We were instructed to take a photo for a magazine cover. Here’s my homework:
Also learned to use the “P” setting, MF is for Manual Focus (no, not what you thought), and many other excellent tidbits. Next, we will lobby Mr. P to teach a class on the grooviness of Iphone photo apps.
My friend Pat Baker invites you all to join her for “Breakfast with Butterflies” at Stonebridge Gardens on Saturday, July 30 from 9:30-11am. The gardens are certified as both a Monarch Way Station (one of only two in Idaho) and Wildlife Habitat; during the program you will learn about the butterflies that visit Idaho as well as how to attract them to your garden. Reservations are required and registration is online at the garden website (www.stonebridge-gardens.com) or you can call her at 208.870.1299. The cost is $20 adult, $15 teen, $10 child and a light breakfast is included. A live release will take place after the program. The garden is located at 9600 W. Brookside Lane, Boise which is just a few minutes north of State Street off Highway 55 near Shadow Valley Golf Course.
Just a little looksee at some of the fun in the Wood River Valley this weekend:
I love these trees. Absolutely one of the trashiest trees around and I’d love to have one. Jumbo heart shaped leaves. Followed by giant snapdragon -like/orchid creamy blossoms in huge trusses. Yes, they smell good. Then, these long vanilla bean like pods. 6-12 inches long. Perfect for coolio crafts. We used to have one at the other house. I loved to lay in bed and look up at the flowers and leaves as the season changed.
Thanks and a shout out to my buddy Willi Galloway at Diggin’ Food for turning me on to these little beauties:
Tasty Golden India peas. I blanched them, tossed w/a bit of sesame oil and rice wine vinegar and ate without benefit of knife and fork. MMM.
I’ve got some fun ideas for the Fourth of July. In case you needed some ideas.
Had the good fortune to catch up w/the fabulous and oh so talented and dedicated Wendolla, or Wendy Southerland, in her garden the other day. Yes, it was on the Garden Tour a couple weeks ago, but I was out of town and just HAD to see it for myself. She has a passion for blue bottle trees. Silly me, I did not recognize the bottles as blue-bottles-formerly-known-as-Skye-vodka-vessels. Looks like we’ll be changing up our vodka brand this summer at Ranch du Bois.
Fell flat out in love with the snowy tansy, the tiny chrysanthemum shrub/plant by the pond. It was backed up by a rich, blue bugloss (anchusa) and I think it begs for a blue bottle tree.
Any way, here’s a little looks see. More to come.
The tansy is hard to see in the collage, here’s a bigger shot of it.
At the risk of pissing off the Tea Party, I say, let them eat cake. Did you see this article about the great political minds in Georgia and their trip back to the days of Jim Crow? Check it out.
A few years back, when the Idaho legislature was in a snit about undocumented workers and immigration, those very same workers skipped right over the valley and went to friendlier fields. As a result, several farmers/fruit growers had a few hundred thousand dollars worth of apples rotting on the ground in the orchards.
Great book to read, about greed in agribusiness: TOMATOLAND, by Barry Estabrook. Oh, yeah, Barry wrote the aforementioned article. I have a copy and will publish a review here in a couple of days. Review to come. Poignant, scary sentence: “the people who put the food on our tables can’t afford to feed themselves.”
And if one more dumbass politician tells me, “yes, but we have to pay for the services these illegals use up!”, I’ll tell them, “Really? The reports I’ve read indicate undocumented workers can’t afford a day off and most of them are too freakin’ scared to go for medical help.” Now, show me the money. And the strawberries and the tomatoes and the apples and the …..chickens, and the eggs and the hogs/pork.
Cake will be what’s left. Oh wait. NO! Cost of flour going up by 50% or more since the weather interfered with planting of the wheat crop.
I offer this solution: lay in a nice supply of flour from Costco’s big bag aisle. Grow your own tomatoes. Stop demanding tomatoes in December and thinking strawberries are hot stuff and the bees knees in February. If you don’t buy them, they won’t grow them.
One of my favorite things to do is to create snazzy perennial combos for the garden. This is brilliantly easy to do in Picasa on the computer. I am building a nice library of my favorite plants. When the photos are all in place, you can create a collage and see how the plants look together. Here’ s one idea:
Shazam!
Here’s one more. Note, I added a medium green background to see what the combo would look like in the garden (I selected a green that best represented the foliage in my garden right now).
Give it a try.
Here’s a little show and tell from the trip to NODAK:
And you thought all I did was garden? Pshaaaaaaaaaaaaw.