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This somewhat cheesy video from the late 1930s catalogues the tourist attractions of the city. It’s a pretty thorough survey, and there are a lot of great clips…
The screenshot above links to my page on Bay Area bioregions. The content was produced quite a while ago, but I’m gradually updating my pages to be more…
These turned out great. Most of the mole bitters recipes I could find (there aren’t a lot) were, I felt, too simple. That goes against the spirit of…
The iochroma is flowering, and that means the hummingbirds are back. I like to photograph them, in part because this particular iochroma is right outside my study window, and…
The Farmer’s Daughter is a fifteen-acre farm and nursery, founded in 1998 and run by Sarah Partyka, that is located in a rather upscale, mostly rural region about forty minutes…
It’s summertime, which means it’s time for a refreshing spritz, the signature drink of northern Italy. And while we’re at it, let’s repost this fun video, Fame un…
Those of us who live in one of the world’s five Mediterranean climate areas can take cheer from the fact that these regions are home to some of…
It’s taken me a long time to complete what was meant to be a quick survey of the garden after returning from a trip. These photos are now…
May Day: Not the distress signal, more like the traditional Northern European folk festival marked by bountiful “May Baskets.” I think the festival developed out of Floralia, the Roman celebration of the goddess…
It’s April, and the northeast is covered in snow. But here in the Bay Area a heat wave is starting up, with temperatures today projected to be in…
While we’re on the subject of bitters, it’s worth taking note of their health benefits, which include moderating blood sugar, improving digestion, and I think immortality–though I understand…
For my next two batches of bitters I followed a base herbal bitters recipe from Mark Bitterman. He uses three bittering agents in his herbal bitters: I tsp…
Bitters are handy in cocktails and cooking — or even to just flavor water for drinking. This is my first batch of bitters, and the result is satisfying.
Making your own bitters means you have control over the ingredients. Most of mine come from the garden and are organic.
At the Watershed Nursery in Point Richmond we picked up several California natives that we will be trying out in the garden. We also got a few nonnative…
Okay, I got a little overconfident. We hadn’t had much deer damage in several days, and I needed to access the tomatoes. So I half opened up the…
Early Girls are the best performing, most reliable, and best tasting tomatoes I have grown in my current garden. This is a red saladette tomato with smallish fruit…
Dormeuse, amas doré d’ombres et d’abandons … — Paul Valéry (The sleeper, a golden mass of shadows and abandonments …) Thanks to the neighborhood cat lady, we have an…
After a hiatus of at least two or three years, these “tulip poppies” decided to pop back up in the garden, looking better than ever. In the second shot…
This hummingbird loves the iochroma. Iochroma is a Central or South American plant unrelated to fuschia but similar in appearance. The flowers can be blue, purple, red, yellow,…
Slater Mill (shown below) in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was the birthplace in America of both the Industrial Revolution and the American labor movement, thanks to a strike at the…
The Citrus Burst rose is blooming profusely. And we had a brief moment of rain today. Not enough in our current drought, but we’ll take it. This is…
Here you see a retaining wall in process near the crabapple tree. Because my lot is on a steep (but, fortunately, south-facing) hillside, I need to terrace extensively. I learned…