Leaving some plums for the scrub jays to eat

Our one Santa Rosa plum tree produced a bumper crop this year. Almost every evening last week, we went out and harvested plums filling 5-gallon buckets with them--six in all. As we harvested, I also pruned. This species of plum tree is such a fast grower that it sometimes needs a post-harvest haircut. This year it needed one desperately after having branches laden with plums.

Even though I had a long pole lopper for pruning the branches high up (Hubby called me "Cindy Lopper"), there were some plums that we just couldn't reach. So those plums get left on the tree for the birds.

The scrub jays particularly like to hop around in the branches pecking at the juicy sweet plums. They are having quite a feast this year. I'm happy to provide them with such a yummy treat.

Now the back garden has huge piles of plum branches laying about. They have to dry out so we can send them through the chipper and make them into mulch. Hopefully, those piles of branches will be fun for some other critter.

Why I Love American Thanksgiving

Here in the United States, we get to have what I think of as "a triple" as far as autumn holidays go. Here in our home it ends up being "a quad" of autumn holidays starting with my birthday on September 29th. With the passage of my birthday, I enter my favorite time of year because there's a holiday for each of the next 3 months. October has Halloween. November has the American holiday of Thanksgiving. Then December has Christmas.

As long as I can remember, I've enjoyed milking each month's holiday for all it's worth. I don't like to look forward to Christmas until Thanksgiving is over because it's been more fun for me to focus on Thanksgiving as a wonderful holiday in it's own right. I think I was in kindergarten when I was introduced to colored popcorn, cornucopias spilling out fruit, gorgeous ears of dried Indian corn, and pilgrim hats made of construction paper. The russet tones of autumn were a treat for my eyes then as they are now. So many rich colors to enjoy.

As the world of retail has continually pushed aside Thanksgiving in order to fill the store shelves with Christmas merchandise, they've also taken to playing Christmas music earlier and earlier. I try my best to ignore it and turn my attention to the annual store displays full of roasting pans, jars of marshmallow cream, cans of cranberries, and canisters of wonderful spices that mean its autumn. I've always been a huge fan of the whole aspect of baking for the Thanksgiving holiday. Mind you, I rarely do it myself, but the idea of it makes me all giddy inside. It brings back memories of how my mother would start baking around on the Monday of Thanksgiving week (Thanksgiving is always the last Thursday of November). I knew when I came home from school that there would be wonderful aromas meeting me as I opened the front door. It was so exciting to think about.

In this spirit, I set up a Thanksgiving still life and photographed it and then brought it into Photoshop to transform it into the "painting" I was seeing in my head. American Thanksgiving is November 27th this year--only a week and half away. I created this as a desktop image for myself so I could decorate my computer, and I'm sharing it (for free) with anyone who wishes to download it from my Flickr photostream. Click here to go directly to it.

Last Harvest

Today marked the last harvest of tomatoes for the year, as it was time for me to pull the plants out and get on with moving the dirt and planter box to a new location. The last harvest of the summer vegetables is always bittersweet, particularly when it's been a low-yield summer like this one has been.

Interestingly, the pole beans that gave us beans in fits and spurts throughout the summer had a sizable crop to pick. AND the vines are still sending out blossoms. Since I don't have to move the planter they are in, I'm going to leave them in and, hopefully, we'll get another nice crop in time for Thanksgiving in November.

The last cucumber was picked even though it is as huge as a zucchini. Left forgotten under a large leaf, the thing is out of control. I think Hubby may try to use it anyway.

And the current crop of lemons on the Eureka lemon tree are starting to ripen so we were able to put a couple in the harvest basket so they can be used to make the vinaigrette for the bean and tomato salad Hubby will probably make with this basket full of produce. I think we've got enough beans that we can freeze some to use over the winter. That would be really nice.

Tomorrow I'm going to photograph the latest garden wonder that I discovered while we were harvesting that has left me really scratching my head. Stay tuned...

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Life's Little Pleasures From the Garden

Yesterday evening, I ventured out into the garden before the sun went down to do "garden patrol". "Garden patrol" consists of watering things that aren't on the drip-mist irrigation system yet; checking on produce to see if it's ready for harvesting; check the water levels in the pond and other water feature; say hi to the garden kitties, Oreo and Mooch, and give them some canned food; and just check on the latest developments in the garden.

This time of year during my garden patrol, I often find produce that is at the peak of perfection and ready to be picked. Yesterday was no exception. I retrieved my wide and low harvest basket with a big handle to sling over my arm. I went in the back garden to harvest the luscious strawberries and plums as well as some pole beans and spinach leaves. It made for such a lovely arrangement in the basket that I had to photograph them before I dismantled it.

Once inside, the spinach and pole beans go into containers in the fridge with others that have been harvested over the past couple of days. With small harvests, this is the best way to get a good serving together.

The strawberries were rinsed and went straight into a cup to be delivered to Hubby who was working hard in his home office. I have been eating the strawberries straight off the bushes out in the garden for a month or so now. I thought it was only fair that he should get the next few batches.

The plums went into the fridge too so I could cool them off since they were quite warm after being out in the heat all day. Later in the evening I had cold juicy plums for dessert after our late dinner. Yum!

This is why I love gardening so much. These little treasures make it all worth it.

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Juicy Plums for Independence Day

A bountiful harvest has begun here at Rosehaven Cottage thanks to one Santa Rosa plum tree that is laden with so much fruit some of its boughs are bending and touching the ground. This is really exciting for me because this is the first year that the tree has actually produced more than 1 or 2 plums. I LOVE plums (Hubby doesn't like them) so I am thrilled!

Some of you may remember that I wrote about this plight earlier in the year when the tree was blossoming as I shared some photos of the lovely spring plum blossoms. Now the majority of those blossoms have become luscious plums that are ripening at varying rates all over the tree.

Because sitting under the plum tree is one of my favorite daily activities, I have been watching and gently hand-checking the fruit each time I'm out there. Early in the ripening stages when a plum that's been within my reach has been ripe enough, I've plucked it from the tree and eaten it right there. Yummy!

Well, now that the number of plums that are ripe has increased, I was able to take my harvest basket out and pick the first bunch of plums all at once. That was a real treat!

The plums came inside and went into this nifty rinsing basket that Hubby has in the kitchen (the kitchen is Hubby's domain, by the way). After a good rinse in some cool water, the plums were covered with droplets and were very photogenic (as you can see in the photos above).

Of course I've eaten the perfectly ripe ones as a wonderful sweet treat as part of my breakfast, lunch, or dinner. As the others ripen, I'm going to try my hand at making homemade fruit leather with our home dehydrator. I'll make sure and photographically document the process when I do so I can share.

Now why, you may ask, am I featuring these fresh fruits on America's Independence Day?

Well, today is also my own Independence Day. It was two years ago today that I made the life-changing decision to eat, eat well, and gain my independence from the burdens of a chronic illness as well as OCD-related anxiety and depression. Along with adopting the WeightWatchers lifestyle, I consciously chose to no longer consume any hydrogenated oils and products (trans fats) while increasing my consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids in the form of walnuts and other nuts. I also chose to eat instead of continuing the pattern of "forgetting" to eat all day--a pattern that was taking me down a very unhealthy road and had caused my metabolism to grind to a halt. July 4, 2006 was a very big milestone day for me, to say the least.

As I've traveled this interesting health-focused journey for the past 2 years, I've come to love simple and luscious foods like these plums that I'm harvesting off our tree. Grown organically (as all the other produce in our garden), these plums are more than a summer treat for me. Instead, I see each one as a small package of health and wellness ready for me to consume and gain its benefits--the most profound benefit being independence.

Happy Independence Day!

Links to my writing on the Rosehaven Cottage Health, Wellness, and Food blog:
A Delicious Way to Get My Veggies
"Cute Attacks" and Feeling Healthy
Managing Anxiety and Depression with Nutrition

Links to spiritually-based resources at Provident Living:
Helpful Information on Social and Emotional Strength
Physical Health

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