FRIENDS Archives : Cast Iron Forest to Skillet

2023-10-292023-10-29

10/29/2023 first freeze forecast tonight

Piles of vegetable greenery on a concrete front poor with a black double door in the background — So, in spite of rain all day and temperatures in the 30s F, I went out and cut all the plants. That’s the giant pile of cut basil on an overflowing Rubbermaid tub and assorted cut off pepper plants nearby. The rest of the day was getting basil leaves off the stems.

An inch thick basil stem cut off, with my hand nearby for scale. — The basil stems were so big I had to use the loppers to cut them at the base.

A blue-gray rubber made plastic tub almost full of bright green basil leaves — 3608 grams of basil leaves. This is 7.95 pounds. Yes, we did tare the tub weight. Yes, it is a lot of basil. No, I don’t even know what’s going to happen.

Close up view of a red and blue striped leaf hopper. Its legs and tip of snoot grade to yellow. It has tiny hair like antennae. — Leafhopper

A small true bug nymph on my fingers. It’s small enough that you don’t see around my whole finger. The brown colors are speckled — Leafhopper

2023-10-202023-10-20

10/17/2023 autumnal

A black and yellow striped bee fly with dark tipped wings is feeding on the tiny flowers of a Heath aster. The flowers have white petals and yellow centers and cover the whole branch profusely. — Heath asters were buzzin‘!

The small fuzzy body of a common eastern bumblebee worker is dwarfed by the long purple covered flower stalk of Liatris mucronata. — Common Eastern bumblebees were all over both the Heath asters and these Liatris mucronata.

I’m holding a branch of Euphorbia steady so we can see the fuzzy rust-colored arctiid caterpillar hiding under a leaf. The sunlight catches the very long hairs that extend beyond its main dense body of bright orange-brown fuzzy hairs. — Wooly bear!

Faded tomato cages hold a series of fruiting pepper plants and blooming marigold plants. — Marigolds doing well around the sweet peppers.

A closer view of the bright orange marigold flowers dotting their pointed leaves. The plants are lush and only partly contained by the faded red tomato cages. — A close up of the same marigolds. They really thrive in the fall.

2023-10-072023-10-07

10/07/2023 weeding helper

Briar the German shepherd dog lays, looking completely and devastatingly bored, with her butt squishing the base of several stalks of Mexican sage, which are valiantly flowering purple and white above her butt. — After kindly avoiding sitting on the Mexican sage while I weeded, Briar finally decided to sit on them. 🙄

Briar the German shepherd dog stands with her head and back wedged under and draped by long arcs of Maximilian sunflower stalks and blooms. — Earlier, Briar helped us look over the now conveniently low Maximilian sunflowers. We can see all the insects easily!

2023-10-052023-10-05

10/05/2023 red list day

Today I walked outside for a break and saw a very boldly striped bee on the Maximilian sunflowers and thought to myself, “Self, that bee is different.” Turns out I was right! This beautiful lady is a Southern Plains Bumblebee! If I have counted and remembered correctly, this is our fifth bumblebee species for the yard.

This species is an IUCN red list endangered species. It is not federally listed so it has no legal protection in the United States, but it is declining and of great conservation concern. Briar was observing our exciting new friend with great attention.

2023-09-232023-09-23

09/22/2023 four point primrose

Several plants! Maybe they’ll actually reseed! They seem to be flowering during daylight morning now that it’s cooler (80s for highs, lows in 60s).

2023-07-212023-07-21

07/20/2023 summer continues

Green grasses have broad round seedheads forming. The grass are in front of a wooden fence dappled with sun and shade. — The sea oats that came up a few years ago from purchased seeds. They finally bloomed!

Three pink lily flowers blooming at the end of a long bare green stalk. The weathered wooden fence in the background is draped with a few five-leaved vines called Virginia Creeper. — There are three surprise amaryllis in the yard! They are all this shade of pink. Not native, but obviously tough, and not spreading so it can stay for now.

A brilliant scarlet red flower peels out from behind fuzzy green leaves. The flower petals are folded around a long red-pink flower part whose name I can’t remember. — The Texas mallows have begun to bloom! I love how bright they are in the shade.

A flower bud with a domed greenish center has tiny skinny yellow petals begin to emerge around it. — Rudbeckia lacinata from Abby is very happy this wet summer and has started to bloom.

Pale fingers with a wedding band hold a small sunflower blossom and three pointy green leaves still for the camera. The sunflower has clean yellow petals and a brownish center. There are various green leaves in the background. — Helianthus petiolaris from seeds are starting to bloom! There is a crab spider hiding behind one petal that you can just see their legs.

2023-07-162023-07-16

07/16/2023 pest control

Green basil leaves with dark greenish-black insect frass pellets resting on the leaves. The edges of the leaves are chewed in. — Paula saw insect droppings and holes in the basil.

A fuzzy brown and beige patterned jumping spider sits under a canopy of big green basil leaves. The spider is facing downward, holding a caterpillar twice as long as the spider. The caterpillar is covered in long white hairs. — Then she saw this jumping spider eating a caterpillar! A healthy yard ecosystem leaves room for some chewing on our food plants because the herbivores have natural predators.

2023-07-152023-07-15

07/15/2023 Helianthus recovery

A pale skinned hand with short nails and a white gold wedding ring gestures to the narrow green leaves of Helianthus petiolaris, a type of sunflower. The sunflower is not blooming. You can just barely see the chewed up leaves from a few weeks ago. — The chewed leaves are barely visible anymore.

Claire’s pale fingers gesture to new green leaves on a previously skeletonized Helianthus petiolaris plant. A wooden fence stands in the background. — The chewed leaves are barely visible anymore.

2023-07-112023-07-11

07/11/2023 build it and they will come

A hairstreak caterpillar on the Dalea purpurea from Abby. It just started blooming in the last few weeks.

2023-06-252023-06-25

06/21/2023 award winning acting

Paula took Briar out on Wednesday night and she found a possum.

The possum says “nobody home! Ignore my tight grip on the bird bath!!” it worked though. Briar wandered off.

After Briar wandered off to drink water and Paula got this lovely picture of the goofy young creature. They were gone by the time we humans checked again for the young friend. A great bit of possum theatre with Briar none the wiser!