Brrrr

We have been experiencing some very low temperatures for us lately. At night it's gotten down to 25F and only up to 45F during the day. My tomato plant finally succumbed to the cold weather. I pulled off all the tomatoes I could find. Not bad for beginning of winter; maybe I will make salsa out of them. Also my potato plants all died on top. And the cosmos. The calendula which I had such high hopes for since they finally bloomed probably won't set seed now. So much for enjoying their ease of germination and self-seeding ability. But I got many seeds from my sister who did not experience grasshoppers.

The cabbage seems unaffected by the cold. The collards are looking kind of wilty. I harvested the bok choi which was a volunteer in the compost heap. I should have done it earlier as it was very bitter. But we can't eat like kings every night no matter what the foodie magazines say.

Here are the pots that I am using to try and germinate acorns. I have several different varieties. I am mimicking the blue jays. Bottom layer of dirt, layer of leaves preferably with oak leaves, pile acorns in a heap then cover again with leaves. Wet and keep moist through winter. This is the plan. The blue pot has the now dead basil, poor basil.



Below are the plants we got at the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society's Plant sale. I don't know about you but I find plant people to be.... quirky is the nicest word that comes to mind (I include myself in this group BTW). But these people were down right nice! We got there late but purchased some plants at 1/2 off. So we got a three year old California Buckeye tree for 4$. We also got two salvias, a senna (which will be tricky to keep alive this cold winter) several native bunching grasses, a large lupine, lantana, native mugwort and an evergreen honeysuckle. I hadn't planned on any of these plants. But sometimes you just gotta make allowances for plants that come into your life serendipitously, and they were so cheap I couldn't say no. So we will see what becomes of them.


We have purchased three living holiday trees in years past and they have all died. This year we thought we might go back to going up and cutting our own tree. But now its so cold and the roads up on the moutain are icy. Our little kiwi truck (so named by our children) is not 4X4. So Stephen is going to a sustainable tree farm in Paradise to get one this evening. We plan on decorating it tomorrow. I think most people around here have their trees up and shining already. Winter hasn't officially arrived yet but it sure feels like it. This is the coldest I can remember! Now if we could just get some REAL RAIN. thank you that is all.