Blueberry Safari

This past weekend it was all about subsistence in the Saltonstall world.  On Saturday I helped harvest meat, and dug up half the garlic from the garden.  And then on Sunday we collected something like 2 or 3 gallons of blueberries.

The berry picking expedition was like something you'd see on the Serengeti Plain 100,000 years ago.  A band of hunter gatherers, followed by a pack of dogs, traipsing into the woods to collect dinner.

Every couple of minutes Stuey would yell, 'I found the best blueberry bush ever!'

I couldn't help but think of optimal foraging theory - how dense do the berries have to be to get me to stop and pick, and when do I move on to another bush?  It was also clear that many of the bushes had been picked before we got there, and I got to thinking it's all relative.  Early in the season when none of the bushes have been picked it needs to be a pretty good bush to hold my attention. But as the season progresses we lower our standards because the densely packed bushes are difficult to find.

It certainly was a good time.

Nora wants to fill our spare 'elk' freezer with berries, and she is well on her way!

Patrick

Tank likes to pick blueberries too!

New Potatoes!

Tonight's new red potatoes - I'm going to boil them and add butter and parsley

Last year at a family function I was talking gardening with a cousin and mentioned how my red potatoes always ended up all scabby and ugly.  He told me that that's because they are meant to be eaten early - red potatoes are early potatoes. 

So this year I planted just one bed of red potatoes and plan to harvest them all by the end of August.  They started to bloom a few weeks ago, and then tonight I dug up the first plant.  They're ready!  So part of tonight's meal is boiled new potatoes with butter and parsley.

Last night's beets before I roasted them

Ohmmm wait a second. .... .. I guess I better not back up

Forkie by the road reminds that it is getting close to hunting season!

Beets!

Tonight I harvested the first beets from the garden for dinner.  I think they are the best looking beets I have ever grown.  Big, round, and unblemished.  And best of all none of them are bolting before they get big (so far at least).  Let's hope they taste as good as they look!  Patrick

It's Blueberry Season!

Today Nora and I picked 2 cups of blueberries from one bush.  It's blueberry season!  And it is a mighty early blueberry season at that.

Last year the blueberries got ripe around the middle of July, but I seem to remember that they do not usually get ripe until the end of July or even early August.  It seems everything is early this year.  Maybe we'll get lucky and get an early fall and first snow!

Ripe blueberries in June unbelievable.

Patrick

Garden at the Solstice

Beets, salad, and carrots - radishes all gone

Tomorrow is the summer solstice and it is time to report on the progress of this year's garden.  Needless-to-say, but it is way ahead of what it usually looks like at this time of the year.  Last year it was pretty far along (click here for post), but this year is even ahead of last year.  Normally at this time things are barely starting to grow (Click here for June 2011).

We have been eating lettuce for a few weeks now, and have already harvested all the radishes.  Today I cut the scapes off of the garlic and plan on making pesto with them (click here for the recipe I want to try).  I also noticed that the red potatoes are about to flower.  Will we be eating new potatoes in July?

This past winter all the annual flowers I left in plants survived - as did the kale.  The over-wintered kale desperately wants to flower and I've been eating the flower shoots in salads.  The new leaves are tender and very mild - way way better than kale that is less than a year old.  Also the kale from 2 years ago went to seed last fall, and self seeded for this year's crop.  Wow! It looks like my kale is becoming self sufficient.  Patrick

Beets and carrots - radishes all gone here too

Red potatoes about to flower!

Last year's kale and self-seeded kale for this year

Some self seeded kale and thyme and sage that over wintered

Garlic with scapes and yellow potatoes

First Salmonberry 2016

 It's officially summer - while on her paper route Nora found, picked, and ate the first ripe salmonberry of the year.  And looking back through the blog archives I believe that this is the earliest 'first salmonberry' of the year for our family.  Last year it was the 19th of June and it generally occurs in early July.  So summer is early this year!  Patrick

More Russian Ridge

 

Sunday Kodiak was blessed with a gorgeous day. I worked in the garden all morning and took care of some 'garden angst'.  It's been an early spring but, in regards to the garden, I have been behind the season.  It felt very good to catch up a bit.  The garden should be all planted within the next week!  Usually I don't start planting the garden until May 1rst.  

It's funny but according to the norm I am not behind; it's just that this year everything is a full month ahead of schedule.  My 'garden angst' is only because I am only 2 weeks ahead of the curve when I could have had the full month.  But so it goes (and for the record I did mow the lawn today).

After all the garden work, it was family hike time with the dogs.  To start, we drove to the Spruce Cape trailhead, but there was practically no space to park the car.  Everybody seemed to have had the same idea and were out to enjoy the sunny Sunday on Spruce Cape.  So instead of fighting the crowds we opted to turn the car around and drive to the Lakeview Drive trailhead on Russian Ridge.  We got there and there was not a single car in the lot, nor did we see a single person while on our hike. 

It has become my favorite place to explore.  We tried a completely new trail and discovered an awesome blueberry patch. And much to Stuey and Sheba's delight we also found an Über buoy swing.  Someone had some serious guts to set the ropes high up in the trees on that thing!

What I love most about Russian Ridge is that I do not know it very well.  I follow trails and do not know where they will take me or what I will find.  And it is a big area.  What took me so long to discover it?  Patrick

Stuey found this little bit of faerie art - but what does it mean?

Maybe Wiz and Thunder are elves?

First Salmonberry Blossom

First salmonberry blossom - March 25th!

 It's official - spring is SUPER early this year.  I saw my first salmonberry blossom at the entrance to Abercrombie this afternoon.  Last year I saw my first blossom on April 4rth and even that was almost a month earlier than I had ever seen one before. In the good old days the first salmonberry blossom was typically sometime in the second week of May.  So spring is about 1 1/2 months early this year!

And what's super scary is that it looks like I might have to start mowing my lawn soon.  The back yard it totally green and even starting to look shaggy.  In years past I usually don't start mowing the lawn until late May/Early June.  Patrick

The garlic is looking HUGE too

First Flowers

First blueberry blossom

 According to this blog, last year the crocuses were blooming by February 24th, and in 2014 they had budded in early February but didn't actually bloom until early march.  But 'usually' as in 'the way it used to be' they would bloom in late March or early April.  And if it was a good winter (like in 2009 or 2012) they would not bloom until late April.  This year I first noticed the crocuses blooming in the sun yesterday on March 3rd.  So not a record for our house, but pretty darn early. However, we can't really call the crocuses a harbinger of Spring because we never did have winter (and I still have some hopes in that regard).

 Yesterday during my walk with the dogs in Abercrombie I noticed that the blueberries are also blooming.  It looks like it may be another banner summer for picking blueberries in the park.

 When I got home from my walk I checked around in the garden and noticed that my garlic is all sprouting up through the spruce boughs I used to needlessly protect them from the cold, and that some of the shoots are already 3 inches tall.  Of course, like last winter, the kale never did die.  This year the parsley did not die either, and I even noticed that some of the swiss chard bulbs are sending up new shoots.  It will be interesting to see how it tastes!  Of note, the kale that survived the winter of 2014/15 finally did die - so it looks like kale has a 2 year life cycle in a warm climate.  Patrick

Blueberries are blooming in the woods

Garlic shoots in the garden

First Crocus

Kale that never died

Warm Fall

Here on Kodiak it's been a VERY warm fall.  Last weekend I hiked up Pyramid with Stuey and the dogs and he wore shorts and a short-sleaved shirt.  Before we left - thinking that in late October it should be cold - I tried to convince him otherwise, but looking back I think he knew better than me what to expect.  The hillsides are all brown with no snow anywhere to be seen.  In my garden I still have flowering nasturtiums, and the grass is getting so long I may need to mow the lawn - again.  Patrick

Fall is in the air

Fall is in the air.  Yesterday and today we had light frosts on the lawn, and while driving to work I saw some termination dust on the mountains behind Bell's Flats.  I believe that when I finish mowing the lawn this weekend that it will not get mowed again until 2016. Pretty soon I'll be gathering up leaves for the compost heap.  It's also time to finish harvesting the potatoes and carrots.  Let's just hope that this year we get a winter.  Patrick

Summer Bounty

Yesterday we ate the first potatoes and beets out of the garden, and today, after I harvested some garlic, Stuey, Nora and I picked a gallon of blueberries.  It's summertime and things are getting ripe and ready to eat.  The garlic bulbs were a little small still so I decided to leave the rest of the plants in the ground.  I don't think I've ever harvested beets or potatoes in July.

The kids really got into the blueberry picking.  There was no stopping them until we had filled up the gallon bucket.  Nora wants to make pies.  I foresee a lot more berry-picking adventures this summer.  Patrick

Garden just past the 4rth of July

Kale and parsley - the big plant is a holdover from 2014

Since my last garden post at the solstice (click here to see) the garden has really taken off.  Everything has gotten HUGE.  Recently the garlic started to pop out scapes and I am excited to say that they are awesome on salads and pizza.  The mustard greens and arugula have started to bolt and have been mostly pulled from the salad 'bar' portion of the garden.  Last year's kale continues to produce the tenderest greens and flowers - lots of flowers.  I pick the flowers every day on my way to the car when I'm off to work.  And it appears that the days of swiss chard and carrot harvesting are upon us.  And meanwhile the potatoes continue to grow. .. ..

Potatoes, roses, and Stuey's nasturtium plant

Potatoes and garlic

Carrots, beets and swiss chard

Carrots and 'salad bar'