Meadows full of Shooting Stars and Buttercups

Shooting stars (Dodecatheon) & buttercups (Ranunculus) as far as the eye can see!!  ~ Native plants along the ATV trail at Moss Springs, Union County, Oregon.

Shooting stars (Dodecatheon) & buttercups (Ranunculus)

Shooting stars (Dodecatheon) & buttercups (Ranunculus)

The back country ~ It's good for the soul

We recently invested in an ATV - Side-by-Side, so we could enjoy driving the roads that were once open and passable by a truck or even a car. Places we had not been able to go to in years... it was so peaceful and good for the soul. Only met one other rider during our 15 mile ride!

View of the Eagle Caps's along the Breshear's ATV trail at Moss Springs, Union County, Oregon.

Snow fed stream along the Breshear's ATV trail at Moss Springs, Union County, Oregon.

Canning Rainier Cherries

Worked up 20 lbs of beautiful Rainier Cherries in the last 2 days! Made 3 jars of Amaretto Cherries too! Yum!! Sent about 1/2 of the jars home for the great grands! Will be using the culls (the bruised but still good fruit) for jam. Enjoy the show!

What beautiful and huge, cherries!

Fill her up! Using a light syrup as these are a sweet/tart cherry.

First two batches! Cherries turned yellow and the syrup is pink!

Radish seed pods ~ they're great!

Letting the radish crop go to seed has several bonuses... Radish pods taste just like the radishes they spawn from, but more concentrated in flavor. ... All radish plants form edible seed pods, and there is even an heirloom variety called Rat's Tail radish grown specifically for its large, tender seed pods. Bees and other pollinators love the blooms and so do I. Use in stir fry, salads, pickle them for garnish and eat them right in the garden. From root to pod, they are delicious!

Radishes in bloom

Raised beds, for vegetable, herb and fruit

Raised beds, for vegetable, herb and fruit, at our daughter's house, created out of Douglas fir, peeler cores. What a great job!! Love the way they turned out; the seating area and the octagon bed are fabulous!!

Morel Season is finally here!

Most years we can start hunting (not always finding) for morels in late April, sometimes as early as mid April. Usually have a few good harvest by at least mid May. This year has been so cold, with late snow and lots of rain, that the season has started late. Hopefully that means we will still be picking in July!  Oh, and the huckleberry bushes are starting to bloom! Looking forward to a good season for them.

We did beat the storm, yes were headed right into those clouds!

These were 4 inches long and 3 1/2 inches across at the base

Goji berry, or wolfberry

Since the first goji berry plant is now 2 years old and has not yet bloomed, I've added a 2nd goji berry plant to the landscape. The new addition already has blooms on it and hopefully will bear fruit this year. The weather has not been the best as the night time temperatures have been below freezing several times over the past week. Plants for the garden are chosen for their hardiness and fruiting. Grow what you eat, eat what you grow.

Goji berry, or wolfberry, is the fruit of either Lycium barbarum or Lycium chinense, two closely related species of boxthorn in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Both species are native to Asia, and have been long used in traditional Asian cuisine.