Monsoon Moisture - Our Summer Weather Study

I captured this image of the clouds at sunset last night coming in off the lake. Gorgeous!

Summer in our part of Northern California is HOT and DRY!

But, occasionally we get the weather phenomenon called "monsoon moisture" which really means that the storms come from the Gulf of California and are tropical in nature, reaching up into the mountains of Northern California with moisture and thunderstorms. (That is my very non-technical explanation of monsoon moisture.) We are going to be using this topic as the advanced study portion of the Summer Weather Challenge.

Monsoon Moisture in the eastern Sierra Nevada at Mono Lake 2006

When this happens, we see quite an interesting buffet of weather activity:
1. Scattered afternoon thunderstorms
2. Down pours of rain
3. Gusty high winds
4. Beautiful clouds (especially at sunset)
5. Increased fire danger because of the chance of dry lightning (no rain)

After an monsoon weather event, the air is sticky with warm moist air. The plants and trees are refreshed, the dry leaves swept away, and the air just smells so nice and fresh.

Monsoon Moisture - Bodie State Park,  Eastern Sierra Nevada 2006. We got very wet in the rainstorm that came shortly after taking this photo!

We had such an even last night which will give us an account to share as part of the Summer Weather Challenge in the More Nature Study series. It was really hot at bedtime so we decided to sleep out on the back deck under the stars. It started off fairly innocently with a few wisps of clouds slowly moving across the sky blocking out the stars. Then the wind started to gust and the first flashes of lightning came quickly one after the other. The rumble of the thunder was in the distance. No problem my husband said...he thought it was just going to be a dry lightning event where there is no rain associated with the storm.

Boy, was he wrong!

By 11 PM the lightning, thunder, wind, and rain hit with full force. The wind chimes were ringing constantly and we decided we better give up the idea of sleeping outside. This kind of weather is fairly normal for our area in the summer and we have a couple of these storms usually in July or August. What turned this into an unusual event was the length of the storm. We still were having lightning, thunder, wind, and rain until at least 4 AM. It was a restless night for all of us as we kept getting up to peer out the windows and doors at the awesome display of power in this storm.

The garden still had plenty of beautiful flowers for a bouquet this morning.

The power went out for a short time but all in all there was little other inconvenience from the storm. Today the sun rose and warmed the air and made us all feel welcome. The windows were opened and the fans turned on to drive away the humidity a bit.

Right on time for our Summer Weather Challenge!

Here are a few of our other summer weather entries:
Summer Weather 2011 - Can You Say HOT?
Summer Weather Sunrise/Sunset Observations 2010

Garden Update-September 6th 2010

I have been neglecting my garden. I confess it and I admit it. The herbs are going to blossom and then seed because I am not cutting them regularly. (These are garlic chives.)


My strawberry patch turned brown because of lack of water but here it is coming back to life after two weeks of daily attention.


Okay...is this the prettiest little pink flower ever? I filled a couple of empty pots up with some sort of succulents from Home Depot at the beginning of the summer. I did not realize when I got this one that it would have these pretty flowers come the August heat. Gorgeous. There were about ten flowers blooming at a time on each of the plants. Wish I could remember what kind of plant this is and I would give it to all my friends. I will have to check Home Depot next time I am there.


Our sunflowers this year were quite disappointing. They bloomed for a day or two and then immediately turned brown and shriveled up. After last year's bumper crop, we felt like we hardly had any at all to count bees on for the Great Sunflower Project. This is the Lemon Sunflower which I have come to love for its big yellow petals.

We are still picking tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini from our garden but nearly as many as normal. The squirrels are eating or dropping all the walnuts from the tree and making a huge mess. I have already started my fall garden clean-up which is very early for us.

Our attention has been in our front yard, remodeling to remove the water thirsty grass and replacing it with plants that need less water. We removed a tree and put in a retaining wall while we were at it.

Here is the before photo:


Here is where we are now:


We are hoping to finish the basics and fill in with plants and pavers as we have time and money. My husband and the boys are doing all the work themselves. I will write up some future entries with exactly the process we have worked through to get where we are in the remodel.

That wraps up this garden update. There is always something to do and something to plan for the garden isn't there?

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Photo Clean-Up: Summer's End 2009

This is not a meaty post but one to catch up on all the stuff going on around here that didn't seem to fit into any other post.....we will call it a photo potpourri.

Sequoia cone with seeds that we found on our deck this week. Last year was the first year we noticed cones from our tree and there are quite a few more this year.


My passion flower is blooming for the very first time ever. What a spectacular flower!


Cabbage moth on my broccoli. Can I just say that the caterpillars of this particular moth are eating all the leaves off the broccoli?


But on the positive side the peas are coming up and growing every day now....fall gardening has started.


There are still squash blossoms and bees in the garden as well.


These are a variety of asters that we planted from seed and they are so very pretty right now.



Zinnias, coneflowers and cosmos still in abundance as we reach the end of the summer cutting garden.



Walking at dusk last week with the moon rising on one side and the sun setting on the other...awesome.

I am getting warmed up to the idea that summer is over and that autumn is coming on quickly.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

I Am Going To Miss Summer

Woke up this morning feeling a little sad about the end of summer.

I am going to miss.....




Summer hikes in the National Parks......


My gigantic sunflowers and participating in the Great Sunflower Project, sitting quietly watching for bees.


Crazy games of volleyball in the park with friends...even in the rain.


Hikes with the boys looking for Big Foot in the redwoods.


Lunchtime walks at the river with our swimmer dog Kona.



I am even going to miss the hot summer afternoons and garden tending.


The Oregon Coast-camping, hiking, photographing, exploring, sitting peacefully in the sand, hiking in the trees, identifying mushrooms, observing banana slugs, and dodging rain....all of those things made such great memories this year.



Freshly cut grass and crepe myrtle blooms in the warm summer evenings....usually with accompanying bats flying overhead.

I will just need to find some things to fill me up during this autumn season. I will challenge myself to find the best parts of this season.

There will be some of this in a month or two....


and this too.....


That ought to lift my spirits!

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Summer Hummingbird Surprise

This guy decided to sit and let us get a very good look at him the other day. My son was quick with the camera and snapped this photo for me.

We have had an amazing amount of hummingbirds in our yard this year and the feeders are humming all day long. They also love the butterfly bush, the trumpet vine and the crepe myrtle.

The garden is starting to look like mid-summer and not at its prime but the birds, bees, and butterflies are still daily visitors.

The daily rhythm is changing up a bit and soon the harvesting will be complete. Already the evening comes quickly and the nights seem a little crisper. There isn't much that we can do to delay the progress towards autumn so I will try to enjoy the changes as they come.

Take some time this week to note your neighborhood and talk a little with your children about what they see out the window or as you take a short nature walk.

I have started a list of things that I would like to do this autumn for nature study and I will share it with you all very soon.

For dinner today, it will be another round of fresh bruschetta from the garden....tomatoes and basil are still coming daily. Filling the birdbaths and watering the roses will be done in the cooler evening hours. Tomorrow we are hoping to harvest the plums.

Enjoy the tastes of summer....a feast for the eyes and a feast for the belly.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Sweet Blackberry Days of Summer

The time is here! Blackberries are ripe and we picked a bucket full for jelly making. My dad has an area down by his creek that is full of blackberries. He even trimmed up the bushes to make the picking easier.


I had a helper who wasn't afraid to get stuck with the thorns and that made it go really fast. My arms are scratched up from leaning over into the patch but that is where all the really juicy ones are, of course.


We brought our berries home and made six pints of jelly and now they are sitting on my shelf just waiting for some homemade biscuits. I love opening a jar in the middle of winter and remembering the sweet blackberry days of summer.

Next up in the canning department...plum jam! It will be here pretty soon.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Outdoor Hour Challenge-Summer Tree Challenge

I know there are many families that did not complete the Summer Tree Observation Challenge last year. (Outdoor Hour Challenge #20).

This week instead of completing another challenge for crop plants....why not complete the Summer Tree Challenge? This could be the start of a year long tree study for your family. Pick a tree in your backyard or in your neighborhood and observe it in every season over the next year. There is more instruction once you click over to Challenge #20.

Here is a link to Challenge #20.

If you scroll down to the bottom of the post, you can click the different family's links from Mr. Linky and see what their tree study was like. Be inspired by each other!

Make sure to share your tree on Mr. Linky after you are finished.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Clover...In Our Grass: Our Outdoor Hour Challenge

We have so much clover in our grass right now that this challenge was very easy! We also identified a new plant that we thought was a kind of clover, later determining that it was not clover but a kind of verbena. We definitely have white clover in our grass and the bees love it.



We didn't have to wait long for the bees to show up when we were observing our clover plants.


The other plant that we found growing in our grass is Self-heal. (Thanks Diana for the correct identification on this plant.) The purple flowers are spiraled around the top of the plant. It is growing right alongside the clover and grass.



We tried to observe the nodules on the clover root, but we were not very successful. I think we need to find a place where the ground is softer and we can really dig up the entire plant. Perhaps we can pull out the magnifying glass as well and look closer.


We dug up a verbena plant as well and compared the roots, stem, and flower t that of the white clover.

The boys started the suggested clover study from page 598 (number 5) in the Handbook of Nature Study and recorded the first day on their Crop Plants Notebook Page.

"The clover head is made up of many little flowers; each one has a tubular calyx with five delicate points and a little stalk to hold it up into the world. In shape, the corolla is much like that of the sweet pea, and each secretes nectar at its base. The outside blossoms open first; and as soon as they are open, the honey bees, which eagerly visit white clover wherever it is growing, begin at once their work of gathering nectar and carrying pollen..." Handbook of Nature Study, page 597

We have seen other kinds of clover over the last few months and once you can distinguish its appearance, you start to see clover all over the place.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Blackberry Time of Year

We are now into the blackberry season in our corner of the world.

You will frequently find me with blue fingers and big smile.

I couldn't find the blackberry in the Handbook of Nature Study, but I did read about the wild strawberry last week. I love this quote and I think it applies equally to the blackberry as it does to the strawberry.

"Of all the blossoms that cloth our open fields, one of the prettiest is that of the wild strawberry. And yet so influenced is man by his stomach that he seldom heeds this flower except as a promise of a crop of strawberries. It is comforting to know that the flowers of the field 'do not care a rap' whether man notices them or not; insect attentions are what they need, and they are surely as indifferent to our indifference as we are to theirs."
Handbook of Nature Study, page 608

We are partaking of both blackberries and strawberries right now as well as figs. The figs are huge this year and very juicy.

In the evening, after dinner last night, we were sitting outside and enjoying the cool air and I notice a Scrub jay sitting and having his meal of figs. There are so many figs this year that I don't mind that they take the ones from the top of the tree that I can't reach to pick. Sharing the fruits of the garden is all a part of the fun of it.

I hope everyone is enjoying the season and finding joy in the fruits of their gardens.

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Garden Update: Early July

This week's garden update includes some new munchies from the garden. The poppy above is probably going to be close to one of the last that I have for the year. I love the texture of this blossom, so delicate and papery.



I went ahead and picked the last of the lettuce. These are little mini heads of lettuce that taste so sweet and nice, almost like butter lettuce.


This is the final crop of mixed leaf lettuce. I don't really care for the bitterness of these varieties. I think we will plant a different kind in the fall....some that aren't so strong.


Banana peppers....I can hardly wait!



The hydrangeas are awesome this year. I love the purpleness of this one plant.


Our experimental mullein is blooming. For the first time we left the mullein growing in several spots in the yard and it is now showing us its more beautiful side. The hummingbirds have been investigating it as well. :) The empty feeder is a normal sight in our yard lately. I have a hard time keeping up.


Here is another angle of this section of the garden on a different day. The sunflowers are really tall now, way over my head. See how tall the mullein is too?


I don't think that I have shared my milkweed's progress yet. I sent away for some milkweed seeds from ButterflyEncounters.com and I started some of the seed in pots. I am a little nervous about transplanting it into the garden so I got a bigger pot and I am going to still keep a careful eye on it over the summer.


Amanda's coneflowers are blooming and the bees are buzzing happily. If you look carefully in the background of this photo, you will see her zinnias have started to bloom as well.

Well, that is a quick trip around our garden this week. Just to a note to myself=We planted bee balm and salvia this week, hoping it will grow now that the weather is hot.

Until the next garden update...
Barb-Harmony Art Mom