Saturday Tweets: Cow Appreciation Day

July 14, 2018

...com/QxzmAXw2Rh — Scratching The Surface (@surfacepodcast) July 9, 2018 Low-water gardens buzz with life. They are bright, brilliant, colorful gardens with as much interest and variety—and in some ways more—than any other gardens. In fact, color and low water go hand in hand. https://t.co/Z4ltkYnlXo pic.twitter.com/oGny74F3TD — Timber Press (@timberpress) July 10, 2018 “Eventually, I gave up on staying on protected bike routes and went for cruising...

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Loquat season is here!

Mrs. Homegrown

April 28, 2014

Foraging, Fruit Trees

51 Comments

...o do with them, but they defy preservation because they are made mostly of water. They are also small, have skins which are impossible to peel (you just eat the skins), and large pits, all of which makes processing difficult. Yet they can be really tasty. The best ones taste a little like citrus honey and have a nice floral fragrance. Their light, watery flesh is refreshing on a hot day (If anyone has figured out something to do with loquats other...

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Native Plant Workshop

Mr. Homegrown

February 4, 2009

Events, Native Plants

3 Comments

...ives bring in beneficial wildlife, are hardy and are efficient in terms of water use. Flexibility is key here–go ahead and mix natives with vegetables, fruit trees and other climate-appropriate plantings. 2. Natives aren’t edible. Many natives yield edible and medicinal crops. In North America the best way to delve into this topic is to figure out the plants that Native Americans in your area used. 3. Southern California is a desert and native pla...

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Anagallis monellii : A New Favorite

Mrs. Homegrown

April 14, 2014

Gardening

10 Comments

...uited to the California climate, and it follows that it does not need much water. It is perennial in zones 9 to 11 (that’s us), but can be grown as an annual elsewhere. If you see Anagallis monellii without blooms, it is not much to look at. It’s a rangy, low-slung plant with uninteresting foliage. What it excels at is blooming. I believe it comes in a few colors, but “Blue Pimpernel” makes 1″ flowers in a rich gentian blue with magenta eyes, and...

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Moldy Grapes!

Mr. Homegrown

June 24, 2008

Fermentation, Food

13 Comments

...e is to weight them down somehow. In this case, I had a baggy full of salt water (salt water so that if it leaked, it wouldn’t dilute the brine) sitting at the top of the jar. But I didn’t pay attention to the jar during the fermentation, and a couple of the rolls popped up at the sides and mold set in––a kind of fluffy, spider-webby black mold that crept from the exposed bundles up the sides of the jar. The lesson to be learned here is to pay som...

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