:: Scuff Productions ::

125 Pounds of Cucumbers were gotten at the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island Friday Morning…..luckily at the very moment the new load came in from the field! They were placed in 5 tubs like the above to soak in water until Saturday Morning when cousins Nancy M & Nancy P would arrive for a 2 day picklathon. It’s only our 2nd year doing this, and it already feels like a tradition!

The first morning, friend Ian and Kate (& of course, Celeste) arrived to watch the process. Kate intends to make pickles from Grandma Nancy’s recipe herself this year. We enjoyed Kate’s help for a couple of hours:

Yep, we had a good start, and it doesn’t take long for the island to look busy:

During the day, it may look good or messy depending on your point of view:

**By the way, the sliced cukes were for a special batch of pints we canned, you know, for those small “Hamburger on the grill” weekends……

Within a few hours, the process sort of evolves into an efficient operation, and by Saturday’s end, we were 2/3 done…… a good sign! However, we had NO Habanero’s! Yikes! Before Sunday’s work began, we had retrieved said peppers and were well on our way to saving the few jars of Spicy Pickles many DO love:

By early Sunday afternoon, we were finito! Complete!

2 Nancy Boys, and 2 Nancys had finished making another 93 bottles of Grandma Nancy’s Dill Pickles! We were SO proud we hauled off to Russell Street BBQ for some down time! This was a fabulous time for us to be together again…… Mark grew up with these women….. and we both love them completely.

**On the birding side, ALL of our songbirds are now GONE! Flown the coop! The woods are silent again for almost 8 months up here, sadly. We’re currently left with the gangly clumsy Band Tailed Pigeons …….and feelings about them are mixed, but their clowny arrivals are fun to watch:

And once again, MAC had a boring weekend, but he was well behaved, and TIRED somehow after all the company left:

And we’ve heard from Bill H back home in NYC! HE DID JAM while he was here:

And word is out that he’s enjoying serving his friends HIS OWN home-made Raspberry Jam. MOST cool.

Rodger’s Dad Chet had a partial hip replacement and although he had an odd time coming out of anasthesia, made it okay and was determined to git himself out of that damn hospital. Rodger had to go round up the required list of items Chet would have to have before his release. He and Paula ALSO had to CLEAN the double wide for 2 days in an exhausting effort. We’ll leave some of the details out about what that involved……SOME of that’s worth excellent gossip.

So, with little sleep, Rodger & Joyce brought Chet home Saturday afternoon . . . ….. HE fell coming into the place, but managed to do it w/o injury, and perhaps that’s okay… taught him he DOES have to slow down. So, it appeared that things were coming to a fine finish….. Joyce would stay and take care of him (along with a few appts with a home-health nurse).

Not so. He developed severe gastrointestinal issues somewhere between trying to take all the pills and getting some food down…..NONE of that stayed down. He was admitted very late last night back into the hospital. Tests await……. At least they’ll be able to rehydrate him with an IV, and get the meds adjusted.

This complicates when Rodger will be able to come home …………. as he’d like to do. I’m feeling somewhat sorry I’m not in CA helping Rodger out, I know he’s exhausted.

At least I’ve been busy……… I DID finish getting the first round of Oregano picked, dried, and finally into the kitchen to be cleaned (It had been hanging to dry for a week when all this happened):

There WERE a few stems left afterward:

All of that became this:

And why does that matter? At least half of that will go into making Tomatillo Salsa in late August …………. hopefully……………

So. We finally took down one of the 4 maples in front of the house. It’s not like they’re giant old things, probably only 20 years………….since that’s how old the house is. But it’s a bit of work and planning.

We removed the most northerly one since it’s brushing up against the firs, and shading too much of the vegetable garden in the morning.

So, I got everything ready, but we would never let a tree fall that big with only one of us around. This one seemed to lean a bit to the west following the light……..SO, ropes were attached around it and it’s winched to the tree a ways east so we can “pull” it toward the fall direction wanted when that time comes.

***I KNOW, it looks like a little sissy weak rope that couldn’t possibly help, but it doesn’t really take much when the tree’s being cut, and reaches that point JUST before collapse, you can EASILY sway which way it goes. Kinda fun…..to be pulling on that winch.

SO, Chain saw, cleaned, fueled, chain oil filled, NEW chain, and someone’s ready to sing, “I’m a Lumberjack and I’m okay!”:

THE FIRST cuts are from one side….putting the “pitch” into the slot so the tree will FALL, hopefully, in the direction of that pitched spot:

Then we let the saw cut in straight from the other side, and I pull on the winch, the tree begins to “give”, and then a loud “whoosh”…….it’s on the ground.

And the work begins……….working from the top, getting all the smaller leafy branches off and moving them so I can strip them and move ‘em to a perfect composting are (the slope of the hill…….):

This tiny trailer HAS come in handy over the years:

It’s amazing once you start stripping out leaves and smaller branches, the size of a tree gets smaller quick. Here I’m ready to cut off larger branches I can pile up and SPLIT in a day or two:

And the end result, MORE LIGHT exactly where we need it:

Day TWO: split up all the small branches and hauled pieces over to and threw OFF the slope into places the hillside needs sheltering from heavy rains.
CUT off large branches, piled ‘em up in back and will split on day 3 when I’m not so tired.

Day Three: Split the rest, stacked it, and now just some lawn cleanup to do. Watered the veggie garden…a nice comfortable task after the tree work.

WARM afternoon. Time to relax with some Raspberry Ice Cream!!!

Something magic has happened once again! In some mysterious way, after all the whining, the GRAY, the wet, the mud, SUMMER snuck in the back door. ALL the pessimism about a rotting garden? (WELL, some of that was earned, some of those plants are in their 3rd planting after all!)…….is GONE.

JUST today, believe it or not, I had to water vegetable plants! THE fabulous news about that is, our 15 year old garden space shows healthy soil condition….it has been DRAINING the moisture all through the wet period. ALL I had to fight today was some MOLE invasions under plants, fertilize a bit, and truly admire nature, appreciate that things are actually GROWING (MORE on this later)….

THIS post is about what happens to signal the REAL beginning of a Northwest summer, at least to me.

The REAL INNER SENSE of this season happens WHEN the BERRY SEASON begins, and I make FREEZER STRAWBERRY JAM! THEN, my mood is changed, and renewed once again! Truly, it is.

Any worthy project starts with a spot of tea, yes?

Next, you’ll prepare your little freezer cups for their coming duty:

Then, it’s the last look at these Hood strawberries in their original form, just picked a few hours ago:

Everything peripheral gets measured and set out…pectin/sugars:

Finally, we start the fun stuff. Getting the berries cleaned, stems removed, and things look good:

Now, we core the berries, crushing ‘em a bit with a potato masher, and “lucsious” comes to mind:

You’re ready to go………….Mix some of your pectin w/sugar, add a bit o-water, bring to boil, add your berries and get it OFF the heat immediately so berries don’t cook.

Ladle the luscious fresh berries into those cups, seal ‘em up…..and you end with this:

That what happens to the first flat of strawberries that comes to this house………………….every year.

THIS JAM, represents just one of the many fabulous food gifts my Mom always made for us.

From the time we were kids before many folks even had a freezer, she was making this jam and did until she was in her last house….something she was so proud to serve when we came home to visit. Now I enjoy it year round.

After all the gardening this w/e, that tree blocking light from my corn kept bothering me…………………

Well, Seems there was just enough time to cut that sun-blocking maple tree before showers came today. Here was that tree yesterday:

And here it is today:

And here is what’s left:

AND IF…….you’d like to know just what kind of physical shape you are in, do the above just for one tree, it should only take a couple hours. Okay, yep, for most of you, no after effects. For the 63 yr old? A sore stiff back today, and maybe I’m cleaning house, but I’m not cutting, stripping, splitting, moving, stacking a tree in the yard! Wahoomph! THE CORN IS HAPPY….I can’t wait to see it in the sunshine at 8:00 pm………….

We still have to decide where to put the deciduous Sequoia we’ve had for two years…I love the color of the needles and MUST find “the place” for it:

Yesterday I saw the black Iris, today a WHITE one (is it a sign?):

And lastly, I saw a poor bedraggled looking baby Robin who it seems, is living his first day or two without Mommy:

Or, worse things may have happened to Mom. This little guy just didn’t look ready for the real world. However, when I got about 3′ away, he was able to fly to a branch……….whew! Good luck Robin!

Of course, they’re wrong again…..rain showers are here today & in the morning, but nothing like it’s been. With everything finally settling into it’s place in the garden, a few showers will be just what some seeds want. Ah. Finally.

The pics aren’t the best, but when I look back at this next year, I’ll have some frame of reference……. In large part, something’s trying to set roots everywhere in the vegetable garden:

**Everywhere a tomato cage is now, here was a water jacket last week. There are only a few left to coax some warmth for the hot peppers and smaller ‘maters.

The Russian Stupice tomatoes have fared well, and are now on their own surrounded by the cages waiting for big growth. …..not all are pictured here:

***
This shows some of the pepper plant jackets, poor immigrant peppers still complaining about the cold….beyond them, lettuce, cilantro, green onion seeds set, lettuce starts, parsley, basil, and further out, peas, & finally carrot seeds in the last row, a row also growing herbs like: french fennel, oregano, thyme, sage, & a bit-o-mint:

OUR earlier lettuce starts survived the rain w/some help, and by the time visiting Mid-westerners arrive in a week, we’ll have a salad buffet:

We finally decided to buy tomatillo starts….for the first time in 10 years, perhaps the volunteer seedlings from last year rotted? These will guarantee our continued production of our best canning effort, the Tomatllo Salsa:

THEN…….AS I put these in the ground, I DID find some tiny Tomatillo sprouts…they are simply 3 weeks late (I wonder why!):

***These little babies were carefully lifted from their sprout spot to one the boss prefers…..so now, it appears, we’ll have some tomatillos ripening in late September! Cool.

We rotate the corn every year or two, and this year, it was it’s turn on the west side…….

**SEE the NEW problem there? SHADE! IT was only 5:00 pm, and our days now go into after 8:30 before sunset. The maple behind this garden has finally exceeded its welcome height:

THAT TREE is coming down, and in fact, that’s where I SHOULD be right now……. so the Chain saw is coming out….I’ll fell the tree, strip it, split it, and we’ll have a start on 2011′s wood supply. *(There are already young fir trees growing near its base. We knew this day would come.)

The shade on the corn is unacceptable…..corn will NOT ripen without warm sun to process those lovely sugars:

**The UP side here is that the volunteer Finnish fingerling Potatoes are up grandly, and will be ready for harvest in about 3-4 weeks. Delicious………

I loved seeing another sign of recovery from the slog-o-rain. The rhubarb leaves/stems were soft, yellowish, but I saw lovely rich green leaves appearing:

There’s also a row dedicated to the silliness of squash, a cuke, and one near the edge one long island cheese squash (For Pumpkin Pie this fall):

And lastly, MAC sits where the carrot seeds were placed saturday wondering why they’re not up:

Sunflower SEEDS (those gorgeous Teddy Bear varieties) are set again…..this time protected inside from those pesky squirrels…….how do they FIND them!!!! Hopefully, they’ll look like this in 3 months:

NOW……………. patience must be learned, and watering duties will begin soon.

AND, as I close, knowing I’d BETTER get to work on that Maple tree, ONE luscious Iris is blooming near the road. I don’t know what variety it is:

I hope SUMMER sticks around……………… I’m getting hungry for fresh food.

May ended yesterday as the 3rd wettest May on Record….May is not as wet a month as you think…it is the month the sun has moved north enough to begin drying things out, there are more sunny days. People gang up at greenhouses excited by the prospect of a summer possibly happening. SOME native plants are very happy. Iris have never bloomed earlier or fuller

Our flowering allium has been rather dramatic

The berm we’d built a few years ago is finally looking nice:

**ahem, I have purposely left out the base of the berm being destroyed by mole hills…..they’re evil.

I like the mix of color on the berm:

Our lovely Oxalis patch (THANK you, Nancy G!!!), left me wondering if our fat little Buddha was still okay:

Yep, HE, at least is still smiling:

Not everything’s smiling, including me. Many things are dying. I mean rotting in mud, or eaten by bugs/slugs. The peas are about dead:

**peas are hardy spring plants that should tolerate this wet. There are many more: carrots, lettuces, marigolds, et.

What happened?

El Nino came through here this winter. By normal standards that meant things were fairly dry…until last of April and then May happened. We all pretended it wasn’t, we kept buying and planting. NOW?

JUNE is beginning with an evil laugh toward gardeners here. Tonight & Tomorrow are bringing 1-3 inches of MORE rain here on top of MUDDY gardens.

Here’s my garden / yard update for this slog fest, that I am really unhappy about…..but hoping I’m going to save something.
– - – -
On the deck, I’ve placed everything that fits under tables/sawhorses:

*Under the sawhorses…I know, not very creative. Hopefully needed for two days:

Under table 1:

And there are more under table 2.

In the garden, where “Walls-Water” have been semi-protecting our precious tomatoes, I’ve placed little plastic grocery bags over the open holes at the top….There are 20 such “walls” out there, so I’m relieved to have all the ‘maters & peppers covered for this storm.

Everything I CAN fit into the $20 coldframe/greenhouse we got 4 years ago, is behind this cover (makes me want to take getting a little REAL greenhouse a serious plan):

see:

Still, though, some animals have laughed at us. All the Teddy Bear sunflower seeds I planted were stolen by squirrels who have a lot of nerve….they should ONLY take seed they personally have buried, right?

Lastly, We placed the Goddess of Fertility and Sun out there, and I hope she keeps dancing till the rain leaves:

AND FINALLY, a tiny blurb of wonder. As I walked toward the garden with baggies in hand, a little Oregon native Junco flew out of the lawn……a lawn I’d just mowed Saturday. As I peeked at that spot, there it was. I immediately got a tomato cage, covered it with some plastic and voila, the nest will be dry tonight:

A bit closer:

precious life is incubating here hoping for a warm Mom to get back soon (POST SCRIPT 1930 hours….MOM is back and nesting, yeah!):

I with I could have found the nest before I mowed, but hey…they’re okay, and now fenced off. It is NO wonder Junco’s must raise 4 batches of young a year. This sure is NOT a safe place to be nesting.

HOPEFULLY, NEXT week will produce some DRY air, drying soil, some sun, and some plants saying, “Thanks, Mark…..”

I KNOW………lots of people have lost their homes, dreams this year in REAL disasters…..and I have no intent to diminish that horror. I still reserve my right to whine.

We had one fabulous Saturday two weeks ago with Nancy G & Carol traveling to just a few favorite garden nurseries to complete the wish lists for garden/deck plants. WHY in Mid-May? Some wholesale favorites CLOSE to the public for the season about June 1, and the last couple May weekends, EVERYTHING goes on big sales. We loaded up our cars for little money.

Our first stop, is a favorite of mine: Bauman Farms.

This fun place is open through the summer, because of their retail produce store, deli, ice cream cones, yes! But they sure do throw a great plant sale in May. They have lots of veggies for Mark! Nice, healthy, plants…… Gervais, Oregon….the heart of Oregon nursery country.

Just a couple miles from Bauman’s is Fessler’s.

This place is usually only wholesale (mammoth greenhouses), but opens to the public from March to June 1…. So, we joined the crowds scouting out favorites for the deck and yard. This place is almost all flowers/shrubs.

From here, Carol returned to Portland while Nancy rode with us up to near Oregon City to show us the Rare Plant Research Specialty Nursery . Ahem! THIS is only open a couple times a year to the public, most of their business is done online. You’ll see VERY rare plants here, some expensive, some not so much. This one is:

The REAL showplace here was the amazing home this guy is slowly building above the nursery, mostly from recycled materials….and here’s a couple photos showing that….

The tower at the home’s main entrance:

This place really has an old European feel:

The trellis pieces are fairly new, I expect vines will be growing on them soon:

On the lovely trail (to the right), a pair of Killdeer parents were so very upset trying to draw people away….they have laid their eggs ON the trail, NO nesting material. It was amazing, you would never have known the nest was there……beautiful:

So, finally, we were hungry, and tired of plant “research” (and the car was full). We began looking for a place to eat, and simply by chance, happened to notice La Famiglia . . . . where we had a pretty fabulous lunch, and a fantastic pizza. THAT restaurant is getting into the address book.

This was simply Another memorable day with fabulous friends. Thanks, Nancy & Carol. Finally back at home, we unloaded the plants, Mark set up the little cold frame, got a couple starts into the ground with a water/wall around it, Rodger got some deck pots and plants ready……..and we retired to the couch for a tired evening.

postscript: Isn’t one of the bright spots of any year, the day you spot your first batch of baby ducks? We did that with Nancy M the week before THIS trip….the pic has been reduced for this post, and I hope you CAN even see the little cuties. Ducks ARE SO cute when they’re little:

Well, for starters:
1) It is sunny out today, temps will be low 60′s.
2) We already HAVE lettuce starts IN the ground guarding them against slugs and bugs….but there is “hope”.
3) Songibirds are here…..you WANT to be outside.
4) The Clackamas County Master Gardener’s Sale is on THIS weekend in Canby, OR at the County Fairgrounds. Oregon’s LARGEST plant sale, it will be, as always, exciting, fun, and we’ll be joining friends.
5) Lunch after the sale for “discussion” about what was seen and garden plans.
6) The truck is already loaded with the Garden wagon…and tires inflated properly.
………………………
But the BIGGEST reason I want a garden started soon?

**Last night, I prepared this wonderful fresh tasting Pasta Sauce:

The contents?
a) the LAST container in the freezer of last year’s fresh frozen tomato sauce made from ‘maters, onions, basil, peppers, ALL from last year’s garden. **and of course, added: dried red pepper flakes (our garden) and some sausage!
b) 4-5 cubes of frozen pesto, all of it from last year’s basil …yep, from the garden.
c) one pint of roasted tomatoes, right, from LAST year’s garden.
YUM……………

We’re running out of last year’s “stuff”. . . . .

IF the ground were dryer, I’d rototill today….but in our rain forest, we must wait another couple weeks anyway, depending on the weather.

So here goes, another year, hopefully, a better garden than last year considering I don’t have a broken leg to hold me back! Hurray!

Soon, I hope this yard will look like this:

Squirrel note: WE found out HOW the squirrel was jumping onto the tray feeder. He climbed up the cedar tree….out to a branch at least 15 feet away….took a flying leap, grabbed on to the hook as he passed by, and voila! He’d be eating. As soon as I saw it, I went out, climbed up, sawed off 18″ of that branch. I can’t wait to see him try it again. . . with hopes I get a laugh at what I see. Hah.

Hummingbirds are everywhere……………it is a grand time for us and the neighbors who love watching them…..

Hurray for spring, I’d best go mow that dang lawn…….. AGAIN!!!