Oh, I needed this glorious trip down a garden lane! Here in Phoenix, AZ, summer is when everything withers and dies back/dies off, which is so discouraging! The colors just absolutely made my eyeballs happy! It’s a struggle to grow much of anything in my desert, 116 degree backyard in the summer, but luckily we can grow in abundance all fall, winter, and spring, to which I’m slowly acclimating. Thank you for the beautiful abundance. I’m definitely going to poke around d and find your blueberry sriracha recipe... looks amazing!
I am glad your eye balls were happy to engage with this post :) Wow 116 degrees! That is brutal. I have had heard good things about Hopi heirloom crops for those conditions (Hopi Blue Corn, Hopi Black Dye Sun flowers and Hopi Red Dye Amaranth etc) as they have bred their heirloom strains for drought and heat tolerance for many generations.
I have some seeds in my collection that I think would love the heat there (given the plants can receive enough water). If you like I could send you a few seeds when I have time.
I’d be interested! So far, I’ve done my best to try and purchase seeds from growers around the Valley, as well as seeds that say they are appropriate for my zone.
It just seems that I am to learn to appreciate my extended growing season from September through June, as opposed to the traditional growing season (spring/summer) everywhere else.
I’ve actually found that certain crops grow really well here, like kale, pumpkins, and winter squashes, tomatoes, and my potatoes did amazingly well over our temperate winter.
And I love the spruce cones pic so much! Had just seen a recipe last night for pine cone syrup, which used the still-closed cones, and those look perfect! Wish I could get my hands on those little nuggets!😂
It is funny you say that as my next post will be focused on the Spruce Tree (part of my "Befriending The Boreal" series) and I include a recipe for pine (and/or spruce/cedar/hemlock cone syrup) ;)
I have not tried making a syrup with the Serbian Spruce cones (shown in the pics above) yet, but now I would like to as I imagine the Anthocyanin (see : https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/the-auspiciousness-of-anthocyanin for more info) which is visibly present in the tissue of the young cones would also be extracted into the finished syrup (adding to it's medicinal potency). I look forward to giving 100% Serbian Spruce cone syrup a try next year and seeing how it turns out. Thanks for the inspiration :)
Well, hopefully after you try it next year, you’ll post on it (even if it’s a wee little post!), and let us know how it went. I’m always excited to find new ways to use whatever is around us, even if it’s vastly different here in the desert compared to other parts of the world.
(I actually took a guided plant walk with a desert herbalist a few months back, and now see the vegetation around me with new eyes. So many medicinal plants grow here, and yet people have zero knowledge of their properties.)
I just harvested some piñon pine cones from about 100 miles north of Phoenix, and am set to get them sliced up and into the jars this evening. Thx much for sparking a new thought experiment in my head, which has turned into a whole new adventure in food and plants!
Btw, I’d never realized pine cone syrup was a thing until a vid popped up in my Youtube feed from the PREPSTEADERS channel called, ’How to make pine cone syrup - Mugolio’. Lo and behold it’s an actual traditional thing in Europe! I learn something new every day :)
Your photos always feel like a balm to my eyes, especially the high contrast super close-ups. It feels like it puts my rods and cones back into alignment ;-) And I loved the journey, into the kitchen and back out to visit with the bugs and the bees! Amazing, every one.
Last night someone asked if I'd noticed all the medicinal plants springing up. He mentioned mullein among others, and this was on the East Coast. My West Coast mullein is seven feet high. He said that mullein could be smoked as a beneficial treatment, which was news to me. But this was brought to mind by your self-seeding echinacea.
Also the first wall mural I painted was an onion plant against a swirly sunset, here in my childhood home where I am now. It was in HS and has been long painted over but maybe when I redo that room, which is the only one I haven't in my now AirBnB, I'll bring back the tradition. I love the bulby stem.
I love that description of how the images I am guided to capture affect your eyes :)
Well you can thank Mother Earth and Creator for the 'rod and cone re-alignment' ;) I just open my heart and ask to be guided where to point my lens. The results often surprise and mesmerize me.
Thanks very much for the kind words and for checking out my photography.
That is interesting regarding what someone asked you about all the medicinal plants springing up. Being able to identify more self propagating nutrient dense and medicinal opportunistic plants aka "weeds" (due to reading a few books recently in combination with the fact that I am constantly being asked to remove wild plants from people's gardens and so I am working up close with them) has indeed enabled me to notice medicinal plants 'springing up' all around me. Though, for me, I suspect it is less something that is unique to this season and rather due to fact that my ability to recognize those plants has expanded a lot recently.
I have not looked into the medicinal gifts of Mullein but I did grow up around a lot of it in the South Okanagan of BC so i am familiar with the appearance of the plant. For me, seeing that plant evokes memories from my childhood when I would climb up steep rocky scree slopes in the desert hills and wander through the hills filled with sage and ponderosa pines. When we were maybe 10-12 years old, I would adventure through the rugged desert landscape with some select rare friends (those few who were not yet enthralled by the various forms of digital hyperstimulation/addiction that were already becoming prevalent in the 90-s).
We would climb cliffs, breath in the fresh air filled with the medicinal aerosols of the sage, pines and other plants, we built forts in the wilderness and experienced narrow escapes from rockslides we accidentally started, rattle snakes we stumbled across and one time we crossed paths with a mountain lion that watched us from the hillside nearby :) Good times. Thanks for the flash back! :) It makes me think of this essay and video
Wow your painting sounds lovely, I would love to see it if you wanna share.
Painting is on my list of things to explore and learn more about in a hands on way (after pottery, glass blowing, smithing, sowing, kintsugi, basket weaving, cob house building, flute and handpan) :)
Ah, I'm afraid that wall mural was gone when I moved to college and my room became a sewing room. But I'm glad you reminded me of this post, I'm going to swipe a photo for my desktop background. Good to hear from you, my friend!
Your description of the song as "watery" makes me think of another song I have not listened to in a while which always gives me visions of water when I listen.
His songs often have a kind of sadness to them, or at least a bleak sort of vibe that tells a story of having been through some challenging times. I suppose his music sort of speaks to the somewhat bleak (yet also deeply beautiful and moving) landscape of Iceland (where the artist is from). But I digress...
3:55-4:19 in the song linked above always gives me a vision of alpine spring water cascading down a waterfall.. flowing over mossy rock and falling down to flow as a babbling brook through the woods into a crystal clear lake nearby.. water caressing ancient stone.. dancing in the sunlight with the smell of pines and wildflowers on the air.
Aug 9, 2023·edited Aug 9, 2023Liked by Gavin Mounsey
that's very nice artistic piece combining music with dance, but your wordy description above is maybe even better because it has more dimensions. Lot of resonance with
Could be low bandwidth preventing them from loading. Many of the pics are high rez and so they require a lot of bandwidth to load smoothly. Did you try refreshing and letting it load for a minute before scrolling down?
hmm this is the first time I have had anyone describe this issue with viewing my posts. Thanks for the comment, I hope your computer issues are resolved soon.
Well thank you for taking the time to share that! :) Your comments always give me such a warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart, they are always brimming with positivity and amicability.
Hope you have a lovely day Vonu, thanks for swinging by
Oh, I needed this glorious trip down a garden lane! Here in Phoenix, AZ, summer is when everything withers and dies back/dies off, which is so discouraging! The colors just absolutely made my eyeballs happy! It’s a struggle to grow much of anything in my desert, 116 degree backyard in the summer, but luckily we can grow in abundance all fall, winter, and spring, to which I’m slowly acclimating. Thank you for the beautiful abundance. I’m definitely going to poke around d and find your blueberry sriracha recipe... looks amazing!
I am glad your eye balls were happy to engage with this post :) Wow 116 degrees! That is brutal. I have had heard good things about Hopi heirloom crops for those conditions (Hopi Blue Corn, Hopi Black Dye Sun flowers and Hopi Red Dye Amaranth etc) as they have bred their heirloom strains for drought and heat tolerance for many generations.
I have some seeds in my collection that I think would love the heat there (given the plants can receive enough water). If you like I could send you a few seeds when I have time.
Thanks for the comment(s)
I’d be interested! So far, I’ve done my best to try and purchase seeds from growers around the Valley, as well as seeds that say they are appropriate for my zone.
It just seems that I am to learn to appreciate my extended growing season from September through June, as opposed to the traditional growing season (spring/summer) everywhere else.
I’ve actually found that certain crops grow really well here, like kale, pumpkins, and winter squashes, tomatoes, and my potatoes did amazingly well over our temperate winter.
And I love the spruce cones pic so much! Had just seen a recipe last night for pine cone syrup, which used the still-closed cones, and those look perfect! Wish I could get my hands on those little nuggets!😂
It is funny you say that as my next post will be focused on the Spruce Tree (part of my "Befriending The Boreal" series) and I include a recipe for pine (and/or spruce/cedar/hemlock cone syrup) ;)
I have made a couple batches of spruce tip and conifer (pine/spruce etc) cone syrup and really enjoyed the results. My most recent batch involved adding some dried Tulsi (see: https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/tulsi-the-queen-of-herbs for more info) and Yarrow ( see : https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/day-four-yarrow for more info) leaves to the ferment for some added flavor and medicinal potency.
I have not tried making a syrup with the Serbian Spruce cones (shown in the pics above) yet, but now I would like to as I imagine the Anthocyanin (see : https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/the-auspiciousness-of-anthocyanin for more info) which is visibly present in the tissue of the young cones would also be extracted into the finished syrup (adding to it's medicinal potency). I look forward to giving 100% Serbian Spruce cone syrup a try next year and seeing how it turns out. Thanks for the inspiration :)
Well, hopefully after you try it next year, you’ll post on it (even if it’s a wee little post!), and let us know how it went. I’m always excited to find new ways to use whatever is around us, even if it’s vastly different here in the desert compared to other parts of the world.
(I actually took a guided plant walk with a desert herbalist a few months back, and now see the vegetation around me with new eyes. So many medicinal plants grow here, and yet people have zero knowledge of their properties.)
I just harvested some piñon pine cones from about 100 miles north of Phoenix, and am set to get them sliced up and into the jars this evening. Thx much for sparking a new thought experiment in my head, which has turned into a whole new adventure in food and plants!
Btw, I’d never realized pine cone syrup was a thing until a vid popped up in my Youtube feed from the PREPSTEADERS channel called, ’How to make pine cone syrup - Mugolio’. Lo and behold it’s an actual traditional thing in Europe! I learn something new every day :)
Did you see this yet?
https://gavinmounsey.substack.com/p/befriending-the-boreal-getting-to?
;)
Just read it! What a wonderful gift... the spruce tree 🌲 :)
Beautiful, Gavin! Thx for sharing your precious bounty. 💚
Thanks for saying that we are indeed the younger siblings to the plants. They were here jillions of years before us and have much wisdom to impart.
Your photos always feel like a balm to my eyes, especially the high contrast super close-ups. It feels like it puts my rods and cones back into alignment ;-) And I loved the journey, into the kitchen and back out to visit with the bugs and the bees! Amazing, every one.
Last night someone asked if I'd noticed all the medicinal plants springing up. He mentioned mullein among others, and this was on the East Coast. My West Coast mullein is seven feet high. He said that mullein could be smoked as a beneficial treatment, which was news to me. But this was brought to mind by your self-seeding echinacea.
Also the first wall mural I painted was an onion plant against a swirly sunset, here in my childhood home where I am now. It was in HS and has been long painted over but maybe when I redo that room, which is the only one I haven't in my now AirBnB, I'll bring back the tradition. I love the bulby stem.
Hi Tereza!
I love that description of how the images I am guided to capture affect your eyes :)
Well you can thank Mother Earth and Creator for the 'rod and cone re-alignment' ;) I just open my heart and ask to be guided where to point my lens. The results often surprise and mesmerize me.
Thanks very much for the kind words and for checking out my photography.
That is interesting regarding what someone asked you about all the medicinal plants springing up. Being able to identify more self propagating nutrient dense and medicinal opportunistic plants aka "weeds" (due to reading a few books recently in combination with the fact that I am constantly being asked to remove wild plants from people's gardens and so I am working up close with them) has indeed enabled me to notice medicinal plants 'springing up' all around me. Though, for me, I suspect it is less something that is unique to this season and rather due to fact that my ability to recognize those plants has expanded a lot recently.
I have not looked into the medicinal gifts of Mullein but I did grow up around a lot of it in the South Okanagan of BC so i am familiar with the appearance of the plant. For me, seeing that plant evokes memories from my childhood when I would climb up steep rocky scree slopes in the desert hills and wander through the hills filled with sage and ponderosa pines. When we were maybe 10-12 years old, I would adventure through the rugged desert landscape with some select rare friends (those few who were not yet enthralled by the various forms of digital hyperstimulation/addiction that were already becoming prevalent in the 90-s).
We would climb cliffs, breath in the fresh air filled with the medicinal aerosols of the sage, pines and other plants, we built forts in the wilderness and experienced narrow escapes from rockslides we accidentally started, rattle snakes we stumbled across and one time we crossed paths with a mountain lion that watched us from the hillside nearby :) Good times. Thanks for the flash back! :) It makes me think of this essay and video
- https://charleseisenstein.substack.com/p/safety-third
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oI-0SkOmPg
Wow your painting sounds lovely, I would love to see it if you wanna share.
Painting is on my list of things to explore and learn more about in a hands on way (after pottery, glass blowing, smithing, sowing, kintsugi, basket weaving, cob house building, flute and handpan) :)
Thanks for the comment my friend.
Ah, I'm afraid that wall mural was gone when I moved to college and my room became a sewing room. But I'm glad you reminded me of this post, I'm going to swipe a photo for my desktop background. Good to hear from you, my friend!
I have no words to describe all the beauty of this paradise shown here!!!
THANK YOU, also for the wonderful 'watery' music!
I am glad you enjoyed the pics and music :)
Your description of the song as "watery" makes me think of another song I have not listened to in a while which always gives me visions of water when I listen.
Ólafur Arnalds - 3055 : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6u5D-5LWSg
His songs often have a kind of sadness to them, or at least a bleak sort of vibe that tells a story of having been through some challenging times. I suppose his music sort of speaks to the somewhat bleak (yet also deeply beautiful and moving) landscape of Iceland (where the artist is from). But I digress...
3:55-4:19 in the song linked above always gives me a vision of alpine spring water cascading down a waterfall.. flowing over mossy rock and falling down to flow as a babbling brook through the woods into a crystal clear lake nearby.. water caressing ancient stone.. dancing in the sunlight with the smell of pines and wildflowers on the air.
Hope you like it :)
that's very nice artistic piece combining music with dance, but your wordy description above is maybe even better because it has more dimensions. Lot of resonance with
water drops is also in this one too:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LwFI2E1zQk
and in this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouYT5OEPfRI
and in this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TL0xzp4zzBE
with one word, there is a lot of water for your garden this year with every piano out there and this one to be the best, in my opinion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhP6K44jOtk
:)
Oh, must add this one, this is 4x the amount of H2O falling down:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di2k06uNU1U
Thank you very much for these! I have been super busy but I will listen and let you know what I think when I have time :)
The pictures didn't make it onto my computer screen, FWIW.
Could be low bandwidth preventing them from loading. Many of the pics are high rez and so they require a lot of bandwidth to load smoothly. Did you try refreshing and letting it load for a minute before scrolling down?
Yours was the only email having the problem while surfing with a strong wifi signal in a public library with no brickwall filter.
hmm this is the first time I have had anyone describe this issue with viewing my posts. Thanks for the comment, I hope your computer issues are resolved soon.
Since my "computer issues" only affect your content, they are largely irrelevant.
Well thank you for taking the time to share that! :) Your comments always give me such a warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart, they are always brimming with positivity and amicability.
Hope you have a lovely day Vonu, thanks for swinging by