Monarch and Milkweed

Someone has been eating my milkweed leaves...

How lovely, it's a Monarch! I'm so glad to have milkweed available for them, so that I get to see their cheery colors each year.

The connection is more than meets the eye:  Monarch and Milkweed connection

An Applesauce Year

Since I moved here 9-1/2 years ago, I've watched and taste tested the wild apple trees near my house. There seems to be a pattern that they produce well one year and then not the next one or two years. There were apples aplenty in 2006, 2009, 2011, and, YEAY, this year! I found one tree that I especially like for taste and color.When the apples are abundant, I pick lots and make applesauce for myself and for MorningStar's gift shop.

First, washing. My favorite wild tree lives somewhat near the expressway, so I make sure the apples are well washed since I leave the skins on for all their nutrition and the beautiful color they impart to the applesauce.

Then, quartering and removing any bad spots and the occasional wiggly.

Then into the pot, the giant pot that takes in a hundred apples and more!

Heat and time and voila!

Now to run it through the food mill to remove seeds, seed coats, and skins. I love the pink color and wonderful flavor! No sugar, no cinnamon, just apples. Delicious!

And into jars to savor for the next two to three years until the next applesauce year. I will mete it out wisely.

Thank you, my favorite, old, wild apple tree!

Night Sky

The moon was calling, calling me...from my sleep, from my bed, out my front door. My cat looked at me with curiosity; the porch is her night territory, not mine.

But the moon was calling, calling me. I couldn't not take her picture as the clouds swiftly and repeatedly hid and revealed her brightness. Her light made silhouettes of all the trees.

"You called?" I asked. 

But only the wind answered, "Breathe."

Farmers' Market and Garden Bounty

My one little blueberry bush was gracious with fruit this year: about two quarts total. Not bad for being totally neglected except to put bird netting over it on the years that it chooses to produce. Thank you!

And the Kentucky Wonder pole beans I planted in the garden at MorningStar went crazy just as the peas did. The vines topped the trellises leaving beans growing higher than I could reach them! Also they produced many more beans much faster than Julie and I could eat them or want to eat them. And I just didn't have the oomph to make dilly beans or the like. But I enjoyed them steamed night after night with butter, salt, and pepper. Yum! Thank you!

And then there's the LeRoy Farmers' Market. This haul was from one Saturday: tomatoes, peppers, and squash, lettuce and cider, prune plums, pears, and cucumbers, and even salsa! I love eating all the colors!

Thank you to all who grow and sell these wonderful foods at our market and all who support the market with their purchases and friendly visits. Thank you to the rain and sun, soil and microbes...
Thank you, Mother Nature, Mother Earth!

Retreat

Retreat

Not knowing what I needed,

I wandered until I arrived.

Once there,

I stayed.

When the staying was finished,

I left.

Now I am home,

Refreshed.

---MEW 9/7/2013

The Bench

The Bench

                               Waiting,

                                  Calling,

                                    Enticing…

                                          “Come, sit, rest.”

                          Indian Pipes stand at attention;

                                          Protecting the silent, sacred space.

                The creek longs for your gaze upon it.

                         Your soul longs for the creek’s return gaze.

--MEW 9/5/2013