August Garden

What’s been growing in my urban garden?

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This squash plant grew from homemade compost. I had no idea what kind of squash would grow, and for most of the summer, nothing did.IMG_4315

I just noticed that there are some small squash starting to grow. These look like one of the more exotic ones that came in our CSA. Looking forward to trying them.IMG_4316

Not sure why tomatoes are deciding to grow in my garden this year, but I’m definitely not complaining. The big striped ones are green zebras, which is a lovely heirloom variety. They are tart and unsettling because of their color. We have a variety of cherries that mostly grew from compost. Unfortunately we ate all our white currant tomatoes before I took a photo of them.IMG_4317

Our purple Joe Pye weed is flowering. This is one of the native plants I got from Project Native. Something is happily eating away at the leaves. I know most people don’t like to have their plants eaten, but that is part of the point of planting native varieties. I’ve given something a food source. I keep checking for caterpillars, eggs or cocoons, but haven’t seen any yet.IMG_4318And this crazy looking thing is a mushroom growing out of the mulch by my chickens. It’s a type called a stinkhorn. They attract all kinds of insects. You can see many sitting on the top of the one in the foreground.

What’s growing in your garden?

 

Butterfly Safari with Project Native

Berkshires-6This past weekend we went up to the Berkshires. I always get my nature groove on when we’re up there. This weekend was no exception.

My favorite plant nursery in the world (it’s so much more than that!), Project Native, was hosting a butterfly safari. They specialize in native plants as a means to promote a healthy ecosystem. I’ve probably gone into it before, but without native plants, there aren’t food sources for native insects and bugs, which then in turn affects what the native birds eat, etc. etc. etc. There are also some insects that will only lay their eggs on one type of plant (called a host plant). Monarch butterflies are one such insect. They will only lay their eggs on plants in the milkweed family. And their numbers are declining drastically. In fact our guide mentioned that their numbers could be down anywhere from 30-90 percent, and that they haven’t seen one all summer! But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Berkshires-4During our safari, we were given butterfly nets and instructed on the best way to catch and then release the butterflies into the holding box. Our guides were amazingly knowledgeable about the different plants and butterflies we saw. They walked us through their property, which was a fun glimpse of the different plants they sell growing in a wide, open setting.

Berkshires-5We caught several butterflies. Lindsay was by far the best at it. And then we brought them to their newly built butterfly house to release them. The butterfly house is a hoop house, with netting instead of plastic. It is filled with native plants for the different butterflies to feed  and lay eggs on.

Berkshires-2Inside, we saw loads and loads of caterpillars. This one is particularly great with its false eyes on it.

And, you might have noticed that after I said that they hadn’t seen any monarchs, my first photo is of a monarch. That was from a woman who donated monarchs she used in a classroom setting. They were from PA, so aren’t considered native to the Berkshires. They will not release the monarch when they release all the other butterflies for the winter.

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Camping in the Berkshires

 

beartown camping-20This past weekend we went car camping in the Berkshires with friends. It was so beautiful and peaceful.beartown camping-16beartown camping-49

Lindsay was a great help cooking. We made the world’s best s’mores using Little Schoolboy cookies instead of chocolate bars and graham crackers. Lindsay learned how to make a box oven in Girl Scouts and we baked brownies. To make one, you just line a cardboard box with aluminum foil and punch some holes. You place charcoal briquettes in a pan on the bottom (it’s about 30 degrees per piece, so you need about 11-12 coals to bake a normal cake)beartown camping-51beartown camping-33

And we found loads and loads of choice edible mushrooms while hiking!

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Black trumpet mushrooms

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Oyster mushrooms

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Chicken of the woods mushrooms