The Last Hurrah of Summer - Displays

A very traditional rural fair - with displays of growing things -

-flowers, plants, arrangements (award winning dahlias the size of soup bowls!)

And all kinds of impressive fruits and vegetables (this is from the children's garden competition).

The produce was beautiful - and beautifully displayed.

'Makes my little backyard garden feel very meager, indeed.

And then every possible food - jams, jellies, preserves, honey, etc... even cookies. The only downside was that they were all on display, only for competition and not for tasting!!!

Weekend Outing - Cedar River (the trails)

After noting and tasting many of the native plants just within the courtyards (Oregon grape, salal, huckleberries, etc...) we moved down the trails towards the lake. It's amazing how many things are edible, isn't it? This was particularly fun for me since my current quest for my yard is to have everything in it edible or medicinal. I have some strictly ornamental plants that were already here when we moved in four years ago, but everything I'm adding has to fit that criteria.

Beautiful cluster of Devil's Claw which grows in the understory of the woods here. Very prickly. Didn't get close enough to know if you could eat this one or not.

We've had an exceptionally rainy week or so here - especially for July in the Pacific Northwest where it rarely rains from July 4th through October. Things are very green and lush for July.

It was a warm day. Our assistant guide was attempting to stay shaded and cool. She looked like she belonged to my Celtic Tree People series. :-)

Another local plant, called Sea Foam - which it does resemble a bit when blooming and back-lit.

It was a gorgeous place and a lovely way to spend a morning. We got to taste more things than I would have thought were edible, and identified many, many more.

Now back to my own yard. There are still raspberries and blueberries and borage blossoms to be picked. And dream about additional edible additions....