tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68146768443123290222024-03-14T13:58:23.821-07:00Musings from Little Grove FarmEsoteric and heirloom fruits and vegetables, exotic South African and Australian cut flowersLinda Maepahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16306060032227412157noreply@blogger.comBlogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-7681489802696980112024-03-14T13:58:00.000-07:002024-03-14T13:58:22.493-07:00Late Winter Mushroom Foraging and the Black ChanterellesIt has been a wonderfully wet Winter in California this year - that means mushrooms! A gem that we never get enough of is flourishing this year, the Black Chanterelle.
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These unexpected looking mushrooms are <i>Craterellus cornucopioides</i>, variously described as "black petunias" sitting in the duff, or "holes in spacetime that you cook Risotto with" (ok, that one is mine). We usually have a few each year, however, this year we have enough to cook with!
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There are very few mushrooms these can be confused with, though the list isn't empty! If you want to pick and eat your own mushrooms, always start by joining your local mycological society and going on some of their forrays. We are long time members of the Mycological Society of San Francisco (at mssf.org) and it is an eclectic and fun group. Local knowledge is essential, and your local mycological society will have experts on the local ones that are safe to start with, and the ones best left for photography rather than culinary purposes. You can die from eating the wrong mushroom, plant, or animal - if you are going to forage, then "apprentice" to local folks doing the same to learn how to do it safely. My first finding of a tasty edible was about a quarter century ago, and when I brought it to the gentleman doing the identification, he joked "I'll tell you what it is if you give me half and tell me where you found them"... coming from a chef, I sort of had my answer... he even helped me confirm the identity of the mushrooms without actually asking for any.
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Rocket Fuel and Mushroom overlap! <I>Helvella dryophila</I> makes rocket fuel as a toxin to prevent its being eaten! The Oak-loving Elfin Saddle has a much longer season than the Black Chanterelle while being an even more improbable looking beastie:
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This is a distant relative of the famous Morel mushroom, and others in this group have amazing properties - while some folks consider this "edible, but not worth the trouble" since it must be cooked thoroughly, the very thing that is being driven off is rocket fuel. Yes, this is a mushroom that makes toxic rocket fuel to prevent its being eaten. The material in question in monomethyl hydrazine. Really. I tend to cook these thoroughly (see hydrazine - not food) and put them into my eggs (cook before putting in the eggs!) before scrambling them. Eat entirely at your own risk - I strongly suggest going to some mycological society forrays and talking about the different perspectives on Gyromitrin and some of the other toxins in this group, how to mitigate and remove them, and whether it is worth the effort at all. Wikipedia has a short article on this mushroom's kin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvella_lacunosa
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How about some tea on a cold evening? Probably not the tea made from this mushroom, yet it is an important element of several First Nations traditional medical practice, as well as being commercially available in several forms, generally from Traditional Chinese medical practicioners, though I've even seen tea containing it show up in some local specialty shops. Meet <I>Trametes versicolor</I>, a common mushroom on fallen oak and tanoak logs. Locally it is called Turkey Tail and several other names. Once again, join your local mycological society for experienced guidance on how, when, and where to collect and use this if you are inclined to try, or just go with the farmed commercial material. This is however able to be found almost year-round in our local mountains, most frequently in the deep, moist woods and on fallen hardwoods. It is a delightful and beautiful sight, stumbling across a log or stump covered with these.
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Read more about <I>Trametes</I> here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trametes_versicolor
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Here are a few others from recent walks. These two are different types of Waxy Caps (not food):
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Below is a member of the Club Fungi, I think Ramariopsis but am not certain (not food):
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For a few years during the recent drought, mushrooms became rarer encounters. It feels great to have all these old friends popping up when I explore the forest again! Get out into the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Open Space preserves and such this month and you may well meet amazing mushrooms and fungi - if you are wanting to collect some, try Point Reyes National Seashore and follow the rules.
Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-37057911971392726992024-01-04T10:35:00.000-08:002024-01-18T23:58:40.556-08:00The Mockingbird and the BulbineAnimals have opinions of things just like people do. Evidently we have a Northern Mockingbird that has it in for some plants we grow called <i>Bulbine mesembryanthemoides</i>.
Bulbines are succulent lily relatives, with most of the ones we grow coming from the Winter rainfall regions of South Africa. They die back to the ground when the weather gets hot and dry. The ones we like a lot are also "picture leaf" succulents, with leaves that push their transparent tips above the sand and gravel, then most of the leaf is hidden in the ground, yet photosynthesis happens largely underground in the burried green part of the leaf. This is what they look like in cultivation with a bit more of the leaf exposed than is always the case in habitat:
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However, the Mockingbird has reduced this to a "hopefully it will live" condition:
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Another species is <i>Bulbine haworthioides</i>, which looks like this in cultivation for us:
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It hasn't been pecked with the exuberance of some of the other species, yet has taken damage from our Mockingbrid:
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Yet another species under attack is <i>Bulbine bruynsi</i>, this one shows light damage and is the least damaged photo I have from this year:
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<i>B. bryunsii</i> after Mockingbird attack is a lot less photogenic, and I worry whether it will be able to set seeds:
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Birds do <i>not</i> sit still and pose for my photography the way plants do, so the image quality of my photo of the culprit is a wee bit "Loch Ness Monster" quality:
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I have questions: This bird and this plant have no natural range overlap - what is the bird getting from the plant? Is this medicine, or a treat, or something it feels some way about? Mockingbirds drink dewdrops, and one idea is that the plants with their crystalline looking leaves appear to be constantly covered in dewdrops. Once pecked, the leaves are clear gel much like from an <i>Aloe vera</i> leaf, so the bird gets a drink as it expects.
Now to practical matters: Defense of the plants.
I purchased a fistful of 3/16" diameter 3' long dowel rods. I cut them into bits that fit the tray length, and used the remainder of the 4 dowels as verticals. I cut four crosspieces from two more dowels (each about 12" long). I also bought a bag of wooden beads from a craft shop and used a drill press to turn them into vertices of the structure (3 holes at 90 degrees to each other).
I assembled this into a rectangular frame that I could fit over the plants, and draped mesh over it. So far, it is working.
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I'll update if this continues to work to protect these plants. With luck, they can set seeds successfully in here as well.
Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-23860034024901312472022-11-21T10:58:00.001-08:002022-11-21T10:58:23.021-08:00Picking Saffron<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidqYKgW-c5t5ZyQqORTCTJEf0G1hVdsULrKZgxMiedKRFac2BKYBG6cvaN9ynIRCOVb1BZyN89bKAHtl6oM0oMHgEidBKAaf_d3FBpOBNn67YJhIeVfsCCJ7oxhEwbVjsPOv4mDddhHEBuXjFYdJGAYpXMoG1dH7iWe3edD7Q0pAqzcuW9ZuTv7mFC3Q/s4032/20221120_191559.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidqYKgW-c5t5ZyQqORTCTJEf0G1hVdsULrKZgxMiedKRFac2BKYBG6cvaN9ynIRCOVb1BZyN89bKAHtl6oM0oMHgEidBKAaf_d3FBpOBNn67YJhIeVfsCCJ7oxhEwbVjsPOv4mDddhHEBuXjFYdJGAYpXMoG1dH7iWe3edD7Q0pAqzcuW9ZuTv7mFC3Q/s320/20221120_191559.jpg"/></a></div>
See those orange threads in the centers of the these flowers? Those orange threads, when separated from the rest of the flower, spread out and dried, are the spice Saffron!
It turns out growing Saffron is not that hard. Picking it is a bit different, especially in our yard where it isn't gardening or farming, it is "feeding the deer" far too often. The critters in the forest really love almost everything we plant, so fencing becomes important.
Saffron is actually a crocus that flowers in the Fall. These small bulbs are from the eastern shore of the Mediterranean sea, where the Summers are hot and rainless, and the Winters are mild and have some rain.
To grow them in California, we plant the bulbs about 4" deep on a well drained sandy slope (thin soil over sandstone). The slope aims west, to the sunsets. There are tall trees to the east, so there is little early sun. There are small shrubs and the ones that do best are right under the driplines of the shrubs. This may be because it is harder for the deer to get their faces into the place to eat the leaves.
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They flower in November for us on the San Francisco penninsula, with the leaves coming up with the flowers or just after them. The leaves persist until late Spring, often into early June. Then they want no water at all over the long, hot Summer. This is both a permaculture crop (plant once, harvest many years) and a dryland farming crop.
The first commercial Saffron farm in the area is just down by the coast from us. We just grow saffron for our own use. Saffron is a great plant for California as it works on rainfall alone - we do not irrigate our Saffron. In drier years it may not flower as abundantly, though it will still flower.
Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-64346795427451194822021-09-06T10:54:00.004-07:002021-09-06T10:54:29.249-07:00Biarum carratracense subterranean seed developmentYou know that feeling of anticipation when a small package that is long awaited arrives from far away? Someone in our household recently got a taste of that with the arrival of a new species of <i>Biarum</i> from afar (well, Oregon). This one contained a new to our garden species of <i>Biarum</i>!
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If you've never heard of Biarum, that is because they are a pretty obscure bunch of plants found largely around the Mediterranean. The tallest ones are barely one foot tall in leaf, and they can be so inconspicuous that you can be walking through a field full of them and have the greatest trouble actually finding one. That is, if you nose is clogged or they aren't in flower. These are fly pollinated miniature relatives of the famous Corpse Flower (<i>Amorphophallus titanum</i> which has the largest flower structure of any plant).
The flowers range through quite a range of intricate forms, from the jellyfish-vase-something-else shaped flowers of <i>Biarum davisii</i>
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to the more conventionally shaped flowers of <i>Biarum carratracense</i>.
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Both the photos above show plants in pots that are 2.825" wide at the top - so these are not large flowers! In fact, here is a photo of a <i>Biarum</i> flower just about to open (emerging from the small pot sitting inside the large pot) for scale next to a well-past-it's-prime flowering specimen of <i>Amorphophallus konjac</i> standing a bit more than four feet tall.
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These plants tend to flower before or after the leaves have grown, so the flowers tend to emerge from bare ground. Most of the flower is below ground, and the seeds develop underground until they are ripe. In this way they resemble the completely unrelated genus <i>Gethyllis</i> from South Africa. This is the view down into one of the flowers of Biarum zelebourii earlier this year.
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The seeds develop completely underground as a cluster of berries. The berries contain a single seed each. Clusters of berries are pushed above ground when they ripen, though the creatures that the berries are intended for are not well documented. Normally these in-development berries are hidden underground, and hence cannot be seen. While repotting Biarums recently that I expected to be fully dormant, I discovered this one with both root growth for the new year and developing berries:
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If you want to try growing Biarum, there are very few commercial sources. These are some of the ones we have been able to get tubers from recently (we have used these sources, have no ties to them, and have no monetary or other kickbacks, affiliate programs, etc... with them for making the recommendations):<P>
<A HREF="https://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/">The Pacific Bulb Society</A> - a nonprofit that has seed and bulb exchanges available to members several times a year, must be a member to participate <P>
<A HREF="https://www.rareplants.co.uk/">Rare Plants Nursery, United Kingdom</A> Shipping is expensive, the plants are as advertised and always arrived for us in excellent condition <P>
<A HREF="https://illaherarebulbs.blogspot.com/">Illahe Rare Bulbs</A> This one is tricky - they offer their catalog once a year, in late July into August, for a few weeks only. Often have excellent prices, quality is spectacular, and Mark is communicative if you need support or have questions. The old catalogs are posted for archival purposes - and the blog format to find the catalogs when posted is confusing, at least to me. <P>
<A HREF="https://seedsofpeace.info/">Seeds of Peace</A> - Oron Perri runs this seed and bulb farm in Israel. He generally grows everything - the seeds and the bulbs. Often has several species unobtainable elswere. Quality I've received is excellent uniformly, seeds arrive in a week or two typically.<P>
<A HREF="https://telosrarebulbs.com/">Telos Rare Bulbs</A> - a California operation, catalog lists items when available, so order right then if you see something. Diana has always shipped me very high quality plants. One of my longest running an favorite rare bulb sources! <P>
<B>LIBERTO’s SEEDS AND BULBS</B> Eleftherios Dariotis growing bulbs near Athens, Greece - I've always had excellent interactions and high quality materials from him. He sells on eBay sometimes, and directly other times. He also produces an annual catalog he emails out in Summer. You have to email him at eldaebay at yahoo.com to get on his email list. Ask him about Biarum - he may have some not in his catalog due to small quantities being available. <P>
If you know other sources, please make a comment and I'll update this list. <P>
To obtain a "Permit to Import Plants and Plant ProductsRegulated by 7 CFR 319 Subpart - Plants for Planting" from the US Department of Agriculture go here and apply - they are free and enable legal importation of foreign plants (PPQ 587 is the form you are looking for): <P>
<A HREF="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/import-information/permits/plants-and-plant-products-permits">https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/import-information/permits/plants-and-plant-products-permits</A> for overview of the permit process <P>
<A HREF="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/library/forms/pdf/PPQ587.pdf">https://www.aphis.usda.gov/library/forms/pdf/PPQ587.pdf></A> for a blank permit form you can fill out in your browser and print to send in. If you are going to do a lot of permits, you can get put into the online system for applying for and managing permits - you have to take your passport into the USDA and make an appointment and all that. <P>
It all begins with a flower... or is it a seed... which comes first, the flower or the seed? Er, yes, the seed came first, perhaps by a hundred million years. Happy gardening!
Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-33863337995687551982021-04-01T00:29:00.007-07:002021-04-01T00:29:42.400-07:00Biarum zelebourii flowering for us for the first time<p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg243fkQEF-ZQ9ky_rQpqi8dqPeg3jSd7btQ-TNhrJof6hR-zG_vdP960oH2jZM5ESrQzQiEtANTn6vkET5JyXKsqCjbd9oRnbbqR5hJudt-WoAIupWGNl_VBovnwFMlDBdVGlIMJWOr3CS/s6000/DSC_8416.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg243fkQEF-ZQ9ky_rQpqi8dqPeg3jSd7btQ-TNhrJof6hR-zG_vdP960oH2jZM5ESrQzQiEtANTn6vkET5JyXKsqCjbd9oRnbbqR5hJudt-WoAIupWGNl_VBovnwFMlDBdVGlIMJWOr3CS/s320/DSC_8416.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Biarum zelebourii </i>flowering<br /></td></tr></tbody></table> </p><p>This is a distant relative of the Calla Lily. It is found in Syria - this one came, in a roundabout fashion, from seeds collected outside Qalaat Majm in 1991. We purchased a tuber from a grower in the UK last year (their listing for the species is <a href="https://www.rareplants.co.uk/product/biarum-zelebourii/" target="_blank">here</a>). I am unable to find a single photo of this species on the web, so decided to put up at least one photo!</p><p> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQKjhhzcWnNyXBhEJOqhq4ZvIxv4QoHIys3mx3oWbVj3JeakJByESiz_l9Wq-9Xcgf5qg7P2pwUBQjOzyBxMb9VcKPPBuhqUpvtAYaCIJUc-1ZTCrgPfKRMqalND4r5Fd836JNYdT6ajuL/s6000/DSC_8418.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6000" data-original-width="4000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQKjhhzcWnNyXBhEJOqhq4ZvIxv4QoHIys3mx3oWbVj3JeakJByESiz_l9Wq-9Xcgf5qg7P2pwUBQjOzyBxMb9VcKPPBuhqUpvtAYaCIJUc-1ZTCrgPfKRMqalND4r5Fd836JNYdT6ajuL/s320/DSC_8418.JPG" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Biarum zelebourii</i><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></p><p><i>Biarum</i> consists of about 21 currently recognized species. They grow around the Mediterranean and into the Middle East, none of them like snow or freezing temperatures, and all are dormant over the long, dry summer months.</p><p>Most species bloom in the Fall, with a few odd ones deciding to flower in the Spring after the leaves have died down.</p><p>I've been interested in <i>Biarum</i> for about 30 years, and have grown them before only to discover squirrels seem to delight in digging these up and eating them. Last year our son, BD, was looking through a catalog of unusual bulbs with me and fell in love with another species, <i>Biarum davisii</i>, immediately. He decided to do things to collect enough money so he could have his very own. Unfortunately, we ordered a bit too late and they were sold out. Thus began a quest across three continents via the internet, it having been 2020, to find and acquire his first <i>Biarum</i>.<br /></p><p>We finally had success in Greece, where many of the species are native. A note about buying plants outside the USA - you will want to take a minute to apply for an import permit with the USDA so customs doesn't just take your plant. Use the <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/aphis/resources/sa_epermits/sa_plants/ppq-epermits" target="_blank">PPQ Form 587</a> to apply for your permit. Expect it to take about two weeks to issue, and there are more rules that have to be followed (a phytosanitary certificate is needed, for example). Then you can safely bring in your plants from overseas.</p><p>One of the really neat things about these plants is how they are pollinated - they emit heat (there are <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19538388/" target="_blank">"warm blooded"</a> plants!?!) and trap flies (they smell like rotting things, much like their larger kin, the <i>Amorphophallus</i> or Titan Arums). Unlike them, the smell is very localized. The spadix (the large "tongue" emerging from the flower) appears to be something insects can crawl into the flower on. Once there, they encounter obstacles that force them past pollen bearing structures and the female parts of the flower, in some species trapping the bugs until the next morning.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM5eKPwYXr4jC3VUZMN_pKx8eBJh3J4U1VlC7QNivknOqzHan3PGi_Z665LFyQzCiQCfeVZDh05ieLzhpYstKgqucBtqlWoE-IJudRSibOJ1iqygW0vDw23CRLqLyfD3yA1JHEJ8KA5yC3/s6000/DSC_8421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM5eKPwYXr4jC3VUZMN_pKx8eBJh3J4U1VlC7QNivknOqzHan3PGi_Z665LFyQzCiQCfeVZDh05ieLzhpYstKgqucBtqlWoE-IJudRSibOJ1iqygW0vDw23CRLqLyfD3yA1JHEJ8KA5yC3/s320/DSC_8421.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p><br />For comparison, here is our <i>Amorphophallus konjac</i> finishing flowering (about four feet tall) alongside our son's <i>Biarum zelebourii</i> in bud:</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTux-9Glm3ZWQWa_UtD6waAFQ-ZnvwxKvBdfmAp4tZD31BRqNHWTulz02crJ6tZpQc1MZ6g9wG7sZ0E85F0QCyAb3FzP2O97v6cTNYvqlT7G-aWb6laeu2h5jqSH5vwkOZzFLS8u-A6mVn/s4032/20210327_113453.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTux-9Glm3ZWQWa_UtD6waAFQ-ZnvwxKvBdfmAp4tZD31BRqNHWTulz02crJ6tZpQc1MZ6g9wG7sZ0E85F0QCyAb3FzP2O97v6cTNYvqlT7G-aWb6laeu2h5jqSH5vwkOZzFLS8u-A6mVn/s320/20210327_113453.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Amorphophallus konjac</i> flower and <i>Biarum zelebourii</i> flower for scale comparison</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>We grow these in our standard "desert bulb" soil mix (1 part coir fiber by volume, 1 part pearlite by volume, 1 part agricultural grade pumice by volume, and some slow release organic bulb food, and generally some garnet sand) in deep but small pots (the pot for the <i>Biarum</i> in the above photos is 3" wide and 7" tall).<br /></p>Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-85114862828106053802021-03-11T18:26:00.005-08:002021-03-11T22:27:35.979-08:00Fires in the Western United States, 2020<p>Watching the planet from the various instruments that are available in orbit offers some really clear insights into just how unusual the fires of 2020 were - not just in California, but across the West, including in Oregon, Colorado, and Washington. I screen captured (from the NASA <a href="https://firms2.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/usfs/map/#d:2021-03-11..2021-03-12;l:noaa20-viirs,viirs,modis_a,modis_t,active-usa,active-ca;@-100.0,40.0,4z" target="_blank">firms</a> system) one-week integrations of all the points on the ground that registered as "on fire" in the infrared and stitched them into a short movie.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyEMZbviByaMGMnQH_A_Kp76-iJyh--BuOq77qpmZa9Tz-mVVqhEPc5Lo0PL8kbX5Lm-6Vqd14xMoX5OUgu4g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p>At the beginning of the year, the fires are almost all in agricultural lands of the Central Valley. Fire pixels tend to be isolated or in very small groups, representing the burning of individual or groups of fields. This is from the week spanning February 5th through 11th, 2020.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm0CJVzzfo92whvSxLOpVq5xLRSfa5ZfE1j16YTjULjKtVo4XmLKZlPkun1pjXOOxpo3E8SCTxaRQUaEr6UA6L9oJ7yip-koDcRD7A3tOrHEzozOfaWHsA4wLLaN7fcQjRlOuJI4FNo1UU/s371/Screenshot+from+2021-03-11+14-49-46.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="371" data-original-width="359" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm0CJVzzfo92whvSxLOpVq5xLRSfa5ZfE1j16YTjULjKtVo4XmLKZlPkun1pjXOOxpo3E8SCTxaRQUaEr6UA6L9oJ7yip-koDcRD7A3tOrHEzozOfaWHsA4wLLaN7fcQjRlOuJI4FNo1UU/s320/Screenshot+from+2021-03-11+14-49-46.png" /></a></div><p></p><p>By the end of October, the fires are mostly in the wildlands, and once again are small and distributed widely. Notice the large organized fires in the Sierra Nevada Mountains just below picture center - this is the end of on of the massive fires.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmzBEyNDFg79ejtBDaZHMeZtCZnHn6fZb-WcKSakdWR06STWpQ0u4QUseXpnU_tVjjI3LXSvvMFxuBCnDF-Ej9wp1B6k6lcEq8ACUdspmSIjgDQsNgC8oWDcND-wrCfY3tbeOGKBeQUHf9/s437/Screenshot+from+2021-03-11+17-02-55.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="437" data-original-width="414" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmzBEyNDFg79ejtBDaZHMeZtCZnHn6fZb-WcKSakdWR06STWpQ0u4QUseXpnU_tVjjI3LXSvvMFxuBCnDF-Ej9wp1B6k6lcEq8ACUdspmSIjgDQsNgC8oWDcND-wrCfY3tbeOGKBeQUHf9/s320/Screenshot+from+2021-03-11+17-02-55.png" /></a></div><p></p><p>Compare either of the above photos with this one from the week of September 9th through 15th, 2020 - look at the numerous large fires that are crossing the Cascades, North Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, and San Gabriel Mountains.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWKzFOkkdOx3kij6tnpdefikFlZoa8c8LKlxa13XpKVqMWbLubjwIWZSmz667XBTzHZo5Z_y7pL-AKopueg1wC1pRUbnY8Hn0z2VXerSOS0CL-vb9jnseAx4C-XJ9dou4B7H-02V78xWR/s522/Screenshot+from+2021-03-11+17-02-22.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="488" data-original-width="522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidWKzFOkkdOx3kij6tnpdefikFlZoa8c8LKlxa13XpKVqMWbLubjwIWZSmz667XBTzHZo5Z_y7pL-AKopueg1wC1pRUbnY8Hn0z2VXerSOS0CL-vb9jnseAx4C-XJ9dou4B7H-02V78xWR/s320/Screenshot+from+2021-03-11+17-02-22.png" width="320" /></a></div><p> </p><p>Having just one of these mesoscale fires is unusual, having a dozen or more is unprecedented. These are burning concurrently, not just in the fire prone areas of Southern California, but in the Redwood forests of the Northern California coast and completely crossing several of the largest mountain ranges in North America.</p><p>The reasons for this are numerous and complex, and the topic of my next post.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-64834540158512554462021-02-27T23:07:00.003-08:002021-02-27T23:07:36.490-08:00Eigendecor using Brunsvigia littoralis seed heads and Clip Leads<p>Both my spouse and I went to a Science and Engineering university. A side effect is that various mathematical terminology now gets warped and bent to our needs.</p><p>Allow us to introduce <b><i>EigenDecor</i></b>!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHh9nL5qqdCUzAZuR1WHUXHypolv57n31NkLFwNUSbZnd5qHEnsXhwLrcD1mTF6U6rSX20dERDXhdAnH2i65mExsJWFuaoqU33Ylfy7izzqmV4vLRgewq79YbiVmjSOrgFC0TtxDh-nlPY/s2048/20200702_195506.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHh9nL5qqdCUzAZuR1WHUXHypolv57n31NkLFwNUSbZnd5qHEnsXhwLrcD1mTF6U6rSX20dERDXhdAnH2i65mExsJWFuaoqU33Ylfy7izzqmV4vLRgewq79YbiVmjSOrgFC0TtxDh-nlPY/s320/20200702_195506.png" /></a></div><p>And who said Botany, Horticulture, Geometry, Electronics, and Home Decorating could not beneficially mix?</p><p>What you see is the seed head from a South African tumbleweed, <i><b>Brunsvigia littoralis</b></i>, jauntily perched on the light in the corner of the living room, and being used to organize our electronic test clip leads. Viola!</p><p>The <i>Brunsvigia littoralis</i> are enormous South African bulbs related to the Belladonna Lilies of Southern California (actually from South Africa) and the Dutch Amaryllis sold around the holidays. We have to hand pollinate them (see http://www.littlegrove.com/2018/10/brunsvigia-pollination-time.html) to even get seed set. Once we have seeds we plant them, these take about ten to fifteen years to reach flowering size. Not the fastest plants to grow... We recently evacuated from the SCZ Complex fire, and we brought these with us, providing a rare reason to dig up our mature bulbs. The one shown below is just beginning to push up its flower bud, and is sitting on a sheet of 8.5x11" paper.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTFSKIvIfwU4GdQibbvytqESJf-ptSOGMiZ_fUE1Nwyf4pdSg9-Rzq7ouFV1R0GcOYfq1AKdCEMK1HMWBrpvyHgFiMdKdnbbNjZsGiylTJqw13DZaS7K31N4VwPsIbNG_pKLNmEspe_JS5/s2048/20200822_151828.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTFSKIvIfwU4GdQibbvytqESJf-ptSOGMiZ_fUE1Nwyf4pdSg9-Rzq7ouFV1R0GcOYfq1AKdCEMK1HMWBrpvyHgFiMdKdnbbNjZsGiylTJqw13DZaS7K31N4VwPsIbNG_pKLNmEspe_JS5/s320/20200822_151828.jpg" /></a></div><p>This particular bulb came to us via the University of California Botanic Garden (the one in Berkeley) semi-annual plant sale and rare plant auction in 2000. It has grown and flowered reliably for me ever since, and eventually produced a single offset bulb about five years ago.</p><p>The clip leads are not specifically interesting, though they came from a recently defunct chain of electronics and eclectica stores called Fry's Electronics. While Fry's had been declining for some time being faced with fierce competition from online retailers, the eccentricity of the early Dot-com era remained visible in their thematic stores and interior decor. For example, the Burbank store contained scenes like this inside:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsfUgbr2sUaMybYw7V7hc_JwrghUlaBDx8dl8ifBFNuMO7XPMhT6vWZgtHqyNBo7URda3DH-BRSUIFyMB1qRopp53xTKcPTMPWctWAj4ry-CjdyyWGn93U_y-OJl4ZiiOWTjqRTWQor7rS/s2048/20201209_185008.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsfUgbr2sUaMybYw7V7hc_JwrghUlaBDx8dl8ifBFNuMO7XPMhT6vWZgtHqyNBo7URda3DH-BRSUIFyMB1qRopp53xTKcPTMPWctWAj4ry-CjdyyWGn93U_y-OJl4ZiiOWTjqRTWQor7rS/s320/20201209_185008.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>I am glad to have been able to have shown my son these eccentric and fun stores before they passed into memory. We did both enjoy them.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-81444254419222458372021-02-24T00:39:00.003-08:002021-02-24T00:39:59.702-08:00A genus that no longer exists, of plants that stop cell division at metaphase<p>Animals eat plants. Plants seem to generally object in their varied ways. Over the few hundred million years this has been happening, plants have gotten clever about fighting back. The thorns of the rose are one example of the results of this long running battle between the herbs and the herbivores.</p><p><b><i>Androcymbium</i></b> is a genus that no longer stands as valid - it is now part of the genus <b><i>Colchicum</i></b>. Like many plants and animals that have been grouped together by morphological taxonomists in decades and centuries past, the groupings have proven to be correct in some ways, and grievously in error in other ways. Those errors started becoming visible when people started sequencing the genomes of these organisms. Molecular phylogenetics has reworked hundreds of years of looking at plants and comparing their features to understand how they are related to each other. Sometimes this has upended what had appeared to be well understood groups.<br /></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidgtE1dGolp8lVrfxYdbIpXOkSGNMwlAjpcf5uMaqrJKbHqHD64Grdc5-ngK24793cwFIuwQqC34wEhWu5i72rK-RWlcz81iXr142TKi15kG-hYbbJShqaDzDZXrhCKscdV4STr7JPKHHK/s2048/20210223_111323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidgtE1dGolp8lVrfxYdbIpXOkSGNMwlAjpcf5uMaqrJKbHqHD64Grdc5-ngK24793cwFIuwQqC34wEhWu5i72rK-RWlcz81iXr142TKi15kG-hYbbJShqaDzDZXrhCKscdV4STr7JPKHHK/s320/20210223_111323.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><b><i>Androcymbium ciliolatum</i></b> has a new name, <em><strong>Colchicum capense</strong></em><strong> subsp. <em>ciliolatum</em></strong>. My plants came from a Garden Club meeting at the Los Angeles County Arboretum in 1986. I've grown them ever since. This is the first year I've convinced these natives of Namaqualand, South Africa to flower.</p><p>This plant has flowers that are actually not the flowers (the same is true of Poinsettia, where the colored "petals" are actually specialized leaves called bracts in some cases. The true flowers hide in the center of these white-green desert chalices.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkOc96H8dH0ZO3vcfB8eFPPdjPifQES1sUN4Orue9re7dVmKsiFC8Si5eK4NSrXEzzqMjK3h6Qj8S0neQryUB0m1JDpAPzdb-dszDpcEEpL-NoXT-pZ5g4QJ4ufnZb2HHVoFP-oAl8uGbm/s2048/20210223_111237.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkOc96H8dH0ZO3vcfB8eFPPdjPifQES1sUN4Orue9re7dVmKsiFC8Si5eK4NSrXEzzqMjK3h6Qj8S0neQryUB0m1JDpAPzdb-dszDpcEEpL-NoXT-pZ5g4QJ4ufnZb2HHVoFP-oAl8uGbm/s320/20210223_111237.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>There is a single flower hiding down in there, with six petaloid filaments ringing the three carpels and styles.</p><p>What does this have to do with defenses? </p><p><i>Androcymbium</i> are poisonous plants if ingested. Their toxin, Colchicine, is a strange one, as it is used in taking photographs of chromosomes. Colchicine is an alkaloid that stops cell division at metaphase. That is the part of cell division where all the chromosomes are lined up in pairs preparing to separate to two new cells. </p><p>Careful use of Colchicine on the growing tips of plants can cause a kind of error in copying the chromosomes. They fail to separate. Then the cell proceeds to go on to more ordinary affairs as if it had divided. The cell now has twice the number of chromosomes that it had prior to its encounter with colchicine. This is how tetraploid plants are made from diploids. Tetraploids are often larger and more vigorous than the diploid plants that they once were.</p><p>This same treatment does not work with animals. In animals, the chromosomes line up and do not separate, but the cells do not restart the cycle normally. Often, they die. Sometimes they wait until the colchicine clears the system, then try the cell division again. Generally the more complex the animal, the worse the effects of colchicine. Hence large herbivores that survive taste testing the plant often avoid it for the rest of their lives. Hence the plants are left a bit more alone to grow and reproduce.</p><p>This species is native to Namaqualand, an amazing and wonderous part of South Africa - a subtropical humid desert. The same place the "living stones" of the genus Lithops are found. There is little vegetation, and lots of animals looking for a meal. Few bother the <i>Androcymbiums</i>.<br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-57000793887446159492020-12-16T00:16:00.000-08:002020-12-16T00:16:06.005-08:00Medlars, Australian Finger Limes, and Chinottos Oh My! Harvest Season is here!<p>Medlars embody the exotic and wonderful fruit time of Autumn! This year we are still processing (and picking) three of the fruits I had to grow myself just to have the opportunity to taste them.</p><p>Even in a year such as this one, the plants have managed to follow the flow of the seasons and do what they do so well - grow amazing fruits.</p><p><b>The Medlar</b></p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdhbBMBq73_wAWf888ykivEa8wukbfyNOWaEs2sWWf1c9r8nPROP8Oc_Xnwf4iT_ghoeTlJm35njcATFKq4FEhx7LDpYTgtaHIFZJLkfOTakSmhUHRaEmUN9ET8v0Pf6NG1V2ifOSCdxGN/s4032/20201129_121057.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdhbBMBq73_wAWf888ykivEa8wukbfyNOWaEs2sWWf1c9r8nPROP8Oc_Xnwf4iT_ghoeTlJm35njcATFKq4FEhx7LDpYTgtaHIFZJLkfOTakSmhUHRaEmUN9ET8v0Pf6NG1V2ifOSCdxGN/s320/20201129_121057.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>The Medlar is still a minor enigma to me - five hundred years ago in England this was one of the most popular Winter fruits. Admittedly, that is a pretty sparse competitive space, yet these mild flavored and strange to ripen fruits are a delight. The golden foliage of Autumn even looks wonderful on a murky, smokey day:<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY0dV2WvdCYDx_2O1z_BGxsaNLZeZFxBiymsOjwMsi0WpDGtSUwoPZrJlBNM5SBPM9GZ7N7YGfYmk8LcRbgmZq70X984c5ifA2N84xX5LgfYyU9f12avvzYbsP_pJC00ZCSCJEjx9tdUcM/s4032/20201129_121002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY0dV2WvdCYDx_2O1z_BGxsaNLZeZFxBiymsOjwMsi0WpDGtSUwoPZrJlBNM5SBPM9GZ7N7YGfYmk8LcRbgmZq70X984c5ifA2N84xX5LgfYyU9f12avvzYbsP_pJC00ZCSCJEjx9tdUcM/s320/20201129_121002.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>The enigma comes from my trying to adapt recipes for other fruits to the Medlar. It needs its own recipes, its is not an apple, nor a pear, nor a persimmon, all of which it has been compared to in some way or another. </p><p>Medlars are picked when the leaves turn, while still essentially hard as rocks. My son eats them like this and enjoys them - I certainly can eat them like this, though they are much crunchier than I really prefer and the flavor has not fully developed.</p><p>Then, Medlars must be bletted. This is essentially over-ripening them until they are soft. Experimentally, I've determined this is hard to get the timing exactly right on, so instead of setting them on shelves in a single layer to slowly soften, I put them in a large pot, cover them with water, and bring to a simmer for about an hour until they are soft. </p><p>At this point, skins need peeled off, and the soft pulp pushed through a strainer or collander to separate it from the large seeds in the center of the fruit. Collect the paste, and freeze it until you need it.</p><p><b>Australian Finger Limes</b></p><p>What is fantastic about the rainforests of Australia? Lots! In that list near the top, at least for me, is the Australian Finger Lime. It almost makes up for the very existence of things like Arboreal Leeches in the same forests...</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGXwZq9dMQCa_suoyWJQpWy8IFc2B5RKEPWccq6Qitg1zCKtUQjV1sV-hqAYY08K-4VeJVgcA_m1KomQl27_6DIAYVOP-vH2fisjEKZvLu6FFtiOmDDGTAc6g3Mm9EwwPCQPHwb9fOQm4/s4032/20201129_114315.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUGXwZq9dMQCa_suoyWJQpWy8IFc2B5RKEPWccq6Qitg1zCKtUQjV1sV-hqAYY08K-4VeJVgcA_m1KomQl27_6DIAYVOP-vH2fisjEKZvLu6FFtiOmDDGTAc6g3Mm9EwwPCQPHwb9fOQm4/s320/20201129_114315.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div>Australian Finger Limes actually come in a wide range of fruit and juice sack colors, though I've only got one that is green (pink when very ripe). They also have kin in the area, like Blood Limes.<p></p><p>Something I did not appreciate when I planted these trees is exactly how spiny they are - picking the fruit is work, mostly because of the effort to deal with the long, sharp thorns these trees bear abundantly. Still, there is room to be creative, especially when my son helps invent prickle-free picking tools.<br /></p><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6HjvsjJad60ZRaVIKPpwP8ppybmCmAzAciwww-oKUKkT6FhiNai0eYfH2H2FsZRCEBG0HdY4D8bcjF93LU_EU-2so0rd1AFJsQygEQ1fQdBQ6OoqjMaf3Zl0MDXnvcmOAFTzXtz7_7QZs/s4032/20201129_112731.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6HjvsjJad60ZRaVIKPpwP8ppybmCmAzAciwww-oKUKkT6FhiNai0eYfH2H2FsZRCEBG0HdY4D8bcjF93LU_EU-2so0rd1AFJsQygEQ1fQdBQ6OoqjMaf3Zl0MDXnvcmOAFTzXtz7_7QZs/s320/20201129_112731.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>One problem I faced in previous years is a short harvest season starting around the beginning of October and only lasting through December. This year, we are experimenting with freezing whole finger limes. To use them, take them out of the freezer and allow them to thaw for about an hour. Then cut open and allow the juice sacks to come out just like in the fresh fruit. I wish I'd run across this idea a few years ago!</p><p><b>The Chinotto</b></p><p>This is how Switzerland lays claim to being a Citrus-growing nation! It is also part of the flavor of an Italian drink of the same name, and can be candied, juiced, or the rind grated into dishes to add a rather distinct flavor not too far from Oil of Bergamot.</p><p>This is a ridiculously slow growing tree. Ours is five feet tall and wide, and nearly twenty years old. Still, it bears glowing orange-yellow fruits on the ends of the branches, on display for many months, and holding well on the tree right through the Winter, snowfall and all.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2QQGNCP3smvVxDJpqdJXGZoYDe3AIY4ngAKGozSvnq5X_Um3GqZOuhFiJG22R5qvfOC5odjag6kKJXNas1pIbosmEFJIWzLfPvuhlHcNVjK2TT7d-GF9FXB8rsmF2k7kPJAchd3t3uWHA/s4032/20201129_111902.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2QQGNCP3smvVxDJpqdJXGZoYDe3AIY4ngAKGozSvnq5X_Um3GqZOuhFiJG22R5qvfOC5odjag6kKJXNas1pIbosmEFJIWzLfPvuhlHcNVjK2TT7d-GF9FXB8rsmF2k7kPJAchd3t3uWHA/s320/20201129_111902.jpg" /></a></div>I'll be honest - aside from candied and as a really lovely bush for the Winter (and a spectacular source of Vitamin C), I don't really know what to do with these fruits yet. I feel there is more to them than I've yet coaxed from them. <p></p><p>Now the rains have finally started, the next event will be Mushrooms!<br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-18790495192859323982020-11-14T00:16:00.001-08:002020-11-14T00:20:15.739-08:00Kukumakranka - the wonderful edible fruits of Gethyllis bulbs<p><i>Kukumakranka</i> - except the "K" letters represent clicks in the seemingly extinct Southern African language of the Koina people instead of the normal consonant sounds - besides being a name I cannot reliably accurately pronounce, names a group of bulbs, or rather their fruits. In botanical latin, the species below is <i>Gethyllis verticillata</i>.<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQIHbhmxqFDnBd2mQvmtBmplZ8MWF1l5ya9jZEri77F7b3dPGX2p72EWGgN9sn5gBXvLo_XYIEBQMJTCiuaZ-F0VupHEqp8IgWiQYsCG3i5jzJKcGmYZNsFnwYopS3GP5s7Mi9wywMY-D/s4032/20201103_225427.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfQIHbhmxqFDnBd2mQvmtBmplZ8MWF1l5ya9jZEri77F7b3dPGX2p72EWGgN9sn5gBXvLo_XYIEBQMJTCiuaZ-F0VupHEqp8IgWiQYsCG3i5jzJKcGmYZNsFnwYopS3GP5s7Mi9wywMY-D/s4032/20201103_225427.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_civEaxgEPHdJFxHQcg_J3ZKA8RdgzpuUW0Hy-nQABglIGvnxVhm8pukkhYAjVA2rI_ig74EP2pDJ4IiMLDlnU464_giRWwxOoKZ9fjj8m4723FYBzRDpVYNXSZyy5wuf5rBNxDieuvUk/s6000/DSC_7640.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_civEaxgEPHdJFxHQcg_J3ZKA8RdgzpuUW0Hy-nQABglIGvnxVhm8pukkhYAjVA2rI_ig74EP2pDJ4IiMLDlnU464_giRWwxOoKZ9fjj8m4723FYBzRDpVYNXSZyy5wuf5rBNxDieuvUk/s320/DSC_7640.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /> </div><p>My son describes the taste of this, the very first fresh fruit of this group I've managed to grow in California thus: "watery and tart, with a fruity fragrance". The fragrance of the fruit is intense and pleasant. To my spouse it is like "fruit cocktail in sweet syrup but with a slightly perfume-y strong strawberry component added to the flavor". </p><p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ujMlmXimZxAXq2VyVV98ZX8Mn_myFU5L0q7rzukMNhF4uDXRK4JhP00qfdIsEv_CAGr-2NFgTNALdyARHdrWLUMyI8fZHh5SgPnfWrrIpXqkHDJqPWB04sSC-UjakqmM4Z3-rI_8557q/s6000/DSC_7645.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7ujMlmXimZxAXq2VyVV98ZX8Mn_myFU5L0q7rzukMNhF4uDXRK4JhP00qfdIsEv_CAGr-2NFgTNALdyARHdrWLUMyI8fZHh5SgPnfWrrIpXqkHDJqPWB04sSC-UjakqmM4Z3-rI_8557q/s320/DSC_7645.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p></p><p>The fruit has about the texture of a very ripe strawberry, with a lot of seeds that are soft and easily chewed - and which taste like the rest of the fruit.<br /></p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">A note about plant names - the useful part of the plant seems to most often be named first, then the rest of the plant gets that name applied, often with a nod to it denoting the rest of the plant rather than just the interesting bit. Examples are "Apple" and "Apple Tree", or "Walnut" and "Walnut Tree".</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">In rare cases, the plant has more than one amazing or useful bit - for example, the Oak Tree bears Acorns, not "oak tree nuts". In Hawaiian, the 'Ohia tree has the Lehua flowers.</p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">In the case of Kukumakranka, the fruit is the bearer of the name, with the name of the plant or the bulb from which it arises seemingly lost.<br /></p><p>These bulbs are from Winter rainfall/Summer dry deserts of South Africa, Botswana, and Namibia (with the exception of two species from the Summer rainfall areas of the Nama Karoo).</p><p>There are about 32 described species of <a href="http://pza.sanbi.org/gethyllis" target="_blank"><i>Gethyllis</i></a>. While many of them are rare, mostly due to being quite localized and/or habitat conversion, many remain abundant enough for the fruits to be made into brandy and show up in local markets when in season.</p><p>The flowering is day length triggered - flowers appear about one week after the longest day of the year. As these bulbs live in the ground, they must have some sort of clever strategy to keep aware of day length changes. (See light pipe leaves). The flowers push right out of the bare ground without any leaves. In fact, when in flower, only the flower is above ground. When in fruit, only the fruit is above ground, and when in leaf, only the leaves are above ground. At no point in the growth cycle do I get two of these at the same time!<br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjptwK0z1t3UQ2jaC7z6eDBlTq4FkaPypucTiCPFAV0HldThAIMHCT9-x11ZHFkWDXkCEO86dzMVhD8e2LSkvdqiwdtz_8TbMwOnz2diMRgOA3B_LsX0f6iDd7l0F_ynMVlhmvQfJozfwRL/s4032/20200701_184447.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjptwK0z1t3UQ2jaC7z6eDBlTq4FkaPypucTiCPFAV0HldThAIMHCT9-x11ZHFkWDXkCEO86dzMVhD8e2LSkvdqiwdtz_8TbMwOnz2diMRgOA3B_LsX0f6iDd7l0F_ynMVlhmvQfJozfwRL/s320/20200701_184447.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p> This is <i>Gethyllis villosa</i>, named for its hairy leaves.</p><p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDtsHqnCrcWFsQSDYxWFa2rtQRpNAzXEJDGFoOUQG86Zi6ikhlfl29Jzry_hXHfD4y7E4cBfrR3ufJMeBWd5UjnddE67nYTuuPj-gHtwz_tfRPZDLfmg5pXdpWe925y1fUroJvrCzN040x/s4032/20201108_234910.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDtsHqnCrcWFsQSDYxWFa2rtQRpNAzXEJDGFoOUQG86Zi6ikhlfl29Jzry_hXHfD4y7E4cBfrR3ufJMeBWd5UjnddE67nYTuuPj-gHtwz_tfRPZDLfmg5pXdpWe925y1fUroJvrCzN040x/s320/20201108_234910.jpg" /></a></p><br /><p></p><p><br /></p>Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-17736639863894741002020-11-08T22:41:00.000-08:002020-11-08T22:41:27.935-08:00Hemihyalea edwardsii and and the Tanoaks<p>Around the first day of Fall, several things happen in a usual order. The <i>Brunsvigia josephinae</i> and <i>B. littoralis</i> flower, the <i>Haemanthus coccineus</i> flower, and the Edward's Glassywing moths appear on our front deck.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3lkPspyzy2-ivx2-WfHoQJy1CACp6zSX-ebRWwejY1qkF-Tlcys7RcEb5Cbi_vMaMqOMB6AXOiya2Bxdf3ANji-ROShijKMvD-TdD6E7xamyHnKkxOUYMjHDrls8z2PUjCZZRUlLej-4H/s4032/20200919_222933.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3lkPspyzy2-ivx2-WfHoQJy1CACp6zSX-ebRWwejY1qkF-Tlcys7RcEb5Cbi_vMaMqOMB6AXOiya2Bxdf3ANji-ROShijKMvD-TdD6E7xamyHnKkxOUYMjHDrls8z2PUjCZZRUlLej-4H/w300-h400/20200919_222933.jpg" width="300" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><span class="bgpage-taxon-desc">Arctiinae: </span>Hemihyalea edwardsii</i> <br /></div><p> </p><p>This year, the question is: how many more years will they grace our evening lights?<br /></p><p>Edward's Glassywing moth is the adult phase of a woolybear caterpillar that eats Oak leaves. The deaths of massive numbers of oaks is one of several factors fueling, literally, the unprecedented fires in the Coast Ranges, including our Santa Cruz Mountains.</p><p>Our own oaks are in trouble. About one third of our Tanbark Oaks (Lithocarpus densiflorus) have died of Sudden Oak Death in the past year. The forest I fell in love with is fading into the past.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTlY70c1pcEFN_i7f0QYmxoXsUg6actrMn2OQocZr9G-RElsbsjEGAd17iCBaqZwRaxKD2qjrIOIFAVWh5W7pjRPX4WedHojjNOXd2afiKTVDCAhVbcbwAbLQ3GhHU6Y7hkUCS5efsVvU1/s4032/20200920_145030.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTlY70c1pcEFN_i7f0QYmxoXsUg6actrMn2OQocZr9G-RElsbsjEGAd17iCBaqZwRaxKD2qjrIOIFAVWh5W7pjRPX4WedHojjNOXd2afiKTVDCAhVbcbwAbLQ3GhHU6Y7hkUCS5efsVvU1/s320/20200920_145030.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>The area above our driveway is shown here - this is literally on the ridgeline of the Santa Cruz Mountains at around 2300'. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-77982756681885548652020-08-20T12:08:00.002-07:002021-01-22T08:53:47.581-08:00Our evolving wildfire story #CZULightningComplex<p>We are rushing to protect what we can. At present, we are not under any wildfire evacuation warnings or orders but we are taking things very seriously.</p><p>We safeguard rare and extinct species on our acreage.</p><p>The storms that unleashed the lightning and thunderstorms igniting over 360 wildfires in California are more common due to a warming climate. </p><p>Please take a moment to consider how you can take direct action or provide monetary support to scientists and organizations working to understand and build a low carbon future for human civilization.</p><p>Thank you.</p><p>Donate to <a href="https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/puente" target="_blank">Puente Pescadero</a> to support Coastside evacuees.</p><p>#CZULightningComplex #SaferatHome #globalpandemic #WildfireSafety #climatechange</p>Linda Maepahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16306060032227412157noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-24796922592275369342020-08-02T23:37:00.002-07:002020-08-02T23:38:56.450-07:00Plasma-Braised String BeansWe grow pole beans. Due to an invasion of cutworms (which of course are not actually worms, they are caterpillars that turn into moths), we have a lot fewer plants bearing beans than we intended. However, our son is very diligent in watching, watering, and harvesting the beans when they are ripe.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN-mpwKqMFRJJUKUxl6eW2vrXHQ4HD0jNY7Up8eZEN2cISCvXZckKhlAvKCTZbqSU0vvu4KKj4fociKF8alqfjwgpGB6HX3TdByHqpOZ-q3clSGVglvgrQSIaEe8W3wN-6Iesjoi_xZ9Z2/s1600/20200802_232431.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN-mpwKqMFRJJUKUxl6eW2vrXHQ4HD0jNY7Up8eZEN2cISCvXZckKhlAvKCTZbqSU0vvu4KKj4fociKF8alqfjwgpGB6HX3TdByHqpOZ-q3clSGVglvgrQSIaEe8W3wN-6Iesjoi_xZ9Z2/s320/20200802_232431.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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This has led to a dilemma - how to best prepare three individual string beans?<br />
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This time I didn't have something where we could just add them with the other vegetables - so I cut them to length and arranged them in a bowl in the microwave.<br />
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I gave them about 30 seconds expecting uneventful cooking. The loud sound and bright orange light that erupted almost immediately from the microwave put an early end to that exercise.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7kfx4JGHvbffg31uuqIp7hpG_-7LRD5KQ6F_JgXaK02M_gyIgz35tLcGfC3jDmZCbrlY9BN8A8VOBzOfWYY-uehe4UEXNcEF8CO-wY6cpwkEPdqi1Nvoc4uSnGcbmmHOxZW47jxYgJPhj/s1600/20200801_211316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7kfx4JGHvbffg31uuqIp7hpG_-7LRD5KQ6F_JgXaK02M_gyIgz35tLcGfC3jDmZCbrlY9BN8A8VOBzOfWYY-uehe4UEXNcEF8CO-wY6cpwkEPdqi1Nvoc4uSnGcbmmHOxZW47jxYgJPhj/s320/20200801_211316.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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It turns out the beans had been cut into bits that were well separated - except where two had rolled back into each other. At that point, something like the grape in a microwave event developed (for a decent YouTube video go <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCrtk-pyP0I" target="_blank">here</a>, for an actual peer reviewed paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences go <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/116/10/4000" target="_blank">here</a>).<br />
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For the record, the beans were delicious. I'm suspecting that there was a bit more chemistry in the small burned areas where they were in contact than in a normal dry-braising cooking protocol, so I don't intend to make a habit of this particular method.<br />
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However, in my roughly half century, this is the first time I've cooked my food with ionized plasma as the primary thermal source... My son now wants the plant to grow even more beans so we can do this again...<br />
<br />Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-22665712652877111222020-07-18T12:59:00.000-07:002020-07-18T12:59:58.090-07:00Bonsai Lightning!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We live in a residential space - there are limits to exactly what magnitude of lightning we can tolerate in the kitchen, after all. Why not make a dwarf kind of lightning?<br />
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I recently ran across a $9 miniature Tesla Coil kit. It seemed too good to be true, but it works (there were a few missing or helpful but absent parts: a nut for the screw to hold the transistor to the heat sink, and a hot glue gun really helps!).<br />
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This is not a link that generates any kickbacks or credits, I include it for those who are interested: https://www.allelectronics.com/item/tcl-35/tesla-coil-kit/1.html<br />
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My son and I assembled the kit in about an hour (teaching the whole way, and making several repairs to self-inflicted damage to a few parts along the way). It worked on the first try when we were done, so I rate this as a decent design.<br />
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Key notes:<br />
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1. The secondary coil has a tendency to unwind - a drop of hot glue at each end of the winding saved a lot of rewinding time.<br />
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2. The high voltage end of the secondary (the little wire sticking up in air) is literally a tiny strand of copper wire. We hot glued it to a plastic drinking straw that we anchored on the inside of the coil to give it some stability.<br />
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3. Solder bridges are easy to make when soldering parts into the circuit board - especially if your assistant is enthusiastic with the solder.<br />
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4. Always solder in an area with good ventilation and wash hands after!<br />
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5. Put something underneath your soldering area that cannot catch fire - we used some fiberglass fabric (just the glass fabric!).<br />
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6. You need a 12V DC power supply that can provide at least 400ma of current, which they do mention but I repeat it here since we forgot.<br />
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My son says "The Tesla Coil is a complex circuit, but one of the easiest circuits to assemble. If your parent's say it is ok to build a Tesla Coil by Nikolai Tesla, fire up your soldering iron and get a 12 Volt power supply. Don't use a one-cell battery holder, since it does not work. When things don't work, it is not exciting. If you do have to happen to have a 12V power supply and everything you need in the kit, you can build it."<br />
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The lightning that is generated is small and at a very high frequency - the primary frequency of the oscillator appears to be around 200ns, or 5 MHz.<br />
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This is a frequency where the electricity will not penetrate deeply into human skin - however - lots of things can change that, so really no touching the high voltage end of the coil!<br />
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At 5MHz the skin depth is only about two micrometers, which is enough to be felt and cause pain - though the bigger danger is burns. There is enough power in the output to cause thermal burns from your skin heating up in the area of the spark, which is the more likely injury mode.<br />
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Also be aware that this device is a hazard to some electronics if they get too close - smart watches and cell phones come to mind.<br />
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Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-81453894889075124752020-07-11T23:49:00.000-07:002020-07-11T23:49:10.554-07:00Why are there more lizards along trails in the late afternoon? Recently we noticed that lizards are often much more abundant in the late afternoon actually on and along trails in the chaparral than in other areas. That brings up the question "Why?".<br />
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Turns out you just have to look at the trail the right way and it is obvious - though in this case, "the right way" is a literal type of camera reference - a thermographic camera. The photo above was taken with infrared light (or "IR" for short) between 7 and 14 microns in wavelength, instead of the more typical photos which use light roughly between 0.4 and 0.8 microns in wavelength.<br />
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The scene above might look more familiar in ordinary visible light (this isn't exactly the same spot, since the IR photo was taken just after sunset - it does show how the trail is flanked by vegetation and it is nearly the same spot).<br />
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Why use such odd light? Because <i>it is the light that we humans give off</i>, as well as pretty much anything else that is near "body temperature". Lizards are generally "cold blooded", which means that to get to their ideal comfort temperature, they have to move into warmer or cooler spots to adjust their temperature. In the heat of the day, they are looking for cooler spots - at least when it as hot as some parts of California get in summer...<br />
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Turns out their preferred body temperature is very close to ours (a bit cooler, not much though).<br />
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The trail remains warm as the day starts to cool off in the late afternoon and long into the evening. The lizards come to soak up the heat and be more comfortable.<br />
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<b>Wait, "the light that humans give off"???</b><br />
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Yes, we all emit light. Lots of it, in fact. It is light that we cannot see with our eyes, but with other sensors we have - try holding the underside of your forearm facing someone else on a cool day and see if you can "feel" the infrared they emit from a few feet away. It is subtle, and most of us can notice it once we start looking. <br />
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<i>Planck's Law of Blackbody Radiation</i> states that the amount of power emitted by and object effectively through thermal means (meaning atoms are vibrating and colliding, which causes the emission of photons at all wavelengths, very roughly) relates to the temperature of the object according to this relationship:<br />
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Three of the constants that define this universe are in the equation - I grabbed it from the Wikipedia <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_law" target="_blank">page</a>. <br />
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Astronomers, photographers, and interior decorators all know this to some degree, in the sense that a hotter star appears bluer than its cooler neighbors. "Red Dwarf" stars are cooler than our yellow sun, while Blue Giants are hotter. If you want a "warm" color of light, you go to cooler, redder equivalent filament temperatures (at least that was the case when light bulbs were actual bulbs with actual tungsten filaments...).<br />
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Let's look at what the equation above predicts for the light that our Sun gives off versus what we emit.<br />
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I had to put the green curve on a separate scale from the blue, red, and yellow curves since the power emitted by people as deep infrared light is really tiny compared to what the sun emits (the red or 5700 Kelvin curve).<br />
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The fact that we emit our own light is what makes thermal imaging possible. The slight differences between different areas of our bodies translate to significant changes in the power output by those areas.<br />
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I can literally call my son the "light of my life". Of course, that applies even more to the soup he is about to enjoy.... perhaps I should avoid working in the greeting card industry...<br />
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The soup is hotter in places than anything else in the photo, even though the "white hot" areas are just about 100 degrees Fahrenheit. His forehead and neck are hotter than his shirt or hair - so they give off more light. It just happens to be light that we cannot see with our eyes.<br />
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Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-77582338128773754692020-07-10T01:23:00.001-07:002020-07-10T01:23:44.317-07:00Father-Son Trekking<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We go exploring and discovering together. It doesn't have to be some grand celebrated destination like Yosemite - this old cracked and decommissioned road in the suburbs of Los Angeles leads through a world with hundreds of plant species you can see in a single afternoon, lots of lizards, snakes, bugs, birds, bats, and even some terrestrial mammals. It is 12 minutes from Downtown Los Angeles.<br />
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There is a cartoon I ran across on xkcd.com that captures one aspect of this that is fun: https://xkcd.com/1053/<br />
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There is much more to this. I value our wild places, even the scraps lost in the edges of a great city.<br />
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Things tell stories. They speak in languages we do not speak and cannot speak, languages that are open for us to hear if we have patience. I'm not telling this to my son, I am showing him and living this experience with him.<br />
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If I look at a hillside, it is a book I can partially read. There is a story about great geological forces and deep time, about how the rocks there were made, and then how they got to where they are, and finally how they came to be visible, even if no actual rocks are evident. Plants have roots that reach into the soil, into the rocks below the surface, and will tell you bits about what they find. You have to know the plants and what their likes and dislikes are, and if you invest in that, they will tell you things that are plain to see, if you look the right way.<br />
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Even in something as "simple" as sporting events, the game is richer if you know who the players are and what they are known for.<br />
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I bet most of you can find the <i>Blainville's Horned Lizard</i> in this photo. Finding them out like this is not exactly rare, if it is a less common delight than I wish it were.<br />
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Can you find the one in the next photo?<br />
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Or this one?<br />
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That last one is more typical of what we find - a trace, a track, especially since the ones of these that live longest tend to be the wariest of dogs, people, and such.<br />
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This stuff is best lived, shown, done together.<br />
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We eat wild berries, Miner's Lettuce, and wild mushrooms (our rule: all mushrooms must be cooked before being eaten, and only Dad is allowed to cook them - I am a Botanist but even that is not enough, I joined my local mycological society - see mssf.org - and did what is the only sane way to learn edible mushrooms that I am aware of - apprentice with other folks that really know what can and cannot be eaten - then do it again if you are in a new area or ecology). We catch lizards (and release). I've taught my son how to catch dragonflies with his bare hands (hint: there is a lot of standing motionless involved...).<br />
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My son's prized things include a pineapple plant, a miniature Aroid from the Mediterranean that he seeks, but does not yet have (he is learning how to plan and save and prepare), a linear power supply he soldered together that works, his fans, and his portable seed cleaner. He invents and explores and tries things. He fails and we celebrate and then figure out what we learned and how we might do better with the next attempt.<br />
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He finds <i>Calochortus</i> in seed and stalk faster than I do, and has for some time. He knows how and where to find the elusive wild cherries of California. <br />
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It all starts by going for a walk together, in a place where we are both just details. To meet and exchange I find it easiest in places that are not my world, not his world, but our world. Listening is easiest where it is quiet.<br />
Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-90669052703917953742020-07-08T01:17:00.001-07:002020-07-08T01:17:57.986-07:00A Tale of Two Soils<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Meet <i>Lupinus microcarpus </i>variety <i>densiflorus</i>! This California native is part of a species group that can be found all the way from Canada to Argentina. Even better, it is easy and fast to grow, since in the wild it is an annual - a plant that must grow from seed to flower and to mature seeds again in a season or two, and which dies and exists only as seeds in the ground for part of the year.<br />
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This year I thought I would help them grow even faster by planting them in a vegetable garden type of potting soil. That produced unexpected and bad results - growing them in a mineral poor, low nitrogen, fast draining soil make awesome plants, while growing them in rich garden soil results in simply not growing them. Why?<br />
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This is a tale of the right soil, the wrong soil, and how to tell which is which for a given plant.<br />
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We grow a lot of desert and California native plants. A lot of these are specialists in odd, highly inorganic soils, such as serpentine soils. <i>Lupinus microcarpus var. densiflorus</i> is not terribly fussy about soils, being found all the way from Canada to Argentina. What it demands is a well aerated soil.<br />
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Below are some of our seedlings in two very different soils. The square pot at the top shows a healthy seedling. The yellowing seedlings in the lower trough are not at all happy. These are growing side-by-side. Why the droopy yellow leaves on the lower plants?<br />
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The poor health of the lower plants is a direct result of the soil. It is a commercial potting soil (for containers). Tomatoes grow well in it, as do our parsley, nasturtiums, peppers, and beans. This species does not.<br />
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The sickly plants have brown roots. Healthy roots are almost always, at least when small, white. This is true for this annual Lupine - when we unpotted the plant shown above to examine it's roots, here is what we found:<br />
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This is the species planted in our "desert bulb mix", which is 3 parts Pearlite, 1 part silver 80 grit blasting sand, and 3 parts rehydrated coir (like peat moss, but sustainable)(parts are measured by volume here). Water drains quickly through it, there are low levels of nutrients, and it is very difficult to turn it sour or make it go anaerobic. Notice the long, white roots visible at the bottom center. These pots are 3" square and 7" deep for scale. This is a textbook healthy and happy young plant. <br />
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When we unpotted the others in the trough, we found completely different roots.<br />
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These roots are shorter and very brown. They are fighting for their life. Notice how dark the soil is and how it sticks to the starter pot. Compare the texture of this soil with the soil above.<br />
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This soil is almost pure compost as purchased - we added most of the sand and whatever pearlite it contains. Vegetables grow fantastically well in this stuff, desert plants are not as fond. Key things to notice - there are fewer air spaces, and a lot of fine grained organic material that forms a sticky "mud" for lack of a more concise term.<br />
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The effect of the soil on the plant is dramatic. Soils are not a one-size-fits-all affair. Watch the plant - we have read to some of our plants from various garden books, and it appears many plants are illiterate. They will, however, communicate clearly when they are happy and when they are not. Listen to the plant, take guidance from a book, but if the plant and book differ, then listen to the plant!<br />
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These are some photos of the species in the wild this year in California. Notice that this is a sandy soil, yet one that has a very low organic material content and a coarse, aerated structure. <br />
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<br />Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-36288517892546181002020-07-03T12:59:00.002-07:002020-07-03T12:59:58.079-07:00Building Seed Cleaning Machines - Seed Differential SedimentationEver have a fistful of seeds and chaff and sticks from some random wild species and all you want is just the clean seeds? <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLsTfDnsG4YMjKTxi7ducOJJxgL-aLy-_3WCwyMYbl22G29D3WD1I5X8wMnqpIJt65VG9vqKBpgbgh6OBnr6nqNLYhIVK2x2AxGQ9eKDIfZPMzByRmk-JLL-ER8t-mvX4P_PnG3LsXXJd/s1600/Screenshot+from+2020-07-03+10-57-26.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="1421" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLsTfDnsG4YMjKTxi7ducOJJxgL-aLy-_3WCwyMYbl22G29D3WD1I5X8wMnqpIJt65VG9vqKBpgbgh6OBnr6nqNLYhIVK2x2AxGQ9eKDIfZPMzByRmk-JLL-ER8t-mvX4P_PnG3LsXXJd/s320/Screenshot+from+2020-07-03+10-57-26.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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Sound familiar?<br />
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Then you need a Seed Cleaning Machine! Problem is, most of the ones you can buy were designed for specific crops, such as "grains" or corn or such. If you do get lucky and find a highly adjustable type suitable for wild seeds, they are likely the sort where there is a big tube and a screen, and in the process of cleaning the seeds you blow chaff all over the general area - and you still cannot separate seeds from heavier debris.<br />
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After building seed cleaning machines based on winnowing or fanning machine designs for the past several decades, I decided we could do better.<br />
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Here was my list of objectives:<br />
<ul>
<li>Separate seeds from everything else</li>
<li>No adjustments needed</li>
<li>Kid friendly</li>
<li>Easy to build</li>
<li>Captures all the chaff without making a mess!</li>
<li>Insensitive to batch size</li>
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How to accomplish this list? Applied Physics! The path a feather takes on a windy day and the path of a stone are very different. Let's make use of that observation and build a machine.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXgJMq3j8q5qx5O2RQ6P99kCoGOtGXSohz4fptb8Jo5PDV_fHCw4YTvD6q4JkoD4laoZpfQaFZrfaNLE1eT0q2UyCCCo-Axpzz7a3lKXjoi9udLVmIwIXrjwZJJq9i36XG8LQbQYz2rFLd/s1600/Screenshot+from+2020-07-03+11-34-29.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="457" data-original-width="536" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXgJMq3j8q5qx5O2RQ6P99kCoGOtGXSohz4fptb8Jo5PDV_fHCw4YTvD6q4JkoD4laoZpfQaFZrfaNLE1eT0q2UyCCCo-Axpzz7a3lKXjoi9udLVmIwIXrjwZJJq9i36XG8LQbQYz2rFLd/s320/Screenshot+from+2020-07-03+11-34-29.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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In the chart above, the three forces on the seed are drawn. They do not balance, so the seed accelerates along a path. For simplicity, here are the terms in the equations above - two equations are aerodynamic drag, and one is acceleration due to gravity:<br />
<ul>
<li>Fg is the force the seed experiences due to gravity</li>
<li>Fa is the force the seed experiences due to the horizontal flowing air</li>
<li>Fz is the force the seed experiences due to falling through the air</li>
<li>A is the cross-sectional area of the seed, in square meters</li>
<li>Cd is the coefficient of drag, generally 0.4 to 2.0, lower numbers are for smooth shapes, higher numbers are for angular or rough shapes</li>
<li>Vz is the speed of the seed falling through air, in meters per second</li>
<li>Vx is the difference between the horizontal airflow speed and the horizontal speed of the seed</li>
<li><i>p</i> is the density of air, generally around 1.2kg per cubic meter at sea level</li>
<li>m is the mass of the seed, in kilograms (a small number!)</li>
<li>g is the acceleration due to gravity at planet surface, about 9.8 meters per second squared</li>
</ul>
Putting the equations above into a spreadsheet and running small time steps (0.02 second) for a 1mm x 2mm seed weighing 40mg each and for air flowing from the right at 1.0 meters per second creates this path for the falling seed:<br />
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Heavier seeds fall more vertically, while lighter seeds of the same size will fall at an even shallower angle than shown.<br />
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This is all theoretical. What happens in real life?<br />
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<br />This is a batch of seeds for <i>Fritillaria agrestis</i>, a wonderful plant that has become moderately rare since it liked to grow in places that are now largely farms or cities in the Central Valley, among other locations. The heavy seeds are covering a small range of bins on the right, while chaff and unfilled seed coats (bad seeds) are spread out on the left. I would call this a good separation.<br />
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This is a batch of an onion-like plant named <i>Dichelostemma capitatum</i>, once again with a good separation quality. The input is vertically above the rightmost cup in each case.<br />
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The machine we built to do this is basically two slabs of Foam Core Board, separated by a 2cm wide gap. A computer fan is connected to a tetrahedral duct on the right side to provide a smooth sheet of flowing air to the airgap between the slabs, and the seeds are added via a funnel on the upper right.<br />
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We are using the linear power supply from my oldest surviving seed cleaner on the right edge of the photo (likely topic of a later post) to control the speed of the fan, with the collector cups separated by short vertical popsicle sticks in the base of the unit. Under the device the collecting cups sit, with a fresh tray of them shown in the lower left. The structure on the left will have to be part of another post, as it feeds into our Vortex Chaff Collector.<br />
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It took an hour or two to get all this together once we thought out the design. We are making more and better variants, since this is a lot of fun - hot glue guns, cutting, soldering - all stuff that gradeschool kids can help with.<br />
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Happy Seed Cleaning!<br />
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<br />Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-25471740259624782432020-06-12T00:30:00.000-07:002020-07-06T12:49:39.635-07:00Humboldt Lily Thieves and How to Grow Humboldt Lilies from Seed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoXq_e4NaCK2_Bak2Of8xMItctw7slIJh3ycsBpP6BFgzEfe_HwCnN6g_aSJh7xF9haaUFIGXtvduj77DxxRg9l2jaAuOhk1Lri8H6uagy1h-dhjlcFy1Gy9WhkVoI2BRJwO4wkBgcXmno/s1600/20200609_195329.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Photograph of Lilium humboldtii flowers" border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoXq_e4NaCK2_Bak2Of8xMItctw7slIJh3ycsBpP6BFgzEfe_HwCnN6g_aSJh7xF9haaUFIGXtvduj77DxxRg9l2jaAuOhk1Lri8H6uagy1h-dhjlcFy1Gy9WhkVoI2BRJwO4wkBgcXmno/s320/20200609_195329.jpg" title="Lilium humboldtii flowers" width="320" /></a></div>
Meet the tallest and (in my opinion) most spectacular of the native Lilies of California, <b><i>Lilium humboldtii ssp. ocellatum</i></b>! This species grows up to twelve feet tall, from an underground bulb, bearing up to 70 of these brightly colored lilies on each stalk. They are in flower now in secluded and protected places along streams in California. This photo is from a wild plant on the edge of the San Fernando Valley. These are plants best grown from seeds, and if grown from seeds do very well in local gardens (see Propagation further down).<br />
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Here is a photo of me standing next to a tall, but not remarkably tall, specimen.<br />
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What happens when people find beautiful or wonderful things in the wild? Anything can happen. Most folks look and admire and take photos and memories, then move along.<br />
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A few have other reactions. They are one reason these plants have become hard to find in the wild. On the same hike my son and I noticed some lilies had seemed to have been broken off and left to die. This made both of us sad, then we noticed the holes and we became much more sad. Someone was stealing the plants!<br />
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The reason this made us more sad is that these bulbs are not like Daffodils, and they do not transplant well. Often wild plants have become enmeshed in the forest floor mycorrhizal network, a criss-crossing mesh of living fungal strands. These strands are a nutrient and water exchange system connecting most of the plants in the forest. Remove the lily from the network and the lily usually dies of shock.<br />
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<b>What to do? Propagate!</b><br />
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Grow them from seeds, buy them from nurseries that have selected plants that do well in gardens, and protect the wild ones wherever you encounter them. You can get them from the <a href="https://store.theodorepayne.org/" target="_blank">Theodore Payne Foundation</a> in Sun Valley, for example (though until their new online store is operational on June 16th the plants and seeds are not listed on their website, you have to call).<br />
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If you get seeds, the procedure to start them may seem odd, but is pretty simple.<br />
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Get a zipper seal bag, add a half cup of vermiculite, your seeds, and enough water to make the vermiculite moist but not so wet that there is any water collecting at the bottom of the bag. Put the bag in a drawer in your room - I use my sock drawer because it is farthest from the window and I go to it every day, so I don't forget the seeds. The idea is to keep the seeds room temperature (or around 70 degrees Fahrenheit plus or minus a lot) for three months. Yes, three months. Check them once a week to see if any are beginning to grow small white roots (this is unlikely to happen, but does once in a while - the seed that grows a root can be planted now - skip ahead for it but leave the others in the bag until they sprout). This is called warm, moist <i>stratification.</i><br />
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Now put the bag into the vegetable drawer of your refrigerator for at least two months - once again, check the seeds often. As soon as they start developing white roots, they are germinating. By the third month (90 days) take them out and plant them.<br />
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We use troughs that are 8" wide, 6" deep, and 15" long. Make certain there is at least one good drainage hole in the bottom of the trough, or the plants will rot after germinating.<br />
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The soil mix we use is simple: 3 parts Pearlite, 6 parts Coir (coconut fiber - be sure to soak the bricks and let them expand first), and 1 part clean 80 grit silica sand (sandblasting sand). Mix it all together while the ingredients are moist enough not to make dust.<br />
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Once mixed, we put a small scrap of aluminum window screen over the drainage hole, then fill the trough with soil to within about one inch of the top.<br />
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We sprinkle the germinating seeds from the bag out onto the soil surface, with the vermiculite they were stratified in, and then gently cover with half an inch more of the soil mix and water immediately.<br />
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Keep the troughs moist but not soaking wet - too much water is as bad as too little with this species. They like bright shade, no direct sun, and as cool as easily possible. They live in deep, shaded canyons most often in the wild. After their first year, let them go slightly dry (no baking in the sun or going bone dry) in September and October. They will often push new leaves and stems up in January of each year, though this can vary quite a bit. Leaves can die down as early as July or as late as late September. Once the leaves die down reduce the water - let the soil surface dry out (no more than the top quarter inch or so) between watering.<br />
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I've flowered them in four years from seed, and had really amazing plants taller than me in five years.<br />
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<br />Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-22405614622966273292020-06-09T11:55:00.002-07:002020-06-09T11:55:46.720-07:00A Classical Lemon Battery - without the Lemon<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is a classic - to build one, you need a citrus - any will work, this for example is an orange - and three (ideally zinc plated) iron things (screws, nails, or in this case some clothespin springs), and three copper things (copper foil used here).<br />
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Use a knife to make a pair of reasonably close (1/2 to 1" apart) slits in the fruit slices. Put one copper and one iron item in each slit. Then connect the copper tab on the first slice to the iron item on the second. Connect the copper tab on the second slice to the iron thing on the third slice.<br />
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You should now measure about 1.9 volts across the two terminals (the iron item on the first slice and the copper item on the third slice).<br />
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If you have a problem, recheck that everything has stayed in the citrus slices and that the clip leads are correctly connected.<br />
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Finally, connect a LED between the terminals.<br />
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In the picture, the yellow lead is the negative lead (iron item on slice #1). This connects to the shorter of the two leads on the LED (the negative terminal).<br />
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The white lead in the photo is the positive lead. Connect it to the copper strip on slice #3 and to the longer lead on the LED.<br />
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If everything is done correctly, the LED should light up - really, really faintly. To see ours we had to go to a darkened room and look. It was clearly lit up, yet faint.<br />
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If your diode does not light up, you may have the diode backwards. Try switching the leads on the diode. If that does not work, try a different diode (some need more than 1.9V to turn on).<br />
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Our diode is the faint bright dot to the right of the plate holding the citrus! As I mentioned, not very bright yet definitely on.<br />
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My son had this to say about all this: "I want to make orange juice, and build a bigger battery so we can make a heater". I do not know how many of these we would need to power a heater, but the number is large!Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-33916192230136348732020-06-05T00:50:00.000-07:002020-06-05T00:50:14.521-07:00Germination of Dandya thadhowardii (?), a Mexican species of ThemidaceaeLate last year I encountered seeds of a genuinely esoteric species of bulb from Mexico on offer on the web. It is actually a corm (a thickened underground stem that resembles a bulb). Since it is a Summer growing species related to <i>Bessera</i>, I decided to delay planting the seeds until I also planted my <i>Bessera elegans</i> corms for their growth season.<br />
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I believe it may be <span class="tn" data-taxon-parsed-name="Dandya thadhowardii"><i><span class="genus">Dandya</span> </i><span class="species"><i>thadhowardii</i>, though the species identification may have to wait a few years until the plants reach flowering size.</span></span><br />
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The seeds were planted on May 11th, and were all ready sprouting in the last week of May, though more seedlings have appeared in the past days. This photo is from June 3rd. I have been unable to locate any published photos of seedlings of this genus, so this photo may be the entire internet's worth of photos of germinating seedlings of this genus.<br />
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<span class="tn" data-taxon-parsed-name="Dandya thadhowardii"><span class="species">What strikes me about these is their very ordinariness. The California genera in the <i>Themidaceae</i> include <i>Brodiaea</i>, <i>Dichelostemma</i>, <i>Triteleia</i>, <i>Dipterostemon</i>, <i>Androstephium</i>, <i>Bloomeria</i>, and <i>Muilla</i>. These seedlings on basic appearance could be in any of those genera - a very familiar sight to us (we like the native bulbs and tend to start them from seeds). More famous kin from Mexico include <i>Behria</i>, <i>Bessera</i>, and <i>Milla</i>.</span></span><br />
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<span class="tn" data-taxon-parsed-name="Dandya thadhowardii"><span class="species">Some of these species are flowering in the mountains and coastal areas of California now and in weeks to come, as they often flower after the grasses dry. My son and I often go seed and lizard hunting together - he is very good at spotting many of our local species as seed heads, in some cases better than finding them as flowers!</span></span><br />
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<span class="tn" data-taxon-parsed-name="Dandya thadhowardii"><span class="species">One of these genera is <i>Muilla</i>. <i>Muilla maritima</i> is abundant in local populations in the San Gabriel and Verdugo Mountains (as well as much of California, for that matter). The flowers are easy to miss as they are lovely but pale and small, the seed pods are larger than the flowers and full of shiny black seeds - this species is easier to spot in seed than in flower!</span></span><br />
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Another one of my favorite local Themidaceae has recently been moved to a genus all its own: <span class="tn" data-taxon-parsed-name="Dandya thadhowardii"><span class="species"><i>Dipterostemon. </i>Below is <i>Dipterostemon capitatus</i>, one of the cheerful and often abundant flowers of late Winter and Spring. When I was a kid growing up near Jet Propulsion Labs, the ones of these I grew at home often started to flower before Christmas.</span></span></div>
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<span class="tn" data-taxon-parsed-name="Dandya thadhowardii"><span class="species"> </span></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguggCYxJCJ9VvRr2BJ-5phfasM7GGXP5en-VDHP-fjAUscw5OUQ3FRqhYSV2t-V8hTvj1GVZf5Hsnh8KgRYUwxYo_3dX0jASwjtKaesiQv2qwldpP2bLKfp701ZXhmBTm3xyBfMoxuJisz/s1600/20200512_200653.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguggCYxJCJ9VvRr2BJ-5phfasM7GGXP5en-VDHP-fjAUscw5OUQ3FRqhYSV2t-V8hTvj1GVZf5Hsnh8KgRYUwxYo_3dX0jASwjtKaesiQv2qwldpP2bLKfp701ZXhmBTm3xyBfMoxuJisz/s320/20200512_200653.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="tn" data-taxon-parsed-name="Dandya thadhowardii"><span class="species">Learning the plants that make up the thin green layer on our world can be a wonderful way to see the world in finer detail. Sports are often more fun when you know the players - landscapes have different sorts of players, knowing them can make a simple walk in the hills richer and a lot more fun as well. </span></span><br />
<span class="tn" data-taxon-parsed-name="Dandya thadhowardii"><span class="species"><br /></span></span>
<span class="tn" data-taxon-parsed-name="Dandya thadhowardii"><span class="species">Maybe I'll make botanical Trading Cards....</span></span><br />
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<span class="tn" data-taxon-parsed-name="Dandya thadhowardii"><span class="species"> </span></span> Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-86953921397952639462020-06-01T22:17:00.001-07:002020-06-01T22:17:19.791-07:00Restoring an original Celestron NexStar 5Late in 2019 my son and I bought a damaged original NexStar Celestron 5 from someone who had one that had fallen over. This was the very first of the NexStar telescopes, Celestron's first attempt to field a GoTo telescope that knew how to orient and align itself, and then how to find objects in the sky, all by itself.<br />
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Not all that many were made before it was replaced by an improved version, the NexStar Plus, a line of telescopes that are made to this day. <br />
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This being a relatively rare machine that was rapidly replaced by Celestron with newer and better telescopes, they no longer any sort of support for the model. We were on our own to get the machine up and running.<br />
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My son recently turned seven, so this seemed like a good opportunity to show how to figure out what was wrong and to repair it. While there are integrated circuits on the main board, they are modest and there are plenty of discrete components making probing and debugging relatively tractable.<br />
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In fact, the wiring can be traced just by holding the main circuit board up to a bright light.<br />
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What were the symptoms? The telescope would power up, and immediately start slewing in Azimuth. Altitude was fine, but with or without the hand controller attached the telscope just started moving at maximum speed clockwise (when viewed from above). The hand controller was erratic as well and the case showed signs of being crushed. The screen was intact, but flickered and was unreadable. The tripod had a broken support strut, and the focuser on the tube assembly had a great deal of play - to the point of wondering if it was doing anything at all.<br />
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Four related but separate problems.<br />
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The tripod we dealt with temporarily with a cable tie. The problem was the spider that holds the legs in equilateral triangle had one broken coupling where they all meet in the center. Not elegant, we will machine or 3D print something better eventually.<br />
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The focuser likewise was a fairly simple fix: the screws were loose.<br />
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The main board was the hard part.<br />
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The main board had a single failed chip. It was the motor driver chip for the Azimuth motor. Finding it was accidentally easy - I happened to tap it while explaining to my son what some of the chips did (we looked the part numbers up online, I don't have this in my head...). When I tapped it, it burned my finger. This is an unsubtle clue to a problem.<br />
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That lead to grabbing the thermal camera and collecting more information. Fortunately, it was the only thermal anomaly on the board: apparently one of the motor driver H bridges had failed to being constitively on.<br />
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Using a SEEK thermal camera, this is what the board looks like after being turned on for about ten seconds:<br />
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The good news: only one conspicuously hot chip. The better news? It is a chip that we could still purchase. The chip is a Texas Instruments / L293DNE that we were able to buy from Digikey (not an endorsement, just the place we found them in stock). The Celestron NexStar main board has two of these in 16-pin DIP packages. One controls the azimuth motor (turns the telescope to different points of the compas) and one controls the altitude motor (raises and lowers the tube). Our failed chip was the azimuth drive.<br />
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The first task was to desolder the chip. Since the chip was dead, the legs could be snipped off next to the chip body and the chip removed. Then the pins can be desoldered one at a time. That would have been simpler than what we did, which was a classic chip extraction. After an hour of playing with desoldering wick, we had the chip out!<br />
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After the chip was extracted, we ran a very small drill bit through the holes to make certain they were clear (they are plated through, so do not use a bit that is even terribly close to the size of the hole or you will break circuits). We managed to cut one trace on the board as well, which we fixed with a solder bridge.<br />
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With the new chip installed, we are approaching readiness to reassemble and test the telescope! My son did all the soldering to reinstall the chip and most of the desoldering. He is proud of being able to fix his telescope.<br />
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When the whole thing was assembled, the telescope works, though the hand controller is often illegible. That is our next project!Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-71902313681969825352020-05-24T11:26:00.002-07:002020-05-24T11:26:31.038-07:00First Bruschetta of the SeasonIt all begins with a tomato - a real, ripe, perfect one. In this case, we used our first ripe tomato of the season.<br />
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While suffering a bit from an earlier attack by inchworms, it tasted wonderful.<br />
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The pole beans are also from our garden, though they are not part of our Bruschetta....<br />
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Ingredients:<br />
<ul>
<li>Tomato</li>
<li>1/4 yellow Onion</li>
<li>Basil</li>
<li>Olive Oil</li>
<li>Black Pepper</li>
<li>Salt</li>
</ul>
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Separately, make some toasted thin slices of Ciabatta bread... I tend to eat Bruschetta on crisp thin toasts.<br />
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Wash the tomato and remove any blemishes. Dice reasonably finely, usually about a quarter inch dice is good. Place in a glass bowl.<br />
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Dice the onion (you will want about 1/4 as much as you have tomato) into chunks half the size of the tomato chunks or smaller.<br />
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Place in glass bowl atop tomato chunks.<br />
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Wash the basil and pat dry. Mince at least as finely as the onion. Place on top of Onion and Tomato. Now drizzle some olive oil over the stack and gently mix. Add the salt and ground black pepper, stir gently to mix, cover with a towel, and allow the flavors to mingle for at least fifteen minutes.<br />
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Serve by spooning onto thin, crispy toast and eating!<br />
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For our family, this has become a ritual preparation marking the start of Summer, or at least the season of the Tomato.<br />
<br />Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-58214120198849070852020-05-20T12:00:00.000-07:002020-05-20T12:00:03.654-07:00Giant Puffball Mushrooms in ChaparralWhile Spring is usually considered the time for wildflowers in the deserts of California, they are not the only things you can find in Spring.<br />
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How about football sized mushrooms? Even if these particular ones were a bit smaller than typical, they are still wonderful things to encounter while wandering in natural areas this time of year!<br />
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There is a tremendous excitement to finding these unexpectedly along a trail or while exploring. These can be found in almost any part of the state, generally around the time the <i>Dichelostemma capitata</i> are finishing their bloom period.<br />
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My son found these - Puffballs as a group contain some of the most numerous edible mushrooms in our yard (note - never eat wild mushrooms - join a local mycological society if you really want to explore this. The Mycological Society of San Francisco is a great one at mssf.org ). Hence the excitement when an unexpected "old friend" showed up along our path!<br />
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Turns out it hasn't been a great year for <i>Calvatia booniana</i>, as these were all ready getting ready to ripen their spores, and the mushrooms themselves are smaller than often encountered with this species. Still adds a flair of the hunt to any hike!<br />
<br />Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6814676844312329022.post-63229134674426004252020-05-18T22:08:00.003-07:002020-05-18T22:08:49.815-07:00Wild Snapdragons of the ChaparralCalifornia has a famously diverse flora, including the genus containing the domestic snapdragons, the genus <i>Antirrhinum</i>. The genus can be found across Europe, North Africa, and North America. California's species are in full bloom in the Chaparral (the bushy vegetation you find covering the coastal mountains on their lower slopes, generally).<br />
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We found two species recently that delight us whenever we stumble across them.<br />
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<b><i>Antirrhinum multiflorum</i></b> (above) is a perennial - a plant that lives for several years rather than just living within one growing season. The good news is if you find it, it will likely be there, and bigger, each year for several years. My son is always on the lookout for these, and found today's first one! These can grow to six feet tall, though normally are between two and four feet tall. The plants are sticky, so better to look than touch!<br />
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<b><i>Antirrhinum coulterianum</i></b> (above) in contrast is a fire-following annual, meaning it lives for a single year (actually about 6 months), sprouting, flowering, and setting seed in a span of less than a year. This plant is in a rush to grow, since Spring rains are fickle an it cannot trust the moisture will last. It doesn't grow a strong enough stem to face the wind - notice the twisting branches below the flowers? These "tortile branchlets" twist and turn through nearby plants to help keep the raceme of flowers standing tall. There is a second twist, in that this is a fire following specialist. Often, these plants are completely absent from the chaparral. They are waiting as seeds for the right conditions. Those conditions happen in the fall after a chaparral fire burns through the hills - all the soot, charcoal, and other remains of the fire trigger the seeds to germinate, after having waited for decades in the soil. You can generally find them for just a few years after a fire burns the chaparral off the hills, then they are gone again until the next fire cycle. Chaparral is a unique vegetation type evolved to burn completely several times a century.<br />
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Rob Ferberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02051414001328098404noreply@blogger.com0