Letting Go of the Bay Leaf

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Mosaic Monday #45: Morning Glory

Do you ever wake up and wonder what the day will bring? You might run through your 'tasks' for the day and form a general expectation for the next 24 hours. And then there are days that take you by surprise, from the very beginning. Today* was one of those days. The morning started easily enough - I had a kayak date with Dear Neighbor Friend. In my mind, I soon labeled it Morning Glory.

Mist skimmed the fields as we navigated 5 farm gates between us and access to the lake. An unfamiliar person could easily become disoriented and lose her way in this fog. Normal objects suddenly loomed and took on mystical proportions.

At one point, Dear Neighbor Friend leaned over and peered at something near the ground. "What is it?" I queried, thinking of the young skunk we had seen not far from this spot on a previous outing. "A spider web," she said. Night-time dew bestowed pearls of water along every angle of the web. I am sure spiders have spun webs in these same locations before, but without the bedazzle, they are readily overlooked.

The mist had begun to lift as we launched our kayaks, but there was still enough about to lend a mysterious aspect to the lake.

At a time like this, you can imagine yourself in Loch Ness, Scotland, with the mist swirling, and a lone piper high on the moors. And the Loch Ness monster rising from the deep - but wait, it is only a merganser - yikes - our imaginations are getting the better of us! (Dear Neighbor Friend told me about kayaking with a friend in similar conditions, and encountering the merganser in the mist. I may have embellished the story a little …)

Can you see the wee duck in the top center of the photo?

We greeted the solitary bald eagle roosting at the far end of the lake, and speculated aloud what might have happened to the other half of the pair and the fledgling. We reversed course, and quite soon the sun had burned off the remaining wispy clouds. Dew lingered on the webs, and with the sun piercing the watery prisms, a thousand mini-rainbows colored the landscape.

That's what I call Morning Glory.

*This post was written on Thursday, September 12.

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.
Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Mosaic Monday #44: Gardening Galore

Blue flax - from wildflower seed scattered last fall

I have so much to share with you, dear friends. The ongoing transformation of my garden. My burgeoning knowledge about the plants in this region. The challenges of gardening in the woods with critters of all kinds. My embryonic plans for next year’s garden. Are you seated comfortably? Then let’s begin.

In my previous garden posts (June 9 and July 21), I have featured 70% of my formal plantings. Today you will see the remainder, again through collages illustrating their progression since the snow melted! (Click on the collage to make it bigger.)

I always thought of Goldenrod as "common" - but it has

"grown" on me - LOL!

Bee Balm was in my June 9 post, but before blooming

Coreopsis - in the upper middle photo, the plants are

barely visible. They exploded into my most prolific plant,

all by self-seeding. I transplanted many of them just to

make the flower bed look a little more shapely (lower middle

shot is "after"). This is also the plant most plagued by deer.

Aster - far right plant was drastically nibbled by deer

earlier this summer - silver lining? Abundant flowers

on the ends of multiple stems

Prairie coneflower - I love this plant. Began blooming in

mid-July and is still full of color. Knock on wood, deer

don't bother it.

Goodland apple - I wrote about the apple trees in my

June 9 post - at that time, they were still in flower. The

Goodland has 12 apples. We beefed up the protection on

this tree after the 1 small apple on the Honeycrisp

disappeared. Suspect? Chipmunks.

Scarlet Gilia - given its delicate nature last summer, I was surprised it returned at all.

I have since learned by observation that it does not grow back from its base, but only

by self-seeding - we must have over 140 "volunteers". I have also learned from visiting

the nursery that it will not flower this year but next.

Russian Sage - another love. As you can see, it grows back from its base and becomes

this sprawling web of purple. And the deer don't bother it.

Black-eyed Susan: another plant that returns only via self-seeding. It takes a keen eye to spot

these "volunteers", and some patience to see how they develop before deciding to keep or

to pluck. Shortly after the last picture, deer came along and ate this bloom and several of

the buds closest to opening. Grrrr ….

Speaking of deer – perhaps it is obvious that our “deer defense” system has ceased to be effective. I guess those clinking beer/cat food cans are now music to their ears! Few plants have been immune to their affections, but the coreopsis below the mudroom has been nibbled almost every night for the last month. Good thing I have a lot of it – I have deliberately left some sections uncovered in the hopes that the deer will focus on those. Friday we installed an “Animal Repeller” – when it senses an animal, it emits a high-pitched noise, and if at night, flashes a strobe light as well. So far? Mixed results since I do have deer tracks this morning. Might need to move it slightly. This has also taught us that we need to change up the defense system. Cans for a period, then sparkly ribbons, then the repeller, and so on.

Black aphids also returned to the pearly everlasting and the yellow penstemon in mid-August. The good news? The Columbian ground squirrels have gone into hibernation!!! At least one less threat to deal with!

As you can see from some of these pictures, the “formal” landscaping is quickly outgrowing its defined boundaries. I am torn between a desire for “order”, and the joy of nature doing its thing. Just given my personality, this will be an ongoing tussle, but I am determined to encourage a natural garden, so “disorder” is the preferred condition. This means allowing many plants to grow until I can figure out what they are – the benefit is less weeding (at first)! Each time I realize I have a new volunteer, it’s like a instant shot of joy.

It is much easier for me to accept “chaos” in our “prairie”, which you may recall was planted with a grass seed/wildflower seed mix last fall. It’s the gift that keeps on giving – I can almost always find something new out there.

Clockwise from upper left: Larkspur; Coreopsis variant; Lupine; Purple Coneflower; Blue Flax; Black-eyed Susan

I learned that Blue Flax flowers last less than 24 hours. I took the above picture in the morning and I was glad I did!

Yarrow

It seems each day brings new learning for me, and from a variety of sources. Most of it is plain observation. For example, the aster plant that was significantly pruned by deer produced the most flowers. And once a plant is flowering, the deer don’t eat it. And I have been amazed (and pleased) that most of our plants are as advertised – they thrive even in our dry conditions. Of course, the Web is a superb source of information, but sometimes you need a fellow human, and in that case, the Center for Native Plants has been a god-send. While the wildflowers have been easy to identify, the grasses have been much more difficult.

I called Hooper’s Garden Center (which provided the grass/wildflower mix), and they gave me a list of grasses that was included in the mix. I studied each of them, even sketching diagrams in my garden journal, and teaching myself about grass anatomy. Unfortunately, most of them did not seem to match the grasses outside. I reached out to a friend who works for the Forest Service, and he recommended two sources: the book “Plants of the Rocky Mountains” and the Center for Native Plants in Whitefish.

I ordered the book and it was helpful to identify some of the grasses, but I still had gaps. So, on one of my weekly trips to Whitefish, I stopped in the Center and talked with Sarah about my challenge. She referred me to the nursery manager, Hailey. She suggested Hailey might come out to our house (for a fee plus gas), but that she might also be able to identify the grasses just from pictures. Sold! That night I sent off a series of emails to Hailey, and within a few days she had responded. Most importantly, she was able to tell me that only one of the grasses is highly invasive.

Lower middle is Cheatgrass - highly invasive. Fortunately, I only found two small patches of it - pulled it up

carefully - trying not to spread seeds - and threw it away. Only three of these matched the list given to me

by Hooper's. Go figure!

While I am enjoying the plants which are blooming in the garden now, half of me has already turned my attention to next year’s garden. At the end of July, seeds were ready to be harvested from both columbine and blanket flower plants. Since then, I have also collected the following seeds: aspen fleabane, lupine, chives, goldenrod, nodding onion, aster, coreopsis, rocky mountain penstemon, red poppy, bee balm, coneflower and yarrow. It gave me great joy yesterday to give some seeds to a friend who recently moved into her new house.

At least half of my seeds are to be planted in the fall, so I am creating to-scale drawings of each of my flower beds, including all the volunteers. This will allow me to decide where to augment the landscape, taking into account size, color and the time frame for blooming. I would like to make sure that every flower bed has something in bloom at all times.

Red Osier Dogwood

In early August, we transformed the area near our “address rock”. Our neighbor on the hill had previously given us nearly 20 rocks, and had carefully arranged them in a semi-circle using his tractor. After driving by it numerous times, I decided for a different look, and he willingly came down the hill with the tractor and re-arranged them in real time. And gave us a scoop of dirt. And dug a hole for a dogwood we plan to place there. What a pal! The barter system is alive and well in Montana; he was happy to help us out in exchange for the water he has been able to access from our well head throughout the summer!

We will be adding some top soil to the area, and then fall seeding will begin using the design you see below. The Red Osier Dogwood will go in the hole – it is meant to provide some contrast with the pines, and to anchor that end of the flower bed. A few transplants, such as juniper, will complete the fall planting and we will let Mother Nature do her work until it is time for spring planting of the other seeds. I am so excited to see how this develops.

Re-focusing on events closer on the time horizon, I wanted to get a jump on the deer and/or the elk that might take a shine to the apple trees and maples. (You may remember my post from September 29 last year, when elk had seriously pruned one of my maples and also nibbled the apple trees.) Not this year, my friends – we bought taller caging material and put it around both maples and the apple trees.

Soon we will harvest the apples to prevent them from attracting bears. And frost might nip away at my flower pots as early as next week. But in the meantime, I will relish all the beauty that they have to offer.

Mosaic Monday

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Mosaic Monday #43: Becoming Noble

Sky behind our house

"Spend your days thinking about things that are good and true and beautiful and noble, and you will become good and true and beautiful and noble." Matthew Kelly

Sounds easy, doesn't it? But anyone that has been in a conflict with someone, or is grappling with a significant personal problem, knows that your mind obsesses over it. You replay conversations, wondering anew what the other person was thinking when they said such and such. You might get angry or sad or frustrated all over again. When I am in the grip of one of these spirals, it takes an almost physical force of will to re-direct my thinking.

First black-eyed susan to bloom

So it is that I find myself today writing this post. It is my attempt to get my train of thought on a different track. By looking back through photos from August, I hope to ponder subjects that are good and true and beautiful and noble. Maybe just a little of it will rub off on me.

In my August 18 post, I wrote about the neighbor girls who won several events at the fair with their goats. The mama goat was still producing milk in the days leading up to the fair, and we were the lucky beneficiaries of several gallons of it. And not only that, we had the chance to try our hand at milking – much harder than it looks! So Head Chef set out to make goat cheese. This is just one of the batches that he made – so tasty on a cracker or with crudité.

While at the fair, Dear Neighbor Friend and I took a spin around all the display buildings. I didn’t take many pictures – too busy chatting!

Knock on wood, the fire season in northwest Montana has been mild, but we had a few smoky days earlier in the month. It coincided with very hot weather, so Spousal Unit and I headed to the lake. Which lake, you may ask. That was the fun part – we headed west on Highway 2 with no particular lake in mind. Something big enough to make fishing worthwhile, but small enough that we wouldn’t be inundated with power boats and jet skis. Enter Little McGregor Lake, only 20 minutes down the road.

Kayaking, fishing, sunbathing, a picnic - summer at its best

A pair of eagles and a fledgling were very active at the lake, as were the loons. It is hard to see in this video, but a couple of the eagles are flying low over the lake, and you can hear the loons calling. I wondered if the eagles were trying to snatch one of the loon babies.

Each year, Whitefish hosts Huckleberry Days, a shameless excuse to enjoy all things huckleberry while also wandering the booths in Depot Park. Paintings, ceramics, jewelry, metal art, photography, clothing – something for everyone. We came home with just a couple of items – it required disciplined restraint!

Sweet Onion Mustard with Horseradish

Ceramic Salt and Pepper Shakers - we needed a set for

my end of our long dining room table!

This month has featured weeds on my dining room table. Yes, you read that correctly – weeds. Knapweed and yellow toadflax are considered invasive plants in this part of Montana – this means they are harmful to native flora and fauna. So, cutting the flowers and using them in arrangements is part of my efforts to reduce these plants on our property. (Eliminating knapweed is actually required by law.)

The longer I live here, the more I learn about the plants of the Rocky Mountains. When this “daisy” started to bloom in our “prairie”, I was pleased. Since then, I discovered that daisies which are members of the aster family are the only native daisies in Montana. Unfortunately, my volunteers do not qualify, so I am pulling these up as I find them. On the other hand, I was monitoring a dozen of the plants below – once they bloomed, I was able to identify it as a Rocky Mountain Bee Plant – a good guy – they can stay!

Dear Neighbor Friend gave me some fresh zucchini, and I was inspired to make some muffins. My mistake? I didn’t take them out of the pan soon enough. Then, because of the super-sized muffin tops, it was impossible to get down into the cup for a clean separation from the pan, at least impossible without destroying the muffin top! Oh well, they weren’t pretty but they still tasted wonderful, especially with a cup of coffee in the morning.

Maggie has been making the most of the sun spot in the kitchen. A few times I have had to check that she is still breathing – she often looks like she has melted into a puddle, she is so relaxed.

Not even the dragonfly that inhabited the kitchen for several days could get her attention. In the end, the dragonfly died, and was well-preserved in the heat on the sill of one of the upper kitchen windows. Spousal Unit was able to brush it down without damaging it. Isn’t it amazing? One of my sisters-in-law recently posted this on FaceBook: “Legend has it that dragonflies were given an extra set of wings so that angels could ride on their backs. When you see this winged beauty, it’s an exquisite reminder that an angel from heaven is visiting you.”

Outside, there are all manner of winged creatures.

Upper row: Female Common Yellowthroat (left and middle); right: Male Common Yellowthroat

Middle left: A flycatcher? Center: Wood Nymph

Lower row: Need help with identification

With the exception of the butterflies, the pictures in the above collage were taken with my trail cam. I chose this location in an attempt to capture the beaver, who clearly had been working over this shrub. Below are the best pictures from the month.

The upper pictures were taken with my phone and were the reason for placing the camera here - the beaver has a trail

through the grass for his tree branches. Lower pictures are from the trail cam - 1.30 am and 11 pm a week apart.

Sometimes, the trail cam gives you a surprise that just makes you say "Awww." Come on, say it with me - "Awww."

I have since moved the trail camera, and this is the first capture on the disk.

What is he running from? I suppose it could be Wily E. Coyote. Except this was four days later. Oh well.

Our weather has been getting a little cooler, especially in the evening, prompting us to spend a few heavenly hours by the firepit. We saw a bat flitting about, and tried our hand at calling a barred owl using a recorded call on our phone (no luck). In the dim light of early evening, I look back at the house, and I can almost call the grass and wildflowers our prairie.

As we retreated to the house, I took one last photo. I know my moon shots are terrible – I have seen many from my fellow bloggers and I am always amazed. But it was an appropriate metaphor for this post – life is not perfect, but if even 95% of it is going right, that is enough.

P.S. In case I have worried you, my marriage is as strong as ever, and I am not sick. Details of the problem that gave rise to this post are not worth the keypad pecks it would take to explain them.

Mosaic Monday

Welcome to Mosaic Monday, a weekly meme where we get together to share our photo mosaics and collages.

Please include at least one photo mosaic/collage in your post.
The link will be open from 1 p.m. Sunday until 11 p.m. Monday (U.S. Mountain time).
Remember to add the link to your Mosaic Monday post and not the one to your blog.
Please link back to this post so that your readers will be able to visit and enjoy more wonderful mosaics; taking the MM blog button from my sidebar is an easy way to link back.
As host I will visit every participant and leave a comment so that you know I stopped by.
Please try and visit as many other blogs as you can, especially those that join in later, so that everyone's creativity can be appreciated fully.
Thank you for joining in today and sharing your mosaics with us.