hot fun in the summertime

it was an interesting weekend, peppered with new beginnings and endings.  i came home on friday to find part of the garden (once again) dug up by some renegade hens.  the white rocks are definitely the ringleaders for banana plant-eating and garden break-ins.  they're tomboys - noisy just to make noise, white feathers stained with dirt (even their little faces get dirty!).  i hastily stapled some wire along the tops of the wooden fence around the garden to keep them out, which worked well for about 36 hours.  looks like we'll need more of a prison-style barbed wire set up to really deter them (maybe some spotlights and sirens, too).

i've been on a mission to plant an heirloom winter garden, so bought some seeds - lettuces, beets, carrots, onions, bok choy and broccoli - at a local nursery and planted them on saturday. i made a trip to lombardi's ranch in santa clarita, where they grow the best local tomatoes and corn (and have for many years).  bought a flat of what looked like beefsteak tomatoes, along with some yellow and white corn and italian sweet peppers. yesterday, i roasted the tomatoes (drizzled with olive oil) for almost 2 hours, then made a sauce with some added fresh basil, roasted peppers and shallots.  after cooking it down, i was left with 2 large jars of sauce.  2 jars, that's it...mama mia!

the ram lambs seem bigger each week.  the smaller of them (abel) hangs out with the adult rams and gives as good as he gets when it comes to head-butting and roughhousing.  the larger lamb, cain, still hangs with his mom.  abel jumps up on his hind legs to beg for figs when i'm picking them.  the lambs have become more friendly since weaning.  both will be wethered at the house on friday (before rutting season arrives!) by a new vet that dr. martin recommended.  it'll be interesting to see how he does this "on-site".

our recently widowed friend is moving to san francisco, so we took the pickup to eagle rock on sunday and loaded up all of the plants from his patio garden.  we finally took edith's upside-down tomato plants (which still have some fruit on them), along with some herbs, ferns, peach and apple trees, cymbidium orchids, various succulents, flowers and bushes.  he told us all about the plants - their names, how old they were, how often to water them, whether they liked sun. clearly, he had spent much time and care cultivating them.  the whole truck bed was filled with green, and i think it was alittle sad for damon to see his entire garden driven away.  maybe one day when he's settled, we'll be able to send some plants to him.  until then, he knows they have a good home.

i made some summer corn chowder on sunday night - using the ears from lombardi's, some shallots and roasted italian peppers.  i dropped it off on monday morning at a neighbor's house. we received the unfortunate news on sunday afternoon that she had miscarried, and it was all i could think of to do.  she and her family are good friends, and i'm sure there are others in the neighborhood who are reaching out to them, too.  that's something i enjoy about living here - there is a sense of community and people do look after each other.