New desserts, the green of clover and a snake!

I made this truly inspired dessert last night using the last 2 dozen fresh figs, cooked down with a couple of Tablespoons of sugar, juice of half a lemon and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.  When cooled I added about a 1/4 cup of toasted almonds and a 1/4 of dark chocolate chips.  I wrapped the jammy mix into a log of pie dough and baked it.  I must say, they are scrumptious.

The clover popped almost over night and is now covering the bed I prepared last week with green.

I found this little guy hiding under the landscape fabric that I lifted up today in preparation for planting garlic.  I captured it in this orange bucket for a positive ID as at first I thought it might be a copperhead. Careful study and consultation of the field guides left us pretty certain it was a baby northern water snake.  Makes sense as I have seen the adults at the pond, which is where I took it to release it.  The eyes were the most obvious thing to say non-venomous as the pupils were round and venomous snakes have narrow slitty pupils.

Peak at our water feature

This is one of my favorite sections of the garden, David's little sculpture I call it, right next to the kitchen door. Cannas in the back, horsetail fern with painters pallet mixed in, ferns around the water and sedums and geraniums out front.

We've tried growing clematis on this cedar snag but I think it's too wet and/or shady, the turtle came from a trip to Arizona.  There are chives and a magenta geranium.

I like the way the painters pallet grows up inside the horsetail fern, which you can see has become a bit of a problem, extremely invasive in fact and we are cosntantly ripping it out to try and keep it at bay.

And here is the tiny waterfall, now covered with mosses and ferns, falling into the pool below, nearly obscured by stones and plants, home to a large and elusive goldfish named Whitey and visited frequently by leopard frogs and tree frogs.  It makes a musical sound that can be heard from kitchen or bedroom when windows are open and outside while sitting on the patio.

I found this old cast iron bench back at an antique place and framed it in cedar to hang on this wall.  The cardinals in the magnolias spoke "southern" to me.

Signs of Autumn and Another Rainy Day

More cold rainy weather is welcome today.  Forced to relax though the list of chores is long, I'm tired of go, go, going and glad for respite.  Planting garlic and the two new plum trees will have to wait for a drier, sunnier day.  Check out my latest column in the Chapel Hill News: Signs of Autumn in the Air.  You may recognize the photo from yesterdays post.

It's hard to go wrong with zinnias

The only problem is that I didn't plant enough zinnias this year.  This beauty has been blooming for a solid week and seems to just get bigger, it's about 4 inches across.  And it's blooming just outside the kitchen window so I've been enjoying it every time I stand at the sink, how lucky.

Here is an autumn bouquet I made including zinny's, mums and asters which are putting on a big show right now all around our yard.  A basket of the winter squash we grew along with a braid of garlic that I made back in July after I harvested my crop, big and beautiful.  With birds migrating through right now, the bird book and binoculars have been a regular fixture on the kitchen table.  It must be fall.

Rainy Day

It's been cold and rainy all day, the temperature actually dropped over the course of the afternoon and the rain got heavier too.  Not much of a day to be outside so I've got no photo for you or stories much to tell.

I want to give a shout out for my brother Alex who is featured in the Oct 7th issue of the Independent Weekly in a discussion with a couple of friends of his; local chef Amy Tornquist of Watts Grocery and sustainable farming advocate Scott Marlow of RAFI.  They are talking about a new book called Just Food: How locavores get it wrong and how we can truly eat responsibly by James E. McWilliams.  They agree with some points in the book and not with others.  Check it out here.

Last of the Beans

You'll probably be glad to hear this should be my last bean post, at least for this growing season.  These are Borlottos, they have the most gorgeous red and green pods, I normally pick them when they are turning a bit pale and start to feel like a kid glove but I pulled these to make way for that clover the other day.

The last of the season have been the very biggest of the year, look at those fatties in the foreground!  I'll add these to the 2 gallons I already have shelled in the freezer.  I've seen similar beans in catalogues and markets also called Tongue of Fire or horticultural beans.  They are easy to shell and excellent in soups, I especially like to put them in my minestrone and they are also lovely just simmered up with some onion, garlic and herbs, a little pork product never hurts either, they are very meaty and delicious.  A good brown pone of buttermilk skillet cornbread is the ticket for dipping into the beany broth.

Another Camellia

I know, more camellias?!  I do work at Camellia Forest so I just can't help myself.  This is Autumn Spirit, I adore the subtle white edges on the pink flower petals. This is a winning Camellia sasanqua that is a vigorous grower and another early bloomer.  A favorite.

I've got a pan of butternut squash, poblano chiles, onions and garlic roasting with cumin and chile powder, planning to add some chunks of pork that Mr.D smoked and roll it all up in tortillas, I think it'll be yummy. Now - some stretching after a long day of work.