Penelopedia: Nature and Garden in Northfield, MN

Noontime Walk Over the Bike Bridge

2009-11-05T19:31:00.008-06:00

At lunchtime today my friend Mary and I followed the bike path along the east bank of the Cannon River behind the co-op, through Riverside Park, under the highway, over the new pedestrian/bike bridge, and down the path toward Sechler Park, behind the Malt-O-Meal plant. It was the first time I'd crossed the new bridge and so the first time I'd ever had the chance to stand and look at this particular view of the Cannon, facing southwest away from town. The bridge is named in honor of Peggy Prowe, former Northfield city council member, who has worked so hard to advance the Mill Towns Trail.

As we stood there, several geese flew from behind us and came in for a landing near this group of geese in the distance (barely visible in the top photo). Here you can see the white stripe across their rears which we don't that often get the chance to observe. (Click on the photo for a larger view.)

Here is a milkweed pod, seen alongside the path through the woods, burst open to show its silky white seed threads -- quite a contrast to the prickly-looking pods. (This photo is really cool when you click on it to see the large version. Go ahead, check it out.)

It was in the lower 50s but a beautifully sunny day. After our disappointing October weather, it seemed a perfectly good day to be outside for a while before heading back to the office for the rest of the afternoon. When I came out again, at about 5:45, it was nearly dark.

Halloween Moon

2009-11-01T09:05:00.003-06:00

There was a perfect Halloween moon last night. When I started to try to take this photo while accompanying some youthful trick-or-treaters, the moon was still completely behind the cloud, creating a spooky but beautiful illumination as you can still partially see in this shot. The clouds must have been moving quickly, though at ground level the wind had died down considerably. A few moments later, the full or nearly full moon was shining in clear sky. With just a point-and-shoot and no tripod, this photo had no hope of being well focused, but still it captures the mood, I think.

Lost October

2009-10-31T07:15:00.003-05:00

Usually October is one of my favorite months of the year. After a hot, humid, buggy summer the relief of fall's arrival is tremendous, and it's a wonderful time to get outside: finally cool enough for vigorous hikes, made more pleasurable by clear blue skies and brilliant foliage. Fall bird migration provides more reasons to head out.

But this year we've had one of the rainiest, coldest, snowiest Octobers on record. We seemed to pass from our lovely warm September directly into raw November/December, and it seems we've had only a small handful of sunny days all month. Yesterday, Thursday's heavy rains started to move out of the area pushed by gusty, turbulent winds that left me gasping as I arrived at work. Our office lobby opens directly to the street, and I blew through the door like Mary Poppins, accompanied by a swirl of leaves and my hair on end. (Of course, despite the winds that blew her in, prim Mary actually arrived sedately, with not a hair out of place.)

So we didn't go birdwatching this October. We didn't go for leisurely strolls in the Carleton Arboretum or hike to the hilltops in the Cannon River Wilderness Area or drive down to Red Wing or Lake City. We didn't install the net for the badminton set my son got for his early-October birthday. Most of the photos I took this month were taken through windows.

If we don't get some pleasant weather in November, this is going to end up seeming like one of the longest indoor seasons ever.

Golden Carpet

2009-10-30T07:22:00.001-05:00

The yellow-in-autumn maple tree in front of our house finally started dropping its leaves a couple of days ago. Usually, I believe, it has finished its fall changes before the oak on the side of the house changes color, but this past week the oak was transitioning through a pink-tan phase on its way to rust brown at the same time the maple was in full golden glory.

Feeder Birds, Late October

2009-10-27T07:11:00.003-05:00

A pair of cardinals were trying to get at the seed on the floor of the caged feeder a few days ago. Cardinals want their seed served on a flat surface, not from a hanging feeder. We're going to look into some kind of platform feeder, perhaps placed right outside the living room window. Above is the male, resting on top of the caged feeder.

Above is a goldfinch in winter plumage - not gold at all, as you can see:

Adult males in spring and early summer are bright yellow with black forehead, black wings with white markings, and white patches both above and beneath the tail. Adult females are duller yellow beneath, olive above. Winter birds are drab, unstreaked brown, with blackish wings and two pale wingbars.
-All About Birds - Cornell Lab of Ornithology

It took a while for the goldfinches to find our thistle-seed feeder after we put it up in late summer, but they are regular visitors now. Our other regulars include plenty of chickadees and some house finches.

Swarms of Box Elder Bugs

2009-10-21T20:50:00.003-05:00

Last year I showed you even thicker swarms of box elder bugs, but this year I have close-ups! And video! Note that last year's photos were taken in the first week of October. Having had several unseasonably early weeks of cool or cold, wet, overcast days, last weekend was the first real opportunity this fall for these guys to seek out warm, sunny, south-facing, light-colored walls. It seems they swarm on sunny days after the first cold weather of the season, looking for a place to overwinter. I don't know where they all end up -- a few end up inside the house, but not many.

Squirrel on a Pedestal

2009-10-16T22:48:00.003-05:00

Saw this squirrel in perfect profile through the blinds of my bathroom window this morning and had to run and get the camera. I love how the tail follows the curve of the squirrel's body as it sits atop the fence nibbling something... perhaps an acorn.

Blog Action Day: Climate Change

2009-10-15T16:12:00.006-05:00

For Blog Action Day -- thousands of bloggers around the world writing about a single topic, climate change, on a single day.

I believe in science. Not because "scientists are right" but because science is self-correcting over time. And because the whole point of science lies in approaching issues based on available evidence and with an openness to being proven wrong by additional evidence.

Scientists know that weather fluctuates, that true climate change is generally measured in geological time, not human-scale time, and that 140 years of weather records do not constitute geological evidence.

When scientists know those things but find convincing evidence to come to a strong consensus that human activity is affecting climate now, and rapidly, I think we should listen.

When they make a reasoned case that catastrophic atmospheric tipping points are fast approaching, I think we should listen.

When I was studying negligence in law school, we learned about the standard of reasonable care. In one influential approach to determining whether conduct constitutes the reasonable care required of us to avoid being considered legally negligent, factors to be considered include:

the foreseeable likelihood that harm will result
the foreseeable severity of the harm that may ensue
the cost of taking precautions that eliminate or reduce the possibility of harm.

This analysis suggests that when the foreseeable harm is very great, it is more reasonable to expect people to take steps to avoid that harm, even if the probability that the harm will actually occur is not terribly high.

Thus, for example, it is not reasonable to dangle your baby over a balcony even though you are strong and coordinated and you think it is very unlikely you will drop the child, because in the unlikely event that you do drop the child, the harm will be catastrophic. Similarly, people are required to carry liability insurance to protect people they may injure in a car crash, even though it's not all that likely they will cause a crash, and even though they would rather not pay the insurance premiums, because if they do have a crash the injuries that may occur are likely to be serious. The cost of insurance is a reasonable one in light of the risk of uncompensated injuries. Even more important, we need to drive carefully.

Bringing this back to climate change, if the risk to current and future life, health, communities, ecosystems and whole ways of life is potentially severe, we need to act. Better we do what we can to prevent catastrophic changes to our environment and perhaps discover it was unnecessary, than not act and run the risk of discovering that it was necessary -- and that it is now too late.

In climate terms, the weight of scientific opinion is that the harm we risk by not changing our behavior is potentially severe, and that the probability of harm is high. So we need to "drive" carefully. We need to have "insurance." We need to pull that "baby" back in and not let him or her dangle. We need to take reasonable care. Because a planet is a terrible thing to waste.

So, how rare IS measurable snow this early?

2009-10-13T06:43:00.008-05:00

Snow on Burning Bush (Euonymus alata), October 12, 2009
Click on the photo to step into the scene - you'll feel like Lucy in the snowy forest in Narnia before she meets the faun. The evergreens in the background have fully-leafed cottonwood trees behind them.

When we got a coating of snow on Saturday morning (Oct. 10) and even more snowfall yesterday (Oct. 12), my impression was that it was very rare to have snowfall that early. Flurries once in a while, maybe, but even that would be uncommon.

It was certainly an odd sight yesterday to see snow all over trees and shrubs that were still in full leaf, like my Burning Bush (above) -- and in many cases still green.

Even by the end of the month snow is not common. Our Halloweens here in southern Minnesota are mixed: usually a coat or a warm layer under the Halloween costume is appreciated, but sometimes it's not necessary and rarely is it colder than the 40s. My younger daughter was born on October 23 and I remember we were having something of a heat wave -- the Asian beetles were living it up on my living room ceiling (I remember it well because I spent several nights in the recliner looking ceilingward, coping with early labor pains) and I wore shorts to the park the day before she was born. Of course, we did also have the notorious Halloween blizzard (see link in the quoted section below) the year before that.

I found a nice history of October snowfall in a weather blog that meteorologist Paul Douglas now writes for the St. Cloud Times:

How rare is measurable snow this early in the season? In recent years it has been uncommon to see measurable snow in October in the Twin Cities. The last time there was measurable snow in October in the Twin Cities was .2 (two tenths) of an inch on October 20 and .4 (four tenths) of an inch on October 21, 2002. The most snow for the month of October is (of course) the 1991 Halloween Blizzard with 8.2 inches, which all fell on October 31.
What is more unusual is having measurable snow fall in the first half of the month. This has happened only eight times in the last 60 years, with the most snow being 2.5 inches on October 10, 1977....
The earliest measurable snow on record for the Twin Cities is .4 inches on September 24, 1985 which fell during the afternoon and surprised many people.

Douglas includes a chart showing the eight dates mentioned, only one of which occurred since I've lived in Minnesota (nearly 20 years now). Oddly, that year was 1992, the very same year we were having the late-October heat wave I mentioned above. I don't remember this, but apparently .3 inches of snow fell on October 15 that year. That's Minnesota weather for ya!

Early Snow

2009-10-10T07:49:00.001-05:00

Woke up to a dusting of snow this morning. It's October 10, for crying out loud. It won't last too long, but there is more in the forecast for Monday.

We may have had earlier snow since I've lived in the upper Midwest (27 years now), but if so I don't remember when.

Skywatch: Mackerel Sky

2009-10-08T21:06:00.004-05:00

Amazing sky late this afternoon - ranks upon ranks of pearly, striated altocumulus clouds. A sky like this is known sometimes as a mackerel sky, apparently resembling the scales on the fish of that name. I have no personal acquaintance with the mackerel, so I will take that on faith.

From the quick reading I've done I believe this type of cloud formation often signals the imminent arrival of a cold front, and indeed it is supposed to get cold tonight and over the next few days, with frost and freeze warnings out for much if not all of Minnesota.

Click on any of these photos to "step into the scene" with a much larger photo.

And if you like skies, you can visit skies around the world at Skywatch Friday.

Downtown Heron

2009-10-01T19:51:00.005-05:00

Click on the photo for a much larger, though not perfectly focused, view.

A couple of days ago I noticed a great blue heron hunkered down at the west bank of the Cannon River here in Northfield, across from where I work. I've seen one on this downtown stretch of river only once before, though I know they are commonly seen just a few blocks to the north, where the town-tamed river becomes relatively wild again as it wends its way through the Carleton Arboretum and onward toward Cannon Falls and eventually the Mississippi.

Usually when I photograph the river I try to avoid any intrusion of the traffic and fast food signs on the far side, but contrasts and unexpected juxtapositions interest me, and in this case the sighting of the rather reclusive heron and its small-town-urban setting seemed to call for a different view.

Rainbow Tomato Sauce

2009-09-20T22:39:00.002-05:00

I had so many ripe tomatoes, and hadalready consigned so many overripe ones to the compost pile, that I was determined to make some tomato sauce today. None of my tomatoes are the traditional sauce type, typically Romas, which are meaty and less juicy than slicers, but I figured I could still make a passable sauce.

Here are maybe two-thirds of the tomatoes after being dunked in boiling water to loosen their skins.

When full, this bowl holds 24 cups. It got full. Here are most of the peeled and coarsely chopped tomatoes before going into the stock pot. It almost looks like a fruit salad. I really wasn't sure what color the sauce would end up being with so much yellow and some green tomato in the mix, though I knew it wasn't going to be a rich, dark red.

Here's a glimpse into the tall pot while the sauce was cooking; you can see that the sauce was a reddish orange with chunks of distinct red and yellow tomatoes and green and dark purple flecks of basil. I first sauteed a large yellow onion, finely chopped, and several cloves' worth of garlic paste in some olive oil. Then I added the tomatoes and several tablespoons of chopped basil (three kinds) and lemon thyme from my garden and some dried oregano, bay leaves, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper. Later I decided to add a small can of tomato paste to help it thicken up. The sauce simmered all afternoon, making Dave comment that the house smelled like his (Italian) Aunt Frances's house did in his youth -- high praise. I tried smashing all the chunks of tomato with my potato masher, but that wasn't as effective as I wanted it to be, so I later resorted to the blender to even out the texture somewhat. I pureed several batches of the sauce in the blender and returned them to the pot, thus making a thin but chunky sauce into a somewhat thicker and less chunky (but still kind of chunky) sauce. I was careful to search for and remove the large bay leaves before running the blender so shredded pieces of the tough but aromatic leaves wouldn't catch in anyone's throat.

Here was the result - more than a gallon of sauce to eat on pasta with meatballs tonight and to put away in the freezer for several more meals. Nice!

Using Up Tomatoes

2009-09-13T16:13:00.003-05:00

I hadn't gone out to pick tomatoes in several days, so today there were most of a colander's worth of cherry tomatoes and several full-size ones of several varieties that were ready to be picked. Quite a few were overripe on the vine, in fact, and went straight into the compost pile. Also I was surprised to find this large summer squash hiding under the leaves. My zucchini plants wilted suddenly a couple of weeks ago and now you can hardly even see where they were, but the yellow squash plant is still vigorous and is suddenly churning out new babies like crazy. Maybe it's this warm weather we've been having lately. The huge pink-and-yellow tomato stem-side down next to the squash is one of the Striped Germans that are so pretty to look at.

The Striped German, a Tasty Evergreen, a Green Zebra and a couple of more generic red tomatoes got chopped up and mixed with chopped green onions, chopped cilantro, a small jalapeno pepper finely diced while wearing rubber gloves, lime juice, salt, and pepper to make a large batch of fresh salsa that will make a nice topping for quesadillas or grilled meat.

I decided to try to preserve more of the cherry tomatoes for later eating (I recently dried some in the oven). I followed a simple recipe for sauteed cherry tomatoes which was meant to be eaten immediately as a side dish, but decided I would freeze it in several batches.

After weeding out a few I had picked that looked a bit too mushy, I nearly filled a souffle dish with halved cherry tomatoes. I also picked some basil, thyme and parsley from the garden.

Into a large frying pan went 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil and when it was hot the tomatoes followed. After just a few minutes of sauteeing, I added some garlic puree and when that had become fragrant I added the chopped herbs, salt and pepper and took the mixture off the heat.

When the sauteed tomatoes had cooled, I filled 3 small containers with the fruit (or vegetables, if you prefer) and their copious liquid and put them into the freezer to enjoy on a fall or winter day. I'll try to remember to report on how they are when we get around to eating them.

I still have several more tomatoes ready to eat, and plenty more on the vine. Maybe nine tomato plants was a bit too much, but it's a wonderful situation to be in!

Food Culture: Turn Off the TV and Cook!

2009-09-11T06:50:00.006-05:00

The most useful thing we can do – if we care about food and where it comes from and how it’s grown and prepared and what’s good for us and what tastes good, and if we want to sift through all the contradictory and overlapping claims about health benefits or environmental degradation or sustainability – is unplug the television set, because for the most part, the food traditions that were gaining a foothold in various regions of the United States have been in steady decline since the growth of TV as the national communications medium at the end of WWII and continue to the present day.

So says my wise blog friend Patrick at Duck Fat and Politics. It's an important, eloquent post, and it's not just about TV. It's about apple pie and sweet potatoes and ginger beer and not allowing our food heritage (not to mention biodiversity) to be lost. Read it all here (on the Eat Local: Just Food blog) or here (on Duck Fat and Politics).

Oven-dried Cherry Tomatoes

2009-09-09T13:27:00.006-05:00

I've so enjoyed the amazing Sun Gold cherry tomatoes from my garden this summer that I thought I'd try saving some for later in the year. On Saturday I dried some in the oven in the simplest way: washed them (here is a mix of the Sun Golds with some good-but-not-as-wonderful red grape tomatoes), cut them in half, and set them cut side up on a baking tray I'd brushed with olive oil. I didn't salt them or sprinkle them with herbs, though one can do that.

After about four hours at 210 F. the tomatoes above had turned into the tomatoes below. That wasn't a scientically determined length of time, and was too long for some of the smaller tomatoes. While most were still somewhat soft and leathery, some had actually turned brown and crispy -- tomato chips!

Here (below) is a closer view of tomatoes after drying. I let them cool, scooped them into a one-quart zip-lock bag, and popped them into the freezer. It seemed a remarkably small amount of dried tomatoes for such a large tray, but it's certainly several recipes' worth. They can be rehydrated in hot water, broth or wine, and then soaked in olive oil if desired.

I'd never tried drying anything before, so please don't consider me an expert in this! Next time, I think I'll pack the tray fuller, start checking them sooner, and remove ones that are done while leaving others in to get more drying time. Or maybe I should invest in a food dehydrator, which is probably more energy-efficient and operates at a lower temperature than my electric oven.

Afternoon at Carlos Avery WMA

2009-09-07T21:11:00.005-05:00

For our Labor Day birdwatching outing, we decided to head north of the Twin Cities, to Carlos Avery Wildlife Management Area - a large (23,000-acre) natural area that I had never been to. A wildlife management area is an area of habitat managed primarily to support game for hunting, but certainly such habitats support many additional species as well. One of our first spots of the day was a large hawk at the top of the tree below.

Our first instinct was that it was an osprey - it looked huge, and had a white breast and dark wings, which would be consistent with an osprey. But when we looked through the scope it was clear that it was not.

The rusty blush to the neck and white underside from breast to tail were key points we noticed, and while we haven't definitively identified it, we think it may be an immature Swainson's hawk, though these are generally seen somewhat further west. We welcome comments from those more expert than we are. We had four field guides out while looking at the photos and still could not come up with a definitive ID, even though Dave has taken a hawk identification class. Frustrating!

A bit later, while wending our way around the ponds (called pools) of the area, we saw this kingfisher fly overhead. We stopped and walked for a bit and it kindly sat long enough that we could get a photo.

Here's a view of one of the lakes in the area. This was fairly typical of a lot of the area - lots of marshy wetland (currently fairly dry), some pools and lakes, and some open grasslands and woods as well.

Further along we got this great view of a great blue heron somewhat camouflaged in the reeds.

Here it was hunkered down with its neck retracted in a S shape. I haven't seen herons without their necks extended before.

Here it is, fully extended again. Herons are so primeval looking!

While we didn't see a lot of birds today, we did see lots of dragonflies. They seemed to be everywhere we went. There is a huge amount of habitat at Carlos Avery that we didn't see today. I expect we'll be back again another time.

Fall Bird Migration Season

2009-09-05T07:38:00.005-05:00

Migration season can be a great time to go birdwatching, as birds often flock together to make the trip, increasing the concentration of birds in an area and thereby making it easier to spot something - sometimes a great many somethings. Fall migration is often taken at a more leisurely pace than spring migration, when birds are anxious to reach their breeding habitat and stake out territory, so you're less likely to have them all blow through over a short period. Shorebirds, hawks and warblers are some categories of migrating birds to watch for, though I'm sorry to say that for many shorebirds their migration season started weeks ago and they are long gone.

I'm a great fan of shorebird-watching, myself. The ones we see around here, like the greater and lesser yellowlegs, are relatively large (though many shorebirds are small) and tend to stay in one spot for a while, grazing for food on mudflats or in very shallow water. Warblers, being insect-eaters, tend to dart constantly from one branch or tree to another. Many of them are lovely little birds and a treat to see, but one tends to get a stiff neck from looking up and trying to track birds as they fly overhead.

On the other hand, as my resident bird expert notes, finding shorebirds is more hit-and-miss, in part because of changing water levels year to year that turn an area that is a nice hospitable mudflat one year into a swimmable pond another year. The warblers tend to return more predictably to the same wooded areas.

Duck migration occurs somewhat later in the fall (waterfowl-hunting season in Minnesota starts October 1, not coincidentally). Ducks are a great place to start birdwatching, as again they are large enough to spot fairly easily and although they can certainly be spooked into flight (or into diving), at least they don't flit!

Radar reports provide good insight into bird migration patterns. Yes, radar can actually pick up the air disturbances caused by groups of birds and show areas of greater activity. A Minnesota blogger who regularly posts the latest bird/radar reports is Roger at Minnesota Birdnerd, who I had the chance to meet on the recent Birders Who Blog, Tweet and Chirp outing. The radar map he's got on his latest blog post (which I've borrowed here) shows concentrated activity along the North Shore, the upper St. Croix, and the La Crosse area. He predicts the potential for good birdwatching this weekend, with pleasant weather and light winds (no roaring winds out of the north to drive the birds onward).

We haven't made our weekend plans yet. Maybe we'll wander over to Lake Byllesby, where we've sometimes had very good luck seeing shorebirds and pelicans (and one notable osprey). Maybe we'll just head out and see where our instincts take us. It's fall migration time for birdwatchers, not just for birds.

Prairie and Sky

2009-09-02T07:50:00.006-05:00

Here are more photos from the St. Olaf college natural lands taken Saturday morning. The St. Olaf wind turbine dominates the landscape if you're looking anywhere in its general direction. The two wind turbines in Northfield, one here at St. Olaf and the other owned by Carleton College but standing on land slightly east of town, have come to be iconic symbols of this small city.

The tall prairie grasses (I believe Big Bluestem is what we're seeing here) bent and swayed in the breeze.

Light purple wildflowers in the aster family and goldenrod were common, as well as plenty of other plants I can't identify, like the greenish spikes below.

Can anyone tell me what these huge spikes are? They must have been close to ten feet tall. I have seen similar things on a much smaller scale, but have no idea what they might be.

Cedar Waxwings on a Septemberish Day

2009-08-29T13:14:00.002-05:00

A fresh and breezy, almost chilly, but blue-skied and golden morning called us out of doors today. We hadn't been over to the St. Olaf College nature area for several months, so off we went around midmorning. The wind seemed to be keeping the birds out of sight for most of our walk, and although I was wearing jeans and a long-sleeved top I almost regretted leaving my jacket in the car . A few mallards on the pond, a hawk (probably a northern harrier) flying low over the prairie areas, and a crow or two were all we had seen until we were about three quarters of the way around and reached the south side of the pond-loop trail. Passing some wild plums (above), we were suddenly aware of birds ahead and soon saw that they were fruit-loving cedar waxwings.

The photo above shows two cedar waxwings in a tree -- one in sun with its back to the camera and one above it, shaded and in profile. (Click on the photo for a larger view.) You can see a hint of the red wingtips, like drops of red wax, on the wing feathers on the more-visible bird. These, of course, are what give the bird its common name.

We set up the spotting scope and although the birds kept moving one did land on an exposed bare branch not far away for a minute or so, long enough for me to get the shots above and below. I was very pleased with these; while certainly not perfect, they are some of my best digiscoping results ever. You can clearly see the bright yellow tips to the tail feathers, the lovely yellow-to-rosy buff blush of the breast transitioning to the head, and the flat crest and black bandit mask that are among the instantly distinguishing features of this gregarious bird.

It was a nice way to finish up the walk. Earlier we had appreciated the tall prairie grasses and wildflowers waving in the wind, and I'll have a post about them in a while.

Bats (and Cats)

2009-08-26T22:47:00.005-05:00

I have forgotten to tell you about the bat. I was reminded because this morning it was back again. Several weeks ago there was a bat outside the front door of our office. It wasn't bothering anyone, just hanging out. Eventually it was thought best to shoo it away. But this morning it, or another one, was back in the same area.

I don't mind bats, and I know that they are very helpful to have around to control the mosquito population, for one thing. But I've also read that if you see a bat under unusual conditions, it's got a considerably higher than normal chance of having rabies. The Centers for Disease Control web page about rabies notes, after commenting on all the reasons to be tolerant of bats:

However, any bat that is active by day, is found in a place where bats are not usually seen (for example, in a room in your home or on the lawn), or is unable to fly, is far more likely than others to be rabid. Such bats are often the most easily approached. Therefore, it is best never to handle any bat.

I don't care for bats when they are flying at me. In my first few months of living in Northfield, I once found myself shut into a basement laundry room with several bats circling me. I shut the door after the first bat I saw flew out into the larger basement. I thought I was now safe, only to find at least a couple more still inside with me. Eeek. After I got myself out of there, I called my mother in California to tell her, and she said, "But Pen, bats are so interesting! (See where I get it?)

Another time I was alone at work at my desk in an old building on a college campus. After I'd been there quite a while, an odd bit of color caught my eye, and it turned out that a small bat was quietly hanging on the short filing cabinet next to my desk. As in, about two feet away from my right arm. The poor thing was dead under an office chair the next day, and I carefully and discreetly buried it in a flower bed outside.

While looking just now for the photos I'd taken of the bat the first day we saw it, I came across this photo of our two cats, Callie and Jeeves, earlier this summer. They are undoubtedly watching either a bird or a squirrel, as they are looking so attentively through the screen toward the area right under our bird feeders. I like the similarity of their posture as they watch whatever it is. Hey, cats rhymes with bats. Good enough for me.

Tomato Jungle

2009-08-23T10:20:00.002-05:00

My late-summer garden is a tangle of tomato plants. I've been picking the cherry varieties for several weeks, but the big slicers, especially the heirloom varieties, are just ripening now. Below are some of the red grape variety, which are not as wonderful-tasting as the hybrid Sun Golds (some are visible at the back), but which have proved much more resistant to splitting after the heavy rains we've had lately. I've had to put dozens of the delicious Sun Golds into the compost pile, but I have also resolved to save some of their seeds since I have so many otherwise going to "waste" (not that contributing to compost can be considered a total waste). When I can tell that they have very recently split and still look fresh I still sometimes try to use them, but if the split has dried or the fruit looks as if it is starting to rot, I consign them to the pile.

I've never dried tomatoes before, but the sweet Sun Golds are so prolific and proved so wonderful on pizza recently that I think I will dry a freezer-bagful. To do this, you wash them and cut them in half, spread them cut-side up (some sources say cut-side down) on a baking sheet, and place in a very slow oven (200 F.) for several hours, until leathery but still pliable. Some recipes call for salting the tomatoes and/or seasoning with Italian herbs before drying them. When properly dried they can be kept in the cupboard in a glass jar, but since this is a judgment call probably best made after some trial and error, I will keep mine in the freezer to avoid any risk of mold that could grow if they are not sufficiently dry. I'd hate to lose any.

Above is a mammoth Striped German heirloom tomato. I picked a similar one already, wrestling it out from between the supports; it more than filled my entire hand and probably weighed more than a pound. Unfortunately, it was so tightly wedged against the tomato behind it and the metal cage wires that it emerged sadly bruised. These have a old-fashioned appearance and are rather ribbed from the outside; they are marvelous to look at when sliced, as their flesh is a lovely yellow with red streaks. I have grown these before, and I think their flavor and texture make them a decent rival for the classic "best-tasting" Brandywines.

Above are Tasty Evergreens, a new variety for me this year, which are also getting quite large. The tag says to pick these when green with a yellow tinge, so after taking this photo I picked the closer one, but I haven't sliced it yet.

And here is the Green Zebra variety, another kind I've not grown before. I couldn't find the planting tag and was wondering how to tell when to pick these, but Johnny's Selected Seeds says they are ripe just as the green fruit develops a yellow blush, as the closer fruit above is starting to do. The photo on Seed Savers Exchange (first link above) seems to show that the main portion of the skin will turn considerably yellower than this, with distinctive green stripes remaining. Either way, these are very attractive. Johnny's notes that these are "not technically an heirloom" but lists them with its other heirlooms.

I bought all my tomato plants at Just Food Co-op's Mother's Day plant sale this year; most of the large, vigorous seedlings were raised by the nice folks at Big Woods Farm.

I've done no fertilizing this year other than digging some purchased compost into the soil before planting. I put down straw mulch, and except where it wasn't thick enough, I've needed to do very little weeding. (Whether I've actually weeded where I needed to is a story better left untold.)

Happy tomato season, everyone.

Time Magazine Cover Story: Real Cost of Cheap Food

2009-08-22T18:39:00.008-05:00

This week Time magazine gives cover-story prominence to an issue I feel strongly about: namely, that the industrial-scale cheap food we have become accustomed to comes at too high a price and is not sustainable. The article notes:

The U.S. agricultural industry can now produce unlimited quantities of meat and grains at remarkably cheap prices. But it does so at a high cost to the environment, animals and humans.

Price subsidies for commodity crops result in price-per-calorie dysfunction like these examples provided in the article. One dollar can buy:

1,200 calories of potato chips
875 calories of soda
250 calories of vegetables
170 calories of fresh fruit

The fruit and vegetables are still the nutritional bargain here, but people get fuller faster (and fatter) eating the cheap calories.

When we enjoy a cheap hamburger from animals finished on grain in high-density feedlots, or bargain-price pork or chicken where thousands of animals are raised together in close proximity, we are getting that cheap meat at the cost of:

a horrendous (at the very least, a most unnatural and crowded) quality of life for the animals
routine antibiotic use to prevent control disease in such unnaturally large concentrations of animals
pollution from the huge quantities of waste produced in such concentrated areas
increased chances for food contamination from large, high-speed processing plants
increased use of petroleum-based fertilizers to grow the endless monocultures of cheap corn to feed the animals
our own health and enjoyment of the food (did you know, for example, that the fats in grass-fed beef and dairy products - such as humans have been eating for thousands of years until the last several decades - are considerably better for us than the fats from grain-fed cattle?)

Bon Appetit food services company (which manages the dining programs at both St. Olaf and Carleton colleges here in Northfield and relies heavily on local, sustainable producers), Niman Ranch beef, and Chipotle restaurants are highlighted as examples of how to take a different, healthier, more sustainable approach in large-scale food production. Our own nearby Thousand Hills Cattle Company is a premium source of grass-fed beef; you can find their meat at Just Food and other area co-ops, and I believe I even saw some at EconoFoods recently.

I encourage you to read the article, which concludes:

The industrial food system fills us up but leaves us empty — it's based on selective forgetting. But what we eat — how it's raised and how it gets to us — has consequences that can't be ignored any longer.

Checking in at the Feeder

2009-08-21T19:48:00.002-05:00

Chickadees and house finches are the most common visitors to our seed feeders. These photos were taken through not-so-clear windows and the lighting isn't always ideal, but I like these views of our feeder friends.

Zucchini, Basil & Cherry Tomato Pizza

2009-08-19T20:17:00.003-05:00

Behold an improvised homemade pizza with half-slices of zucchini, jewel-like slices of sweet Sun Gold tomatoes, and strips of green and purple basil, all from the garden. I brushed on a little olive oil over the top. I wasn't sure if the zucchini would release much moisture, so I didn't want to load it too thick, but it just roasted nicely in a 450 F. oven and wasn't too juicy at all. Next time I'll double the amount. It was awesome.