january

I find a good macro session very rejuvenating. It was the perfect way to start the year. 

praying mantis

I led this backyard visitor into a cardboard box for a short photo shoot. He wasn't very happy with me; he kept giving me the evil eye. How can a four-inch-long insect be so intimidating? I set him free and he stalked away into the grass.

busy bee

hey mama

lilacs

Ah, lilacs. Lilacs are my favorite. My bush only has a few clusters this year. I think I'm pruning at the wrong time. I need to look that up.

We found these volunteers today. Does anyone know what they are?

It's weird for me to see such a vibrantly colored flower in b&w, but I love the texture of the petals.

avocado tree to-be

We have been soaking these avocado pits for months. We almost gave up! After two months they started growing roots. And two months after that, we finally have sprouts. It's so fun for my kids to see the leaves after they've been waiting so long. 

frozen hummingbird food

Winter has come early to the Pacific NW. We've had sub-freezing temperatures for the last few weeks. The hummingbirds get annoyed with me when I let their sugar water freeze. I can hear them chirping outside the window as soon as the sun comes up. I was bringing in the feeder and heating it with a hair dryer, but that was taking a long time. I love seeing the hummingbirds out my window, but if it takes longer to feed them than to feed my own children, the situation ceases to work for me.

Yesterday, I picked up a new (pretty!) feeder in town. My plan is to swap a frozen feeder for a thawed feeder as needed. Today is Day 1. If you feed birds, you know they are creatures of habit. They return each winter to the place your feeder was last year, and if you get a new feeder, they get thrown off for a while. One hummer took a chance and sipped from the new feeder this morning; the others just chirped until I brought the red one back out. 

Hopefully they'll get used to it. I like the blue one better.

geranium

We've had a week of sub-freezing temperatures here in the Columbia River Gorge. I brought this little gem inside so she wouldn't freeze. She thanked me with one vibrant bloom. So lovely.

mystery squash

I'm a lazy composter. I just throw my garden/fruit/veggie scraps in a pile outside and let it sit. A year later, it turns into compost, but many seeds survive the process. As a result, I get kale and tomatoes and squash growing out of my compost pile, and mystery squash growing in my garden. I thought these two were going to be zucchini when they started growing because they were dark green. But they were growing short and stubby instead of long and slender. As fall approached, they started turning orange, so I thought maybe they were pumpkins. But they didn't get round and dark orange like pumpkins.

Last week I plucked them off their vines and cut them open. They looked like squash inside. Imagine that! They both had the little round cells that I'm used to seeing in spaghetti squash, so I cooked them accordingly. They didn't shred quite as easily as spaghetti squash after cooking, though. I'm guessing they were some mutant, cross-pollinated version. They tasted fine, and we're all still alive, so I call it a win.

I used the small one for Squash with Curried Apples and Turkey (pictured below), and the large one for gnocchi. Hooray for free volunteer vegetables!

hardy fuchsia

I'm in Ireland! I'm completely falling in love with this place. And I'm seeing these perennial fuchsia shrubs all over the south. I've always been a fan of fuchsia, but have only ever seen them as annuals, usually in hanging pots. I had no idea they could be shrubs. Do any of you grow fuchsias perennially? I'm wondering if there is a variety that would hold up to snow and weather as low as 10°F in the winter. Growing fuchsias in my yard would be like bringing my favorite part of Ireland home.

tomatoes

Gorgeous, flavorful tomatoes from Columbia Gorge Garlic.

Good tomatoes are my favorite part of summer.

zucchini noodles

If you planted zucchini this year, I'm guessing right about now you're thinking, “What am I going to do with all this zucchini??” I haven't planted zucchini the last two years because I don't actually like zucchini unless it's baked into bread or zucchini cake. But after Monday night's dinner, I'm starting to change my mind.

My sister-in-law gave me two zucchinis last weekend, as well as two cups of grated zucchini for the freezer. (How perfect is that? Love her!) Inspired by this Kitchn post, I pulled out my mandoline and julienned the whole zucchinis into “noodles”. They're not noodles, Mom, my 9-yr old said with that almost-teenager look in her eyes, they're zucchini.

But she liked them anyway. I put them in a bowl, added some thinly sliced sweet onions and chopped cilantro, then tossed it all with some leftover peanut dressing. I topped it with cooked, diced chicken breast and sprinkled on some pepper flakes for the adults.

It was so good! It didn't taste like zucchini at all. I promise you, this is the only way I have ever liked zucchini that wasn't zucchini bread or cake. 

Oh, and it was fast. Since the chicken was already cooked, I had a healthy dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes.

I'll have to find room in the garden for zucchini next spring.