This time...from above

While putting up a Christmas star in the birch tree, I decided to capitalize on my altitude and snap this shot of the veggie garden. In the center island we have Swiss chard, kale, salad greens, a few very miserable peas, and carrots. On the right side where the bare patch is, I harvested about 45 pounds of potatoes a month prior - it was a very good season for potatoes. Next to that are the Brussels sprouts and Japanese cabbage. In recent years I've become more and more interested in winter vegetable gardening. It's a lost art that our European ancestors were masters at, and I think it will go a long way toward mitigating the dreariness of winter.


This is probably the coolest thing I've ever built:


The fish are, as usual, hiding under the bridge.

Up Close & Personal

This little neon orange oddity almost looks like it belongs growing on a coral reef in the tropics, but is in fact some kind of weird mushroom. A few days after taking this picture, I noticed mushrooms very similar to this one being sold at Whole Foods. I've never understood the difference between edible and poisonous mushrooms so I'll just let it live out its short life in peace.


This rhubarb leaf (Rheum rhabarbarum) doesn't seem to give any reckoning the impending winter's fury as it slowly stretches out of the ground. It's a good time to avoid slugs I guess.


Another plant that seems to be going through some "seasonal confusion" is this hellebore (Helleborus lividus). It has been blooming since August. Proof that humans are not the only ones befuddled by the climate around here.


One of the last raspberries of the season. Sigh. (btw, it was delicious)


On the other hand, these Brussels sprouts are on their way to perfection! Hoping for a mild winter...(as usual)...


Finally, some naturalized Cyclamen coum seedlings.

Flaming Foliage

I picked up this fiery little plant, called Mukdenia rossii 'Crimson Fans', at Molbak's last month mainly because the tag included the word "evergreen". Yet here it is sending all its chlorophyll from its leaves back to its roots. Maybe it looks like this all winter?

Oh wow.

The days of the point-and-shoot camera are waning big time. And this is the reason why:


The picture above was taken with my new iphone 4s. The detail is superb. The colors are vibrant. The shadow detail amazing. And it's in a phone! This camera is - I have to say it - in the same league as my 35mm SLR. Of course it's a lot less "manual", but that's not necessarily a bad thing. As much as I like Siri (voice recognition A.I. software), which is also amazing and worthy of a lot of praise, I think the camera is the single best new feature on the iphone 4s.

Here are a few more pictures I've taken from my new iphone:

Ah, Poor Bird

October must be "Critter Calamity Month". After last week's fish fiasco, I was witness to the murder of this little sparrow, who didn't mind me getting up close to take his final picture. Moments after I had snapped the shot, Noel dashed out of nowhere and clenched the poor bird in his unrelenting jaws, escaping to the safety of underneath my car where he devoured his catch crunch by crunch. For an eight year old cat, he does pretty well at this.

The Acanthus mollis (Bear's breeches) below is approaching two full months in bloom.

Finally, one crop that did very well over the cool spring and summer were potatoes. Pictured below are Solanum tuberosum 'adirondack blue' and a white variety whose name is escaping me. The blue ones, by the way, have made excellent french fries. I dyed some of the white potatoes with red beet juice for the 4th of July and made red, white, and blue "freedom fries" which was a big hit to say the least. After doing some searching on the internet, I discovered red-fleshed potatoes. So next year's freedom fries will be 100% authentic and natural and not tampered with in any way - although maybe that's too un-American...