Spinach Meals

The spinach has been loving the rain. I harvested quite a bit yesterday and there's more still in the garden. Since I also went to the gardener's market yesterday and got some fresh eggs, I decided on a quiche.

I've never made a quiche before, but figured it seems like a dish that would be very forgiving. I used the bacon that had been in my freezer since Christmas, a crust I had in the freezer from ages ago and fresh chives from my garden.

5 fresh eggs

.75 cup low fat cottage cheese

4 strips bacon, cooked

a bunch of spinach, sauteed in the pan used for the bacon, chopped

a bunch of fresh chives

2 oz blue cheese

I got over eager and took a sample before I took a picture. It might have been better to not cook the spinach in the bacon grease, but I was at first playing around with the idea of not putting in the bacon, just using it for the sauteing. It tastes fine and it was a good experiment.

I had some left over spinach and used it in soup.
chicken broth - homemade that I'd had in the freezer a little while
packaged cheese tortillini
fresh basil from the garden
garlic salt (since I didn't have any salt in the homemade broth, otherwise garlic powder)
pepper to taste
add spinach in the last few minutes of boiling.

Upcoming Events: June

June 19-20
Summerfest

June 21
Summer Solstice Hike with the Logan Social Club

June 25
Meet and Greet at the White Owl with the Logan Social Club

The Weed Patch

Here's a picture of my garden part way through the process of de-weeding:


Here it is now:







I notice that I seem to have done some damage to the plaster on the side of my house in this process. Two steps forward, one step back. The after picture is from several weeks ago. Perhaps I should take a new one to show how well that squash plant is growing. It seems to love all the rain we've been having. I'm worried about the tomatoes though. It seems like it's rained pretty much every day the past couple of weeks.

Wildflowers

I haven't been hiking this year except for the one to wind caves. I know I'm missing so much. Here's a sample a friend brought me from Cherry Peak a couple weeks ago. They were all wilty by the time I got them, but perked up well in water.

First Annual Beaver Mountain Music Festival

September 12, 2009
3:00 pm to 10:00 pm

Tickets $25

Live Music from by:
Shaky Tree
The Legendary Porch Pounders
Arsen Gang
Orjazm
Conscious Honesty


This is all the information I've run into. It's from a flyer posted on the SkiTheBeav.com website. There's more on the flyer, but it's blurry.

First Harvest

I arrived from Alaska this morning. The first thing I did was take a stroll back to the garden. I was happy to see that my tomato plants had survived my abandonment. The next thing I noticed was the weeds trying to reclaim their old stomping grounds. 10 days and they'd nearly taken over the spinach bed.

The spinach was fighting back though. I hadn't gotten around to thinning it before I left, not being ready to pick winners and losers yet. Today that couldn't be put off any longer - if for no other reason than to make it easier to weed. The result is a much neater looking row of spinach, with plenty of room to allow growth. AND a bowl of baby spinach leaves - enough for a handsome dinner salad.

Logan City Online Utility Bill Pay

For some reason, Logan City isn't including the website for online billing on their bills anymore. The web site is: https://secure.loganutah.org/UtilBillPay.cfm. You'll need your account number handy and amount of the current bill.

Crimson Trail Hike on Sunday

Meet at 10 at the ranger station to carpool with members of the Logan Social/NewComers club. Deatils here.

Veggies in the Ground

On the Sunday hike, someone mentioned that we were at the 50% frost date - there was a 50% chance that there wouldn't be any more frosts. Then I looked at the 10 day weather forcast and there's not going to be a frost for another 10 days.  I took a chance and started throwing plants int he ground as quick as I could.  

I didn't drive home immediately after the hike, but made a beeline to Lowes where I bought a bunch of herbs.  I torn out a bit of sod near one of my new pear trees, not far from the weed patch and threw in an herb garden. Yesterday, I went nuts at Home Depot and bought 11 tomato plants, 3 peppers, 2 cantalopes, a zuchinni, a yellow squash, a tomatillo and a water melon. They're all in the former weed patch. I'm a little obsessed with tomatoes. 

Tomorrow I'm headed to Alaska.  I feel like I'm abandoning my children. I got a babysitter, but these aren't toddlers. They're infants. The kind that you don't leave with a stranger.  Probably they're biggest threat is still frost, but I'm feeling lucky. There's no frost predicted out to May 14th and the 10% frost date is May 20. If the forecast is right, surely there can't be more than a 20% chance of frost now. Here's hoping...

Envision Cache Valley Town Hall Meetings

Join your neighbors at an upcoming town hall meeting. Get involved today!

At the Envision Cache Valley Town Hall Meetings, Cache Valley residents will learn about the four growth scenarios developed from ideas explored by the public at the workshops. Residents will weigh their potential impacts on air quality, infrastructure costs, water consumption, housing affordability, and other measures that affect quality of life. Participants should plan to attend the entire 75 minute event, so they have time to review the scenarios, hear the presentation, and express their preferences through wireless technology. Feedback will be used as the basis for the draft Cache Valley Vision, a set of principles and implementation suggestions to serve as a voluntary guide for long-term growth decisions.

Envision Cache Valley Town Hall Meetings

Tuesday, May 19:

• Hyrum 2:00 p.m. - Hyrum City Building, 83 West Main Street, Hyrum
• Smithfield 5:30 p.m. - Senior Citizen Center, 315 East 600 South, Smithfield
• Preston 5:30 p.m. - Robinson Building, 186 West 2nd North, Preston
• North Logan 7:30 p.m. - North Logan Library, 475 East 2500 North, North Logan
• Clarkston 7:30 p.m. - Clarkston City Hall, 50 South Main, Clarkston

Wednesday, May 20:

• Richmond 2:00 p.m. - Pepperidge Farm, 901 North 201 West, Richmond
• Dayton 5:00 p.m. - Westside High School, 775 N. West Side Hwy., Dayton
• Nibley 5:30 p.m. - Nibley City Council Room, 625 West 3200 South, Nibley
• Providence 7:30 p.m. - Elementary School, 91 East Center Street, Providence
• Cache County 7:45 p.m. - Historic Courthouse, 199 N. Main, Logan

Thursday, May 21:

• Wellsville 5:30 p.m. - Tabernacle Theatre, 75 South 100 East, Wellsville
• Millville 5:30 p.m. - The Pavilion (Providence S. Stake Center), 360 East 450 North, Millville
• Mendon 7:30 p.m. - Mountainside Elementary School, 235 East 125 North, Mendon
• Logan 7:30 p.m. - City Council Chambers, 255 North Main Street, Logan

Trail Report

The trail report at the Logan Ranger District hasn't been updated in a while, but I imagine as the season progresses, you'll find it updated more often (check the date at the top). The trails are listed near the end of the report. 

First Hike of the Season

For some reason I want to blog about all the hikes I do this season. Mostly, I want to get to some of the hikes that you can't easily get information on and provide some record of them. Wind Caves is not one of those. It's one of the most well known in the canyon.

The trail was muddy from all of the rain we've had recently. In places it was hard to get traction to walk up and/or get down without sliding. The weather was drizzly when we started, but cleared up about the time we reached the caves. I was happy to have my ankle high gortex boots for the one stream crossing we had to do. It's always easiest to stomp through rather than trying to balance from one rock to the next.

It was all in all a good first hike of the season. I thought the rain might make us cold. But I think everyone - including myself wore enough clothes to keep warm. Typical me in Utah: I prepared for the cold and ended up hot - so the rain was actually refreshing. The rain let up just in time for the hike down. The clouds were particularly neat, quickly moving through the canyon, building up in pockets against the mountains and then dissapating.

There's plenty of green, but not too much is blooming. There were lots of these little yellow buds around though.

I also learned a new bit of information today. There is also a trail called Wind Cave Way. The split off for it is at the brown verticle "Wind Caves" that's about 1/2 the way to the caves: go right at the split. It was built by Cache Valley Hikers and goes to the ridge. My guess is that it probably meets up with the Preston Valley trail that comes out of Green Canyon to the same ridge.

A fellow hiker also mentioned a hike that goes up a ridge, starting on the north side of the mouth of green canyon. I'm assuming it's from the parking area directly to the left of the Shoreline trail as you enter the canyon. He said there's a picnic bench a little bit up the trail and the trail continues at least 4 mi up. You can probably follow the ridge a ways further and perhaps meet up with Cherry Peak.

No Swine Flu in Cache Valley...Yet

I might have thought Utah would be protected more than other states, particularly out of ski season. But I guess the locals have been high tailing it to Mexico for mudseason and they've brought back pandemic flu. Swell. The Salt Lake Tribune is reporting that there are 5 cases in the state. Here in Cache Valley, we take our threats seriously. A coworker just went out to grab some hand sanitizer and it's getting hard to come by.

It's hard to know what to make of it. But 20 people here, 6 people there, surely there are more people with flu than that on a typical day anyways. I sat in a pandemic flu preparedness workshop when avian flu was going to strike about 3 years ago. The worst case scenario is bad...way bad. Just what we need to follow the subprime crisis. Shutting down schools, businesses and airtravel (part of the typical worse case scenario) is sure to do us in if the flu doesn't. It did make me think what's worse, the flu or our reaction to it? That's actually what I'm most worried about. Everyone freaks out - won't travel -won't go outside - service industries have no one serve - maybe no employees - recession becomes depression.

Since I figured I couldn't in good conscious not be prepared for pandemic flu after spending a whole day learning about it, I each went so far as to get an N-95 respirator mask at the time. Two actually. I used one just last week when sawing (before the threat of pandemic flu reared it's ugly head again). Thank goodness I have one stored in a safe place. I wonder if I should use it on my flight next week.

Economic observation: I give it two days before someone says that pandemic flu is going to have a positive impact on the economy (just like WW-II and the great depression!). Then perchance the economy turns around some time within the next year. For the next 75 years people will speculate about how disease or natural disasters are just what you need in an economic downturn (since war isn't working as well as it used to).

Mountainous Cake

My friend Becky made a very cool cake for her boyfriend for his birthday. It was a volcano, errupting raspberry sauce, with dinosaurs all around. For some reason when Carrie started talking about what to do for Scott's birthday cake, the inspiration came back. Here's what happened:



It's a 9x13 cake, with cake in a bread loaf pan on top as the base of the mountain range, then a large cupcake and a mini cupcake for each peak. It's all covered in chocolate frosting, a drizzle of ganache at the peaks, coconut for snow, food coloring and coconut for grass, and swedish fish.

Scott likes to fly fish, among his many outdoor activities. Carrie looked and couldn't find a biker or skier. Good thing, because we would have run out of room on the cake.

Sprouting Spinach!

A little over a week ago, I planted some spinach. Sunday I noticed a little sprout, but thought there was a good chance it was just grass creeping into my spinach bed. The test for sprouting spinach is many little sprouts that look basically the same. Yesterday afternoon, they were there. They each look like two little sprigs of grass growing together. Less than 40 days left until I have my own home grown spinach.

Upcoming NewComers Events and New Website

Logan NewComers has a new website. You can check out upcoming events and join the club through the website and RSVP for events. This actually gives members the functionality that we've been asking for a while.

In gearing up for the NewComers' season (most people move in during the summer) - there are a couple Meet & Greats coming up. If you're new to the area, this is a great way to get linked up with people of similar interest. If you've been around for a while, and would just like to meet some new people, you're also welcome.

For the latest upcoming events check out the club's new webpage at:http://new2logan.ning.com/events

April 11 Saturday Settlers of Catan Cache Valley Championship
April 12 Sunday Vegetarian Potluck
April 14 Tuesday Yoga
April 16 Thursday Meet and Greet - Firehouse Pizzeria
April 22 Wednesday Book Club
April 23 Thursday This American Life - Live! (Radio Movie)
May 2 Saturday Girls Night Out - Spa Day
May 12 Tuesday Meet and Greet - Black Pearl

Logan Canyon - Sites and Spots

Googling around to update a link, I ran into this nice overview of Logan Canyon. It provides 31 "sites and stops", including campgrounds and trails. It's useful for play in the canyon if you're not familiar with all the typical landmarks and place names.

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Fundraiser in SLC

If you're going to be in Salt Lake on this Saturday, April 11th, check out the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society fundraiser at Piper Down. 1492 South State St., SLC.

Flocks of Phlox?

The first bulb plants are starting to poke out. As yards are filling with the early signs of spring, I'm kicking myself for not being able to commit to a location for hyacinth, crocuses and irises last fall.

In the mean time, I'm wandering around my yard, inspecting the apple trees for signs of budding and wondering if the daphne has just gone off and died. I'm also inspecting everyone else's plants to see if mine are keeping pace. Or perhaps someone else has planted a hydrangea, so I can safely plant the one I've been nursing inside for a month.

In a welcome sign that spring is finally here for me as well as everyone else, this morning I happened upon these little babes.

There are in fact two clumps of them, right where I planted perennial phlox last autumn. In fact, that's the only reason I have for believing that it is phlox. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's not a clever weed, tricking me into watering and feeding it.

It had also somehow escaped my attention that the coral bell has been underway for quite sometime, camoflauged against the mulch. Sneaky little bugger.

Envision Cache Valley

Envision Cache Valley is a project to collect public opinion and feedback about future development of hte valley. Check out the website to learn more about the project. By taking the online survey you can learn a lot about the project and give your feedback.

Attend a workshop to have a great voice in the process. You can attend any of the workshops regardless of where you live. Light refreshments provided. RSVP to Mary at mdavies@envisionutah.org or (801) 303-1462. Workshops will run from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

The ones remaining:

Mar. 4th
Hyrum - City Hall, 83 West Main
Wellsville - Wellsville Elementary School, 90 East 100 South

Mar. 5th
Logan - Mt. Logan Middle School, 875 North 200 East
Hyde Park - City Hall, 113 E. Center Street

Firehouse Pizzeria Fundraiser

Team in Training is having i's second annual fundraiser at the Firehouse Pizzeria. This one promises to be an even bigger success and more fun than last year's. We have four live bands playing

Bruce Moulton, Jacob Davidson,
Jan Reed Summerhays, and American Attic

There will also be a raffle, silent auction, cash bar and all you can eat pizza and salad buffet. And it supports a great cause.

Location: Firehouse Pizzeria, 880 South Main, Logan, Utah
Time: 4:30 pm - 9:00 pm
Cost: $20/person, $15 w/student ID, $6 for kids under 10.

To see more about the event, Team and Training, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, check out logantnt.blogspot.com.

Word of the Day: Yard Sale

Yardsale: A wipeout so serious that the person is sprawled on the ground with all their equipment spread around them. - From Bart King's The Pocket Guide to Mischief.

Usage: The collision with the rental rodent resulted in a double yard sale.