Interrupted by a Very Handsome Grouse

I was on my way back from an unplanned trip to town to pick up some much needed pectin for my fresh  strawberry jam (more about that to come), when my trip up the mountain was interrupted by an extremely friendly Grouse.  Grouse are a very handsome and I hear tasty delicacy!  But all I could do was admire his handsomeness...he was clearly a friendly fellow, because he had no fear!

 This is when I spotted him as I approached the bend...

 

 

 As I came closer, he seemed to become more proud of his position in the road!

 

 Each time I inched the car forward, he would puff up a little more.  I would speak sweetly to him, telling him not to be frightened...do you think he was listening and responding to me???  Ha ha, that would be a pleasant experience...lol!

It was only after Ron (our neighbor) pulled up behind me that I had to move forward, which resulted in this handsome fellow moving into the woods... 

A Grouse really is a beautiful bird, wouldn't you agree?

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

Today I Give You A Little of This and That:)

So many things happen in a day, sometimes it is hard to decide what to write about.  Today you get a little of this and that.

Our pole beans (part of our 3 sisters garden) are beginning to germinate, I love the first emergence of the sprout, there is something so absolutely amazing about it!

We have a small area off one of the creeks that leads to ours, and it has a small reservoir that houses two (at least) frogs.  I have tried to sneak up on them many times, and finally, today, captured one of the little guys.  They make the funniest squeal if you come upon them, almost like a child yelling a high pitches "eek", before hopping into the water.

While harvesting dandelion for dinner, I came across this lovely beetle...

I macerated fresh strawberries today in preparation for making jam tomorrow, more to share about that as the recipe unfolds!

We had a huge rain storm this afternoon, no longer a surprise as it rains so frequently.  Johny has been working on building a natural drainage ditch, so we got to see it in action.  Still more work to be done, but the row of rocks, though it needs to be widened, is working, as are the drain tubes he put into place...all part of living off the land!  Though there are enough rocks around here to continue building the drain, we are also considering planting some sort of rain loving ground cover just on the outside of the rock line...more to come on this:)

I forgot to mention our rain catchers, though neanderthal, they do the trick for now.  We have four buckets under the eaves to catch the rain, it works! :)  Living off the land, naturally, right?  Keeping it simple...ha ha, rain barrels will be coming:)

After a busy day, dinner had to be easy.  So Mountain Man hunted more mushrooms (he's been keeping some he harvested yesterday in a paper bag in the fridge).  Some we know, some he only learned about today, so he is eating the bowl of 'just learning about' (bowl on the right) and I will eat from only what we know (left bowl)...but they are a pretty bunch, aren't they?

As for the rest of dinner, it was simple.  When you have a busy day, you want an easy dinner.  Chicken breast baked in cream of mushroom soup @ 350 for about 45 minutes.  Cut and roasted potatoes sprinkled with olive oil, black truffle salt and pepper, in the same oven as the chicken but only 30 minutes.  Dandelion salad.  Sauteed fresh mushrooms 'a la chef Mountain Man.

I know the experts say "presentation is everything", but I continue to keep things simple.  Tastes good.  Works for us:)

Thank you for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

A Mysterious Guest & The Solstice Sunset

We live on 5 acres of woodland in the Smoky Mountains, with the Nantahala National Forest on the perimeter of some of our land.  Needless to say, lots of trees, steep climbs and lots of area unencumbered by human scent.  While we have had a few wildlife visitors at our garden, specifically a coyote and another cat like creature we can't quite identify, we have never seen the evidence other than the critter cam pictures, and all that activity has been relatively close to the cabin, where there is lots of human activity. 

Interestingly, we discovered a disturbed area of ground up in our woods, an area we travel infrequently.  Our land runs along one of our creeks, heading toward the Nantahala National Forest at an upward climb.  We periodically hike through it just to look around, hunt for mushrooms, see what's new, etc.  We came upon this spot of land...it's a little hard to see but the brush is crushed a bit, like something was laying on it...

...here is one more...

Can you see the that some of the brush has been flattened & some branches are broken?  Clearly, whatever did this is somewhat large.  What is more perplexing is that it did not create a trail to this spot...tdu tdu tdu tdu....(that's supposed to be the alien type sound)...makes us think maybe a deer?

So we have set up the critter cam, and put out some corn, to see what comes by.  Of course, by doing so, we have contaminated the area with human scent...a bit of a deterrent to wildlife...so we will see. No matter what comes of it, we are intrigued!  Stay tuned for our next creature feature, LOL!

And to close, the sunset on the summer solstice yesterday, (Wednesday, 6/20)...happy longest day of the year:)

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise

Deck Prep Stump Removal Part 2

Several weeks ago I posted about our removing a huge stump in order to prepare to build our deck.  We had to stop the process, leaving a huge hole where the stump had been because Robert's huge machine would no longer back up.  He finally got the transmission part fixed, and since today was the third day of no rain, so we decided to go forward, full steam ahead!

 The hole as it has been for the past 3 weeks.

Here comes Robert, the master of the big machine, called a backhoe.

The process begins...scoop...

...then drop...over, and over, and over.  Quite an art to moving all that soil!

Robert then tamps down the soil a bit, to compress it.  Surprisingly, it is still quite moist, even though it has not rained for 3 days and we all thought it would be somewhat dry...the soil is kind of like a sponge, squishy, with air pockets.

Time for scooping and pushing, and interesting process to watch, kind of like using a knife to push the extra flour off of your measuring cup!

Pretty flat now...

 ...time to use the loader to grade the area.  Bummer, the ground it too saturated, causing the back tire to spin...no good!

Robert turns the backhoe around and tries more tamping...

Robert decides to get out and check the area, still seems too soft for his liking.  He's got Johny and Ron our neighbor, participating in the evaluation, LOL!

 After determining the soil is just too moist to continue (don't want this huge machine stuck in the soft soil indefinitely), Robert shows us the part of the transmission that broke that last time he was working on our project...seems like such a small part, doesn't it? 

So here we are, proceeding with Part 3 of this project whenever the ground dries enough to finish it.  But when you compare this picture with the first one, looks better, doesn't it?

Have you ever had a project that goes on and on and on due to things out of your control?  All one can say is c'est la vie, oui?!

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,

Lise

Expected & Unexpected Cultivation Successes

Woo hoo, success with getting more sun to the garden!  I mentioned in a post a few days ago, that I was frustrated with our sun exposure.  So, over the past several days, we have cut trees on the three surrounding sides of the garden, resulting in more sunshine on our sweet sprouts!  Today is the first day we have had a relatively full day of sun, and it is clear our efforts made a difference, woo hoo!  It was obvious that as a result of more sunshine, everything is growing better and beautifully, including those things that were struggling a bit.  Lise the Lumberjack finds happiness:)

While working in the yard, planting some giant sunflowers, I noticed we have a raspberry!  Yes, one lone raspberry on the young bushes, but it was a beauty and tasted sweet, and Mountain Man let me have it, (good, kind man that he is) being that it was too small to share.  Isn't it a beauty?  Can't wait until next year when the bushes are full!

While hiking through the woods hunting mushrooms, we found some wild strawberries...nice surprise and we will go back for the next several days until they are completely ripe.  Won't be enough to make pie or jelly, but there are enough both Mountain Man and I can enjoy some!

Wild mushroom hunting...I can go on and on with all we found, but here are the most interesting ones:

...last year we inoculated several tree trunks with mushroom spores, and today we were pleasantly surprised that this one (Shitake), seems to be sprouting...we'll have to keep checking on them...

...these are some interesting beauties that Mountain Man is still studying what they are and whether or not they are edible...(PS, he always gets to eat them first, if he is still around the next day, I might try them, ha ha, but seriously!) Of course, we didn't cultivate these, but mushrooms are sprouting everywhere throughout the woods like crazy...all the rain is good for mushroom lovers! Now please keep in mind that everything Mountain Man had identified below is based on his research and his research alone...do not base identification or edibility on what is stated here. If not identified, we just don't know yet!  But these things are cool looking, and most of the time, when they are edible, delicious!

...the mushroom below is clavaria rubicundula (smoky worm coral), it is not known if you can eat this... 

...below is a ramaria subbotrytis (rose coral), edible (tasty too), but this is based on Mountain Man's research and nothing more...and he hasn't tried this yet...

...not edible (most mushrooms that are red mean danger, russula silvicola, interesting looking, and the bug (see it on the top right side of the cap) seems to like it!...

...this above is likely oyster mushrooms, yum!...

...this above is a peziza badioconfusa, (common brown cup) edible when cooked (we have not tried it,
does not look so tasty)...

And here you have your mushroom exposure for the day:)

Came across this cool dead tree trunk while hiking, not cultivated but had lots of character & though dead trees are not unexpected in the woods, this one seemed to be a special fine...

The mountains are full of interesting things...everything is ever changing, interesting, exciting...makes me very happy to be here.

Thank you for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow, 

Lise

The Evolution of This Morning's Horizon

We had another rain storm last night, which typically results in lovely morning fog over the mountains.  The evolution was lovely today...

...blanket of fog...

 ...for a while it seemed like the clouds were stuck in the valley...

...but they persisted in rising...

I could hear Frank Sinatra (or Barbara Streisand, but I like Sinatra's version) crooning:

"On a clear day...how it will astound you, that the glow of your being outshines every star. you'll feel part of every mountain, sea and shore...you can see forever, and ever and ever more".

Feel a part of every mountain indeed. I hope you feel it too, even if just for a moment.

Thanks for reading my blog, you are the best f/f/r/s/f's, see you tomorrow,
Lise