A Wild and Windy Week

We've had a wild and windy week done on the Funny Farm. A big late fall storm decided to make an early appearance at the end of August! It brought down many trees, including several in our neighborhood and took out power to over 100 thousand people in our state. On the good side, it also brought some much needed rain! Good for our veggies and helpful to the fires still raging in Eastern Washington.

Speaking of veggies, today we harvested zucchini, lemon and English cucumbers, green beans, tomatoes, tomatillos, leeks, zucchini blossoms, green beans, eggplants, jalapeno, habanero, and gypsy peppers. Yesterday, we cooked up a huge pot of green salsa base using lots of tomatillos. Can you say enchiladas?

To help reduce the frightening overload of veggies in the fridge, tonight was use your veggies pizza night. A prize was awarded to the pizza with the most veggies. I won.  I'd planned on photoing the winning pizza, but alas, the winning pie was eaten before the camera could be retrieved.  So, instead of a veggilicious pizza, here's another pic from our June vacation.

The Future Farmers at Medicine Wheel, Wyoming.

This is a really cool Native American site, closest to Lovell, Wyoming and within the Bighorn Mountains. It a mile hike straight up to reach it. The Medicine Wheel is a bit of a mystery. No one knows exactly when it was built, but it is sacred to many tribes who still hold ceremonies at the site. The cloths and trinkets tied to the fence are offerings and remembrances. From this site at the top of the mountain, you can see 60 miles in all directions. It was quite the view. 

We were also impressed by this little critter at Medicine Wheel

This is a marmot, and this one was particularly friendly. I think it wanted a snack.

 Unfortunately for him (or her), Anni was not about to give up her granola bar!

Adventures and Vegetables

It's that time again when the family has a multitude of both adventures and vegetables.

We started our August adventures with a trip to Snoqualmie Falls. The lodge at the fall was the one of the sites of the Twin Peaks tv show. The falls themselves are part of a historic hydroelectric plant.

 Here was our first view of the falls.

 Here's a close up. The roar of the water was amazing!

 Ari happily sipping her coffee and admiring the view.

 The view!

 Alex being uber cool with his sunspecs and i-pod.

 The falls with the electric plant in the background.

A beautiful blooming thistle.

A fabulous twisted root tree on the grounds of the fall.

Our next adventure, featured Anni and myself. We were off to gourmet cooking camp again. This one was at the PCC Market Cooking School. Anni made cuisine from Brazil, Italy, the Southern USA, India, and Thailand. It was all delicious and lots of fun!

Alex and me went on our next adventure with family friend, Lisa, and her nephew, Stu, visiting from Indiana. We spend a beautiful warm day exploring the Washington beaches near Ocean Shores where we saw sand dollars, foraging deer along the side of the roadway, a Japanese fishing god statue that washed up after the big earthquake and now resides the Ocean Shores Interpretive Center. We explored tide pools, spying hermit crabs, tiny fish, and lots of sea stars. At night, we got a look at a single shooter from the meteor showers before the evening clouds moved in. Fun, saltwater, and sand were experienced by all.

The next day of our adventure took us to Mount Rainier. It's been so long since I last visited that I'd forgot how truly majestic the 14K+ peak really is. We stood on a log bridge over the rushing Nisqually River and visited the 176 ft drop Narada Falls before checking out the new visitors center at Paradise. It was evening when we began our hike up the mountain. My goal was to see a marmot. Lisa spotted the first. I found two more, and Stu found a pair whistling away to the twilight. We all took a turn standing at the base of a glacier before it was time to head back down before we got lost in the dark. Our only mountain casualty was a mosquito bite on Alex's forearm that turned narly giving him a Popeye arm for the next few days.

Marmot

Our final adventure (thus far) was a visit to the Ballard Locks to see the salmon running, the boats passing, and the flowers in full view. 

After all that fun, it was time to take care of the garden:

 The garden is in full swing turning out gobs of zucchini, patty pan squash, beans, cukes, berries, chives, herbs, and tomatoes.

It's time for tri tomato balsamic salad with feta cheese and basil, my absolute favorite summer salad! Here's the recipe:

1 large heirloom tomato, sliced

5 golden pear tomatoes, halved

5-7 cherry tomatoes, halved

Arrange on plate in spirals.

Dressing:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 teasp balsamic vinegar

Salt and pepper

Mix and pour over tomatoes.

Top with 1 teasp. minced basil and 1 Tbsp. feta cheese

Excellent with crusty bread and a glass of wine. Enjoy!

Traveling to the Ends of the Earth

Okay, well maybe not the very ends, but at least to northwest end of the continental USA! We took a road trip last weekend. We boarded an early morning ferry from Edmonds, Washington and jugged our way over to the Kingston dock. The sailing was just long enough for strong coffee and pastries to be consumed

Edmond's Ferry Terminal at low tide. See the ferry in the top left corner?

A hungry grey heron catches his breakfast.

 Julie Ann picks up a sleepy Dungeness crab. Mind those claws!

 A sunflower starfish craws beneath the pier.

 

Nudibranchs (sea slugs) were out in full force. We love these tiny little critters!

 A pod of sea life eggs. We aren't exactly sure what these are, maybe a dogfish shark?

We journeyed on to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula. It was beautiful sunny day, in the nineties at our home, but in the low eighties near the water, perfect! We cruised around the suburb farmers' market finding delicious goat cheese rolled in white pepper and time, hard ginger apple cider, homemade crackers, cherry tomatoes, and lots of fruit. We had a delicious picnic lunch at one of the town parks.

Then we drove a very long and twisty road out to Neah Bay, Washington. Did I mention long? 

The distance didn't seem that great, but most of the curves were down in the 20-25 mph zone; 

so it took awhile! Here's what I thought of some of those hairpin turns!

But,

It was worth it!!!

We drove through Neah Bay and arrived at the trail head around 5:30pm.

David and Anni hiking the forest trail to the point.

Unusual trees lined the path as well as voracious mosquitoes. Apparently, they loved my blood the best!

Check out these photos of Cape Flattery, the NW tip of the continental USA

  There are lots of rock islands,

 trees at precarious angles,

water from aquamarine to deep blue,

 and huge sea caverns.

 Cape Flattery Light House.

 Sunset at the Cape.

 Heading back toward Port Angeles. A tired duo.

 Twilight on the Peninsula

 The moon over the water back at the Kingston ferry terminal. We caught the last boat back at 11:05pm. We all slept in the next day! 

All in all a most excellent family adventure to the end of the earth (or so it seemed).

Hiking and Harvesting

We've been hiking a lot lately (since the arrival of the sun!)

 One of our favorite hikes is to the Wallace Falls, just off of Highway 2.

David and Anni check out the view on the trail.

David does a bit of rock hopping.

Anni is a happy hiker.

Alex and Ari are wondering if their game boys are missing them.

Mossy trees at the start of the woods.

The Wallace River is full of rocks, lots and lots of rocks.

Big rocks, small rocks. Flat rocks, round rocks.

(Sorry, I just had to go Zuessical for a moment.)

What is this strange thing?

Eek! It was the old wasp nest.

Here's the new one directly overhead.

Double Eek, eek!!!

Berries on the bush.

Ferns abundant along the lower trail.



The undercarriage of the fern with the (a-hem) reproductive structures.

Slug approaching mushrooms.

Slug devoring mushroom.

Go, sluggy, go!

(More hiking photos tomorrow)

Well, it's been a busy few weeks down on the funny farm, too. Summer's arrival in the Pacific caused the garden to go Kaboom! We are having what to do with the zucchini contests daily. Currently, there are 22 residing in my fridge! The raspberries and blackberries finally ripened, and the strawberries decided to bloom again! We also have 17 tomato plants spewing forth red, orange, yellow, and chocolate colored cherry tomatoes. The rainbow carrots are determined not to be left out of the action, with white, cream, yellow, orange, red, and purple goodness.

Here are the zucchini cheese muffins Anni and I baked using some of that zucchini,

along with chives from the garden and local cheddar cheese. They're a family fav.

Did I mention they were ginormous? That's Alexander's big 16 year old hand! He's enjoying his new program at the high school. He's a proud viking. David and Alex went to the school's first home football game last night. They shut out their across town rival! Go Viks!