Sonoran Saguaro Spring

The Saguaro, sentinel of the Sonoran Desert, has fascinated me from the very moment I laid eyes on them! So I excitedly anticipated the arrival of spring 2011 when I would be able to see this beautiful plant flower. Each winter walk at San Tan Mountain Park found me looking for signs of change and the promise of blossoms. In the photo above you can see the white ring on the lower right arm of the right Saguaro. I was sure that this meant that buds would be appearing soon. I was so excited! (Don't miss the Gambel's Quail in the middle of the picture.)

Late April brought sightings of Saguaro blossoms on many of these plants. I was surprised to notice that not many opened at the same time. If they all opened at once, it would leave the desert creatures who depend on the blossoms for moisture and nourishment with a very short window of time to have this available to them. Thankfully God knew best when He ordered the rhythms of nature!
Above are two beautiful blossoms I photographed this morning. You will note that there are other blooms in various stages of development. Most of them have already opened, been pollinated, and are beginning to develop fruit. The main pollinator of Saguaro blossoms is the White-winged Dove (cousin to the Mourning Dove), although other birds, mammals and insects also contribute to the pollination process.
The fruit of the Saguaro will also provide moisture and nourishment in the weeks to come. Without this stately plant, many birds and animals would not survive in the desert.
My fascination with the desert continues to grow as we explore it on almost a daily basis. I don't think I will ever grow tired of watching its rhythms. I look forward to sharing more of our new surroundings with you in future blogs.

Queen Creek Olive Mill

A few years ago my sister, Kathie, introduced me to the Olive Mill in Queen Creek, AZ. Imagine my surprise to discover that olives are grown in the United States. Growing up in a farming family, I knew of many fruits and vegetables that grew here; but I thought of olives as being from Mediterranean countries like Italy and Greece. My first visit to the Olive Mill was a delightful mix of a tour, lunch, shopping, and sampling olives. I could hardly wait to return!
Imagine my delight when I discovered shortly after moving to Arizona last summer that we lived just a short distance from the Olive Mill! Of course, I went shopping within a few days and bought one of the reserve olive oils, which I save for "special occasions."
The olive harvest took place in the fall, followed by pressing. Olives are actually harvested in three stages with each stage of ripeness producing a particular flavor, from a soft fruit to a strong flavor.
This is followed by the "Festival of the New Oil", which is taking place right now. Tom and I paid the Mill a visit last Saturday to check out the activities. Besides olive oil tasting and wine tasting, there were various activities going on. There was a group taking a tour, and they were inside the pressing room when I checked on them. As you can see from the picture below, some people ride their bicycles to the Olive Mill to enjoy a sunny day. This particular group had children with them, who were playing games on the lawn between the Olive trees. They had also brought a picnic lunch with them and were enjoying that.
Other people bought a lunch from the deli at the Mill (absolutely delicious sandwiches and salads, I might add); and while some ate their lunch in the dining room, others opted to enjoy the beautiful day outdoors. Below you can see that the outdoor dining room is being enjoyed by many people. Tables are shared, so it isn't unusual to have people from several states all enjoying their lunches together.
The chef has a garden (patrons can only look in, not enter) that he personally tends. The herbs and vegetables are used in the food that is served in the deli. On Friday and Saturday nights, he also prepared dinners for guests and uses the garden fare extensively in those dishes. How wonderful to know that you are eating local, including food grown outside the door, when you choose to dine there!
Below is a display of olive oil that is available. There are so many choices that it is almost impossible to go home with just one. Some day I am going to make a dessert using the chocolate olive oil -- yum!
Another product made on site is the pasta in many varieties. I have only bought this for hostess gifts, but plan to buy the beet pasta some day to make a special dinner dish. I love beets, so I was very excited to find this pasta available on a local level.
And, of course, there are many kinds of olives available for purchase and serving with meals. Since I love cheese of almost any kind, the Parmesan Romano stuffed olives are my personal favorites. The olives also come stuffed with a variety of products such as blue cheese, feta cheeses, garlic cloves, nuts, and so on. So it would be difficult not to find one that you like!
The Olive Mill was the first place I bought local sweet corn in August. It was delicious, although I must say not quite what I was used to from Michigan. They also carried apples from local farmers this fall as well as apple cider (still available as you can see below) and now citrus fruits. As our harvest season progresses, there will be other products available. I am excitedly awaiting the first peaches in June!
I hope you all enjoyed learning a little bit about the Queen Creek Olive Mill. I promise a trip there to see it for yourself when you come to visit us in Arizona. I am looking forward to seeing the olive trees in bloom, the pollinators busily at work on the blossoms, and then the olives in various stages of development/ripeness. So look for future posts that bring the delights of this desert treasure to your computer!

Cotton: The Fabric of Our Lives

One of the scenes I looked forward to on our Christmas trips to the west in recent years was seeing the bales of cotton alongside the highways and roads of California and Arizona. Some were as big as a large room, while others were smaller in size. So I was delighted to find our new surroundings in Arizona included cotton fields!
Pictured above is a cotton field with the cotton blossoms in full bloom. As you can see the contrast of the white flowers against the brilliant green of the foliage creates a striking scene. The flowers are also very fragrant and look especially striking at night. It reminds me of the night garden I created one summer at our home in East Grand Rapids -- all white flowers that beamed in the dark of night! On a much larger scale, of course!!

Late summer brought an end to the life cycle of the cotton plants -- the foliage died and left the cotton "bolls" visible, creating a blanket of white across the fields. It was so exciting for me to watch the progression, and I wish I could share it with you. However, that would make my blog very loooooong:-)

Harvest time finally arrived at one of the field near us. Although I wasn't able to catch the "action", I was able to photograph one of the machines that harvested this field. You can see that it is right next to a residential area. That makes one wonder how many more years this field will be viable and growing cotton for our clothes, home textiles, and other products that this plant is used for. But I will enjoy it for as many years as it lasts!

Now I'm sure you were all wondering what the cotton "bales" look like. Here is a long row of these bales. I wanted to get closer, but there was a sign warning against trespassing. Being the law abiding citizen that I am, I stayed on the other side and took pictures as best I could. Actually I wanted to get Tom to stand next to one, so you could see how big they are. These are about the size of a small room in a home, so that gives you a little idea.
So if you got dressed today, chances are very good that you were wearing a garment made out of cotton grown in the United States. For the US of A is one of the top cotton producers in the world. The cotton is shipped to many parts of the globe to be used in the manufacturing of textiles. So stop and thank a cotton grower for giving you that pretty shirt/blouse you are wearing. And come see the cotton fields of Arizona for yourself next fall. We would be happy to show you around!

The Story of Three Cactus

Today is the first day since our move that I felt like a REAL Arizona gardener -- I planted 3 different Cactus species in our from yard. Until a few days ago, our front yard had a couple of Rosemary plants, a couple of Lantana (the butterflies have really enjoyed these!), two Canary Island palms, a needle-leaved Agave, and a humongous amount of ground cover. Now, let me reiterate again that I do not like ground cover 'cause that's just what they do -- cover all the ground anywhere within reason (and sometimes beyond reason). The ground cover was pulled out by our landscapers last week, so off to Avocado Nursery in Casa Grande we headed on Saturday afternoon in quest of the "perfect" cacti for our front yard!!
This morning I pulled on my pruning gloves and headed out to garden! Here is the cutest little Rainbow cactus. It is only about 6" tall, but within a few years will reach its full potential of 12"!! It is the beginning of my mini cactus garden and is located at the beginning of the sidewalk to our front door. I am so excited about adding to this little cactus garden and my vision is that it will happily greet the guests to our desert home:-)

Don't you absolutely love this little "fellow" -- a purple Prickly Pear cactus that goes by the cultivar name of Santa Rita. Doesn't it just remind you of a Mickey Mouse hat with one "ear" askew?!! I knew I wanted one of these because the fruits are favored by the Desert tortoise. I will glad share with any hungry tortoise that visits my front yard! It will be the larges of the three that I planted today, growing many more sections with time. I am looking forward to its beautiful flowers gracing my front yard each spring.
I love the Barrel cacti, and the Golden is native to the Sonoran desert. In the Mojave desert you mainly see the Red barrels. I am hoping it sets lots of "pups" while we live in our home, so that we have a large mound of this glowing cactus. It will reach a mature height of about 24". So it isn't large, but still makes a statement in spite of its diminutive size. This one was the most challenging to plant because of the needles. Again, I was thankful for the protection of my pruning gloves!
Here is a view of our front yard with the Santa Rita and Golden barrel, with a purple Lantana beyond. As you can see, there is plenty of room for them to grow and mature as the years go by. Hope many of you reading my blog can pay us a visit here in our desert home and see these desert delights for yourself!

Our First Resident Hummingbird

One of the most exciting aspects of living in Arizona is the number of bird species one can see, especially hummingbirds. It is possible to see at least 15 hummingbird species in Arizona. Of that number, I have seen about half, that latest of which was the Plain-capped Starthroat. More about that experience in another blog, for now I want to tell you about our first resident hummer!
I waited until this past Tuesday to put out my first hummingbird feeders. It has been very hot in the desert, and I was understandably busy getting a bit settled in our new home. Now that the cool (well, that's a relative term) fall weather has arrived, I felt it was the appropriate time to put out a couple of window feeders. It wasn't long before the little fellow pictured above arrived and claimed our feeders as his own! As near as I can tell, he is an immature Anna's hummingbird. I surmise that time will confirm my initial identification.
He has taken up residence in the Mesquite right outside our bedroom window. He voraciously defends the feeder pictured below as well as one about 15 feet west along the back wall of our house. It is hilarious to watch him defending both feeders from potential intruders! The acrobatics he displays in his defense flights are enough to make one dizzy!!
I am hoping you are intrigued enough by this blog and the photographs (though they would never win any contests) that accompany it to pay us a visit. Some of these beautiful "flying jewels" are 12 month residents of Arizona. The summer temps find many of them in the higher elevations, and others migrate south for the winter. Just let me know when you are coming, and I will look forward to introducing you to our little fellow, who I expect will be here all winter, as well as the many other birds that live around us.

Mountains Around Us!

One day as we driving through our new surroundings I said to Tom: "Will we ever get tired of seeing the mountains?" I am just amazed each time we are out and about -- whether driving or walking -- at the beauty of the mountains surrounding us. No, they are no huge mountains like the Rockies, which I have only seen from the air, but beautiful close-to-earth mountains that add a special dimension to every day outings! Above is one of my very favorite views that we enjoy as we drive the short distance from our home to visit our niece and her family.
Another aspect of our new surroundings that makes life so special is the mix of homes, businesses, and agriculture. When we arrived in July, the cotton plants were rather small and non-descript. As time went on, I watched them with delight noting the maturing plants and waiting excitedly for the cotton blossoms. I had only seen cotton plants with the fruit (bolls) on when we visited on previous December or early January trips. So seeing the flowers was a greatly anticipated experience for me. Here is a field of cotton in bloom. I did not get close enough to experience a fragrance, if there is one; but just the beautiful white flowers was reward enough for me:-) Now I am watching the flowers turn into "fruit" and anticipating watching my first cotton harvest!
This last picture shows the mountains at twilight. This is a view that we have the privilege of enjoying any time that we are out and about in the late evening. I especially love walking at this time of the day. For one thing, it is much coolers, and the desert sunsets have such beautiful depth of colors.
I hope you have enjoyed experiencing "my" mountains via my blog. If you would like to experience them up close and in person, just let me know. Our guest room is ready and waiting for you!

Kids of the Desert

One of the most exciting things about moving from Michigan to Arizona (and especially the house the Lord allowed us to buy) was that we would be so close to four of our grandnieces/ nephews!! Here Tabor (on the right) and Chris (on the left) are engaging in a "sword" fight out in the backyard. Their "swords" are yardsticks with duct tape on them -- how creative!! They started with four and quit when only one "sword" was left, smart boys that they are. Tabor is in fourth grade this year and enjoys school. But he is always happy when it is time to go home. Chris is in 6th grade and is an excellent student. They are active boys who keep their parents busy in many ways, but life would be pretty boring without them around!!

Here you see Anna, the youngest at five years of age. She started kindergarten this fall and loves it. She makes friends easily, so ALL of her classmates are her friends! No wonder here!! When her mom is busy with church meetings or work, we get to pick Anna up and bring her to our house for lunch and a couple of hours of fun. She loves to play games, and here she is beating Uncle Tom at a game of War!! She also beats Aunt Judy at the same game on occasion. Here we find Anna and Amanda engaging in their favorite after-school activity: watching television. They are probably watching "Phineas and Ferb", which keeps us all laughing most of the time! Anna looks a bit perturbed here, and Amanda is concentrating on what is going on. Amanda is so happy to be in 8th grade this year and is an excellent student. It's fun to have a teenage girl around, especially as we watch her blossom into young womanhood.

Okay, I know, I know. These really aren't "kids", but they belong to the kids. Mattie, the black & white Boston Terrier, is 10 years old. Though she is slowing down at bit, she definitely can keep Chip (a three month old King Charles Spaniel) in line. Chip is cute and fun to have around -- well, most of the time. Watching them play brings a smile to one's face!
These are the "Kids of the Desert" that we enjoy so much. From time to time I will post a new blog about what is going on in their lives. I hope you enjoyed getting acquainted with them. That's all for now:-)