“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.”
-Henry David Thoreau (American 1817-1862)
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#bee #backyardbeekeeping #sunflower (at At Home in Napa)
Planet Earth 🌏 weighs in, inquiring of us “Wouldn’t this be a good moment to have a frank, factual conversation about climate change and your preparedness for the inevitable changes ahead?”
#sciencetrumpspolitics #noturningback #runmuellerrun (at Oakland, California)
Tian of green and yellow summer squash, various shapes and sizes of garden tomatoes, leaves of Genovese basil the size of a baby’s hand, and quenelles of cow’s milk ricotta sprinkled with spicy Purple Stripe garlic and oregano flowers wrestled from the bees.
#garden #bounty #vegetables (at At Home in Napa)
September colors.
#california #westmarin #autumn (at Tomales, California)
Holy.
#flower #dailyblooms #surroundyourselfwithbeauty (at The National Heirloom Exposition)
Disappointment on a hot sidewalk.
#shadesofclaesoldenburg #notminethankgod (at Napa, California)
Gawd, our world could use a lot more if it…
wtf is happening??
Has it all so truly and deeply devolved?
Or does it only appear that way as we’re now constantly surrounded by the noise?
Perhaps I’ve just gotten older, and more sensitive to the direness of it all.
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Recommendations for a life fully realized carved into a squash at the #nationalheirloomexpo.
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#peaceintheworld #bringbackthehippies #peaceinmygarden (at Sonoma County Event Center at the Fairgrounds)
Lending meaning and authenticity to the life of the squash.
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#nationalheirloomexpo #seeds #existentialism (at Sonoma County Event Center at the Fairgrounds)
#towerofsquash (at Sonoma County Event Center at the Fairgrounds)
Tables laid with thousands of varieties of squash and tomatoes from around the world provide fascinating lessons on seeds and breeding.
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#nationalheirloomexpo #seeds
(at Sonoma County Event Center at the Fairgrounds)
The moments before a sunflower 🌻 pops are just as momentous.
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#garden #sunflower #backyardbeekeeping (at At Home in Napa)
…slathered with Beurre de Baratte and crunchy sea salt…
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#summerfood #aurevoirete #knowfromwhereithails (at At Home in Napa)
Pomegranate flower.
#garden #fruittrees #natureisbeautiful (at At Home in Napa)
Colors and textures of late summer.
#garden #tomato #summerfood (at At Home in Napa)
#peace (at Napa, California)
Too hot to cook,
never too hot to eat:
left-over black rice long simmered
in broth made from wild mushrooms dried by a north coast hippie,
then tossed with eggs, fennel flower and caramelized red onion and formed into cakes
like kids’ mud pies.
Coated with seasoned crumb and panfried in cast iron with garlic slivers until just crisp, and served with a succotash of corn, onion and blackened chili pepper.
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#summersupper #leftovers (at At Home in Napa)
A cinnamon bear had gotten into the hive kept high on Pritchard Hill, strewing the frames dozens of feet away. It wasn’t the honey he was after, as commonly thought, but rather the sweet baby bees resting inside the comb.
The frames were put back into the hive weeks ago, and when we visited today, we expected to find only remnants of a departed colony.
When we lifted the lid of the hive, we both exhaled a sigh of relief, followed by a loud whoop shouted into the hot midday air, smoky from late summer wildfires.
It wasn’t a large group of bees, but the queen was present and accounted for, and performing her royal duties, as evidenced by the new comb containing her eggs. And there were plenty of busy workers foraging for food, but by God, it was so parched on the mountain, most of the flowering plants had long past. We left the little colony with a container of honey on which to feed and hopefully flourish.
Fingers crossed.
Tightly.
Honestly, these amazing creatures make me cry.
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#miraclesofnature #evolution #beekeeping #bee @napavalleybeeco (at Saint Helena, California)
The miasma of despair
plaguing our world
is suspended
momentarily
in the silence and joy
of nature.
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#california #nature #peaceofmind (at Point Reyes National Seashore)
One-hundred pounds of dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes 🍅 cooked over wood, milled and jarred.
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#nutsforwinter #sauce #manyhandsmakelightwork (at Napa, California)
Chicories are my jam.
#garden #vegetables #bitterisbetter (at At Home in Napa)