Climate Change in the Garden

Most people these days seem to accept that Climate Change/Global Warming is, in fact, a real thing. Even concerned citizens, unless they live on a tiny island in the South Pacific or in the shadow of a glacier, have a hard time picturing the actual effects of Climate Change.
For me the results are right out in the backyard. The last two years have been hard ones here in the Pacific Northwest. There have been stretches of extremely hot and extremely cold weather and the rain the last few years has lasted forever. Although this could just be a natural flux in the weather patterns plants in the garden are starting to show signs of this new weather trend.
Many reliable, even hard to kill plants are dying or just struggling along. Some examples are: Phormium (New Zealand Flax,) yes, only marginally hardy any time, but for the most part most of the grand Phormiums in the Seattle area are now gone. In my own yard I have lost both my Evergreen Clematis (Clematis armandii,) these were large plants that covered the entire backside of my deck. Also, the hedge of Wax Myrtle (Myrica californica,) are really showing signs of stress, with lots of brown leaves and dying branches.
As a gardener it is always disappointing to lose plants, but it is especially difficult losing tried and true, common plants, to the harsh weather. Does this mean we will need to start re-thinking our garden plans? Will our native plants have to be ousted to make way for new, hardier "native" plants?

Summer starts with...

The first best weekend in Seattle, started with a trip on Saturday to El Camion, a taco truck in Ballard (just off 15th, in the Mud Bay parking lot.) We got yummy fish tacos and Mexican Coke (with real sugar.)


Saturday we went to see the U2 360 tour, with tickets we bought 2 years ago. The original tour was canceled when Bono had to have back surgery. The wait was totally worth it. What a spectacle! Supposedly, this is the largest touring show ever, it takes 100 semi trucks to move it from place to place (I am still wondering if those trucks are bio-diesel or not, since U2 seems so environmentally concerned.)




The show was amazing! They really deliver. So often you here about big bands phoning it in, because people are willing to pay anything just to say they went to see them. The show really was incredible, it's hard to describe in words and blurry cell phone photos.
The fun continued on Sunday with a hike up to the Lime Kiln in Granite Falls. We left late and got there about 11:30 and there were several other cars on the trail. We did meet several other folks on the trail and one couple really freaked out Tim Tim and he managed to get out of his harness, but he came right back as soon as the people continued up the trail.
The weather was perfect, maybe a little too warm, at least out in the sun. There was one area where there has been a slide in the recent past that was a little tricky to navigate, especially with a dog hooked to your waistbelt. The lime kiln itself was really interesting, it's strange to think there was a thriving town out there in the middle of nowhere, and now you can only get there on a foot path.

Winthrop Weekend

Spent the weekend at Lewisia Lodge (lewisialodge.com) in Winthrop. I am starting to like this Eastern Washington thing. Winthrop is a strange little town, many years ago, as a money making venture they re-did the town in an all out western theme. Hokey, but still cute. Lots of photos ahead....

ART!

I was going to stop for coffee on my way to work this morning. My local CS is, unfortunately, right next door to an elementary school. Every parking space for blocks around was taken up by parents dropping their kids off at school. I decided to just head to work and find some coffee up north. Monkey Grind Espresso Bar (http://www.monkeygrind.com/About_Us.html) is just around the corner from the house I was working at, so I took my travel mug there.
Rounding the corner I see that they have a little sign for Lighthouse Roasters, which in my opinion is the best coffee in Seattle, so I was already happy I waited to get my beverage. Inside there were several paintings by Dave Bloomfield (http://www.flickr.com/photos/starheadboy/) which are awesome! There was one in particular that really struck my fancy.
I got my coffee and headed back to work. I thought about that painting all day...
So, after a long day pulling weeds and planting pretty flowers I headed back to Monkey Grind to see a barista about a painting. $45 later and this cute little critter is all mine!
P.S. The barista at Monkey Grind was super nice, not that over caffeinated perkiness you so often get or the angry, too cool to talk to you guy.

CAKE!

Decided to try and bake a cake, from scratch, for Chris' birthday. This is my first attempt at baking a cake that didn't come from a box. I went with Martha's Versatile Vanilla Cake (http://www.marthastewart.com/315436/versatile-vanilla-cake)with a layer \
of raspberry jam in the middle instead of more frosting.
Making a cake is much easier than they have led us to believe. The frosting was another matter-don't try this,http://www.marthastewart.com/260911/whipped-frosting, it's not good. It's more of a meringue than frosting (as in butter cream frosting, which takes like 12 sticks of butter.)
The cake turned out well, it is more like a pound cake, dense and heavy, than a birthday cake type cake, but it tastes good and the raspberry in the middle is nice. By day two, the frosting has pretty much evaporated.
I think next time I will try a chocolate cake...



Two Cakes:

Two Cakes with Jam:

Weird Frosting:

Voila:

Umtanum Creek to kick off the season

We kicked off our hiking season with a trip to Umtanum Creek in the Yakima River Canyon on Friday. This was supposed to be a two night camping trip, but the wind at the campground was so bad, we made a day trip out of it. I now know why everyone in Eastern Washington has an RV.
This was also our first hiking trip in Eastern Washington and Tim Tim's first potential camping trip. The canyon was great, it was so nice to get out of the rain and cold of Western Washington. I thought I would go crazy if I didn't get some sun soon.
We got to the campground (Big Pines, just south of Umtanum) at about 11:30, set up the tent and hoped that it wouldn't have blown away by the time we came back.
We then headed back to the Umtanum Creek Recreation Area (there is also a campground here but it is small and very exposed, fine if you are an RV'er.) We hit the trail at about 12:30. There were several cars in the lot, and we left just ahead of a large group of backpackers.
To get on the trail you cross a foot bridge over the river, the bridge sways a lot and is a little nerve wracking. You then cross the railroad tracks and the trail splits, one heading up a side canyon, one (to the right) heads along the creek. There used to be a homestead here, but all you can really see now are some old, scraggly apple trees and some fence posts.
We stopped here along the creek for some lunch-Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad from trailcooking.com. Yum, a perfect, easy lunch, but then everything tastes better in the fresh air.
Tim Tim did great on his first real hike, I attached his leash to my waistbelt (which is pretty useless as far as waistbelts go) and he was able to walk ahead of me the whole way. He was a little reluctant on the bridge, but it does sway back and forth quite a bit.
We didn't see much for wildlife and there were very few wild flowers blooming (too late??) but the scenery was still gorgeous, it's amazing how different it is from Western Washington.
All in all, I think we hiked 4-5 miles up the canyon, not really sure how far the trail goes. We saw several groups of people, but in no way was it crowded. This is definitely a do-able day trip from Seattle, and well worth the drive, at least for a couple more weeks, until it gets too hot.

Spring?

Despite winter's continued icy grip, spring is still forcing it's way in. Some photo's from the homestead...
Pear tree

Ferns

Flowering Currant

Hyacinths and Pansies

Gooseberry blossoms

Make it warm

The latest report from Cliff Mass (http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/)we have only had two days over 55 degrees since Feb. 1. That doesn't really work for me. My tomatoes, started inside at the proper time are ready to go out.
So today I built my first hoop house. It was a cheap, quick project to do. I have had the plastic laying around for a while, picked up at a yard sale. The 10' PVC pipe was only $1.65 a piece, the rebar was $1.99 a piece (kind of expensive for a 2' length, but I have no real way to cut it at home.) I bought a 12 pack of jumbo binder clips for $3.99.
So for $11.27, I made this really cool hoop house, which will hopefully let me put out my tomatoes now instead of waiting until June, or whenever the weather starts to warm up. I plan on making a couple more for squash and maybe trying some melons again this year.

New boot break-in

Bought new boots with my REI dividend check. I haven't worn actual hiking boots for years, as I find the make my hips hurt. But after some embarrassing ankle turns last summer I have decided to try again. My current trail shoes are Merrell's and I love them, so I am giving these babies a try Merrell Moab XCR, (http://www.rei.com/product/754666.) Living in Seattle, waterproof-ness is a big issue, even in the summer it is often wet, not to mention all the streams you have to cross. I tried the higher version of the Chameleons I have now, but I could tell immediately they would rub my ankles the wrong way. I have the type of feet that if you look at them the wrong way I will get a blister. If they rub in the store I am unwilling to try and break them in. I actually have scars on the backs of my heels from past blisters.
So far the Moabs have been on a walk and helped to wash some dishes. They seem pretty comfortable, with a little numbness in the bottom of my foot, which I always get with new shoes. I think the numbness is more a lacing issue than a problem with the boot. Hopefully, I can get them comfortable enough to wear on the first big hiking trip of the year to Eastern Washington at the end of this month.

Make it Simple

I just took this survey...
http://simplicityinstitute.org/phpQ/fillsurvey.php?sid=2

My answers weren't as good as I wanted them to be.
I would like to live more simply, but at this point am unwilling to give up my tv or the internet. I also can't give up my car, as it would be very difficult to get all of my tools to and from a different job site every day.
This year I would like to grow and preserve more of my own food. I'm good at the growing so far, not so good at the preserving. I am waiting patiently for all of the fruit trees I have planted over the past years to start producing.
I don't think I will ever be able to produce all of the food we eat, especially since 90% of the gardening duties are mine and mine alone. I would like to produce more foods that we can eat year round.
I do feel like my consumption of "things" is way down from what it was, say, in my twenties. Mostly the things I buy now are books and yarn. And plants. But even my plant budget has gone way down, since I start most of my veggies from seed and most of the big ornamental plants I have gotten lately have been rescues from job sites.
Many things that are included in the above survey are things that I have almost always done and would seem strange not to do...I recycle (admittedly,it is "the law" here.) I grew up pretty poor and worked for many years at an estate auction company, so shopping second hand is nothing new to me. Actually, it is inconceivable to buy many things like furniture new-how does anyone pay those prices?
I don't ever plan on giving up all modern conveniences or moving to the country (not that I haven't thought of it) but I don't think that is necessarily the point of trying to live more simply. Each of us can do just a few things to make life better for everyone.