Plant Camp Monday's

Every Autumn I head out to the trails to check out the pessimism's, not to eat alto you sure can but to see what our winter is going to be like. It never fails so far!


I take the slippery seed out and cut open, there inside will be little white things in the shape of a fork, spoon or knife.

There meaning or prediction would be if there's a spoon you will be shoveling snow, a knife will be a cold icy winter and wind that will cut you like a knife and the fork will indicate a mild winter.


Heres a pic of the tree and a open persimmon seed from a couple of yrs ago. You see the little shovel, we had snow that year. Last year was a shovel too. I have not checked yet but very soon and see what type of winter we will have. I hope a shovel again : )






Have you ever ate an unripe persimmon, ohhhhhh its awful your mouth puckers up and feels really dry. Not good. But when they are ripe they are so sweet and yummy.

We used to wait tell a frost but they say you can eat before. Just look at the fruit and make sure its very soft, give it a taste and check those seeds. The seed is rather hard to open so take care when cutting open.


Heres a picture link of persimmons .


http://www.google.com/images?rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS312US313&q=persimmon&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=oraWTNbSN5DungeJwNC2CA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CEQQsAQwAw

There are different types of persimmons but the ones we have around here are the Common Persimmon , Diospyros virginiana

Like the tomato, it is not considered a "common berry", but is in fact a "true berry" by definition according to some research I found.


Theres even a song we use to sing as kids about a possum up a simmon tree. I'm trying to remember the words.

Heres another interesting link about persimmons.


http://www.duke.edu/~cwcook/trees/divi.html

So when out in the woods and on the trails take along a bag because you might come across a persimmon tree that you can eat the fruit and find out what your winter will be like.


Thanks for joining in this weeks plant camp. Have a great week : )

tc linda

Yak Sisters Adventure

That’s what sis and I call ourself , the Yak Sisters. True we yak alot but we do it now in our kayaks, well until we settle down to serious fishing that is.

We always fished growing up, Mom and Dad even wanted to live on a river boat, we be call’n ourself river rats I specd. But I’m glad they took to the land instead cuz we now can have both.

How in the world did we get into kayaking!!!! When I think of that word I thing of White Water, tipping over and staying under while my head is beating on rocks and boulders. But little did I know this is a growing sport in fishing from a kayak, The Kayak Anglers. That was for us.

We were looking for something we could pick up and go. First it was a canoe but sis would have no doings with me and her in a canoe, here’s why. DH and I took floats trips with the kids all the time. I was always on the front rowing and hubby in the back. We did good. So the first time that sis floated her and I went together, I took the back and she the front. OH boy was that mistake.

We went from bank to bank all down the river. It was wearing me out. I told her to row harder or well be here forever,( I didn’t know that my hubby was the one who really got us down those rivers). Well it kept up and finally the motion put me to sleep , thats right I fell asleep at my post ,couldn’t help. It was a drool on your pillow type of deep sleep. I was gone.

Sis looked back and yell “What Are You Doing. I woke up fast , wiped the slobber from my face and back to rowing. I never heard the last of that and we now have our own vessels to row : )

When we bought our kayaks we decided to get the same ones so we won’t say mine is better then yours kind of thing. I didn’t think we were going to look like bobbies twins going down the lake or river. Sis got us both camo t-shirts and matching visors.

Our yaks are green and last weekend when we were out on the lake coming in a women on the dock said we look like turtles on a log, I thought she said turds on a log : (. I guess its better to look like turtles.

We tried our kayaks on our friends pond first and did some fishing, we caught 80+ fish in a couple of days and had a blast. We were ready for the big time stuff now, off to the lake.

We've been decking our yaks out , accessorize they call it, its really more run dressing these Yaks cuz every thing fits. Not like that 2 size smaller dress one would like to buy :/ Heres a pic of my yak all deck out for fishing, we haven’t got kayak paddles yet but this little adjustable one is great for getting into coves on the lake.

We we told each other , Lets Look Professional, like we know what were doing. All was good , we carried our kayaks out of the truck at the lake, all eyes were on us now, we placed our rods, and did little prepping for launching, hit the restroom, I hate that part cuz you know ppl are looking at ya, Hoping there was toilet paper in that concrete outhouse.

Ok sis is pulling her boat out to the ramp and looking good at this point until she hits the water and wham she slips big time , legs and all in the water, I’m shocked and everyone has their mouth open , I know this cuz I’m looking at everyone now, sis is still flipping and I just can’t move. Wheres the professionalism here? What is she doing? What now? What seem like hours was really seconds and I pushed the boat so she could grab the handle. If I tried to grab her by hand I would have met her fate. After all she wasn’t in much more then knee deep water , just couldn’t get up. I couldn’t dive for her , water just wasn’t deep enough.

So we went fishing anyways the dry turtle and the wet turtle, nobody yaked and we caught no fish. We sat out on that lake tell dark and nobody on the lake, sis was to embarrassed to go in. In silence , in my mind “professional alright”!

The next week we did better but the tables turned and it was my turn to look professional. I was heading in and I had one foot on the shore and the other still in the yak. My rubber cheap knock off croc came off and while I was trying to retrieve it I did what looked/felt like the splits. Sis asked what in the world was I doing? Brushing up on my ballet!

In those kind of moments of trying to look cool and miss way out on left field, you just keep head down, focus on what your doing and row like heck away from the crowd. In my case run to the bath room , head still down then back on board and row like heck. We stayed out late in the dark again.

We are having a blast with our new adventure. I mean sis and I a couple of years ago was excited about collecting buttons and every Friday we would have a button exchange. We figure our kayaking was a cheaper sport. Not much makes us happy. We sometime get along like a burn’n house but now we have the lake to hose us down : )

We even got Mom who will be 84 yrs in a few days out on the yak at the pond, she yaked all over. Our kayaks are really hard to tip over , just got to be careful on slippy rocks and such getting in and out.

Heres sis on her yak, we have big life jackets that we are planning on replacing for kayak vest, much more comfortable and don’t hit you in the chin like these do. (could be why we looked like turtles) We found out we don’t need to wear them just have a vest in the boat. Both of us can swim but when the water is really choppy its good to wear them.

Sis is my best friend and the best kind of person you could ever meet. She has survived cancer, I shaved her head when her hair was falling out and she has up lifted many cancer patients. She and her hubby have no children but she is a great aunt/mom to mine. Sis is as real as a person can get and I love her so.

Here I am , we fish on a 71 acre lake that is really close to were we, hubby and I live, just a

couple of bends and hills over.

Theres a little island on the lake that we plan to have our lunch there, my foot is in the way. After I took the picture I fell asleep , the peacefulness of the water put me down in lala land again. I just had a cola and I should have been rowing all over the place, oh well nap time. Sis shaking her head, real professional!

Theres huge lily pads on the lake and one could use as a table for lunch , play cards , board games, they are big

We are planning another fishing this weekend at the lake, but also looking into taking a river trip and camp over night on the river. Theres lots of room yaks to hold camping gear, tents, food, and cooler. That would be so fun to do that.

So the Yak Sisters will be off for more adventures , Thanks for dropping by. Hope I got you interested in getting into kayaking. I kinda thinking of a women’s yak club would be fun to start.

Theres a big group called the “Sisters On the Fly”, sis and I talk of joining on down the road. This group goes all over fly fishing, float trips,hiking and they do it all by pulling vintage trailers to their camp. They kiss their hubbies good by for a couple of weeks and take out for an adventure. Check em out on the net.

All take good care
linda

Plant Camp Monday's

Watch your noggin when it turns Autumn and the wind is blowing.

The Carya Fruits (hickory nuts) are falling. Hurry to gather b/c the squirrels
have this in mind too.



I gathered these a year ago by our friends fishing pond, fishing wasn't good so I gathered the hickory nuts.

Here in the woods we have some early drops of hickory and I'm hoping will have some nice ones to pickup. These in the basket are very nice.

Did you know there's lots of different hickory nuts and that the pecan is a species of hickory!

Carya illinoinensis (pecan)

A pecan, is not truly a nut, but is technically a drupe, a fruit with a single stone or pit, surrounded by a husk. Like the fruit of all the members of hickory genus;

Heres a list of hickory nuts

Southern shagbark hickory
Hickory bitternut
Hickory pignut
Hickory shellbark hickory or Kingnut hickory
Red hickory
Hickory shagbark
Hickory sand
Hickory mockernut

Check this hickory site for iding

http://www.cas.vanderbilt.edu/bioimages/pages/carya-fruits.htm

Also facts on hickories

http://www.thenutfactory.com/kitchen/facts/facts-hickory-nuts.html

Along with gathering nuts we use the wood from wind fall for our grilling, oh does it make for good smoking and BBQ's and it just smells so fallish, my favorite time of year.

So on a nice cool day head out and gather those hickory nuts, check out walnuts too : )

Thanks for dropping by the camp. I thought I'd have a blog page before this but time got away. I'll have some pics of my new Kayak and fishing adventures I think by Wednesday . Also about my sister and I the "Yak Sisters Adventures".

tc linda

Plant Camp Monday's

Hope you all had a good Labor day weekend. Sis and I took a 4 day kayak fishing trip at our local lake. I'll be posting about our new kayaks, the lake and our catch. So the camp this week will be short cuz I'm pooped and did not do my homework on a plant.

But I do have some pictures of sunflowers that I grew on my other homestead. Good thing I got pictures b/c my sunflower cropped failed this season. Either the rains washed the seeds or those crows got em .

So enjoy these mammoth sunflowers and some different types as well. Not only are the seeds good for you but the birds love them too.















Hope you all had a safe and fun weekend, next week I'll have a plant to share for the camp, this week it will be a fish story : ) , next couple of days


tc linda

Plant Camp Monday's

Oh this next plant you might not like but rest assure this is not the culprit of allergies in the fall.

Goldenrod Solidago sp.

I love this plant, tells me that fall is almost here. A host to so many beneficial insects. Its the last big flower show of the season and blooms from summers end tell frost.







Poor Goldenrod gets the blame for hay fever sufferers when the real culprit is ragweeds (Ambrosia sp.) that bloom at the same time.

Here's what happens. Ragweed needs wind to pollinate so it sends out billions of pollen hope'n to find a female flower. The bad part our noses are in the way.

These ragweeds don't have a pretty showy flowers so we tend to blame the Goldenrod for this suffering. We see that showy Goldenrod flower and point fingers and whip noses.

Because the makeup of the goldenrod pollen grains are fat and sticky so they will stick to insects for pollination from one plant to another. So in order to get affected by Goldenrod pollen you would have to stick you nose in the stuff. Hachoo

Along with the many insects that visit the Goldenrod there are two different types of insects that are parasites that uses the Goldenrod for a host plant, they make their homes on the stems and are called galls.

Here's a nice group of Goldenrod, be sure to look at them differently now , they are very pretty.

http://www.google.com/images?rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS312US313&q=goldenrod&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=Rf96TMSuIouLnQeuzqiWCw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CEYQsAQwAw

Also Goldenrod is medcinal, here's an informative link.

http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/goldenrod-000251.htm

Well I sure hope I changed your mind on this plant and lets go after that ragweed.

Have you notice the weeks flying by? I sure have. I'm just about ready to decorate for Autumn.

Have a great week and thanks for stopping by the camp

tc linda

Plant Camp Monday's

This plant I have growing , its names sounds like an ol song Joe-Pye, maybe b/c its reminds me of ol Joe Clark that I use to play on the banjo and fiddle. There should be and ol Joe-Pye song for sure.

Oh boy is this a plant to have. great for the butterfly gardens but its a biggy, from 4 ft to 10 ft tall on some varieties. A deffinite boarder plant. I know already i will need to move my one plant.

Joe-Pye Weed, Eupatorium purpureum

This picture is of my new plant , not very showy yet

Here's a link to some pretty Jo-Pye Weeds

http://www.google.com/images?rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS312US313&q=joe+pye+weed&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=f-RxTMipOMWqlAfjmemmDw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDwQsAQwAw


In your butterfly garden this plant will attract the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail, Great Spangled Fritillary, Pearl Crescent, Monarch, and the Tawny-edged Skipper.

Joe-Pye Weed is an herb, a wildflower, a butterfly plant and an ornamental for the flower beds
Its got some other common names you might know like Queen of the Meadow, gravel root, kidney root, mist-flower, snakeroot and purple boneset.

Joe Pye is the name of an Native American who was a herbalist who used the herb to cure fevers.

http://www.altnature.com/gallery/joe_pye_weed.htm

You can start from seeds and this is another great Winter Sowing seed you can start the first of the year, get those containers saved , toss in your seeds and put outdoors.

Joe-Pye Weed comes in colors of darker purples, wine, lavender and white. The purple shades seem to attract butterflies better than the white. Oh it looks like I got a white one.

Some of theflowers are more fragrant then others having a vanilla-like fragrance. These plants make nice cut flowers and can be dried too for arrangements. A nice all around plant to grow in your gardens.

Well that's it for the camp this week. I was humming ol Joe Clark while typing this up. Might get out the fiddle and start playing again. Maybe make up a song for ol Joe-Pye Weed.

Have a very nice week and always thanks for stopping by the camp.

tc linda

Plant Camp Monday's

Its Monday again , seems these weeks are fly'n by so fast. With school back in session for many, harvesting the gardens, battling the heat it just seems there's no rest. I'll be ready for the cooler weather and life getting into the Autumn routine.

Glad you could make it to camp. This week I'm going to share another new plant for me. My hubby brought home some unknown plants from school , they had a plant sale and all the left overs were given out. He handed me a box of seedlings with no name

School was out for summer and the instructor was gone, so no name. It was a wait and see. Where to plant, sunny, shade, where? So I chose in between . Weeks went by and they have flower heads.

Drum roll please,the unknown plant is Cockscomb, Celosia argentea .

These are still pretty small, I chose a good place for them to grow tho, they like sun





Well being new to this plant I googled to get info and was surprised to see it was edible. I clicked it on and it was a picture of a chicken head and its cockscomb said you can eat that part of the chicken and it taste like frog legs, thought I was going to say chicken?.

That was the wrong cockscomb for sure. Cockscomb flowers are said to resemble rooster combs so that's why I got into the wrong site.

But cockscomb is in the Amaranth family so there was hope that one could eat this plant.

Cockscomb flowers are also known as Wool Flowers or Brain Celosia, suggestive of a highly colored brain. People eat brains! its still looking good.

Cockscomb has no fragrance, that was looking positive to for eating.

Then I came upon this , In West Africa, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia, Celosia argentea is grown as a leaf vegetable and cereal crop. In southern Nigeria, it is the most important leaf vegetable and is known as soko. BINGO! We can eat it.

But like all new plants I still want to do more research on it before I cook it for super. Like find someone else around that eats it.

Celosia have very bright colors. They have three different kinds of blooms; candle, crested and plume.

I would like to grow the crested variety (Celosia cristata). It looks more like Amaranth that I'm more familiar with.

Here's some pictures of the different types

http://www.google.com/images?rlz=1T4TSHB_enUS312US313&q=Cockscomb&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=-atoTPCsJYGKlwebtqWfBQ&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CDcQsAQwAw

Native to Africa, America and Asia. Celosia means "hot" in Greek. Perfect for this HOT summer.

So there it is growing and doing well, pretty easy to grow and not much care. I should be able to save seeds.

So those surprise unknown plants do pay off , hubby did good : )

Another fun camp and so glad you made it, see ya next week. I want to try and get some other everyday blogs in but boy is it hard sometimes. Autumn please come soon : )

Take good care
linda