecake. I have had the opportunity to make two in the last two days, so I thought I'd repost for those that are interested. This cheesecake has the best of both cheesecake and pumpkin pie, is rich yet not too heavy. AND it is gluten free!

It does take some time to prep and make, so plan ahead. I made one yesterday and one tonight because I knew two in one night would have been killer. For the best results, let the cream cheese come to room temperature before starting, this way the final product won't have any lumps.

I wish all of those folks in the US and abroad a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Swirl Cheesecake



*adapted from a recipe from Philadelphia Cream Cheese

2 cups finely chopped gingersnaps (I use MI-DEL gluten/dairy free gingersnap cookies, one bag is the perfect amount)
1/2 cup pecans (chopped or not doesn't matter)
6 tbs. melted butter
3 pkg. cream cheese
1 cup sugar, DIVIDED (3/4 cup, 1/4 cup)
1 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin (NOT pre-spiced!)
1 + 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg (I add lots, it's my favorite spice)
dash ground cloves

Process gingersnaps and pecans together in food processor until they are small and crumbly. Add butter to mixture and pulse until combined. Press mixture into bottom as far as you can get it up the side of a 9-inch springform pan. Beat the room temperature cream cheese, 3/4 cup of the sugar and vanilla with mixer on medium speed until just mixed. Add eggs one at a time, mixing at low speed until incorporated before adding the next.

Reserve 1.5 cups of this mixture in another bowl for later.

Mix pumpkin, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and spices into the batter that is left in your mixing bowl, NOT the one you saved.

Spoon 1/2 of the pumpkin mixture into the bottom of the crust. Top with alternate 1/4 to 1/3 cup sized scoops of each mixture. Swirl knife through mixture to create marble effect - being mindful not to cut into the bottom crust.

Bake at 325^o for 55 or until center is almost set if using silver springform pan.
Bake at 300^o for 55 or until center is almost set if using dark non-stick pan.

Cool before serving. Store in refrigerator. Makes ~12 slices.

You'll never guess

Guess where I spent my lunch hour?

Folsom State Prison. (Yes, the one Johnny Cash made famous).



Tourism is a thriving part of the prison, so as part of our weekly photography field trip we headed over there and visited the museum and walked the grounds (outside of the stone wall). Here's a few random shots from today:







Yep, pretty random I know.

Fall is a tease

It has been 78^o for the last couple days, which is strange because we should have had our first frost this weekend. Looks like it might be late like last year (~Dec 1?).

I took advantage of the good weather and planted some more seeds, specifically Daikon radishes and Fava beans. I have a little secret that the raccoons don't know - I replanted the fava beans in the same pots they stole them from and put them up on our backyard glass table and out of their reach, and they didn't find them. Now we have these:



I have 4 pots of fava bean plants started, and 4 more look like they're about to pop. That would mean a 100% germination rate from the seeds I got from Spidra on MyFolia! Excellent. I planted more today around the yard with seeds I supplemented my stash with from a purchase from Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply.

The raised beds have about 80% of the area planted, which I think is a record for us. The longer we garden, the more we learn about timing. Although it seems my timing in life sucks...my gardening/planting timing is getting better. Sseeds are amazing little creatures, they will plant and sprout themselves when the time is right. Sometimes we need to listen to the rhythms of Mother Nature.



A list of items planted in the raised beds //deep breath// here goes:

Beets
Garlic
Carrots
Spinach
Radishes
Broccoli
Pak Choi
Swiss Chard
Potatoes
Peas - which the roly polies keep eating my seedlings. Drats.
Leeks
Torpedo onions
Parsnips
Mache
Lettuce
Greens
Turnips

I'm sure I forgot a couple. Oh well. While this garden won't provide a substantial amount of our daily food, I am hopeful that with each passing year we get better at plant placement - the journey is the reward.

And of course, I can't leave this post without sharing the magic that is our backyard Maple tree. it is amazing right now. I opened the curtains in our bedroom and the light shining in was red, reflecting from the Maple! Very cool.



Click on the picture to find links to the full size shots of each one of the pictures.

Fall

Maple Leaves, originally uploaded by gardenpunk.

The other day I remarked to Chris that the maple in the backyard had started to turn. I was thinking it might not be as brilliant this year as in years past, but it was like "oh heck no, you're not gonna tell me what I can or can't do" and put on a crazy glow in the dark display starting I have no idea when because it's almost dark when I get home. But it's been since Monday for sure.

Anyhow, this picture is straight out of camera (no Photoshop), and actually in focus, which is more than I can say for the rest of the fall foliage pictures I took in the waning light tonight.

Garden schmarden

Garden blog? Nah, more like life blog. And sometimes I wax political. 'Tis the season.

Anyhow.

Last week I expressed my anger about the passage of Prop 8 here in good 'ol California in this post. I was reading my favorite blogs today when I came across a post from Mrs. B, and a video.

Now, I should tell you that I'll give videos about a 20 second chance before I stop them, and seeing as the one on her blog was 6+ minutes, damn, it had better have been good for me to pay attention for so long.

WOW. Holy cow.

I hope you will take the time to watch this video because it gave words to how I feel about the gross injustice done to our fellow human beings. You don't have to agree with me, but hear me out.

This is especially important to me after talking to family members that all but referenced, "Separate but equal" in light of Prop 8's passage. NO JOKE.

Veteran's Day

Although I had to work today, my coworker David and I made a trip to the Folsom Veteran's Memorial on our lunch hour to take some pictures. It felt righteous to pay tribute to those that have lost their lives protecting the freedom we enjoy. I am always haunted at memorials, and this was no exception.

The name of the servicemen from my city who have died in each war listed individually. As we were looking at them, we came to the synchronal realization that each of their last names was the name of a major street in Folsom.

A small tribute for a huge sacrifice, indeed.



Like many others, we also ran our hands over the names.

Lazy

The same pumpkin shot as last week.

Change.gov

Wow Katie, three posts in one night? To what do we owe this honor?

The President-Elect's new website:

change.gov

Shameless self-promotion

If anyone is interested in being invited to read the 1000 Days Challenge blog I mentioned in my Hooray for Obama post (alternate title, 874), please send me an email, and I will send you an invitation.

katie || at || gardenpunks.com

PS - 100 readers maximum!

In this day and age...really?

As BumblebeeGarden put it on Twitter, "Let the un-follows begin!"

For me there is a dark cloud hanging over this amazing and historical election: Proposition 8.

For those of you who don't know, Proposition 8 was on the ballot here in California and it's passage "Changes the California Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry in California."

Let me repeat: AND IT PASSED.

For hatred and bigotry like this to be codified in this day and age makes me ill. But the words I write are never as good as other blogs I come across, so on this issue I'll defer to them. (Plus what I have to say would come across angry and use the word fuck a lot.)

Paige Green: Somewhere Between a Handshake and Two Kisses
Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom
Dooce.com
Daily Kos
Lez Get Real
The Official Google Blog
Factory Joe
Fitness for the Occasion
California National Organization of Women

Oh yes, and the picture at the top? You're looking at my new bumper sticker which shall arrive shortly.

Lust + Sustainability

Do you remember being a child at the breakfast table, eating your cereal, reading the back of the cereal box and anything else within reach? I do. My reading material of choice? Sunset magazine.

The first thing I did when I moved out on my own even with nary $100 to my name was subscribe to Sunset. It has had a place in my heart for a long time, and I know it always arrives on or around the 21st of the month.

I'm a bit obsessive.

In November's issue they ran a small piece about Heath Ceramics, a small ceramics manufacturer founded in 1959 out of Sausalito, California (~100 miles from here).

Anyone who has had the pleasure of a Hobson dinner party in which we use our good plates knows that we have wonderful ceramic plates. What you don't know is that my parents bought them as single pieces from a grocery store promotion as newlyweds, and collected the whole set over a period of time - 8 full settings + a few other singular pieces like the gravy boat my Mom kept.

I love the feel of the ceramic - they are heavy and solid, yet not unwieldy. They have character. Age. Poise. The ability to be dressed up or down. Although, my sister and I accidentally broke more than a few pieces of the set as kids. We weren't so poised.



I have long thought about what to replace these plates with as Chris and I have kids and more plates inevitably break with another round of childhood. Heath Ceramics is my answer. If you're looking for simple (and a host of other happy adjectives), they fit the bill. Check out their website.

I think our first purchase might just be their recycled wine bottle glasses (Made in WI). I was going to post a few weeks ago that we chucked all of our plastic cups (they were my favorite) and are looking to replace them with glasses.

As my grandma once said when I asked if she had any plastic cups, "What are you - six? Adults uses glasses."

Indeed.

874 - Dual Post

My 1000 days challenge is a private blog in which I am recording the groundwork I am laying to “opt-out of corporate life and opt in-to my life” by my 30th birthday. I am not ready to share the details of the blog here in the public eye, but I want to share my post from there with you today.

During my 1000 days challenge, I’ve been living with a nagging feeling about what my dogged pursuit will bring during this unsettled time in our world. What if my pursuit leads to my family’s financial ruin? What if I make a decision and the timing proves to be poor? What if this decline in the US continues and makes my challenge all but impossible? Our country’s future has certainly weighed on my mind in recent months.

With that said, I have never been prouder to be an American than I am today. Yesterday America elected Barack H. Obama to be inaugurated the 44th President of the United States of America in 76 days. By now we are all familiar with his story, and if it doesn’t make you feel as though anything is possible in America and that the American Dream is alive and real, then I don’t know what will.

My patriotism is making me burst at the seams and exceedingly proud to fly the American flag today.

Because today, I have hope:

Hope that we can be a better people.

Hope that we can be a better country.

Hope that our nation can pull out of the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into.

Hope that race has become a non-issue in our country in just the matter of a generation.

Hope that a government of the people, by the people, and for the people is once again the prevailing standard.

Hope that we can bridge the political divide that parts our country down the middle every election.

Hope that foreign relations can be improved in the matter of 4 years, just as they were shattered in less than that.

Hope that all Americans can live a better more secure life.

Hope that we all can pursue the American dream – and that the American Dream is still alive and real.

And most of all, hope that anything is possible for each and every one of us.

Yes we can.

Congratulations Mr. Obama.

Sunrise

This is the sunrise from Thursday morning taken from my backyard. The sky was on fire. I ended up being about 10 minutes late to work because I just had to take some pictures. (It certainly doesn't help that I can get up, get dressed, take a shower and dry my hair in 20 minutes or less, so I usually am cutting it fairly close anyway.)

I've been trying to force myself to take pictures lately, but I feel limited because one of my lenses broke. It was the crappy little lens that came with my camera that I didn't use all that much, but its absence leaves a huge hole in my total focal length - it was the 18-52mm. So now I either have my wide angle (10-20mm) or my telephoto (70-300mm). I'm definitely feeling the gap right now (21-69mm), with no replacement in sight any time soon.

So if you notice many of my pictures as of late are zoomed way in, that's because they are!