hellaD's Blog

Deer in the Garden
Jul 26, 2007 | 9:28 PM PST

Well the deer or maybe it is the groundhog have been in the garden again.  This time they decided to eat some of the tomato bushes.  Luckily I have such a lot it didn't really matter, but it is sad to see them eaten when they have spent so much energy growing to that point.  I think the deer like the flowers.  They left everything else alone.  I have been trying to get the milkweed that stands guard to tell the animals to stay out, they have plenty to eat elsewhere.

 So I had to resort to some stinky spray.  Luckily I had some fermenting.  I had made a spray of tomato leaves and chili oil earlier and forgotten about it.  Boy was it stinky, the smell wouldn't come off my hand for hours, uggg.  Hopefully it will do the trick.  I haven't been able to afford to fence the garden in the whole way round and from what I have heard, when deer want in nothing will stop them, so I am trying to work out some other arrangement with them.

Also I saw that my first spaghetti squash was growing.  That vine sprang up out of the compost heap along with some passionfruit vines which came from some fruits from New Zealand.  I hope they can grow big enough before the winter somehow!

HellaD 

 

 

 

Garden’s Closure Leaves Nowhere to Go for Three Gorges’ Plants
Jul 19, 2007 | 3:19 PM PST
Tag: china rare extinct

I just read this informative article about the plants that were rescued from drowning. It seems that the area that was flooded in the creation of these dams in China was an area that had an amazingly diverse amount of plants unique to this area. Please have a look at the article if you are interested....

www.world
watch.org/node/5195

Yarrow
Jul 18, 2007 | 2:58 PM PST
I have just had a great opportunity to collect and dry out enough yarrow to be able to make my own I Ching divination yarrow sticks.  I tried it out last night and I have to say that I do like the way it works.  You need fifty yarrow sticks and have to count through them several times to come up with the current moment's hexagram.  All the counting puts you in a meditative mindset.  I could also still smell the scent of the yarrow as I was counting.  I have also just made a yarrow-blossom ginger beer as well and will be able to uncork the first bottle this weekend with friends.

Delightful!
Jul 2, 2007 | 11:50 AM PST

I am so thrilled this summer as I finally have an opportunity to have my own garden. Potatoes are practically jumping out of the ground and tomatoes are coming out. I also have gotten some great photos of a wide range of wild herbs and flowers and will be posting them as soon as I get a chance.

Mullein is one of my favorites. It is so majestic.

Please excuse the photos I have posted at the moment. We were in Bagan, a most georgeous historical site in Burma and I was told all kinds of interesting information about plants growing there so I have put some of those photos up, since I didn't have any of my other ones on hand.

One of the beautiful trees I heard about that is very useful in medicine for the Burmese is the one on the cover of my images folder.  I was told it is called Tamar.  This is the Burmese name for it.  It seems to be in the same family as tamarind or the jacaranda tree.  Does anyone know the name of it in English and any info about it's medicinal properties? 

If you are interested in more info about Burma and the plants they use in their cuisine please go to my website www.helladelicious.com.

Hella D