For Trudy: The Enchanted Forest

Since mom-in-law Trudy can't come visit, I try to give her a sense of what it's like, so she can see, even if we are 951 miles apart.

The weather was in the 70's the other day with a slight breeze, some clouds, but also sunshine. Winter was a faint memory even though just last week it looked like this:

It was gone by the afternoon, though.

So I took a walk to The Enchanted Forest, beyond the grassy expanse you see past the garden wall, across the wooden bridge over the creek, and into the trees.

The day was breezy yet sunny and after checking out the beaver dam I looked at a tree and said, "I think I will sit right down here and have a little nature time."

So I spread out my sweatshirt, sat on the pine needles, closed my eyes and just listened. There is an absence of sounds: no planes, cars, voices, chain saws,  anything mechanical, still no birds. It's too early for them to be singing. No cows mooing, no yaks grunting. Just wind in the pines.

So Trude, here's what I saw to the left:

 

And here is how it looked to my right:

Looking straight ahead:

I thought, "We need to clean up this tree. There are dead branches on the ground and up its trunk." 

And wouldn't a bed be cool out here? But I thought of rodents and discarded that idea. 

A close relative came to visit a couple years ago and he said, "What are you trying to do, make this a park?" 

Well, yeah. Why not? 

A park with random hammocks. Yeah, that would work.

Growing Dome Report: Early Spring 2013

Early spring in Northern New Mexico is not pretty. Everything still looks dead and three years ago when we first moved here, this SoCal gal wondered if any of the plants, trees, or grass would ever come back.

Looking north toward the cabin and Growing Dome

Temps are still as low as 3 degrees with highs in the 30's or 40's. The wind howls and it sounds like the roof is going to be ripped off. It's times like these that I remind myself that summer will be in the temperate 70's and 80's and not over 100F for weeks like at our old home.

The Growing Dome is the place to be during times like these. With the sun shining it's in the 70's and 80's which makes it cozy to sit in the Adirondack chair, read, listen to the wind, and watch stuff grow.

Below is the eastern side of the dome. I planted most of this stuff in late September. We ate lettuce, radishes, carrots, chard and kale throughout the winter.

Cast of characters here: kale, onions, rainbow chard, carrots and broccoli rabe.

Here are some closeups:

Broccoli Rabe

Carrots, rainbow chard, and red stalk celery

The radishes look as pretty as their picture.

I just bought a Meyer lemon tree. In the background are some EarthBoxes. Box 1: spearmint, Box 2: rosemary in the back and cilantro sprouting in the front, Box 3 (which you will just have to imagine): lemon thyme in the back, basil in the front. The rosemary and lemon thyme are a year old now.

The west side of the dome has been my lettuce garden and it's almost done and I have to wash off the aphids before we eat the leaves. I know, "Yuck!" But there's some protein there, I guess. I've been keeping the aphids in check with insecticidal soap which works if I keep at it.

Some of the sugar snap peas are ready to pick.

And I have one last crop of snap peas waiting in the wings. These were planted late February.

Pretty soon it will be time to plant the warm season crops: beans, tomatoes, cukes are number one on the list. Yay!

And here's another Yay!  We will be adding some raised beds where the south lawn is, so I can grow more stuff outside! We don't need that much lawn and why not have a potager (kitchen garden) just outside your house?

Happy Spring, everyone!

Growing Dome Update: End of May

We are at the end of May and it's like June or July in the Growing Dome. It got too warm inside for the sugar snow peas, so after several good stir fries and a yucky fibrous peas and carrot side dish, I decided to pull them out. I'm going to put some cukes in there instead.

It's time to add some water to the tank. I try to fill it to the bottom of the wood crossbar about every two weeks. In the winter it's about once a month. I'm wondering if I could raise tilapia in there.

The wind blew like crazy this past Memorial Day weekend, but inside the dome all is calm. Want a little tour?

The warm weather veggies are having a partay! They love how peaceful and nurturing it is in the dome. There is a little breeze when the vents are open, but they're not being beaten to death by the wind.

Way in the back near the reflective insulation are a baby basil plant and a tomato plant that wants the green beans out of there. This year I decided to succession plant the green beans, so I will pick a couple batches and then pull the plants out so the tomato back there has some room.

Some beans are forming on the early plants in the back.  Twining up the squiggly supports are the Poona Kheera cucumbers and just next to them are an Amy's Sugar Gem tomato plant, still small, and the second sowing of green beans which are as big as their earlier buddies. The cucumbers have blossoms and some teeny babies.

We bought these squiggly supports from a nursery in Angel Fire. I think they are kind of Seussian, as are the fuchsia colored tomato cages I found at Ace Hardware in Taos. If last year was any indication, the cukes will outgrow these supports, so I will tie twine to the ceiling for their continued march. Twine works well to keep cukes up off the ground.

Above is a shot of the tomato plants with their pretty cages that will probably need to be extended with twine, later in the season. The tomatoes have babies. The one on the left in the corner is a cherry I bought in Albuquerque in March and the other one is a mysterious volunteer. I can't bear to waste them, so here it is, looking good. The yellow zucchini are blooming and I ate the first one last night.

It's freaking May in Northern New Mexico and I have zucchini! Yay!

Probably because the temp in here is a nice 84 degrees F at 10 in the morning.

On the other side of the dome I have seeded lettuce, planted a Cherokee Purple tomato as well as another volunteer tomato plant, variety to be determined. There are some Dinosaur Kale, jalapenos, Big Jim New Mexican chiles, a Mexibell pepper, and yellow bell pepper planted on the east side. There is a Stupice tomato plant, lemon thyme, basil, scallions, and another couple tomato plants in Earth Boxes in front of the tank. When I get the last Earth Box planted, I will take a photo of them, too.

It's going to be a great planting season and this year we will do our best to keep out roving cows and other varmints!

Speaking of varmints, Ms. Pearl wants you to know that she didn't leave this gopher head (or the pile of guts Tom stepped in) on the rug. It was Miss Bonnie the stone cold killer.

Going to Town

It's been windy for the past three days, wind so loud it sounds like the ocean's waves crashing on the beach. The power goes on and off, and everything I touch gives me a shock.

So I went to town to touch base with friend Ann, pick up a few items at Wal-Mart, and have linner (It was between lunch and dinner) with Tom at Cocina de Rafael.

Here's a photo of my closest town, Las Vegas, New Mexico.

 

If you want to see more, watch Red Dawn or No Country For Old Men.