May 2013
11 posts
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“A coyote pup was rescued by golf course employees after running into a cactus...”
– Coyote pup saved after running into cactus | ksl.com
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Why I Don't Feel Guilty About Getting Rid of the...
Me and my husband have an issue with our lawn attitudes. I want to get rid of the lawn. It is boring, and a water hog, and a weed generator. He loves me, so he humors me. But despite his allergies, he wants the lawn because it is cheaper than turning it into more garden, it is the status quo, and when he plays with the kids outside, they feel constricted by the lack of space. When the uncles come...
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April 2013
16 posts
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Mahonia Blossom Ice Cream
If a flower produces a fruit that is edible, you can eat it. Their delicate flavor can be difficult to capture in food, but steeping the blossoms towards making ice cream is one of the best ways to do it. The key is using highly fragrant ingredients; the stronger the odor, the stronger the flavor.
The smelliest thing I have flowering right now is Mahonia repens. Its blossom flavor is rich, almost...
“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early...”
– Robert Frost
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Botany in Your Yard, A Guest Post by Steve Hegji
Everyone is busy in their yard this spring, including Steve, who keeps things interesting on the blog with his photography from Utah’s wild and not so wild places. Here, he shares a post pointing out that things can be interesting in our backyards when we let the wilder things come in.
I mentioned last year that I’d moved into a new (to me) home on the sandy slopes in NE Lehi that...
The Gloves Are Coming Off
I’ve wanted to do something like this for a long time. Since I bought the house, really. One of the first things I did was to weed out a patch of Mahonia repens along a south wall to turn into a dry land bed mulched with gravel. (I learned quickly that it wasn’t wise to mulch an area with gravel underneath a tree canopy.) But even then, I was only sold on the blowzy, cottage garden...
March 2013
11 posts
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Why Read This? To Grow That
I was surprised to win Andrew Keys’s drawing for his new book Why Grow That When You Can Grow This? in early January. It even arrived at a propitious time, as I was heading up to the family winter cabin to break my hip. New reading material was a welcome distraction to ice packs and pain killers.
It proved to be even better than a mere diversion; Andrew’s book is a fun read. He...
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Cement Backyard by Lynne Sharon Schwartz :... →
February 2013
6 posts
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Big Spender!
Nursery clerk: Hey there! We haven't seen you for awhile!
Me: Well, it is winter.
Nusery clerk: You bought so much stuff last year! What did you do, win the gardening lottery?
Me: No, I just spend too much money on my garden.
Nursery clerk: Will you be spending a lot again this year?
Me: Uhhh....
Nursery clerk: Seriously, you're awesome.
Me: Thanks.
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January 2013
9 posts
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More Blogs You Should Be Reading
It is still snowing.
I shouldn’t be complaining about snow, and normally I wouldn’t, but I’ve been reading Bob Nold’s blog a lot recently and it’s catching. Maybe it also has to do that I’m a big snow-sports person and I’m bitter about this fractured hip that’s keeping me grounded. In any case, I was in such pain the day I got the fracture that I...
January is for Sowing Seeds
And here I thought January would be a sleepy, quiet month. Apparently, with a house remodel, quiet is fiction, as is cleanliness. In an attempt to escape from the madness of it, I fled to the cabin in Idaho, where, on the last moment of a snowmobile tour, I managed to tip my machine, get thrown off, and fracture my hip.
C’est la vie.
I’m just grateful this happened now instead of...
