first, something awesome:
my new kitchenaid (a big thanks to my aunt, uncle and favorite backyard helpers) (making a batch of meringues...yum.)

and then something seemingly awesome until closer inspection:this whole backyard vegetable gardening adventure has been a tough one...
first there were the mushrooms, then we had a minor infestation of cucumber beetles and now, finally as all of the fruit is starting to ripen, i think my poor tomato plants are suffering from late blight. do i really have to pull the plants immediately or can i wait until we're done harvesting???

time for another backyard tour:

you probably recognize this area that C cleared and leveled out a few months back:instead of it leading into the great abyss of overgrown poison oak for any longer, C decided to open up the backyard even more and built some stairs. the massive acacia trunk that blocked off our backyard from the canyon became a set of steps leading down to the canyon and to the path up the hill.the trail follows along the path of the redwoods that we planted a while back and then up to the next set of stairs that C built.it's pretty steep, but manageable (if you're not lugging 80lb bags of concrete up and down). the poison oak is happily growing back but it's avoidable for now. we also discovered a large walnut tree hanging out on that hill. as soon as we figure out how to harvest the nuts without climbing through the poison oak, i'll be making vin de noix.the view at the top of the stairs looking up to the hill. that little oasis there is home to at least one almond tree. more almond trees all over the hill.
we planted our magnolia tree on the right side of the hill, amongst the blackberry bushes.and at long last, the deck. i was away this past weekend but C was home with elli working away. i haven't climbed up to check out the latest progress but this is where it was last week:this is the view we'll have from the deck:when it's clear you can actually see the red of the golden gate bridge.
and then there's the enormous eucalyptus tree that stands next to the deck:

the announcements that i made:

oak tree, redwood, california poppies from our yard. the 3 birds represent the redtail hawks that have nested in the eucalyptus tree. i printed these on brown cardstock on my gocco. though it was a bit of a hassle (i ran out of gocco ink and had to improvise with other ink and had to figure how to register the print), i'm pretty darn pleased with how they turned out!

on sunday C spotted a nest at the very tip of a branch on one of the oak trees in our backyard. we watched the momma bird bring her babies food as they peeked their little heads up over the edge.

yesterday morning i found this little guy hopping across the yard. i watched him for a while to make sure that he wasn't injured and then let him be. i hope he figured out how to get back home!

the past 2 weekends have been a bit unusual in that C has been focused on one insane project up on our hill while i've spent my time inside working on a separate project. a nut-job friend of ours got the idea that we need a deck at the top of our hill, and that it needed to be done by august. C happily obliged and the two of them have spent the past two weekends digging 6 enormous holes (in dry clay dirt), hauling 24 80lb bags of concrete up the hill and then carrying concrete footers up after. progress as of last weekend:by now, they've constructed the footers of the deck and will start framing on friday. more photos to come.

while this chaos was unraveling, i quietly set out to collect all of the wild plums in our backyard and make jam. they're not very tasty eating plums but make yummy jam. they're yellow, just larger than a big cherry and require pitting...after 2 weekends of collecting and tinkering i've made 14 jars of sour plum jam, 20 jars of plum lavender jam, 8 jars of plum chutney, 2 jars of pickled plums (per this recipe) and 3 big jars of plums covered in vodka that will hopefully become something lovely in a few months. we still have at least 2 trees that remain covered in plums not to mention the neighbors trees that they're begging me to harvest. any other plum recipes i should try out?

newly planted huge magnolia tree (thanks eddie and sophia!)

vielen Dank to everyone for your sweet well wishes.
the pace hasn't slowed down a bit over the last few weeks and i have many more projects to share.
look for them in the next week or so!

where we've been:

June 19th, 2009 in Oakland, California.
Elli is no longer a bastard puppy-hund.