Mid-winter veggie harvest

This year I put a little extra effort into cool-season vegetable planting, something we are fortunate to be able to pull off in the mild climate of Napa. I was able to harvest some nice lettuce "Marvel of 4 Seasons", curly green kale, purple tree collards, purple kohlrabi, and green onions! The kohlrabi, lettuce, and onions have been going into salads, and the other greens have been going into Charlotte's juicer as often as possible.

...and a week or so later, another basket of abundance! This time with a load of pineapple guavas aka "feijoas", a Brazilian shrub which grows great in our climate. I planted 10 of the handsome bushes the first year I lived at the house and they are just now starting to produce some good quantities of fruit!

oh, and that long stalk of lettuce is an Asian vegetable called "celtuce" (like celery-lettuce). it is peeled and cut up and sauteed. it has a wonderfully nutty flavor and has been a favorite discovery for Charlotte and myself.

Point Reyes

I greatly enjoyed a visit from my wonderful friend Nick (aka "Rowser") who lives in Hawaii. I stayed with him at his family's cabin in the small town of Inverness in Pt. Reyes for a couple days. We shared many a craft beer and homebrew (he is responsible for getting me into brewing beer back in Santa Cruz). We chatted by the fire, took a couple trips to nearby Abbott's Lagoon, and cooked tacos at the cabin with our other friends, Brianna and Nate, and their daughter Lucy, who live in the Santa Cruz area and came up to visit as well.

We lucked out with a couple clear (but oh so cold!) days between rain storms (hallelujah for those!).

The wildlife at Abbott's Lagoon wasnot only abundant, but quite friendly! We saw a coyote cruising along...

...some adorable Snowy Plovers hunkered down in what looked like human shoeprints in the sand...

...and, a real delight: this family of 5 river otters was playing in the sand dunes! It took us a moment to realize these were not sea otters, but freshwater river otters. There were signs posted about them; apparently this family regularly inhabits the lagoon. We wondered how far out into the salt water or brackish water they go.

...And that is all from the Captain's Log! 🪵

Mysterious Mushrooms

We solved the caper! The suspected "stinkhorn egg" I posted about previously is, in fact, Lysurus mokusin aka "Lantern Stinkhorn". A real oddity in the garden; it is of tropical origin and said to be common in warmer climates, such as Southern California, and rarely the north Bay Area like Napa. The fruiting body, shown here, has an odor of rotting flesh so as to attract the flies which spread its spores.

On a recent trip to Pt. Reyes I pulled over when I spotted this whopper of a toadstool by the roadside. I believe it is Amanita calyptroderma aka "Coccora". It must have been at least about 7" in diameter, bigger than the length of my hand! It is said to be edible, however, I would never risk it, as the Amanita family contains most of the few deadly species of mushrooms and only a trained mycologist should be trusted with such identification. I mostly just like to photograph.

Merry Mischief

Season's greetings!

Of course, we have to do the holidays a little bit different. Charlotte and her old Sonoma State friends introduced me to a thing they call "Christume", which is just a Christmas-themed costume party they celebrate each year. This year our friend Julia joined in the fun and the 3 of us dressed up as the 3 kids from The Nightmare Before Christmas that kidnap Santa... Charlotte is Lock, I am Shock, and Julia is Barrel.

Settling into Winter

It has been a month of more or less normalcy, giving Charlotte's body a chance to heal after her surgery about 5 weeks ago. We've had some good solid Fall rains for the first time in years, it seems, and the fireplace has been doing a good job of keeping us cozy. We've done our best to focus on home cooked nutritive foods for the body and soul.

The garden has just about completed its transformation into winter mode. When removing the tomato plants I discovered this oddity:

A fungus-wise friend of ours, Melina, informed me it is surely a species of fungus... perhaps a "stinkhorn egg", maybe even the species Clathrus ruber (aka Basket Stinkhorn), which forms an eye-catching bright red basket shape. I reburied the specimen in the garden. A few days later I had forgotten about it and accidentally unburied it again while doing some weeding. This is what it looked like, apparently mid-way through "hatching":

Indeed, it appears to have contained a reddish fruiting body, although I think it's development was probably interfered with due to the uncovering and reburying. I set it back in the earth just in case any further growth occurs............................................................................................................. (for some reason I still can't make paragraph breaks) ...........................................................................................................................................................The rains brought a variety of fungal curiosities... Here was a cool one called Chocolate Tube Slim, apparently a variety of slime mold.

I also harvested my first Wine Cap mushrooms (Stropharia rugosoannulata, aka "Garden Giant", "King Stropharia") grown amongst the veggies in the garden. I was given mycellium of this one by a coworker this past year. They are grown in a medium of straw and wood chips and kept evenly moist and voila! It was a small harvest, but tasty sauteed with some garlic... the caps moreso than the stems in my experience.

Theodore looks on from the window...

Charlotte and I were very proud of a bat house we collaborated on as a birthday gift for her dad, Hal. We were inspired by the box my dad had made for the house here (although we haven't had any tenants take up residence in it... we think perhaps we might have better luck if we change its location, perhaps further away from tree branches).

Charlotte had the idea to use a carved wooden surface of an old serving tray for the front piece. She did the painting of it as well, which turned out beautifully. We went with a 3-chamber design, so there are 3 different nesting chambers inside the box, with 2 small holes between each panel so that bats can move between the layers and self-regulate their temperature.

On the sides we also included small ventilation holes.

Hal ans Selene have seen bats in their yard, so we are hoping that is a good indicator that the bat house may attract some occupants with a big appetite for mosquitos and other such bugs!

...And one final share. At the encouragement of my mom, I got out my charcoal drawing supplies for the first time in a long while and made this picture of two Oak Titmice (a native bird species which we have witnessed in our yard - although I did not take the photograph used). I am very happy with the result and I think that mom will be happy adding it to her collection of "Nick Art"!

A Successful Surgery and Good Times at the Beach

October is here like a breath of fresh air. The garden maintenance is much slowed at this point, we are just reaping the rewards of tomatoes, peppers, and melons, and tending to a few cool-season crops that I have growing; kale, cabbage, beets, kohlrabi, lettuce, and celtuce ("celery-lettuce"). But I have been happy to refrain from yard work recently, partly due to the warm and dry weather this time of year. Charlotte and I took a nice trip to nearby Shell Beach this past weekend with our good friends Alexa and Tavis, and Tavis' son, Cillian, a very sweet little guy who has been fun to watch growing up over the last few years. The tide was high, but we saw sea stars, crabs, and sea anemones, as well as a surprisingly diverse community of different fun-shaped sea weeds washed ashore.

Out on the rocks were a number of harbor seals. They seemed a bit wary, even of us humans on shore, at least 40 or 50 feet from them. I heard there was a Great White shark attack near Bodega Bay that same weekend.

It was a gorgeously clear, surprisingly warm day on the coast.

All in all it was a very pleasant day, one that was mentally helpful in preparation for Charlotte having surgery two days later. Just a few weeks ago, her doctors (who we have the highest regard for and have been incredibly supportive, considering how difficult the medical system so often can be) decided on a plan to remove a mass that had not diminished like all her others did with the chemo- and then immunotherapy treatments. Additionally, they did a hysterectomy, as she had a polyp on an ovary and it was deemed the most thorough way to eliminate those couple of masses all at once. We were happy with this course of action (not wanting to have children, this wasn't a hard decision to make) and eager to get the masses removed. We went with her parents to the hospital in San Francisco yesterday and surgery went very smoothly! We were very happy to hear the doctor say that they saw no other masses in the area, nor did anything have to be removed from the nearby colon - it was all apparently central to the ovaries, which was the best possible outcome. Charlotte was in and out of the hospital in about 8 hours and could walk and eat that very evening. Pretty amazing! Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge after a long day in the city, the sunset was a soothing sight.

We will be focusing on recovery and allowing Charlotte's body to heal for a number of weeks ahead, and continuing with bi-weekly immunotherapy treatments indefinitely, as well as focusing on a more anti-cancer diet as an ongoing form of strengthening her system and eliminating any remaining cancer cells. (Yeah, we USUALLY eat pretty healthy, but things like sugar and hollow carbs can often get consumed in large quantities... and there is always room for more vegetables in the repertoire, as well as certain foods known to be rich in antioxidants, lycopine, and other nutritional goodies). We are both very thankful to have such caring and supportive friends and family members in our lives, near and far, who have helped immensely to make this year manageable. Happy Autumn! 🍂 I was treated to this young deer's exuberant performance as I glanced out our window the morning of surgery. We love our deer-in-residence, despite their destructive appetites. How lucky we are to get to witness such unbridled joy of life in our very own yard! (Sorry, for some reason I can't make paragraph breaks on the blog anymore, hmmm...)

Oh, hey there.

Gee whiz, September has just been a barrel of monkeys, let me tell you! First off, the garden is veritably bursting with fruits, flowers, and foliage in all directions...

It seems like there is a big second wave of tomatoes rolling in, particularly the Cherokee Purples which are my all-time favorites:

I'm trying a new strategy with some Fall veggies this year; planting my starts under the canopy of my Summer plants. I'm hoping that this will allow them a comfortable few weeks to get established while the weather can still spike into the 90's, which would probably stress out crops such as lettuce and brassicas a bit if they were in full open exposure. Here I am utilizing the structure of the melon trellis to shield some just-planted "Marveille des Quatre Saisons" lettuce:

This past weekend Charlotte and I took another drive out to Osmosis day spa about an hour away, near the town of Occidental, for another "cedar enzyme bath", which has been very helpful for her eczema, as well as being a good way to sweat out toxins, relax the muscles and make you feel generally refreshed. The gardens there are also very relaxing to meander through, with swaying bamboo thickets and a pristinely-manicured Japanese meditation garden. We don't carry our phones with us there, but here is what the enzyme bath looks like: (picture from their website)

You just lay in there and they bury you up to your chin for 30 minutes, bringing cool water and wiping your forehead every so often. Quite the treatment! Afterwards we made a visit to a California native plant nursery, California Flora, in Santa Rosa, finding a number of exciting plants for the yard, including 3 different monkeyflower varieties with gorgeous-colored blooms, a couple manzanitas, and a pitcher sage (Lepechinia calycina) that I have been looking for since discovering it's strong sage-fragranced foliage while exploring Zim Zim Falls near Lake Berryessa. In the past I have used this plant's leaves to flavor "gruit" (non-hopped herbal beer) with great results! Here I am in hog heaven:

To top off the day, we happened upon an outstanding, yet inconspicuous Peruvian restaurant in the area. We were seated in a dimly-lit deli that was closed up for the day adjacent to the restaurant. Not quite sure what to expect, our hungry little tastebuds were blown away by the food we received: Lomo Saltado (steak and french fries), fish tacos, potato croquettes, and fried plantain - all beautifully seasoned, wow! There was even a little black cat to see us off as we were getting ready to leave.

Back home after a full day:

Here is a picture of our resident young deer bachelor, "Buckminster", who spends many hours laying around either the West side of the house in the morning or the East side in the evening:

...And here is just one more picture from Charlotte's birthday dinner at her parents' house. "Shrimp Menale's" was on the menu that evening - a crowd favorite. Cheers!

Happy Birthday Charlotte!

We celebrated Charlotte's birthday with brunch at our house: Potato hash nests w/ pesto and quail eggs (a special recipe from Gail!), toast and bacon w/ hollandaise sauce (B-day girl's favorite), and of course some fresh melon! Theodore helped blow out the candle.

Delicious nests!

I painted this table for Charlotte with an art deco stencil and a couple stencils I made myself, a moth and a beetle. We have kind of a symbolism around those two creatures that started with her gifting me a beetle pin and she has a moth pin of her own. Our kitchen has a theme of cherry-red accents to complement the teal and yellows we have going on... might sound weird, but it works I think! This table was made by Uncle Marven to fit right between the oven and the kitchen counter. I put a few layers of Polycrilic to protect the paint, I think it should work pretty well! And I gave it an updated woodblock on cork legs to set oil, salt, etc. on. We also took a little day trip out to a spa called Osmosis in the small town of Freestone, near Occidental in the land of ancient apple orchards. It was a beautiful day with much relaxation, appreciation of the meditation garden there and the beauty of nature all around. We were treated to the "Cedar enzyme bath" which is a 30 minute immersion in a big tub of actively fermenting cedar bark and rice hulls. It is a Japanese technique. It felt like being weighted down by a heavy wet, warm, blanket... and the most peculiar aroma! It was nice, really, despite it being a pretty warm day to begin with. I bet it will be even nicer when the weather cools down a bit. We got a membership and plan to return about once a month. The bath helped clear up Charlotte's exzema pretty good! (It has been flaring up since she's started immunotherapy, as exzema is an immune system response, and the immunotherapy kicks the immune system into high gear). We also got Sedish massages after our baths, which were great! Meanwhile. . .

The cat cafe is in full effect! Casual lounging for relaxation and contemplation (for cats). Our Very Important Patron here demonstrating.

This sky-writer was a fun surprise one recent evening!

Melmo! (Melons and More!)

 That's right kiddies!  Grab a spoon, grab a knife, or just go Gallagher style on 'em with a mallet... either way there is guaranteed to be a flavor explosion on your hands.

The first 2 Ha'Ogens, a green-fleshed variety.

And the first Charantais was a pretty good size!

And delicious!

I tried a tomato variety called San Marzano Redorto this year and I have been really impressed with it's thick fleshiness, perfect for making sauce that isn't too water-y.  It looks like sashimi in this picture!

And of course, my all-time favorite fresh-eating tomato, Cherokee Purple... These have been doing great this year.

Peppers are starting to come on.  I love the glossy ruby red.  Up front are Red Marconi, and in the back you can see the Jimmy Nardellos; both Italian heirlooms.  Mom and Mark and I are planning a pepper pizza tomorrow night 😀

And here are a few critter pics from recent days...

I like the dubious sideways glance of this mantid... maybe annoyed that I got him wet.

There are 2 baby fawns again, very cute.  Here is one cleaning up our unharvested plums with his mama.

And this young buck has made himself very comfortable residing much of the time in this dust bowl niche he created for himself under the Italian cypress tree against our house.  At first I thought he had a bunch of cobwebs on his antlers, but Charlotte pointed out to me that this is actually the velvety stuff shluffing off of his growing antlers.  Awwww, Buckminster is becoming a man.

I was surprised one morning to see 4 or more Western Bluebirds visiting this birdhouse (2 are on the roof in picture).  They seemed to move on after a few minutes of flitting around.  I wondered if this could have been the breeding pair with its offspring that were raised in this box earlier in the year.  I am never sure if the fledglings survive their first flight lessons with cats in the yard.  I hope they did!

Here was an interesting find at work a couple weeks ago.  This is an Asian Jumping Worm.  It is an introduced species in the U.S. that apparently can be damaging to the ecology of some of our forests, processing the soil in a different way than our plant and animal life is used to.  They can be identified by their animated jumping when disturbed (this one actually caught some air when we poked it the first time!).  They can also be identified by a small protruding mouth, that kind of looks like little lips.

Another bit of excitement at work this past month was the Dahlia show!  Customers were encouraged to bring in their best specimens to compete for prizes... It felt like an elaborate scheme to have people bring us pretty things 😍.  I was amazed with all the different types, so many I had never seen before.

This was my favorite and ended up winning runner-up for the Staff Favorite category.

Well, a little bit of home decorating creativity to share... 

Our house is constantly evolving in its decor.  I have found that I enjoy making shelves (especially built into closets like this one, which makes it pretty easy) and Charlotte appreciates the space they provide for storage and display purposes.  She actually had the cool idea of repurposing some of the old pieces of wood we have laying out in the yard that I have finally gotten around to cleaning up.

Here is the Before picture (well, one shelf is already installed in this pic):

And here is the After:

A most cozy corner.  Featuring a couple pieces of Charlotte's uncle Robert Clark's paintings (the ladder and the one below it, although not too visible here).  He was quite a successful painter of Americana scenes.

We have a number of his paintings in our house and they are all stunning, partly because of the egg tempera he used that has some really vibrant color, and also because of his great contrasts of light and shadows.

Come to think of it, I took a few pictures from a gallery we popped into in Carmel recently that still has some of his work on display:

I will conclude with a floriferous picture from the garden.  I love how much color we have going on this year as well as all the bug- and bird-life it attracts!

Cheers!