Scouting and Gardening

Anselm Samuel (aka the little boy) turned 17 two days ago.  Its hard to believe that that same little boy who used to race snails after the rain now towers over me, is a high school graduate (two years early) works full time,  and goes to college part time, has his drivers license, and is progressing through his welding certificate requirements.

After the divorce he lost interest in scouting for a couple of years. I guess it was hard with me not having a place to live near him.  I don't know.  And when he got back involved he didn't want to do the stuff required for advancement, he just wanted to go to troop meetings and go on all the camping trips.  But last spring her really jumped back into it with both feet.  All last summer he worked as a life guard at Camp Hi-Sierra, became a patrol leader in his troop,  and decided to go for Eagle Scout rank. He was awarded Star Scout rank a couple of days before his birthday and has to advance two more ranks before he turns 18, which is the cut-off age for earning Eagle.  So, he went by the Scout store yesterday and bought all the books, got his Scout Master to sign off on the forms, has contacted the merit badge counselors and has begun work on the remaining merit badges.  Its going to be a lot of work, and he has no time to goof off.  I hope he can do it.

The garden is doing well.  We lost two tomato plants; the Cherokee Purple and a Big Boy.  Kathleen really likes the little yellow tomatoes so I replaced the dead plants with Yellow Pear and Sungold.  Altogether we have 11 tomato plants.  It looks like the summer squash has decided to come up.  4 of the five seeds I planted have sprouted.  None of the sunflowers have come up.  The parsnips, onions, and carrots are doing okay, I guess.  It's hard to tell since they grow underground.   In other news, a red-tailed hawk has begun perching on top of the oak tree behind the garden.  I heard his (her?) cry when I was planting tomatoes.  WOW!  it is loud!  Other than that one cry the only evidence of it's presence is an absence of squirrels and, every few days, a scattering of pigeon feathers in the garden.

Banana Bread

I slept in until 10 o'clock this morning.  When I awoke Kathleen was gone.  So I started in on a couple of baking projects.  The first was a berry pie.  I used strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. And I put a top crust on it.  This bight sound silly, but I think that the crust is the best part of most pies.  When the pie was in the oven I set to work making banana bread.  It was the first time I had made banana bread since I helped my Mother make it when I was just 15 or 16 years old.

My recipe (adapted from someone else's)

2 cups of flour (I could find my measuring cup so I used a pint jar)
1/4 pound butter (softened)

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas
2 AA large eggs
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 tsp salt

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 F.   butter a 5" X 9"  baking pan.  Cream the brown sugar and butter together.  Add the eggs and mix them into the butter and brown sugar.  Next stir in the mashed bananas.   in another bowl mix the salt, flour, and baking soda.  Pour the banana mixture into the flour mixture.  Stir it thoroughly, until you can not see any white flour.  Pour in the chopped walnuts and stir until evenly distributed.  Pour the batter into the baking pan, put it in the oven for 65 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool before slicing it.

Kathleen came home just as I was putting the bread in the oven.  So we had just enough time to run to the nursery.  We bought a bunch of plants.  Tomato varieties include Big Boy, Cherokee Purple, Early Girl, Sungold Cherry, and Husky Cherry Red.  We also got some cucumber and rosemaries.

We got home just as the bread was coming out of the oven.  Kathleen's niece is staying with us right now so she was keeping an eye on it while we were at the nursery.  I turned the banana bread out to cool and then went out to the garden. 

We harvested all the garlic, planted all the tomatoes, cucumbers,

Holding up some garlic

 and rosemaries ( I use a lot of rosemary in the kitchen so we really needed more than the one plant we already had.)  we bought today. Kathleen also transplanted the onions I started indoors a few weeks ago. 

I am a bit worried about the squash seeds I planted in the ground last week.  I don't yet see any sprouts.  I think I might need mix in some better soil and reseed.  The parsnips are looking really good.

Some of the tomato plants

I wasn't feeling well in my stomach so, though I cooked dinner for Kathleen, her niece, and her kids, I didn't eat.  After dinner some neighbor kids came over to play games.  They ate the berry pie.  I had a little slice, too.  It was good.  The banana bread is still resting on the counter top.  Kathleen said something about taking it to her dad's house tomorrow.

The Redwoods

Today Basil and Kathleen and I drove over the hill to Felton and Henry Cowell State Park. (I have been  there many times with my boys over the years). 

Deer on Meadow Trai

Matt and Basil 

There were lots of deer. I thought we wouldn't see any because Oliver the pit bull was with us but there they were.  Lots and lots of them.  We went on two different trails, we only saw the deer on the Meadow Trail.  The Redwood Grove Trail has too many people and not as much grass.

Kathleen at the Opening

On the Redwood Grove Trail we passed the Fremont Tree.  There is a plaque.  Kathleen crawled inside it, to where he slept. that night. In addition to being a famous California explorer,  John Fremont bears the distinction of being the first U.S. army general to free slaves during the Civil War.

A strange thing we saw on the Redwood Grove Trail is that the park administration changed the bronze labels on the big giant slice of redwood tree at the trailhead.   It has some new labels (the founding of an Aztec city) but is missing a lot of others, such as the tree sprouting during the reign of Emperor Justinian,  which I mentioned seeing in 2008.  It is very strange.

After the two trails we went to our favorite grocery store.  It merged with a larger grocery store chain a few years ago but the owners didn't like the direction of the new larger market.  They were were bringing in a lot more factory made food and losing the connection to local farmers.  So the owners of the original New Leaf Market stores in Felton and Boulder Creek pulled out of the company.  Sadly, they had lost the right to use the name.  Now they are called Wild Roots Market.  It's as good as ever.  I got some fennel, carrots, and cheese to take home and prepare for lunch.

After saying midday prayers, Basil helped me cook lunch.  Then we worked in the garden.  While I turned the compost piles he planted carrot tops in a big wash tub full of soil.  Sadly, the sunflowers I transplanted last week did not survive.