Windy, with Marigolds and Yucca
I planted some marigolds inside today; the wind was crazy and it was really too strong to do much in the garden. I put my seedlings outside for a few hours. I kept an eye on them to make sure that the wind and sun weren't doing any damage. Still, when I brought them in I noticed that the stems of several tomato seedlings had snapped.
I made more homemade English muffins and blue cheese salad dressing. The dressing is super yummy and very easy. It's just 1 cup of low fat buttermilk, 1/2 cup of tofu, 5 ounces of crumbled blue cheese, all whirled in a blender. The recipe calls for the addition of some lemon juice and salt and pepper, but I'm liking it just fine without them added.
I watered in the garden. Again, I'm just amazed at how quickly things dry out here in the high desert. I saw some signs that my red leaf lettuce was germinating, but there's still no signs of the green lettuce, even though I planted it before the red. This was my experience planting things here in the last half of last summer, when we first moved here: many things just did not germinate at all. I chalked it up to the lateness of the growing year and the high temperatures. Now I'm not so sure that's the explanation.
My mom wanted to work in her part of the garden today in honor of Earth Day but the wind was too strong for her as well. She did sit out in a chair for awhile and look at the rows. Her part of the garden has never been used before and it's really obvious that it's lacking in organic matter--it's just desert dust--crumbled rock. She was depressed about the prospects of getting anything to grow there, especially when she remembered the huge, lush gardens she used to have in New Hampshire and the rich loam there. I mentioned (for the first time) that I had been thinking of relocating because of the difficulty in gardening in the high desert and the likelihood of water scarcity moving into the future. That brightened her up a bit.
I'm longing for moss and ferns, and trees and the variety of insects and plants that appear in the spring in wetter parts of the county. But it's just so beautiful here and the opportunities for photography for M. are fantastic.
I took quite a few pictures of the Yucca plant by the pump today. I'm fascinated by the various shapes that the spines take. I know that there are many varieties of Yucca and I haven't yet looked into the differences. I did learn that the Yucca flower is the state flower of New Mexico. The Pueblo Indians used the plant for food; the fruits can be eaten green or stored, and then baked; supposedly they taste like potatoes. Immature flower stalks were also eaten. According to DesertUSA,
The tips of the leaves were chewed to make paintbrushes. And the roots were used to make shampoo:
You can find more details about this plant and its many uses from the Texas Beyond History site: (http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/st-plains/nature/images/yucca.html).
I made more homemade English muffins and blue cheese salad dressing. The dressing is super yummy and very easy. It's just 1 cup of low fat buttermilk, 1/2 cup of tofu, 5 ounces of crumbled blue cheese, all whirled in a blender. The recipe calls for the addition of some lemon juice and salt and pepper, but I'm liking it just fine without them added.
I watered in the garden. Again, I'm just amazed at how quickly things dry out here in the high desert. I saw some signs that my red leaf lettuce was germinating, but there's still no signs of the green lettuce, even though I planted it before the red. This was my experience planting things here in the last half of last summer, when we first moved here: many things just did not germinate at all. I chalked it up to the lateness of the growing year and the high temperatures. Now I'm not so sure that's the explanation.
My mom wanted to work in her part of the garden today in honor of Earth Day but the wind was too strong for her as well. She did sit out in a chair for awhile and look at the rows. Her part of the garden has never been used before and it's really obvious that it's lacking in organic matter--it's just desert dust--crumbled rock. She was depressed about the prospects of getting anything to grow there, especially when she remembered the huge, lush gardens she used to have in New Hampshire and the rich loam there. I mentioned (for the first time) that I had been thinking of relocating because of the difficulty in gardening in the high desert and the likelihood of water scarcity moving into the future. That brightened her up a bit.
I'm longing for moss and ferns, and trees and the variety of insects and plants that appear in the spring in wetter parts of the county. But it's just so beautiful here and the opportunities for photography for M. are fantastic.
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| View from the garden, looking east. |
[Yucca] leaves were soaked in water, then pounded with stones to separate the long fibers. Sometimes human or animal hair or even bird plumage was added to the strands, which were twisted into string or ropes. These were used for belts, rope ladders, sandal toe straps, cradle board ties, fishnets and sandals. The fibers were also used for mats and clothing and were incorporated into baskets (DesertUSA, http://www.desertusa.com/mag00/jun/papr/agave.html).
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| Yucca |
The dry roots were pounded by the Indians then whisked into cold water to create suds. The saponin-rich roots create a soaplike lather which can be used in cleaning. The suds were used to wash the hair in both personal and spiritual cleansing. The white frothy suds reminded Native Americans of the large summer thunderstorms which cleansed the landscape with their rain showers, thus, datil yucca suds represented a spiritual cleansing of the person (Desert USA, http://www.desertusa.com/mag00/jun/papr/agave.html).Dried Yucca leaves also have a very low ignition temperature and are therefore useful for fire-starting.
You can find more details about this plant and its many uses from the Texas Beyond History site: (http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/st-plains/nature/images/yucca.html).
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