thaw's over

winter has made something of a return on the south end of the inland sea...

and it is "lake effect" snow that is trying to reinsulate the winter rye...

it's january however there are still teosinte seeds in ears that have not opened yet much less shattered...

the original growth on this mashua plant that was grown from a cutting has died back which led me to think the peat pot was becoming too confining, so...

so i transplanted it into a container and put it in the plant room under the lights with the rest of the mashua...

the spuds in the nursery are coming along well...

as is the yacon ( although there is still no word from the third rhizome )

there are plentiful nasturtiums cohabiting with the teosinte...

another teosinte flower is blooming...

however i still have no real idea what this structure on the plant next door might be...we will have to wait for event to evolve before we find some conclusion...

and last ( but surely not least ) Jean's "puddle wheat is looking robust ( along with its cohabiting onions )...it has been under the lights for seventy-six days...if all goes well ears should begin to form late this month and ( perhaps ) we will have indoor wheat berries before spring...

a bit of growth and a comparison

the spud on the right has had a growth spurt over the past few days ( the mashua to the left has added some leaves as well, however it is a different plant than the one in the first photo...that one has been transplanted )

the nasturtiums ( top of these three photos ) and the mashua are exhibiting their kinship in a long and storied andean lineage...and while we are talking mashua, i brought in the trellises i was using for their parents outdoors last season so they would have something to vine on...

the yacon seems happy..at least two of the three anyway...still no word from the third rhizome...

and this structure on the teosinte plant still looks more like a fir than a flower to me...expect many photos until it sorts itself out ( the plants know what to do )

no such thing as status quo

justa quick update to show that, while it may be slow, there is always movement in the basement...the first yacon up continues the process of leafing out and has turned very green...

the second sprout is doing its best to catch up...

the two mashua transplants from last weekend are doing well...

as is the one from earlier in the month...

this container of teosinte...

has irrupted in nasturtiums...seeds on the loos and environment that is conducive to growth...flowers? we will see...

and while we are talking teosinte, this is still one of the oddest structures i have ever seen on a teosinte plant..definitely keeping an eye on this one...

Jean's puddle wheat is looking robust, though no signs of ears as yet...

as are the onions cohabiting with it...new growth, surprising variations, unexpected guests...the new year is booming along.

rain

temperatures more indicative of autumn have arrived...and along with it significant rains...

the last time it rained, nine days ago, this rain gauge collected just over an inch and a half of precipitation...

today it shows five...a three and a half inch rainfall today in the middle of my back yard...

the one on the north side between the housed uncharacteristically held a shade less than the other on the fourteenth of the month...

today, characteristically, it is topped out...we have had some rain today...

the evidence in on the petals, silks, and ears...

the hawthorn tree in the front yard stood out sharply as i pulled in the drive this evening...

the bees that gathered the nectar in the hawthorn blooms this past may...

will help feed the birds as winter deepens...nature is a web of interconnections...this one is so obvious i can see it plainly...there are others, more complex and obscured that human cognition has little hope of finding, much less understanding...time to relinquish the idea of control and be part.