Enjoying Autumn -Southwest Style

The British prefer the word 'autumn' to 'fall' to name the season we are now in, and I must admit 'autumn' has a ring to it.  Maybe it's because 'fall' has many other meanings, not all of them pleasant (fall down, fall flat, fall foul, fall from grace). My Merriam Webster dictionary defines 'autumn' as "the season between summer and winter." But autumn means much more to me than merely a transitional season. It is my favorite time of year in the Desert Southwest.

It's time to take advantage of the glorious weather.  Those 90 and 100 degree summer daytime temperatures are now thankfully behind us.  Somewhere in the 80's in the daytime and the high 60's at night are more typical temperatures.  One of the first things I do every morning is open up all the doors in the house and let the cool air in.

Front doors flung wide open

Looking out into the courtyard in the morning

I can enjoy a second cup of coffee because I don't have to hurry to take a walk around the neighborhood before the sun starts beating down.

As I take a leisurely stroll in the garden, I can see that I am not the only one happy about the cooler weather.  The plants are putting on luxuriant growth and blooms.  This is a plant I confiscated from a vacant lot many years ago.  It has burst into bloom this autumn.

Snake Weed

A tacoma stans,(yellow bells) in the hot front yard is finally showing some life and greeting the autumn season with blooms.

Looks like a trumpet vine, but with yellow blooms

I have been waiting all year for the rain lily to do something spectacular, and with the autumn rains, it has obliged me.

Rain Lily

They say autumn is the time for planting, so I just installed several lantana plants along the sidewalk leading to the front door.  The yellow lantanas that one sees all around the Southwest are attractive, but I find the colors of this red lantana more eye-catching.

Lantana

Finally, I swing around to the backyard, say hello to the outside cats, and check the wildflowers bed, which is like opening a surprise package.  I'm not sure of the name of this flower, but it is spectacular.

Wildflower

I know that in many parts of the world,  the leaves will soon be turning those wonderful autumn colors. dark reds, yellows, and oranges in many shades.  But in my part of the world, we still have six more wonderful weeks of green trees, plants and grass, a real treat in the Desert Southwest.

Creating a Tucson Yard

I often chuckle in disbelief when I see homes being redecorated on HGTV from discarded furniture and accessories stored in the owner's attic.  Oh, sure, I think to myself.  How realistic is that?

Attic with furniture treasures

But now I am eating my words. My husband Wayne and I are following the same principle in populating our new Tucson Yard - digging up volunteer plants from other parts of the yard, taking cuttings, dividing larger plants, and moving large rocks.  

We created the Tucson Yard because we wanted to get rid of a large area of water-gobbling bermuda grass, and we have been impressed by the landscapes of Tucson, Arizona.  The Tucson gardens are xeriscaped for low water use, but they are also varied and colorful.  Too often in my home town of El Paso, Texas, we think of desert yards as being only lots of rock and a few hardy cacti. I have heard some cynical gardeners refer to our local yards are being "zeroscaped".

First we had to create the "bones" of the new  Tucson garden by contracting out the creation of pillars and a brick walkway as well as the placement of large beams.

Tuscon Yard Structure

Then the fun part began.  We walked around the property, discussing where we could find plants and decorations for the new yard.  The first selection was a spineless prickly pear cactus that had long ago outgrown its pot.

Spineless prickly pear cactus

We knew we had to try to transplant a Mexican Bird of Paradise, because they grow prolifically (some might even say invasively) in our yard.  This plant will grow rapidly and produce exotic yellow flowers.

Mexican Bird of Paradise

Another favorite we had to try to duplicate was the candelilla plant.  It is grown in the Big Bend region of Texas and was formerly harvested to make wax.  This new plant, created by digging up part of an existing candelilla, is already producing small white flowers on the stems.

Candelilla

It wasn't just plants that we discovered for the new area.  We also found a old pot that paired well with a red yucca dug up from the front yard.

Red yucca and pot

This cow skull, of unknown origin,  now has a prominent place in the new yard.

Cow skull

The ocotillo was another plant that we have had success with in the past.  The branch cut from an existing ocotillo did not survive, but the little ocotillo that had been a volunteer plant in our yard is green.

One ocotillo success and one failure

To me, the best addition to the Tucson yard was a metal sculpture of Mother Earth that Wayne made recently.  She had been hanging on a wall in the courtyard, but I think she gets lots more attention between two pillars in the new area.

Mother Earth

The one new little plant in the Tucson yard that we are babying is the greasewood, or creosote bush. These plants grow wild on our property, but we have never  transplanted one successfully. One of us checks it every day for signs of new growth, and it has been touch and go.  Sometimes the plant looks like it has given up the ghost, only to put on a few green leaves the next day to give us hope. Greasewoods are mostly responsible for giving the desert a wonderful aroma after a rain shower.  To me, they smell delightfully like witch hazel.

Is the creosote alive or just stringing us along?

We hope we have created a worthy replica of a Tucson Yard.  And putting it together slowly from odds and ends has been lots more fun than having those HGTV landscapers come in with crews to finish the project in one day.  At least I think so....

Making Pear Preserves

As the fruit begins to ripen on our pear tree every year in early August,

my husband Wayne makes it his personal challenge to use the pears before the birds begin pecking on them.  "Time to make pear preserves,"  he announces.

I try to persuade him to wait until the pears ripen, but he swears that his mother, who always produced delicious pear preserves, swore that hard pears make the best preserves. Here is an account of Wayne's preserve making efforts this year - and it was an effort!

First he peeled about 24 cups of pears.

Then he chopped the pears into smaller pieces.

The next step was to add eight or nine cups of sugar to the pears and let them sit for about an hour. The pears went on the stove with a teaspoon of nutmeg, a teaspoon of allspice, and the juice and rind of one lemon to simmer for about four hours.  (You can see that pear preserve making is not a quick project!)

At first the cooking pears looked like this.

   

In the later stages, the pears began looking more preserve-like.  And they smelled great!

Has the fruit cooked long enough?  That is always the big question.  Too little cooking produces runny preserves.  Too much cooking produces preserves with a hard candy-like quality.  We have examples of both in our pantry!

This year Wayne tried a new technique to answer the big question.  He put a small amount of preserves in a bowl in the freezer to cool.  When he checked the pears, he pronounced that the consistency was good.  It was time to can the preserves.

The jars and lids have to be sterilized, of course, to prevent development of bacteria. 

To say that the pear preserve project took up the whole kitchen is not an overstatement.

But Wayne valiantly carried on.

Project complete!

I asked Wayne if he was going to give away any jars of pear preserves to friends or relatives.  I received a quick "no way" in response.  But at least he beat those pesky birds to the pear harvest!

Savoring the Green Chile Harvest

If only someone could bottle the aroma of roasting green chiles in the Desert Southwest! Labor Day Weekend signals the start of Green Chile Season.. Large boxes of fresh green chiles are stacked in produce departments of local supermarkets, ready for purchase by dyed in the wool green chile lovers.

My husband Wayne and I are among those chile devotees who feel that we must have at least 25 lbs. of roasted and peeled green chiles in the freezer to last a whole year. It is a secure feeling to know that we have chiles to add to whatever we choose for a burst of flavor. No more bland food!

One of the big decisions of the chile shopper is whether to buy hot, medium or mild green chiles. Each degree of chile heat has it proponents, and some diners are tougher than others.  Last year we allowed ourselves to be convinced to buy a large box of chiles labeled "Medium/hot".  Bad decision! What were we thinking?  

The chiles were so hot that after a few attempts to tone down the heat we committed the sacrilege of throwing all the remaining chiles in the trash can.  This year we didn't care if the produce manager thought we were wimps.   We pounced on and purchased one of the few remaining boxes of mild green chiles.

Some shoppers choose to have their chiles roasted at the store in a cooker set up on the sidewalk in front of the store.  

Here is what the roasted chiles look like after a turn in the cooking cage.

Other shoppers prefer to roast the chiles at home, on a grill, a griddle, or a baking sheet in the oven. 

One option is to remove the blackened peel before storing the chiles in freezer bags.  Other chile lovers leave the peel on and freeze the chiles immediately in bags.  The peel comes off easily when the frozen chiles are defrosted under warm water.  The stem, veins and seeds are also removed.  The chile is ready to use.

I just finished making bacon, tomato, and green chile sandwiches for supper.  The bacon was pre-cooked, the bread was whole grain, the tomato was still warm from our garden, and the green chile was indeed mild, but with a wonderful flavor.

Eat more vegetables!  We hear this admonition every day.  Green chile is a great way to eat your vegetables.  Green chile hamburgers, scrambled eggs with green chile, chile con queso, bean burritos with green chile, green chile salsa, green chile enchiladas,  green chile quiche...   

I wonder if that 25 lb. bag is really going to last  our family until next Labor Day?