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Yellow Gingkoes

Overnight the green gingkoes became a glowing yellow gingkoes standing at the back of the yard. This is a rare fall sight as killing frost usually takes off the leaves before they turn color.

What Is a Gingko?

Sometimes called a maidenhair tree, this tree is a living fossil, related to pines. It and its relatives were once browsed on by dinosaurs. Only one kind, Gingko biloba, has survived to modern times thanks to man.

This species is native to Asia and was planted in monastery gardens in China. The nuts are edible when roasted.

The leaves are the reason for the species name. Unlike most flat leaves with a main vein branching off into smaller and smaller veins, gingko veins split into two and those split into two and so forth.

yellow gingkoes are striking
In the evening this gingko tree was green with yellow hints. When dawn came, the tree glowed in lemon yellow even under an overcast sky.

Modern Gingkoes

I first met a gingko in Philadelphia. A large female tree, there are separate male and female trees, was dropping its fruit over the sidewalk by Benjamin Franklin’s grave.

The main drawback to this tree was very evident. The flesh from the fruit stunk like dog feces.

However, gingkoes are very resistant to air pollution so cities like to plant them along streets. They plant only male trees to avoid that major drawback.

Beautiful Fall Color

This place is a frost pocket so our three gingkoes have a hard time both in spring and fall. The late spring frost last spring devastated the three. It took so long for them to leaf out, we thought they might be dead.

This fall has had several light frosts. Killing frost is supposed to arrive next week, but the warning temperatures encouraged the yellow gingkoes to flaunt their glowing lemon yellows for a few days.

Are these trees male or female? We don’t know. We’ve never seen them bloom or had any fruit. They do make lovely yard trees.

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Squirrels and Black Walnuts

Black walnuts pave the road and the yard now. They start falling in early September carpeting the ground with leaves, twigs and nuts. Squirrels and black walnuts go well together.

There were lots of squirrels here when we moved here. Then all of them moved out leaving us with a pile of unused walnuts for years. Now the squirrels are back for a crop that would feed several times the squirrels living here.

squirrels and black walnuts fan
Two kinds of squirrel live around our Ozarks place now. This is the larger red or fox squirrel. It has the red/brown underside and thick, bushy tail. This particular individual lives behind the yard and raids the bird feeder regularly. It has been seen to check out the feeder before the seeds are out in the morning. It chases the smaller gray squirrels away or tries to.

Black Walnuts

These are not the tepid nuts sold in the store. Black walnuts have a strong flavor, if you can crack the shell. Regular nutcrackers do not even make a dent.

There are special nutcrackers available. I resorted to a hammer. It takes a very long time to crack a cupful of nutmeats.

Squirrels have tough teeth. They toss off the hull and start gnawing. Rodent teeth, squirrels are rodents, grow constantly so these lucky ones wear theirs down getting to the tasty stuff inside.

Walking Problems

Black walnuts are round and hard. Walking from place to place with them underfoot is not easy. Picking them up is back breaking work.

However, I do pick them up in the areas we walk frequently and deposit them elsewhere. Squirrels and walnuts can meet up there.

There is also a running battle in my garden. A big tree drops part of its leaves and walnuts in my garden.

Unfortunately black walnuts produce juglans, a form of plant chemical warfare. That part of my garden will not grow tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, beans and some greens. The squash and pie pumpkins do fine.

another squirrels and black walnuts fan
This is a gray squirrel, smaller than the other kind. These also live around our Ozarks place. These seem to be more numerous than the red squirrels. Three were checking for walnuts by the barn one morning. I’m getting suspicious they are also snacking on my winter squash. One morning a gray squirrel was checking for walnuts in a patch of giant ragweed while a chipmunk was climbing the ragweed for the seeds.

Squirrels and Black Walnuts

Squirrels are fiercely territorial. This is why so many get hit on the roads.

A squirrel runs down the road to get a walnut. A car comes. The squirrel can’t run off the road as the resident squirrel will attack. So the poor squirrel must run back up the road to its own territory before being able to get off the road.

There are several black walnuts along our road dropping nuts on the road. I kick them over to the edge so the squirrels can stay off the road. Then I can continue to watch the squirrels and black walnuts for the fall.

There’s more about black walnuts and squirrels in “Exploring the Ozark Hills”.

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GKP Writing News

Writing Press Releases

Having a book signing/reading is no fun, if no one comes. Since this is a smaller town, I put up flyers. And I practiced writing press releases for the local paper.

What Is in a Press Release?

Having never really written a press release before, I wasn’t sure. I have read a few in the local paper and in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Sunday edition.

They seemed mostly to say what was happening and something about the author. So I tried writing a short piece with those things in it.

How Long?

When I called the local paper, the person on the phone said they would fit something in, trimming what I wrote to fit. That sounded like a short piece which is 300 to 400 words to me.

So I wrote a 400 word piece. It was hard to do as I was talking about me. And I sent it in.

Authors write books. Readers read them, if they know about them. Writing press releases is one way to let readers know about the books an author writes.

What Happened?

The paper wanted only 300 words. So someone cut out 100 words.

I expected that. What I didn’t expect is how they were cut off. The person did not read the piece, just hacked things out so some parts of it didn’t make sense.

What I Learned

Writing press releases is not easy for several reasons. One is writing about myself. I can get past that by pretending to write about someone else.

Another is making sure all of the important information is given right at the beginning. That part is not cut out.

The third thing I learned is to edit the piece myself down to 300 words. That way the printed piece will look more like what I wrote, not what someone else left when they hacked it off. Hacking is not the same thing as editing.

Writing press releases is an important skill for any self published author to have. It is one way to let potential readers know about any book events the author has planned.

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Watching Turkey Vultures

Seeing pictures of vultures with their naked necks may give the impression these birds are ugly. Watching turkey vultures for a time erases this impression. I’ve been watching them for years.

Spring arrives for many with the calls of spring peepers. It arrives for me with the arrival of the vultures. Fall ends with their departure in mid October.

Morning Surprise

Fall milking is a lazy affair as the goats go dry after being bred. Much of my time is spent standing in the doorway looking out across the old cow barn and pasture.

There were these big lumps on the barn roof. It took careful looking to finally make out what these lumps were.

watching turkey vultures
Vultures are thought of as being black. Turkey vultures have light gray underwings and their wings take on a brown shade in the sun. They are impressive with their wings spread. Soaring in lazy circles these birds rarely flap their wings, instead taking advantage of every rising air current.

Two turkey vultures were standing on the roof peak, wings outstretched, basking in the sun. These birds are sun birds. They stand basking for a long time letting the air warm up and the heat clean their feathers.

Once the air is warm and rising, the vultures soar off in great swoops and circles rising up until they are mere specks in the sky. Watching turkey vultures soar, they often seem to soar just for the joy of it.

Fall Kettles

A group of vultures is called a kettle. This year a kettle is roosting near the old cow barn. Most sit in the trees with their wings outstretched. A few move onto the barn roof peak.

As the kettle soared up in widening circles, I counted sixteen and think I missed a few. After a few nights, the kettle will move to other trees south of us.

There’s still a few weeks left in October. I’m hoping another kettle will stop by so I can continue watching turkey vultures a little longer, putting off the end of fall as long as possible.

Vultures are the topic in two books. Ross Malone’s story is in “Paws, Claws & Hooves: Footprints on Our Lives“. One of the nature essays in “Exploring the Ozark Hills” is about turkey vultures.

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GKP Writing News

Delicious Book Research

World building is part of planning any novel. This means doing some research. My planned NaNo novel called for some delicious book research.

Delicious?

One of the possible scenes in the novel will involve the main character doing some cooking, a simple Arab recipe. Except I don’t, or didn’t, know any simple Arab recipes.

Of course I could just do a search for such a recipe. What’s the fun of that? Finding a good cookbook to read or browse is much more fun.

I checked out “Arab Fairy Tale Feasts” by Karim Alrawi and Nahid Kazemi. This began my delicious book research.

My Plans

I had thought I would use a chicken recipe. This made it tempting to just look at those sections in the cookbook. I’m glad I didn’t succumb to this.

Instead I spent time enjoying the Arab Fairy tales. They each ended with a moral reminding me of Aesop’s Fables.

Each tale had the flavor of “The Thousand and One Nights” yet the familiarity of fairy tales I’d read long ago. The illustrations made the tales come alive, even though they were simple colored sketches.

New Plan

The chicken recipe idea got canceled. Instead I found a meatball with a honey glaze recipe. It’s fast to prepare and sounds delicious.

My main character will prepare a variation of this one as she will use a tomato sauce glaze, something the recipe notes tell me is another way to prepare the dish. One of the honey glaze ingredients called for would not be found in a regular kitchen not set up for Arab recipes.

That doesn’t mean I won’t try to make the original recipe. I’ve already tried out another recipe from this delicious book research, a lentil soup.

It would be great if the rest of my world building research was delicious book research too. Unfortunately it won’t be.

cover for "Broken Promises" by Karen GoatKeeper
Food is universal. Cooking can be relaxing or therapy or other things for the cook. In “Broken Promises” cooking helps Hazel cope with the death of her father.
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GKP Writing News

Fall Pumpkins

My first science activity book was “The Pumpkin Project” which I’m presently going back over trying to see how I can turn it into teaching units, all 215 pages. Seeing the fall pumpkins encourages me.

Porch Displays

Several houses on my town routes have porch displays out. Many include pumpkins and other winter squash varieties. These come in so many shapes and colors.

These will sit out for people driving and walking by to admire at least until the end of October. The sad part is that these pumpkins and squash will get dumped into the trash.

cover of "The Pumpkin Project" by Karen GoatKeeper
Writing this science activity book was a great experience. It did give me a chance to use my science teaching. The best part was meeting via email so many interesting people and going to the Weigh Ins. The next best part was trying out all of the delicious recipes.

“The Pumpkin Project”

As in my other science activity projects, this one includes pencil puzzles, trivia, stories, activities, projects and investigations. In addition, this book includes pumpkin recipes.

In the U.S. pumpkins are thought of as dessert, usually pie. Searching through my cookbooks, I found pumpkins can be cooked in many ways.

The flowers are used in a Mexican soup. The roasted seeds are a great snack. Pumpkin soups taste good.

There are several pumpkin breads. In fact, I just found a new one, a yeast bread using pumpkin puree and little sugar so it’s not a sweet bread. The Caribbean one has nuts, raisins and dates in it.

My favorite recipe is for pumpkin cookies. These taste a lot like pumpkin pie, but in cookie form.

fall pumpkins
Pumpkins have been around for centuries. Native Americans in South America were the first to plant them. They moved north and were planted by tribes in North America. Europeans adopted them and spread them around the world. This is no surprise as pumpkins taste good any way you fix them.

The Main Ingredient

Doing the activities and investigations require having pumpkin seeds, plants and pumpkins. The seeds can be purchased in the spring. Pumpkins are available in the fall.

But growing pumpkins is fun. The mini types can be grown in a big pot on a porch. Giant pumpkins take lots and lots of room and care as the stories about giant pumpkin growers explains.

I grow sugar pie pumpkins. These don’t get really big, but they are the best for eating.

My Plans

As I walk through my pumpkin patch admiring the many pie pumpkins, I picture them as breads and cookies. There are enough to share with the goats as they love pumpkin pieces. Perhaps I will ask for some of those display pumpkins and winter squashes for the goats to enjoy.

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New Garden Beginning

My garden isn’t moving. My new garden beginning is the start of next year’s garden. It isn’t next year yet, but my garden begins when I plant my garlic patch.

Garden Preparations

Lots of things are on the ‘To Do’ list for next year’s garden. On top is clearing out the remains of this year’s garden.

Once killing frost arrives, the cucurbits, tomatoes and peppers are gone, what is left of them. The groundhog continues to evade capture thanks to squirrels removing the bait from the traps.

New cardboard and mulch are next on the list. Weeding is not the way I like to start next year’s garden. My method doesn’t eliminate the weeds, but does get about 90% of them.

Both raised beds need frameworks for plastic put up. The lumber is waiting. The workshop is being renovated.

old garden resists new garden beginning
Sugar pie pumpkins are supposed to be smaller vines, like butternut squash. These seeds didn’t know that and promptly started taking over part of the garden including racing across the garlic patch to climb up the fence. The pumpkin vines will be gone with killing frost, but the pumpkins will be in the pantry.

Fall Planting

There are greens planted for fall harvest. I don’t count these in my new farden beginning projects as they are a continuation from this year.

The Chinese celery looks great. That’s because the groundhog doesn’t like it. The other greens get eaten the day before I want to pick them. That’s another reason to put frameworks up over the raised beds.

garlic is the new garden beginning
As my garden is surrounded by lawn and pasture, weed seeds move in by the handfuls. The mulch helps keep the weeds at bay while keeping roots cool in summer and warm in winter. The trench in the mulch has garlic cloves planted in it. Once the garlic leaves are up, the mulch will be pushed around them.

Planting Garlic

This year the sugar pie pumpkin vines overran the garlic bed. As summer wanes, the vines are dying back.

There are four varieties of garlic this year: Hard neck (name unknown), German, Romanian and soft neck (probably California white). The patch wasn’t big enough so a row of walking onions left.

Rain has been scarce for a few months. It comes in quarter and half inch showers. The patch was a bit dry even under the mulch. Rain barrels supplied water.

The cloves are planted between piles of mulch. In a few weeks garlic leaves should tower over the mulch.

That will be my new garden beginning to grow, promising a first crop for the new year.

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GKP Writing News

Native American Stories

Sometimes reading the history of the New World gives the impression no one lived here before the Europeans came. This isn’t true. Lots of people lived here and I’ve been reading some Native American stories to find out more about them.

There are many titles to choose from. Many are written by white people from their point of view. I came across a list of Native American authors and decided to check out one of them.

Fancy Shawl dancer at Cheyenne Pow Wow
The shawl swirls and swings around this Fancy Shawl dancer at a Cheyenne Pow Wow. At times she turned fast enough to level the shawl out in billowing waves.

Beginning With Picture Books

The nice thing about picture books is being able to see what is talked about in the text. These simpler approaches can be good introductions to topics as well.

So I requested several books by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve about different tribes. All of the ones I’ve read so far, “The Cherokees”, “The Cheyennes”, “The Hopis”, “The Navajos”, “The Nez Perce” and “The Apaches”, have a similar approach.

Grass Dancer at Cheyenne Pow Wow
Grass is bison food and important to feed the herds. The long fringe moves with this Grass Dancer at a Cheyenne Pow Wow as wind blows the grass. It ripples and sways, bends and sweeps up.

In the Beginning

The books begin with Native American stories of creation, where the people came from. All of these tales reflect a strong relationship with the natural world.

How these different tribes lived, their tools, the roles of men and women in the tribe, some customs and activities are described next. I was surprised at how many tribes let their women have a strong presence and influence in the tribe. This changed with the coming of the white man.

Sad Commentaries

Europeans considered the Native Americans a problem to be removed. Even tribes that tried to adopt white ways and beliefs were still just Native Americans. Although these books do not dwell on the many broken promises, treaties, massacres and forced relocations, they are mentioned as they are part of the Native American stories.

Native American stories told through dance
This man is performing a Fancy Dance at a Cheyenne Pow Wow held in Salem years ago. All of these dancers had colorful attire and intricate footwork.

Looking to the Future

Although most tribes have reservations, many members are educated and work in a wide range of careers. This is also part of the Native American stories.

This First Americans series may be picture books, but they are beautifully illustrated by Ronald Himler. They are definitely a good introduction to the different tribes and lay a good foundation for reading other Native American authors.

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Munching Monarch Caterpillars

My chickens have the run of the compound by the workshop and barn most of the day. So it was a surprise to find munching monarch caterpillars on the young common milkweed plants.

The chickens are voracious, attacking almost anything that dares to move through the yard. Even though these caterpillars taste bad, chickens don’t tell each other about it so each must sample one.

munching monarch caterpillars
The hungry caterpillar has nothing on these little eating creatures. These monarch caterpillars latch onto the edge of a leaf and start nibbling it away.

Monach Migration

There was a time when I was in sixth grade and saw a real monarch migration. The classes were out for recess. Clouds of these big, beautiful butterflies surrounded us. It was amazing.

I’ve noticed a few Monarch butterflies flying by this year. They have a flutter flight quite different from the more common frittilaries.

These visitors drop by the thistle flowers for a snack. They check out the common milkweed stalks, most of which are brown and shriveled now.

two munching monarch caterpillars
Monarch caterpillars grow fast. They have to as killing frost will arrive in another month and they must pupate and fly off before then.

Common Milkweed, Asclepias syriaca

These were planted twenty years ago and been a tolerated nuisance ever since. Unlike purple milkweed or butterfly weed, these plants send out gemniferous roots to form clumps. These clumps move from year to year migrating across the yard.

The milkweeds grow tall along with the giant ragweed and other plants growing among them in unmowed territory. They put out big umbels of light pink flowers attracting wasps, bees, bumblebees, butterflies and beetles.

Once the seed pods open releasing their seeds, the plants die. Except the roots busily put up new shoots that don’t get very tall. Their main purpose seems to be to keep me from mowing down the ragweed.

group of munching monarch caterpillars
There is a definite problem looming for these monarch caterpillars. They only eat milkweeds. This late in the season milkweed leaves are in short supply. There may not be enough for all of these caterpillars. I am in search for more.

Another Purpose

The munching monarch caterpillars give these shoots another reason for growing. Unlike the few remaining plants, these shoots have luscious green leaves perfect for dinner, if you are a caterpillar.

All the shoots with munching monarch caterpillars are now surrounded by wire rings. If chickens could read, I’d add signs: Chickens Stay Out.

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Ending Summer Gardening

Fall’s arrival means ending summer gardening for me. It’s bittersweet for me, especially this year.

Many Challenges

Every year brings new gardening challenges. This year brought more than enough. It started with the spring crop of weeds as I didn’t get the cardboard and mulch down over the entire garden. The pathways were ankle deep by planting time.

Many of my crops didn’t come up. There is a black walnut shedding too many leaves, twigs and nuts over almost half of the garden. A wide variety of plants refuse to grow in such contaminated soil.

A new family of groundhogs moved in. So far I’ve eliminated four. The first one leveled the greens which did eventually grow back. The last one wiped out the okra, tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers and lima beans. Number five is working on the leftovers. Other leftovers were collected by a wood rat aka pack rat.

What damage the chipmunks and turtles did was masked by the groundhogs. Turtles do little damage and are easy to remove. Chipmunks are cute, for now.

Yuxi squash ending summer gardening
This squash is edible young as a summer squash or it will shell into a nice winter squash. I get the seeds from Baker’s Creek. I prefer it as summer squash mostly because if is an awkward shape. the goats love it young or shelled.

Bright Spots

Cucurbits ignore black walnut. Groundhogs and pack rats ignore squash, monster squash and pumpkins. Leeks, onions and garlic don’t seem to be on their preferred list either.

This is the first year in a long time I’ve grown onions. It won’t be the last.

We will also feast on butternut squash all winter.

The goats will enjoy monster squash for months. These mysterious squash seem to be a cushaw/Tahitian melon cross. Some crossed with the yuxi, I think, judging by the shape. The one trait all of them share is size. They are big.

monster squash for my cucurbit year
These are small monster squash. One that fell off the vine mostly shelled is about ten pounds. There are a couple of others similar in size or bigger.

Ending Summer Gardening

The squash bugs have finally overwhelmed many of the cucurbits. The winter varieties are shelling even as the vines die back.

The tomato vines still look lush on top, but fall blight is creeping up. There are few tomatoes as they got carted off or eaten by groundhogs and wood rat. The flowers have no time to develop before killing frost.

Only one container of peppers and one plant still have peppers on them. The okra leaves were eaten along with the flower buds.

With the arrival of October, I will be officially ending summer gardening as I start clearing out the summer crops, laying down cardboard and mulching. Instead I will concentrate on the few winter crops growing in the raised beds.