I was going to use "debris" in the title, but that would mock the people in Southern California who have real rain-caused debris in their streets, yards, and homes this afternoon. I just went through the photo gallery on the LA Times site. What a mess.

There's still not much going on in my yard yet, but I did clean up the plastic we put over our raised beds last year. Lesson learned: If you have plastic outdoors that's starting to break up, get it out of the yard before it disintegrates into a bunch of little pieces you'll be finding all over the place for months. I think I caught it before it got too out of control.

Lesson I hope my neighbor learns: If you put up a wall of plastic foliage, the leaves will turn blue and then blow into your neighbors' yards every time there's a windstorm.

As I vowed last year, I'm not trying to start any seeds inside this year. However, I did buy some sunchokes (Jerusalem artichokes, or Helianthes tuberosus) at the grocery store the other day. I bought them just to plant them (I'll worry about recipes when I get my first harvest—wouldn't want to rush into anything). I was surprised to see in the Sunset guide that it's in the sunflower family. It "spreads readily and can become a pest," so it might have a chance under my care. I think this is the time to plant it (outdoors).

I have another new vegetable on my list for this year: parsnip. I bought one a few weeks ago just to see what it tasted like, and I was pleasantly surprised. If it's sweet, it's for me. Geez, if Mom had been feeding us parsnips when we were kids instead of canned peas and lima beans, maybe we wouldn't have all grown up hating vegetables.

Last but not least, I've set up a Facebook page for my blog, and I'd be very flattered if you became a fan.I think I'll post quick updates there more often than I write full-length posts. (If the link doesn't work, search for Rabbitbrush Ranch.)

I enjoy rainy days because they remind me of my home state of Oregon. I think now I'm going to go have a cup of tea and appreciate the fact my home is warm and dry.

        

This is what we saw all along I-5 from Oregon to Sacramento yesterday. Sigh.

        

I'll have to get the new Western Garden Book of Edibles: The Complete A-Z Guide to Growing Your Own Vegetables, Herbs, and Fruits, just published by Sunset Books. (Maybe they should have called it "Soup to Nuts" because it covers nuts, too.)

It includes instructions on growing in containers as well as in the ground, planning kitchen gardens, composting, building raised beds, and more. Of course it provides growing season details for all regions of the West, which is what makes it especially valuable to western gardeners.

I've grown ornamentals for years but have been trying to grow food for just the past few years. I've found that the requirements for food plants are more complicated and not at all flexible. My second season was more successful than the first, so I'll keep trying.

        

Do you grow seeds? Produce seeds? Farm seeds? Whatever the right verb is, local people are doing it and selling the results. I learned about Mewaldt Organics  from the Local Food Northern Nevada blog. They sell miscellaneous vegetable and herb seeds (plus the Jerusalem artichoke tubers I've been looking for) and have lots of tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds. LFNN author Shelley urges readers to shop early because once this year's seeds are gone, more can't be grown/produced/farmed until next season.

        

"
Not all trees need to be pruned." This good news comes in an article by University of Nevada Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Leslie Allen in today's RGJ. (As with all RGJ articles, be sure to visit the link within the next couple of weeks because it will disappear.)

More good news from the article for the not-so-ambitious gardener: "Trees have a natural ability to heal over pruning cuts, so there is no need to apply pruning sealants or dressings to the cuts." Yay!

The article has good information about when you do need to prune trees and how to do it.. The Truckee Meadows Community Forestry Coalition also has good information on its site.

Apparently this weekend would be a good time to prune trees. You can see the branches clearly without leaves, and this is the best weather we're going to have for a while since a series of storms is coming in next week.

        

The disgust in my neighbor's voice shocked me. "She sends us an amaryllis plant for Christmas every year. I hate amaryllises. Would you like it?"

I hoped my ears weren't playing tricks on me. I'd been looking for a cheap amaryllis bulb, and this was almost too good too be true. I said weakly, "You don't like amaryllises? I love them!" She replied, "I can't stand them." Trying to explain, she continued, "One year when we opened it, the leaves had already started to grow in the box!" The horror! (She allowed that she could tolerate the plants but only once they're in bloom.)

I hurried over to claim it before she changed her mind. While I shop around trying to find amaryllis bulbs for $5, my neighbor's relative had ordered this one from Harry & David and probably paid six times as much. It was pre-planted in a cute, reusable box planter with a moss mulch. All I had to do was add water, as they say. That was a few weeks ago, and this is what it looks like this week.

How could anyone hate this plant? I don't understand. However, if amaryllis bulbs have become the new fruitcake, I'll be happy to take any and all rejects. I'm hoping my neighbor's relative continues the tradition for a long time.

True confessions

Instead of buying paperwhite bulbs to force indoors this winter, I decided to buy ranunculus bulbs (tubers) with the intention of planting some outside and some in pots for indoors. Then I checked the Sunset guide, and it says, "In coldest climates, grow ranunculus in greenhouse, plant after frosts." It also says they need perfect drainage. That's a little intimidating! I may have to try the "wintersown" technique on them. In the meantime, the unopened bag is still sitting on the counter.

I'm too embarrassed to show a current photo of the beautiful poinsettia I showed you in November. One branch broke off for an unknown reason, and a lot of the lower leaves have fallen off. I've tried to keep it watered evenly, and it gets plenty of bright, indirect light. This is why I hate to spend very much on houseplants.

While I'm in confession mode, I might as well tell you that all the seeds I saved from last summer are still sitting on the counter, too. They're near a heater vent, and I'm sure the dryness is not doing anything to help this spring's germination rates.

Hope lives

On the other hand, a couple of plants I brought in from the patio last fall are hanging in there.

One is the heliotrope. I love them, but I've never been able to keep one alive throughout the winter. I know this one (below, right) looks skimpy, but it's still alive and has even bloomed since I brought it in. I've been conscientious about keeping it watered, which I think is the key and which I'm not very good at.

The plant on the left is one I tried for the first time last summer, a duranta. I bought it as an annual flower for the patio but learned it's actually an evergreen shrub. It's too cold to plant it outdoors here, but I'm willing to keep repotting it and bringing it indoors during the winter as long as it does well. I've been amazed that it seems as happy in my house as out on the patio. It has bloomed since I brought it in, too.

I'm trying to keep a fuchsia going, too, but it looks way too bad to show a photo of it. I've never succeeded in keeping one of those alive all winter, either. However, I hate to dump them before they're dead.

Wish them all luck—it will be months before they can go back out on the patio!

        

If you're on Pembroke Drive and see several cars pulled over, look around for a bald eagle.The one I saw before Christmas stayed around for a few days. It was even joined by another one, and they perched in a tree on or near the university farm north of the Rosewood Lakes golf course. My husband saw one eating something (a bird? a fish?) in Steamboat Creek.

I just received and posted a news release to This Is Reno about the annual Eagles & Agriculture event in Carson Valley. Tours and workshops conducted Feb. 19-21  focus on the influx of bald eagles and other birds of prey in the Carson Valley each year during the winter calving season (they feed on the afterbirth). If you would like more information, here are a couple of links:
Eagles & Agriculture tours and workshops
Event registration form

        

I don't know anything about animal tracks, but I've become interested in them lately. We had a brief snowstorm yesterday that left less than an inch of snow, and this morning we could see where a critter had traveled all over our yard. In fact, it had clearly come up the driveway, moved around the backyard and across our patio, and come out on the other side of the house, going back to the street by crossing the lawn. I guessed the tracks were made by a rabbit and confirmed it on line. I'm further assuming it was a cottontail since that's what we see around here.



Apparently the two small marks, which almost look like one mark, are from the front paws, and the bigger marks are from the back feet. (Was this rabbit pigeon-toed?) In this photo, the rabbit would have been moving toward the camera and to the right of the picture.

I'm including this picture mainly to show off the clear, deep blue sky, although the photo doesn't do it justice. It's absolutely beautiful today. There's nothing like the combination of  fresh snow and clean, blue sky. (Although I'm partial to the lavender sky at dusk, too, but I digress.)

Back to the tracks, I think the blurry tracks near the rabbit tracks were left by a feral cat in last week's snow. However, I'm going to have to start learning more about tracks because I'm curious whenever I see them. I bet I'd be amazed to see how many creatures' visits are recorded in the snow if I paid attention.

        

Forty winter solstice observances are listed in Wikipedia's entry on the subject. The most popular now, of course, is Christmas. I just like to note the shortest day of the year.



I took this photo of the sunset yesterday, so it's not technically a photo of the shortest day. However, I can't count on remembering to do it today, and besides, it's probably going to be cloudy and raining at sunset today anyway. Well, I suppose I could have taken a photo of this morning's sunrise, but that would have taken some kind of miracle since I'm not a morning person.

Merry Christmas, Good Yule, and Happy Whatever-Other-Winter-Solstice-Celebration-You-Celebrate!

        

My husband came home a little while ago and told me a bald eagle was perched near Pembroke Drive. I grabbed my camera, and it was still there when we went back.



I took this picture from the bridge on Pembroke over Steamboat Creek. At a time like this, I realize how limited my simple little camera is. I regret not being able to get a closer view, but at least you can see the creek, which the eagle was apparently watching for food.

In a quick visit to Wikipedia, I learned that bald eagles are "found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting." As you can see, our neighborhood doesn't exactly fit that description (the creek flows into the Truckee River, but I wouldn't call that open water, either), so maybe that's why I've never seen a bald eagle here before.

Phil and I weren't the only ones who were interested. A steady of stream of vehicles stopped so people could get out for a closer look and take pictures. The eagle didn't seem at all concerned by the attention; it didn't move except to swivel its head back and forth.

In case you haven't been keeping up, the bald eagle was reclassified from "Endangered" to just "Threatened" in 1995, and it was completely removed from the "Endangered and Threatened" list in 2007. Maybe this will become a common sight!