And yes, you can infer by this that I’m also facetiously and metaphorically referring to myself.
My camera’s eye followed this beautiful rose’s life on a newly transplanted bush from conception to senectitude (my new fave word.)
As the petals were soon to loosen, wrinkle, fade, and drop, the next gen formed.
The story of Princess Rosebud.
SIGH.
(Slideshow gallery of photos.)
In SoCal, we don’t really many trees that change color and lose their leaves, so that’s about one of the only things I miss about the east coast.
But we have year-round beach weather, so it’s not a huge disappointment!
Plus, I can look at this and not have to rake up the leaves, right?
Sorry to most of the rest of the country but here in SoCal, our growing season is pretty much never over.
I planted tomatoes, kale, red leaf lettuce, beets, beans, and broccoli — I packed a LOT in a 4×8 space.
There wasn’t any room for the eggplants or these spicy jalapenos.
I dug a fresh, new herb garden directly under our bedroom window. I’m hoping the lovely aromas will waft up and in.
There’s a couple different kinds of sage; basil, thyme, oregano, parsley, lemon verbena, cilantro, and STEVIA.
Did you know you could grow stevia?
Neither did I, but when I saw a pot of organic stevia at Armstrong’s Nursery, I had to try it. The leaves are super sweet. I’ve seen stevia extract on the grocery shelf as a sugar substitute but I’ve never tried it.
From Mother Earth News, a few facts about stevia:
If growing your own calorie-free, natural sweetener sounds too good to be true, it’s time to get to know stevia.
Native to Paraguay and other tropical areas of the Americas, the stevia plant (Stevia rebaudiana) produces leaves packed with super-sweet compounds that remain stable even after the leaves have been dried.
Stevia leaves have been used to sweeten teas and beverages throughout South America for centuries.
More recently, diabetics and dieters alike have turned to stevia to reduce their sugar intake because, unlike honey, maple syrup, agave or molasses, this natural sweetener has zero calories and is not metabolized by the body.
Stevia is especially well-suited to sweetening drinks, fruits, salad dressings, yogurt and most creamy desserts. Stevia can substitute for some, but not all, of the sugar used when baking, because it does not provide all of the multiple functions that sugar does.
Many commercial drink mixes and packaged sugar substitutes are sweetened with a derivative of stevia.
This sweetening compound is called Rebaudioside A and is listed on labels as either Reb A or Rebiana.
These are highly processed products developed by large food corporations. Most of the raw stevia used to produce these products is grown in China. These “natural sweeteners” have been stripped of many of the plant’s healthful properties.
On the other hand, growing your own stevia to produce teas, extracts, and tinctures made from high-quality, whole-leaf stevia contains up to seven sweet compounds (glycosides) and an array of antioxidants. Growing stevia is easy in well-drained beds or large containers, and the leaves can be dried for winter use like any other herb. Stevia grows best in warm conditions similar to those preferred by basil.
Here’s a link to making your own stevia powder and liquid:
https://wholelifestylenutrition.com/videos/how-to-make-your-own-pure-stevia-liquid-stevia-part-2/
Last weekend I hosted a community garage sale for a local nonprofit (post to come) and someone brought a box of strawberry slips. I took a few, quickly dug a bed, and put them in the ground. Since we hardly ever throw stuff away, I found a length of white wire fencing tucked away behind the greenhouse. There’s nothing better than organic strawberries! Yum, can’t wait!
The weather is so crazy here, my apple and plum trees are blossoming again.
During the last few days SoCal broke tons of heat records along with a few drops of rain —and then nothing.
But it was a beautiful sunrise over the lagoon, right?
Perhaps it’s because this is the first day of autumn that coincides with my Angel Boy’s half birthday (we always celebrate) or because he really has left the nest for real this time with his first tenure track professorship (at least on the west coast so we’re closer) but I’m feeling a sense of change along with the the season.
Even in SoCal the weather will eventually morph into a winter of sorts and maybe that’s why this butterfly was in a weakened condition, because there’s no way to tell how the injury occurred, but she was flying around me and then came to rest on the lawn right next to my new raised bed where I was playing around with the sand dolllars from yesterday’s post.
How do you help an injured butterfly? Can I pick her up and take her to the vet? Can you superglue the torn wing? (I don’t think so) but her ability to still lift off and float on the breeze made me think of her metaphorically.
In fact, it’s a day full of metaphors with my son flying off and away (literally on an airplane as I’m typing this) to become a fully fledged adult with a grown up job and a boatload of responsibility.
SIGH.
But then this butterfly visited me and I’m trying to decipher her deeper message, although maybe a butterfly is just a butterfly.
I do know that even though her wing was damaged, she didn’t give up; she was resilient.
Maybe she just needed a safe place to rest and heal.
And just like that, she flew away, carried off by the balmy breezes of another SoCal heat wave.
And thanks to a smarter blogger than me who writes over at https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/ (you need to follow him!) his brilliant comment referenced the “butterfly effect. According to Wiki, it’s a popular hypothetical example of chaos theory which illustrates how small initial differences may lead to large unforeseen consequences over time.
And he doesn’t know it, but this is SO TRUE. As I keep saying, all will be revealed…
Stay safe, my friends, and Happy Autumnal Equinox to everyone!
Our bedroom window looks out over the garden. Yep, it’s HUGE, a lot of work with neverending projects, but I love my sanctuary.
This is where I see bunnies and roadrunners and all sorts of wildlife.
One day last week, early in the morning, I was getting dressed to go to the gym and spied a hawk perched on a low branch in the eucalyptus tree. I think it’s the same hawk that’s been hanging around for years.
He was facing the pond, quietly and patiently waiting for breakfast to appear.
Therein lies the dilemma. What’s a girl to do?
If I finish getting dressed, I’ll miss this amazing shot; but if I run outside half naked, will anyone see me?
Because we have six-foot fences all the way around our property, I felt pretty certain that no one would catch a glimpse of the real me in my bra and bikini bottoms, so I grabbed my camera and ran outside.
I felt so NAUGHTY hee hee.
This is what I was rewarded with — and do you see how he gave me a shady side eye — so much human flesh this early in the morning clearly offended his sensibilities.
Isn’t he gorgeous? The hooked beak and talons are MAJESTIC.
My presence was distracting (he was looking right AT me) so I went back in the house to allow him to catch his breakfast without further interference.
Don’t worry, I didn’t snap a selfie in my state of undress; you didn’t actually THINK I WOULD, did you?
So much is upsetting at WordPress…the change in the Reader and the format of the write/edit/publish page–whoever thought one could HATE to see “beepbeepboop” as much as I do — so in order to recapture my ZEN, here’s one of my favorite pictures of nasturtiums from the garden.
Because ORANGE.
It looks like a painting.
Enjoy this mostly #wordlesswednesday
enchantedseashells.com
I spent the day harvesting cucumbers and trying to figure out a way to preserve them.
Freezing definitely doesn’t work for cucumbers, but everyone loves my homemade pickles, so that’s what I’ll do.
There’s a real sense of satisfaction in seeing the jars lined up on the shelf — a connection to the simpler times of harvest and preservation — no stores needed, just garden bounty and the proper ingredients.
I pickled the cucumbers, dug up some carrots, and thought I’d get super creative and TRY pickling kale because there’s just so much of it.
Use the same brine for the carrots and kale; the only change is the addition of a lot more garlic to the kale.
Easy Peasy Refrigerator Pickles
5 medium cucumbers
1 tablespoon pickling salt, sea salt, or kosher salt (but not iodized table salt)
1 cup cider vinegar or white vinegar
1 cup water
1 head dill or small bunch dill leaves
2 cloves garlic (optional)
3 black peppercorns (optional)
or one tablespoon pickling spices
Prepare the jar(s) by running through the dishwasher or washing it in very hot soapy water and letting it air dry. Any glass jar with a lid will do; the wider the opening, the easier.
For the crunchiest pickles, select firm, dark-green pickling cucumbers that have not started to ripen to white or yellow. Cut them into spears, slices, or chunks (left whole, they will take a long time to pickle in the fridge).
I read somewhere (can’t remember where) that the ends need to be cut off or it’ll create a mushy pickle.
Place the dill in the bottom of your jar, peel and crush the garlic cloves (if using), and drop that in along with the peppercorns (if using), then put in the cut cucumber.
Mix the salt, vinegar, and water in a separate container, stirring until the salt is dissolved, then pour it over the cucumbers, filling the jar right to the top.
If you’re in a hurry to enjoy your delicious pickles, heat the vinegar, water, and salt to a boil before pouring it over the cucumbers. Pop on the lid and put the jar in the fridge.
For kale, make sure it’s super clean with no dirt or sand lurking anywhere, ‘cos no one wants to eat gritty greens!
Shred as you would cabbage for slaw.
I actually mixed collard greens with the kale.
Place a few garlic cloves in the bottom of the jar(s) along with the pickling spices and dill.
Pack tightly into the jar(s) and pour vinegar mixture all the way to the top.
Pickled Kale
I’ll let you know how the kale tastes after a few days of relaxing in the brine spa.
Do you pickle or can? How do you preserve your garden’s harvest?
The motherly milkweed provides sustenance to the Monarch butterfly and is crucial to sustain the species.
Everyone who loves butterflies should plant milkweed and since NObody doesn’t love butterflies, there should be enough milkweed planted to sustain the entire cosmos.
To clarify, I’m not referring to the plural of one my fave cocktails, but the cosmos of our universe.
According to Monarch Joint Venture…
Monarchs cannot survive without milkweed; their caterpillars only eat milkweed plants (Asclepias spp.), and monarch butterflies need milkweed to lay their eggs. With shifting land management practices, we have lost much milkweed from the landscape.
Please plant milkweed to support monarch populations, and their incredible migration!
Planting milkweed is a great way to help other pollinators too, as they provide valuable nectar resources to a diverse suite of bees and butterflies.
For a brief how-to flyer on planting and gardening, download MJV’s Gardening for Monarchs or the Wild Ones “Wild for Monarchs” brochure.
As soon as I put the plant in the ground, it became inundated with all the Monarchs in my little part of the world.
I planted it FAR away from the vegetable garden so the hungry little caterpillars wouldn’t decide to vary their diet and eat all my veggies.
Reminder! Don’t use pesticides or herbicides. 
Click here for free butterfly garden and milkweed seeds:
https://www.livemonarch.com/free-milkweed-seeds.htm
More information at Bring Back the Monarchs
http://monarchwatch.org/bring-back-the-monarchs/milkweed/
Californians can help save the monarch butterfly by restoring habitats where they can thrive. Take action now: Tell lawmakers to vote “YES” on AB 559 to restore monarch butterfly habitats. http://ecovote.org/SaveTheMonarch >>
There are plenty of loquats to share and a comfortable seat to soak up the sun’s rays.
House finches love fruit.
enchantedseashells.com
Such a bountiful harvest; where do I begin?
enchantedseashells.com
This one looks good and ripe.
enchantedseashells.com
How about a profile pic?
enchantedseashells.com
We have a bounty of zucchini here at the Casa de Enchanted Seashell garden, and the dilemma becomes what the heck does one do with all of this summer squash?
I made a few loaves of zucchini bread because they freeze well.
I’ll pickle a few jars like I’ve done with cucumbers and then I got the brilliant idea to add shredded zucchini to my favorite chocolate cake to boost the nutritional value and keep it super moist, not that it lasts more than a day or two, ‘cos it’s the best chocolate cake EVER, vegan or not.
Best of all, the zucchini magically disappears during baking, so if you have children who are recalcitrant and don’t like veggies (how is that even possible?) this is a great way to TRICK them, although I don’t really approve of deceit as a parenting technique.
Son and DIL are coming down for a brief visit so that’s the perfect excuse reason to experiment PLUS they’re bringing a friend that Angel Boy was in graduate school with at Yale (bad sentence structure, I know), so it’s just like the “old days” when the house was filled with kids for me to stuff with food.
I old-school shredded the zucchini…
All dry ingredients go into the mixing bowl.
Add the liquids…
And the zucchini. So simple, now beat for a couple of minutes to incorporate all the goodness.
When it’s out of the oven and still hot, place about 1/2 cup of vegan chocolate chips on top. When they melt…
Take an offset spatula and spread to make a delicious and easy topping.
See how shiny?
It’s always nice to garnish with garden blooms. I plucked a nasturtium, mint, and lemon verbena.
It’s as yummy as it is GORGEOUS!
Dark Chocolate and Zucchini Vegan Cake
Directions Grease a nine-inch pan. Bake on middle rack of oven for approximately twenty-five to thirty-five minutes. Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean. Don’t over bake or it’ll dry out. Cool and frost. |
Enchanted Seashells | Princess Rosebud 