Pick a Peck

I won't be pickling them, but I will have a peck of peppers to pick! My previous attempts to grow them from seed were complete failures, so this year I bought plants: two sweet and two jalapeños, The tag for the sweets blew away in a windstorm, so I can't tell you what variety these are, but the one in my hand is the second to reach maturity. The walls are rather thinner than I would have preferred, but they are tender and flavourful. The jalapeños, on the other hand, are just starting to form, and promise to be at least as abundant. Zucchini #5 is almost big enough to pick.

Smoke

Any more, it looks like this is just going to be part of summer. This smoke is from the fires in eastern WA, having managed to cross the Cascade range into the west side. Air quality is declining and will maintain that trend over the next several days as temperatures stretch into the 90s. It never used to be like this. Sure, we had the occasional fire and the occasional run of hot weather, but until about 15 years ago, having visible smoke on the west side was rare and only happened when there was a local fire, and hot temps only showed up in mid or late August, and only lasted a few days. You don't need me to tell you what's going on here, and it's only going to get worse.

Sidebar: when I was a kid, I read Reader's Digest avidly. Even then, the things which interested me most were the science articles, condensed and edited to make them palatable to the average American (who, incidentally, was substantially better educated than the current crop). Several pieces particularly stuck with me: the discovery of the coelacanth, and the tipping point at which climate change would be irreversible. The writers of the latter theorized that when ocean temperatures had raised two degrees, there was no way out of the hole we'd dug for ourselves. We're already seeing an increase of at least 1.5 degrees (many sources claim it is higher). Like rats, we've fouled our own nest, and like rats forced into too small a habitat (by rat standards), we're turning on one other in a fight for survival.

Nasties

Who doesn't love nasturtiums? They're easy to grow (well, most of the time), cheerful and bright, and they're even edible. Both the leaves and the seeds (when green) can be used in salads to add a piquant note. And...don't tell your kids this if you want them to keep blooming...if you bite the tip off the spur on the back of the flower, you'll get a sweet, nectary surprise. There are two basic types, trailing and bush. The latter name is a little misleading because they don't form a bush as such. They just don't vine off into other parts of your garden. They also come in a wide array of colours, although I don't seem to have gotten any of the dark maroon ones in this mix.

Hoya Ilagiorum

Try as I might to do right by them, I tend to neglect my houseplants. When Hoya ilagiorum tried to bloom last year, I was not paying attention to its water requirements and the buds dropped when they were the size of pinheads. That said, Hoyas are virtually indestructible (yes, I know at least one of my readers will argue that point). Although ilagiorum's leaves were withered by the time I noticed, it recovered nicely. A couple of weeks ago, I took it down for a good sluicing (i.e., running water into the pot and allowing it to drain through completely), and spotted several flower heads beginning to form. Needless to say, the plant had gotten my attention, and I've been waiting for it to open. The red "stars" are still recurved in this photo. They will open out in a few days.

Going Batts

For my next spinning project, I'm going batts, which is to say I'm blending a colourful merino/bamboo blend with some natural brown Blue-Faced Leicester. This is a major project, since I have 24 ounces of BFL and 8 of the blend, so I may not do it all in one go. It's nice to be able to shift off to something else for a skein or two when you're working on a bulk amount. I've calculated the proportions for each fiber: 57 grams of BLF and 19 of the blend per skein, and have put the first batch through the drum carder three times to distribute the colour evenly throughout the BFL. Each batt is roughly an ounce and a half. Two batts will go into each skein, and will be spun fine enough to be Navajo-plied (a three-ply yarn).

Tour de Fleece 2026

It was my first Tour de Fleece, and for my initial challenge, I wanted to spin a fractal yarn. To that end, I bought a Malabrigo Cloud braid in shades of green which, although I found the preparation very annoying to work with, turned into two decent skeins of yarn after all (left and curled over the top). I was so frustrated by its matted nature that for my next challenge, I said I'd finish up the Lilac Mist top (second from left), plying, washing and setting the twist in the Malabrigo when I needed a break. Once the Lilac Mist was done, I did a build-your-own fractal, again not too pleased with the preparation, but it did make a cool yarn (third from left). Then I really went off the deep end, and set myself the task of learning to spin on an e-spinner (Electric Eel Nano, center). Since I had plenty of natural white Corriedale wool, I used that (third from the right), and it turned out so nicely that it's going in the county fair (not the state fair). I was so pleased with the e-spinner that I asked myself if I was brave enough to try spinning cotton on it, which was primarily what I wanted to use it for. My first half-ounce skein (second from right) is a little rough, but by the time I was done with it, I had figured out most of the foibles and immediately put more cotton on the Nano (that's what's on it in the photo). For the final leg of Tour de Fleece 2026, I said, "I'm just going to see how much of the mixed greens I can get out of the way, and I'm going to Navajo-ply it." Out of enough wool for three skeins of equal size, one is completely done, one is ready to be plied as of this morning, and I'll start the final one today. The yarn and full bobbin are shown on the right. For a first Tour, I don't think I did half bad!

Tomato Candy

A friend calls Sungolds "tomato candy," and with good reason. They are one of the sweetest cherry tomatoes you can grow. I've done rather poorly with them for the last couple of years, but this year promises to be different. This is the first on two plants, and if the pollinators cooperate, there should be plenty more to come. The peppers also seem to be doing well, with both jalapeños and sweets starting to form. The eggplant (only one so far) is the size of a tennis ball, and the plant has numerous flowers. I think this is likely to be the best vegetable garden I've grown since moving here over 35 years ago.