January 21, 2013

Happy Martin Luther King/Inauguration/Squirrel Appreciation Day!!

I celebrated the day by making oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, using the last of last year's tomato harvest.  I made three jars of these last year, and gave away two.  After tasting the remaining jar, I seriously regretted giving away the others, so I am making another two that I intend to jealously guard and eat hedonistically, perhaps while wearing a robe and fuzzy slippers, and while painting my toenails, and watching "Snapped" on the Oxygen channel.

 If you are interested in making your own, I just stacked sun-dried tomatoes, dash of salt,  pinch of fresh minced garlic, pinch of dried oregano, and fresh basil into a jar, repeating until the jar was full, then filled it all up with olive oil.  In a little over a week, I should have a jar full of delicious morsels!  (And the oil makes a KILLER dip for bread!)  California Olive Ranch olive oil.  Just saying.  Anything else is a waste and an insult to your tastebuds.

I also started my great blood orange seed experiment.  (Wait, you say?  The date on the cup reads January 20, 2013, not today's date.  Okay, I'm busted.  I actually started it last night, but I had already published my blog for that day and didn't feel like editing.)  I have fifteen seeds planted under various conditions:  a) soaked (recommended method); b) soaked and stratified for 48 hours; c) unsoaked; and c) soaked and nicked.  All fifteen seeds are now resting comfortably on my DVR, so they will stay relatively warm until they sprout.  I have read conflicting accounts of whether Moro blood oranges grow true from seed, so this should be interesting.  I get the impression, from what I am reading, that I will get oranges, at least, and most of the articles I have read say that some or all of the child plants will grow true to their parent, and I am nothing if not optimistic.

Today was tree trimming day!!

Nectarine on the left and pecan on the right.

The nectarine produced fruit this year, but the birds got it all.  The pecan is only about two years old, so no nuts yet, but it is growing well and looking healthy.

I had a beautiful English walnut tree that was just starting to produce nuts, but it was mercilessly dispatched by a gopher last year.

Here is the carnage left behind from trimming my little bank of trees (mostly citrus) near the dogs' run.  Lemon, orange, nectarine, pear, grapefruit, kumquat, blood orange, and persimmon trees in this section, although only a few trees are shown in this picture.  I also forgot to take a picture of the other two persimmon trees that I trimmed today.  I'll try to get better detail pics later, when I'm not fighting the evening sun for lighting.

If you haven't noticed by now, I am photographically-challenged.   I am working on it, so bear with me.

I was running low on olive oil, after making both pesto and the sun-dried tomatoes, so I made a quick run to the grocery store this afternoon.  The store was right next to K-Mart, and I can't pass a K-Mart without checking their garden section for plants, seeds, and cool little gadgets I just can't live without.  Those of you who read my other blog know that I am a sucker for anything that needs a little extra love and attention, and that is probably how I ended up with these:

These three little miniature roses were the only three still alive, on a rack that held about forty plants.  They were on sale, and it was obvious that no one was even watering them, so I grabbed them up with a promise from the clerk that I could return them if they died.  I am not really sure where I am going to put them, but I just couldn't leave them there to die, so I will find some place for them, once I rehabilitate them.  (The "debris" in the background, btw, is from my pesto-making.) 

I hope to add a few more trees this year, perhaps an apple and an avocado.  I'll have to swing by my local nursery to see what they have available.  Usually, I go there with one tree in mind and return with a half dozen, at which point I have to scramble to get them all planted. 

I found this very cool site for seeds: CSA Seed Store.  It has a wealth of heirloom seeds for sale by family farms around the country, including seeds from heirloom fruit trees.  I usually buy my seeds from Territorial Seed Company, but I might just have to try a few from this new find.

That's it for the day.  Tomorrow, it is back to work, but I hope to be able to continue to make progress (at least a little) throughout the week.  If I do, you'll be the first to know!