by Judy | Apr 29, 2022 | Uncategorized
These past days I’ve been on a hunt for neighborhood habitats that are welcoming pollinators. I have found several. Of course complete and functional natural habitats not only benefit pollinators but human inhabitants as well.
Below you will find recipes for delicious pollinator connection foods and garnishes.
Paloverde Flowers attract bees. The bright yellow flowers are delicate and mildly sweet. As soon as possible after opening the flowers can be used fresh, cooked or as a garnish on salads or soups.
Try this Paloverde Flower Pudding Recipe
3 cups clean paloverde flowers
1/2 C water
1/2 C sugar
2 C milk
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 Lightly beaten egg yolks or 1 well-beaten egg
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 Teaspoon salt
Simmer paloverde flowers in water until tender, approximately 10 minutes. Drain well and measure liquid. Add milk to make 1 cup. Puree blossoms in blender. In saucepan blend sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add milk and blossoms and cook while stirring over medium heat until thick and bubbly. Cook 2 minutes more, and remove from heat. Stir small amount of hot mixture into beaten egg. Return to hot mixture and cook 2 minutes more. Remove from heat, and add butter. Chill in dessert cups. Garnish with fresh paloverde blossoms .
Paloverde Pancakes
Add 1 cup of fresh paloverde flowers to yips favorite pancake mix.
(Recipe by Arizona Highways “Desert Wildflowers” )
Saguaro trees are just beginning to bloom. Check our Cactus Hotel, a children’s book favorite with your grandchildren to thoroughly appreciate the importance of Saguaros, Arizona’s state flower, to the natural life of this state.
Arizona Highway’s “Desert Wildflowers” magazine also offers this recipe for
Saguaro Seed Dressing
1/2 C mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon lemon juice
1 Tablespoon Saguaro seeds
Mix all ingredients together and toss with your Arizona citrus salad.
For more photos, recipes and to plan and build your own successful “Pollinator Garden” check out millionpollinatorgardens.org. and Arizona Highways publication “Desert Wildflowers.”
by Judy | Dec 28, 2021 | Nature, Photos
Photos by Buddy Walker
by Judy | Nov 4, 2021 | Nature
October 30, 2021 I began my 21st annual migration to a home in the Sun City, Arizona desert. The morning was fresh. Looking from the window seat of my 321 Airbus the fog had lifted from all but the river valleys as the plane took off from MSP airport. We were seeking cruising altitude within open blue skies. The air was “clear and a million” as my pilot son would describe it. Many farmers had already plowed their field making a clear and intricately patterned patchwork of the landscape below. Eventually we passed over the more arid lands of western Kansas and Nebraska. Here the fields are dotted with irrigation circles. Several creative framing engineers had perfectly divided their irrigation spheres in half sending a message of conscious conservation. The color differential was stunning. Clearly the land has been prepared for another dry spring. Our flight path barely touched the southeast corner of Colorado where only a hint of snow mellowed the dull brown of dry mountain tops south of Colorado Springs. The Colorado River basin remained extremely dry.
I’m a third generation Sun City gal. My dad’s aunt and husband were pre-construction buyers of their Sun City home in 1960. Uncle John worked for the railroad. Aunt Eleanor was an avid golfer. Clearly the new concept of “senior living” in a planned age restricted development was the perfect fit for a retiring couple who would need to carefully live within the limits of John’s Social Security and railroad pension incomes. They loved their new home on North Golf Course. Their address: St. Andrew’s Drive.
My dad and stepmother followed twenty-five years later. They purchased a condo on 107 Drive in the early 1970’s. Dad was the retired owner of Mankato Crane Service. Any heavy construct in the Valley of the Sun brought his attention. There was great excitement when work began on the new Aqua Fria River Dam in 1985. It would replace the first built in the 1920’s. As my dad told the story the new construction was expected to take as long as ten years ti fully fill the basin. Instead the heavy rains sequestered water at an elevation of 1728′ to the crested length of 4,900′ in just a matter of weeks by its completion date in 1994. The Valley of the Sun was flush with a water supply and now ready for growth and prosperity.
Currently thanks to the generous 2021 monsoon rains Lake Powell has achieved a water level 6.46′ above “full pool” of 1,650.00.’
by Judy | Sep 9, 2021 | Uncategorized
September 9, 2021
I’m excited to launch Gillespie Creek.com today. The content of this website is planned to bring readers into the natural setting of this timeless creek’s natural community.
This website holds six pages of content:
“Home” page brings you into the Gillespie Creek community.
“Blog” page introduces weekly themes.
Newsletter” page is a current snapshot of the evolving Gillespie Creek community.
“Photo” page expands those themes visually.
“Essay” page develops themes verbally.
“Books” page is an invitation to order my past publications.
“About” page is my personal profile snapshot.
by Judy | Aug 9, 2021 | Nature, Photos
Spice Bush
Giant
Tiger
