Photos
This Crassula Owns the Greenhouse Today
Wandered into the greenhouse this morning to check how everyone is doing with the ridiculous 50° temperature swings. My Island of Misfit Succulents seems to be doing just fine. This Crassula (anyone know the variety?) with it's bright green and pink-tinged leaves is really owning it today.
Found an Aloe Forest
Discovered a large patch of aloe (Aloe barbadensis) growing wild in a neglected area of the Acre. They're going to be part of my Mediterranean garden now.
Gaucho the Rooster
This magnificent little guy is Gaucho, so named because of his fancy feathered feet and the exotic dance that makes him irresistible to the ladies. At age 11(!), he's basically our feathered Ricardo Montalbán.
Chinese lantern adds a bit of color
It's cold, it's wet and most of the plants are hunkered down for the winter. Were it not for this one little Chinese Lantern (Physalis Alkekengi), the view out my office window would be very earthtone.
2020 Poultry Pinup Chicks
I know it's dorky, but I am totally geeking on the new 2020 Avian Health calendar I got from the feed store today. It's free from the California Department of Agriculture, so I may get another one to put up in the coop for the roosters. They dig pinup chicks.
Hot Sauce Batch 19 – entry 8
Here it is, week 12 since I started the peppers fermenting. I don't know how it's possible, but the Hidden Lake Hot peppers in the garden are still hanging in despite heavy and 40 degree temperature swings between night and day. I managed to pick about 2-3 ounces of fresh pepper for a new addition (along with 1/4 teaspoon of salt, but no additional water), and will probably get 2-3 ounces more based on the number of peppers and new flowers on the plants right now. Hidden Lake hot peppers still flowering and producing fruit in December I [keep reading...]
Citrus Season
Rain and wind make for terrible growing conditions around the acre for everything but the citrus. For the first time in several years it looks like all the trees -- navel orange, grapefruit, mandarin and tangerine -- will be full of fruit this winter. All well and good. Not only do us people enjoy the fruit, but the ducks are big fans too.
Kalanchoe Marnieriana in bloom
After a long summer with heat and no water, the recent rain and cool weather the Mariner's Kalenchoe is blooming with salmon pink flowers
Photo of the Day: Thai Basil
Unlike its Mediterranean cousins, my Thai basil (Ocimum basillicum) seems to be getting along just fine in the cold and wet of November. I don't recall what the original source for this seed was, but the plants grow 12" - 18" tall and produce purple flowers with a sweet spice aroma that reminds me of clove or cinnamon. I grow two batches of this each year, the first I start in late winter / early spring, and the second I start in late summer using the seed collected from the spring batch. This is the 6th year (12th batch) and [keep reading...]
Brazilian Edelweiss in Bloom
Not knowing much about how Brazilian Edelweiss (Sinningia leucotricha) grows, I kind of thought I had killed the poor thing because it dropped all its leaves a few weeks ago. Turns out that wasn't the case at all. Several days ago it started growing new leaves and to my surprise this morning I was greeted with two little salmon colored flowers! (They're supposed to be fragrant, but I don't smell anything.) Can't wait to see it all leafed out again. I hope it blooms a bunch.