Rick Valley

Most anything that requires sugar; me thinks. I've messed around with Yuzu, and it's timely. (never seen any numbers, but it sure tastes like it keeps the cold season at bay) I grew it some, a few gardens ago. It makes me want to put on my best Japanese accent. (Ahhhh! YUZU!!) I remember making a juice concentrate that kept in the fridge for months. A spoonful was good enough to banish any sore throat that was getting uppity. And I remember making a nice merang with it.

I like winter because I like fires when it's cold out. Living around the Great Lakes we always did things in the dark because the days were short, and sledding and tabogganing were fun at night. Add a fire and hot chocolate, hot dogs (good ones! not cheapos) And I was perusing the postings and realized that winter is a good time for biochar, and at least in the sub-tropical maritime NW in climate change times, It's not too hard to dig. SO: I'ma going to combine the traditional charcoal burn pit with my garden bed pattern, and use fruit-tree prunings for feedstock. When the burn is ready, quench and add fertility & some finished compost. All in the pattern of garden beds I've established. I expect to have a first report out before March.

Winter is time to head to the coast for foraging, and to go to the places the migratory birds visit (not far from here, towards Corvallis, is the first wildlife sanctuary in the world. I saw my 3rd. Trumpeter Swan (yes, confirmed, (and my first 2 were at the refuge in Harney Co. OR, nearly to NE Nevada.) It's when the Cackler Geese come to visit my neighborhood sanctuary: a small subspecies of Canada Geese,  that travel in large flocks. And it's SAUNA time! (I have friends 1 county North who have a winter Sunday Sauna & potluck, very nice. And it's hard to get my cat off my lap if I'm sitting still, like now, she's crashed out, opportunist that she is.

And those of you who are lost in the tropics can resort to another Diospyros (Persimmon genus: lit. "pear/fruit of the gods")
Sapote negro, "Sapote" being the general Nahuatl (Aztec) term for any fruit that ripens to pudding soft.... it's a dark chocolate color, quite good, and bigger than most persimmons I know. And: East Asia has DOZENS of persimmon varieties between Japan, Korea and China.... have fun!

Yeah, when I was a teen in the arctic climes of N. Wisconsin, and Boston, well,  we endulged in plenty of winter sports with antifreeze like rum and Scotch or  other firewater: set down in the taboggan, pass the bottle back thru the crew, take a pull, kick off and down the hill, march back up, repeat. Or drive the snowmobile out of town and catch some Aurora action, and you bet we had whiskey along. Or with my younger brother at the wheel of what had been my grandad's white Caddy with fins, driving our double dates on an icy two-lane in N. Wisconsin, big flakes falling and he throws the caddy into a skid in the pitch-dark, cuts the headlights and puts the emergency flashers on. Hey! crusty plow ridge on both sides with dwarf spruce trees to stop us if the plowridge fails. The highway straight for miles... Now I'm in the Subtropics of the Maritime NW, no longer a teenager and it's time for foraging barnacles and mussels on the rocks on a minus tide, or maybe Cross-Country or snow shoes to a hotsprings if there's a 4x4 with snowtires and chains available. Now, in the tropics of the Maritime Pacific Coast, it is definitely Hot Springs time, (snow and road considerations) (or fire up the sauna or hot tub in the low country) Geographical note: in Washington and Oregon the coast, coast range, and the valleys or basins that are west of the cascades has the bulk of the population...
Continuing eastward are the Cascade mountains and most of the volcanoes, with associated hot springs, mines, Hydro plants with their reservoirs and the last old growth trees. I do recall numerous Ice storms in Portland because the Columbia river cut thru the mountains as they rose, so the cold continental air turned rain into skating in the streets. I've not been to the Breitenbush Hot springs resort since a fire years ago, but for decades before, if the road in was plowed, you could rent a cabin, eat hot meals in the lodge, cross country ski like mad, and maybe see the aurora from a hot tub w/o city lights. That's first class fun in the winter, an hour or two from home.

Well- after growing up in NY- (the "southern tier" and Irondequoit (walking distance from Lake Ontario) and Toledo Ohio, then Northern Wisconsin, (and owning Ice Skates and a Ski Doo -my first gas-guzzler), and then westicating to Washington and Oregon- Well, chasing fish under the ice is cool, skating on the roads during an ice storm, a grove of Birches with the Northern Lights overhead, to an ice storm in Oregon with everything sparkling... to having mild weather to prune the fruit trees (haven't had leaf drop on the fig trees yet)  I do like being able to work outside w/o dehydrating too fast to carry enough water is appreciated! That's top of my list...

I had my first abundant crop on an American persimmon, and checking to see how well the ripening was progressing, noticed lots were being pecked away by birds., So I picked as many as were near eating ripe, and took them into the house, and the next day the remains were on the floor. The culprit? Lily Graycat, my blue tortie. I've heard Foxes eat persimmons, and she's a foxy cat, so maybe that's it?

Por favor- I am not at all adept with the systems, and it's NOT an open book to me, Despite having been trying to keep up with digital tech since about day one (dig that I smoked a fat one with Steve Jobs, and he showed me his new computer that was not as big as my kitchen, unlike the one I had tried to learn) Before that, the first computer I tried to learn would have filled my current living room, and I had a briefcase for the punch cards...
So unless there's someone who has the time and patience to work with somebody who cannot touch-type, it's best not to try, eh wot?

I really like linden leaves! But they're best in the spring. I'll gladly snarf a bunch of them, or add them (chiffonade cut) to an omelette, or blend the YOUNG leaves in a green drink with mint, lemon balm and linden flowers.  Y'know, you don't eat bolted lettuce, do ye? Everything has a season. (mine is Habanero