Sagebrush Mariposa Tulip

Photo by Jo Stanbrough
Sagebrush Mariposa Tulip (Calochortus macrocarpus)
Lily Family (Liliaceae)

Who says the high desert of Central Oregon is mostly brown? This time of year, a miraculous thing happens. A single long, green stalk begins to push upward very unassumingly, only to burst open with the most beautiful shades of purple and yellow. These gorgeous wild tulips only remain for a day or so before they begin to droop and fade.

Tibetan Amulet Bolo Style Necklace

This is a new style of necklace for my Good Dirt Jewelry shop. A while back, I blogged about a really neat antique Tibetan amulet I had purchased. While I never found anyone who could tell me who the deity is, I still found it captivating and thought it would make a unique pendant. I've always been fond of the bolo style of necklace and I thought this amulet lent itself nicely to be displayed in this manner. I finished off the tips with wooden beads and copper wire.

These new pieces will be making their debut at the 4th of July festival in Bend, Oregon. If you happen to be in Bend this Saturday, be sure and stop by to say "Hello!" :)

The Potato Experiment

I'm no stranger to gardening or growing potatoes. Our little farm in Oklahoma had a quarter of an acre garden plot that provided our family with fresh veggies, including potatoes. Gardening in the high desert of Oregon is a whole new ballgame! LOL Not only do you have to contend with below freezing temps that can last well into June, but you also have to deal with the problem of having no topsoil. Our home sits at the edge of an ancient caldera (extinct volcano), so our ground consists of rocks and smaller rocks :)

Since we just finished our back deck, we decided to try our hand at gardening in pots, and so far so good! The photo above, is our first attempt at growing red potatoes in a half wine barrel and they are looking great! We'll have to wait a while to see if there are actually any potatoes though :) If this experiment is successful, I'll write a follow-up post with details on what we used inside the barrel.

Update!

Well, our great potato experiment wasn't very successful. The plants bloomed and began to die, as was expected, but when we dug them up, we only had about 6 normal size red potatoes and about 15 tiny ones. I cooked them with a corned beef and they were quite tasty, as they should be considering how much we invested to grow them! :) Nothing ventured, nothing gained!

The Morning Visitor

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly

I had a beautiful little visitor this morning!  It was gracefully sipping nectar from my comfrey plants and thoughtfully stopped long enough for me to run back inside and grab my camera.

It Snowed a Little

A winter scene from my window on Grizzly Mountain.

Central Oregon had been waiting for it's first good snow of the season and it arrived just in time for the holidays. After three days of snow, we have had about a foot here on Grizzly Mountain and more is on the way beginning tomorrow.

My wonderful son will be arriving tomorrow, so I won't be listing any more items in my Etsy shop until after Christmas.

To my regular readers, I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a very prosperous and healthy New Year!