Garden Food

Photos and text by Trina



In the last month or so, the garden has seen many seasons: leafy greens and sweet pea season, thinning of apples and grapes season, brambles blooming and turning into berries season, tomatoes' first flowers season, infestation of pests season, which kicked off with an outrageous bloom of aphids on the cherry tree. And with the arrival (and squishing) of the first squash bug of the year, we're now officially in the season we know best as the War of the Squashes. Summer. Game on, bugs.


Bok choy and broccoli raab




Young apples still shedding blossom petals




Apple leaf




Triple Crown blackberry






Lady bug eggs among aphid infestation




As of yet unidentified worm thingies (which look more like nudibranchs I'd expect to see in a tidepool than crawling around on a cherry tree) with aphids and a ladybug larva which, incidentally, was doing push ups




Relocating ladybug eggs, pupae, larvae and adults after removing aphid infested cherry tree branch tips where they were previously residing






Ah, the season's first squa(i)sh bug




Thinning Honeycrisp apples






Eensie weensie baby praying mantis




Tulameen raspberry




With the early summer harvest that we managed to pull from the jaws of the many voracious garden pests, I threw together a pasta with bacon, garden peas, garden kale, parmesan, bacon, cream, lemon and bacon.



A recipe to use as a guideline is here.

Cool Green

by Greg

Those who adhere to a strictly astronomical definition know that summer will start on the Solstice later this month. But it doesn't take much astronomical knowledge to realize that in our desert valley, summer is here now. How do we know? It's too hot to ride in the middle of the day. Instead of trying, we headed up one of the local plateaus and found ourselves in a cooler place. Green meadows. Narrow trail. Splashy little creeks. Exotic wildflowers. Cloudy weather and a few sprinkles of rain. Just about everything we needed to contrast with the heat and dust nearer to home.

The Dream of Wading the River

Words and photos by Greg

A small dream: For years I've looked at a certain spot in the river and thought, "Hmm. Could I carry my bike and wade across that?" This is a dry year. The river is low. Time to try.

First up, ride out of town, then miles and miles of beautiful chunky singletrack, climbing upward through the desert sandstone past a few lingering spring blossoms.




Next, a rollicking trail that dipped in and out of small, rough canyons, high above the valley and town.






Then, while storm clouds darkened the sky, a doubletrack descent to the river. Then further upriver to the shallow riffle where I hoped to cross.




I waded out into the "shallow" riffle to find that nothing was quite as easy as it seemed from high on the cliffs above. Deeper, swifter water than it had seemed. And under the water the footing was nothing but loose, slippery boulders that threatened to toss me into the flow.


Could I have made it? Maybe. But it didn't seem worth the chance of my bike and I being dragged down the river over the rocks. I retreated. But luckily, "just happened" to have my old Sherpa packraft tucked into the orange bag strapped to my pack.


Inflated the raft, tossed my bike and myself on top. Then, just below the riffle, I paddled across with my hands. Landed on a convenient rock where I re-packed the raft.




Rode the rails for a minute, then dragged the bike up the bluff. Looking back down, it still looked pretty easy to wade across.




Then more trail back toward town.


The small dream of wading the river? Failed. The bigger dream of crossing the river? Fulfilled. It's been about a year since the concept of the packraft and bikerafting fully whacked its way into my consciousness from merely a fuzzy idea that someone else might do to something I might do. (Thanks, Mike! Roman!) And so far, so good. Rivers are no longer barriers to mountain biking. Maps are twisting into new shapes and possibilities. And I'm dreaming new dreams.

Ride, Ride, Ride, Ride, Ride

Words and photos by Greg

I've been feeling like I'm too busy to ride. Always rushing from one thing to another during this overbooked season. Then I look back at the collection of photos and realize that I must be doing some riding. Maybe even riding is one of the things I'm rushing to fit into the schedule.

In any case, we hereby present a collection of ride photos that have been collecting in a heap. Many of them courtesy of the lingering evening sunlight that lets us ride until dark and barely make it home in time for bed.





Not our bikes! One tiny rainstorm in the past 3.5 months in otherwise dry and desolate conditions -- and these folks were in it.