Time is slip-sliding away from me. Can’t believe it’s been 6 weeks since my last post. I think this is an indication of my blue funk over losing my column writing job. You may take this post as an indication that I am coming out of the funk. I still miss writing the column, and miss the pay too, minuscule as it was. Minuscule, paltry, and pathetic, but it was a welcome supplement to my Social Security check, nonetheless.
We are in the midst of a series of winter rain storms. What better time to go out and take pictures of what passes for winter in Southern California. Winter here is a strange mix of fall and spring, with rain. We have paperwhite narcissus just coming into bloom (spring) while autumn leaves are falling (fall). There is no snow, no frost, and no end to garden season here.
Our two liquid amber trees are more than half devoid of leaves. We save the leaves in bags to go into the compost bins over the course of the year. Green living is GOOD!
To make it seem more like Christmas time, we decorate the door seasonally. Ah, but look, the fall pumpkin is still there. I will get around to baking it and turning it into pie and soup one of these days. Maybe. If it rots first, that will be BAD. And UGLY.
Christmas and autumn at the same time!
Here is part of what is good in my yard right now, my long raised bed in front.
Raised bed in our front yard has parsley, chives, basil, beets, carrots, chard, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and four varieties of garlic.
I can’t believe that we still have basil lingering on this late in the year. That’s good.
Raised bed from the other angle. Ack, look at all the cabbage worm damage. That’s UGLY!
Oh, ICK! The neighborhood cats use my small raised bed as their litter box.
I have neglected to plant this bed, which is now filled with cat poop. That’s BAD. I had to clean my garden before I could put in a winter crop. What do you do to keep cats out of your beds?
I removed the cat poop, dug in steer manure, and planted garlic, green onions, and lettuce. That’s GOOD!
I am hoping that the green onion and garlic smell will help repel the cats. I sprinkled the white, papery husks of the garlic cloves around the bed, hoping it would stink as much to them as their poop and urine stinks to me. I love cats, and had them for years, but now I wish that people would keep theirs indoors, because cats do not stay in their owners’ yards.
My Gro-Pots of sweet potatoes might make some tubers one of these days. They weren’t ready for Thanksgiving. That was more sad than bad. But using our driveway to grow food is GOOD.
We have five artichokes this year. They are short-lived perennials, and these are probably on their third year. They die back, and resprout from the root.
I grow green onions in pots the year round, always some coming along. We haven’t bought green onions at the store in many years. That’s GOOD.
I’m growing strawberries in planters in the driveway this year. They must think it’s spring, because they are blooming and setting berries like crazy. That’s GOOD.
Ug, our deck in back has dry rot. That’s UGLY. We had a contractor take measurements today to do some deck repairs for us. That will be GOOD.
So that is my response to losing my newspaper writing job and the pay that went with it. Spend our retirement money and get the house fixed up. If I get around to doing another post anytime soon, I’ll show you what we’ve been doing to spruce up the indoors.
The flesh is what goes into pumpkin pies. I cut my pumpkins in half and bake them, scoop out the flesh and put it through a ricer. I freeze what doesn’t get used right away for pies or soup. At the very least, pumpkins can go into the compost bin instead of the trash can.
of the white pumpkins. Too anemic in flavor as well as color. I think the taste of the Long Island Cheese or Fairy pumpkins is inferior to the Sugar or New England Pie pumpkins, but taste is a personal thing. Connecticut Field and Howden pumpkins can be too fibrous, although the flavor is fine. Queensland Blues are wonderful to eat, but you need military-grade equipment to cut into their hard shell. I cut my last Queensland Blue into cubes and cooked it in the crockpot along with chunks of grass-fed bison hump from our local farmer’s market, plus potatoes, onions and red wine.
