slow train & sandy watermelon

While in Oklahom we also took the Quartz Mountain Flyer. It is a local train that goes from the entrance to Quartz Mountain Park into the small town of Lone Wolf, Oklahoma. It was really quite fun. The train goes incredibly slow because the distance is so short, it almost rocked the adults to sleep! It goes around Lake Altus-Lugert which is special for my family b/c my maternal grandmother grew up in the town of Lugert, the ruins of which are at the bottom of the lake. Also, we have had countless family reunions there and spent many hours hiking, fishing, swimming and just generally having fun there. When we got to Lone Wolf there was fresh watermelon at the "depot." The depot was actually a little out building that they sell train related souvenirs out of. But best of all was the watermelon. Anyone who knows, knows that sand grows the best watermelon. And the best watermelon is so juicy you have to eat it leaning forward and it is as sweet as honey. It was delicious and I wish the town of Lone Wolf much success in this endeavor. I hope it continues for many years.

The narrarator on the train was fantastic! She told us a lot of interesting stories about the area. Some we knew but something we didn't was the versatility of mesquite trees. We always thought they were just a nuisance, thorny, compete with grasses for water, etc. In fact my Dad used to just shake his head that mesquite trees are purposefully planted here in AZ. But she talked about the pods and how they can be dried, pulverized and used as flour. Or the beans in the pods can be cooked to make a sweet syrup. I just thought this was fantastic to know. It's too late this year but next spring I will trek back to Oklahoma and harvest some mesquite pods. Oh, yeah, I planted two mesquite trees in my yard. I'll just use those! Anyway, I have a newfound respect for those mesquite trees.

How locavore are we?

We're back from Oklahoma and boy did we have fun! When we first arrived my Dad had expressed that he wanted to take P&P and their three cousins fishing. My negative side thought this would be an exercise in futility and that getting ready to go would take three times as long as the actual fishing. In the end, it didn't matter because they had so much fun. I think my girls are conflicted girly-girls like their mom. The love shoes and makeup but Pumpkin especially really loved holding the worms. We caught these fish Wednesday morning. Pop filleted them that afternoon, Nanna fried them and we ate them. That's being really close to your food.

I have to say though, that it wasn't a fair fight. This little farm pond was quite low and the fish were practically jumping on the shore. We caught 11 fish in about a 20 minute time frame. Now, I love catfish but these were a little "muddy" tasting, even for me. It did bring back soooo many memories of fish fries when I was a kid. A mess of catfish, some cornbread, beans and gallons of sweet tea. Does it get any better than that?

Fall garden

I got Pumpkin & Peanut's fall garden planted yesterday. They were too busy helping their Dad trim trees so I did most of the work myself. Plus it was crazy hot even at 0900 so I can't really say I blame them for staying in the shade. I amended the soil heavily with compost and planted pumpkins, small sugar and luminaries (white). I also planted corn since it is practically their favorite food. We will probably add some Marigolds and Nasturtiums soon to round out our Fall Garden. I didn't include a picture because, well it just looks like dirt right now. I did have to dig up their potatoes which was just painful to do but they don't grow well with pumpkins. I felt a little guilty since this is their garden (not mine). The potatoes grew out of a rotted potato they planted with their Gan-gan. We will definitely try potatoes again but probably sweet potatoes (more nutritious).

I did want to include a pic of P&P making strawberry jam. Unfortunately we only got five strawberries this year so these are some organic strawberries. I think we probably need to replant with an early variety. They had so much fun.

Feral lovebirds of AZ

Last Sunday morning I looked out the window and saw a tiny parrot feasting on our Sunflowers. I thought someone's pets must've escaped. To the Internet I went and discovered that there is a large population of feral lovebirds in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Apparently they have adapted quite well here as it is similar to the arid area of Africa they come from.

Well, we have been enjoying them all week and I was finally able to snap some pictures of them to share.

One always expects the added benefit of supporting the local bird population when raising sunflowers. Exotic birds was NOT something I expected but have greatly enjoyed.

Welcome to the jungle!

I made it home and took an early enough flight that I got to see my garden before it got too dark. Thanks, Dad & Viking Daddy for not just keeping it alive but for keeping it thriving!

We are still waiting to harvest our first cantaloupe but it won't be long. We've gotten our second cucumber and boy, are they delicious. So tender you don't have to do a thing to them but slice 'em up.

The bushy end there is cantaloupe, zucchini, squash and cukes. I guess my novice side is showing. Why else would I plant so many vines so close together?

As you can see we have the shade up now too. This is a great way to extend the growing season in AZ when otherwise everything would burn to a crisp! We are slowly harvesting our carrots and waiting for our watermelon to come up.