Mt Rainier Wildflowers

"...the most luxuriant and the most extravagantly beautiful of all the alpine gardens I ever beheld in all my mountain-top wanderings." ~ John Muir 1889

Wild Sweet Pea (Lathyrus latifolius)

"Always before about my dooryard,

Marking the reach of the winter sea,

Rooted in sand & dragging driftwood,

Straggled the purple wild sweet pea."

-Edna St. Vincent Millay,

This beautiful weed weaves its way throughout the canes of my raspberries :o}

Cabbage

“I want death to find me planting my cabbage”

~Michel de Montaigne

German Chamomile

The flowers of the German Chamomile, though aromatic, have a very bitter taste. They contain a volatile oil, a bitter extractive and little tannic acid.




---Medicinal Action and Uses---Carminative, sedative and tonic. The infusion of 1/2 oz. of the dried flowers to 1 pint of boiling water may be given freely in teaspoonful doses to children, for whose ailments it is an excellent remedy. It acts as a nerve sedative and also as a tonic upon the gastro-intestinal canal. It proves useful during dentition in cases of earache, neuralgic pain, stomach disorders and infantile convulsions. The flowers may also be used externally as a fomentation.

~Information from Botanical.com

Harvesting the German Chamomile plants that voluntarily popped up in several locations in my garden this year, I hope to brew up an occassional cup of tea this winter if I have trouble sleeping........

Carrots

HARVESTING THE CARROTS

      ~Tom Boswell

Ten years later, when it was finally over,

she confessed she had fallen in love

with me that late autumn afternoon

while I squatted, my back to her,

harvesting the carrots.

My eyes were fixed on the carrot tops, ferny green

filigree promising thick scarlet roots

burrowed in the soil, so I failed to notice

if she changed that moment—her face,

her eyes, the way she walked—

When this thing she later called love swept

over her. I do remember that the corn

was behind us, and how she turned then

to photograph it as I tore out carrots

and tossed them in a willow basket.

I never understood what she saw in this garden

she hadn’t worked, or in the ravaged corn

she’d make into a photo to hang on a gallery

wall, or how these things she hardly knew

could stir such deep emotions, but

I’ve come to trust the way the bandit coon craves

the corn, something pure and simple, lacking

pretense. The photograph was one of those

soft-focus works of hers you could

hang any which way and still

See something to satisfy you, so long as you

were not hungry for corn. There was mullein,

goldenrod and bergamot still in bloom,

and the wild carrot, Queen Anne’s Lace,

which she claimed to love as well.

I teased her, called it a wanton weed, useless

renegade from overseas, but showed her,

as if it was a secret shared by just us two,

the solitary purple blossom shuddering

like a heart at the center of each bouquet.

Gather enough of these over a summer, I said,

and you can dye something—a skirt or shirt

perhaps—a dark hue like the stain

of memory, a thing of beauty and utility.

At least until the color fades.

~Illustration by "Wildman"

Big Bird !

I thought I was looking at a huge bird at first glance !

Herbaliscious

Last night was the annual Tomato Sauce Makin' for Ryan and us.  It was really nice to be able to do it once again outside at the BBQ Pit, as the temps were in the 90's again :-)

I had risen early yesterday morning to harvest herbs for the sauce, as the essential oils are at their peak at that time.  Lots of Basil.  Rosemary, Savory, Marjoram, Oregano and even a bit of Lemon Thyme.  I also harvested my Garlic the day before.  Gotta have lots of yummy Garlic in a sauce :o}  Also took some Onions from the garden, as well as Carrots to sweeten it up a bit.  And oh yes!  The wine!  Smells so goooooood............

It cooked down while we slept and into this morning.  It is a great batch this time!

Elecampagne

I have been practicing what I learned about taking pictures with my camera set in the 'Manual' mode on my DSLR camera.  I actually like some of these better than when set in the fully automatic mode, which is where my camera setting resided before the class a month ago.  This is good news.  Encouraging :-}

This is the flower of the herb Elecampagne.  I planted it a few years ago next to the chicken coop.  It struggles there, but I just read it likes moist ground, so I may replant it elsewhere next year.   

Wonder what it is used for? 

Diuretic, tonic, diaphoretic, expectorant, alterative, antiseptic, astringent and gently stimulant. It was employed by the ancients in certain diseases of women, also in phthisis, in dropsy and in skin affections.

In herbal medicine it is chiefly used for coughs, consumption and other pulmonary complaints, being a favourite domestic remedy for bronchitis. It has been employed for many years with good results in chest affections, for which it is a valuable medicine as it is in all chronic diseases of the lungs asthma and bronchitis. It gives relief to the respiratory difficulties and assists expectoration. Its principal employment as a separate remedy is in acute catarrhal affections, and in dyspepsia attended with relaxation and debility, given in small, warm and frequently repeated doses. It is, however, seldom given alone, but most frequently preferred in combination with other medicines of a similar nature. It is best given in the form of decoction, the dose being a small teaspoonful, three times a day.

~Botanical.com

Sweet Peas

Sweet Peas are one of my favorite summer flowers, primarily because of their wonderful aroma.  They are growing along the back fence of my vegetable garden this year, and welcome me with their sweet scent :o}

Garden Visitor

All things bright and beautiful

All creatures great and small

All things wise and wonderful

The Lord God made them all

–Cecil Francis Alexander

House Guest of a Different Sort

Most dogs like something meaty.  Not this dog-guest!  Annabel is spending a few days with us while her folks are on a mini-trip.  She begged us for a helping of salad, as we ate ours at dinner.  So I finally relented and served her up a small bowlful of the green leafy food.  She waited politely at the table to be given the go-ahead to start.........

She daintily pulled the first lettuce leaf out........  but it was too awkward to sit at the table for her.  She could barely reach the bowl.

So down to the deck she went to finish her supper....

....not so daintily now!

She ate all the different vegetables, but her favorite was the cucumbers..... just like her Mr. Master.  Though her Mr. Master needs to follow Annabel's example in eating all vegetables ;-)

She's a bit possessive with her salads!

Big yawn.......  getting a bit bored with all the photo shoots ;-)

Don't worry, Mrs. Mistress.  Annabel is having a terrific time, and she ate her own food before I allowed her the salad treat.  Hee hee.  Maybe you should give me a list of no-no foods for dog-people before I kill her.

Feliz Cumpleaños

A moment was taken to celebrate the birthdays of Ryan and Kevin at the Mexican Fiesta BBQ held Saturday July 31 at the Harmon Homestead.  Party cakes included a Tres Leches Cake served with fresh strawberries, and a Mexican Chocolate Cake. A fuller report of the BBQ can be had at this link: http://lavidadebeth.blogspot.com/2010/08/comida-mexicana.html

Who has but once dined his friends, has tasted what it is to be Caesar.

~Herman Mellville, 'Moby Dick' (1851)