Fred's photos from Wheaton Labs

Fred Tyler wrote:The third photo is some kimchi that i made using daikon and garlic from basecamp. Yum, spicy ferments!

Fred,
Could you share your recipe? I'm always looking for more ways to make kimchi.
One time I made it with ingredients that included apple and peeled orange, along with the usual suspects.

Thanks Fred for all the photos. More photos from the lab, please! More and more! Of the recent ones, I love the squash plant, the cat faced spider, and the berm. The pictures of stuff people have made, like your kimchi yesterday are super cool. Of course, my favorites are ones with people in.

Thanks again. I love it!

Thanks Kerry!

Cam, i just used the recipe from Sandor Katz's Wild Fermentation. It is a great book that tells you how to ferment lots of different things.

First is a photo of a flower i found growing by the back gate at basecamp. Not sure how it got there. Looks like it might be Wild Petunia (Petunia integrifolia). The flowers are so vibrant!

The second is another daikon radish (Raphanus sativus) ready to harvest. I might have to try making pickled daikon. Veggie sushi, here we come. If only i could find an avocado tree around here.

The last photo is the flower from garlic chives (Allium tuberosum). I brought several clumps of these with me from Minnesota. I thought they mostly didn't make it. But, now i'm seeing their blooms around the berms at basecamp. These are a very hardy perennial allium. They will divide and the clumps will grow, but they will also spread easily by seed. I hope we get some seeds off these to spread them around the Lab. They are one of first green things in the spring and they are deliciously edible. I would often grab some and throw it into a sandwich or salad. In Minnesota, they always seemed to have lush growth no matter how much we harvested, or how little it rained.

I finally remembered to bring down the Scat and Tracks of the Rocky Mountains to compare it to some tracks i had seen earlier. It's a good book but the tracks are so variable i'm still not sure on the ID's for these tracks. Any ideas?

That first one bears a lot of resemblance to a bear track (get it?). What is the dimension on those? Probably a 1 or 2 year old juvenile black bear.

The middle one appears to be a bird (magpie/raven/heron) and a raccoon.

The bottom one looks to be a fox or coyote track.

Bill, that first track was only an inch or two, so maybe something like a skunk or something weasel-y? I think the second one was too small for a raccoon and more like the size of a chipmunk or squirrel. The third one i added the tape measure because i thought it might help differentiate between a fox and coyote. Thanks for the input!

Today's photos are all of some ladybugs (in different stages) that were on some lamb's quarters. As a larva, a ladybug can consume as many as 700 aphids. As an adult, they can eat 5000 aphids. There weren't too many aphids on the lamb's quarters (and quite a few ladybugs), so they must have had quite a meal.

Great photos!

First is an owl that i saw hanging out just outside Allerton Abbey. Evan tried to move in closer for a better picture and it took off. My good camera was down in basecamp, so all i have is this pretty blurry photo. Maybe it will be back, as there are plenty of small rodents in the area.

The second photo is of a Short-tailed Weasel (Mustela erminea), also know as a stoat. I found it near one of the berms at basecamp. Not sure what got it. I'm guessing it moved into the area because of the abundance of chipmunks and rabbits, both of which are prey for this mid-sized weasel. In the winter its coat will change to white (except the dark tip of the tail). It will hunt under the snow and specializes in hunting voles. It will nest in rock piles, brush piles, rotting stumps, and in the burrows of rodents it has killed. It will line its nest cavity with fur from prey.

The third photo is a little broccoli that is growing on the berms at basecamp.

I hope somebody eats that!

Fred, looks like you found the maker of those little footprints. I had a long post all built up to answer you the other day when you pointed out the size of them. It basically pointed to critters like the stoat or a skunk.
I also went, "Doh!" at the squirrel tracks.