The Best Gift: Rain on Christmas!

After suffering through a scorching hot year without our seasonal monsoon and winter rains, it has been a real delight to have our winter rain return! Our best gift was rain on Christmas Eve that lasted into Christmas Day. 

The steady gentle rain was perfect for our front yard basins.  

Our jujube basin was full of fallen leaves ready to hold the moisture....  

... and nourish the soil as it breaks down.

One of the best techniques we've found for our basins are Leave the Leaves and Chop and Drop. 

While waiting for our Christmas Eve festivities to begin, I spent some relaxing time in the garden cutting palm fronds into mulch for our basins. It was nice to use what nature gave us in our own yard. 

I put another layer of palm frond mulch in the greywater basin - where the previous layer was breaking up nicely. 

Jeremy and Lillie with the sign he drew. 

We were also blessed with lovely weather for our traditional Christmas sing-along party.  

I directed guests to walk on the gravel path to protect the native plants in our front yard basins. But late season purslane was growing in some of the gravel, so I made a sign with the back of a repurposed rocking chair that read: WALK ON GRAVEL, NOT PURSLANE. 

My sweetie surprised me by lighting it up for the party!

Hmm... Maybe we'll have purslane scramble for Christmas breakfast! 

We celebrated the holiday by enjoying one of our favorite traditions - singing! 

We are so thankful for the Christmas rain that pepped up the native plants in our cherished basins. 

Wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday, too! 

#lovemyrainbasin

Thankful for our Traditions

It took us some maneuvering to accommodate the Thanksgiving plans from our divided family and the similarly divided family of Jeremy's lovely girlfriend, Lillie. So we settled on having our vegetarian feast on Wednesday... again. When Jeremy started calling our admittedly non-traditional celebration, "Wanksgiving," (W for Wednesday) we went along with it - not registering the other meaning of the word. That Jeremy!

For me, Thanksgiving has always meant family getting together and stuffing themselves with Turkey (or fake turkey) and all the fixings. Through the years, we have created our own traditions - like passing around the Bounty Basket and sharing what we are thankful for (usually the family in attendance.) While getting out the veggie turkey salt shaker and sunflower tablecloth, we rediscovered the children's Thanksgiving books. Jeremy gave a spirited reading of his favorite, "The Plump and Perky Turkey" before storing it away for future readings. 

Last night we shared that tradition by donating some of our other thanksgiving books to the Little Free Library that our neighborhood had installed in the park. 

NOTE: When SNAP benefits were delayed, a kind neighbor filled up our Free Little Library with food. Concerned members of the Pinecrest NA are now looking into the possibility of a Little Free Pantry across from the park. Pinecrest neighbors can give feedback on this project here. 

During these trying times, I am so grateful for the solace I find in tinkering around in my little garden and the pollinator/food forest in our beloved rainwater harvesting basin. This year I am thankful for Lillie for joining me on a tour and harvesting purslane and basil for breakfast. 

To the right, Lillie is harvesting purslane for a breakfast scramble.

Dan also made his mother Beth very happy by bringing out the Rummikub set. 

With our sustainable lifestyle I am always on the lookout for traditions that fit our values and these are definitely some that I can embrace - not to mention our dear family that I am most thankful for. 

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours. 

Late Season Purslane Saves the Day!

green chili huevos rancheros with purslane - YUM

If you follow my blog it should be no surprise to you that Dan and I enjoy purslane any chance we get. I'm pretty much obsessed with purslane. 

When we got home from our outing to Tombstone, we didn't have time to go to the store to get a veggie for dinner.  Then I remembered that I had some growing in my front yard! I simply added purslane to some leftover spaghetti sauce and heated it up. While I was at it, I also grabbed some moringa to add even more nutrition. I use just the leaves of the moringa, but I chop up the stems and leaves of the purslane. 

Note: The purslane in the pic has seed buds - which means it would be more woody. I generally look for ones that haven't gone to seed yet. 

moringa (left) and purslane with leftover sauce

This is actually late in the season for purslane, but the purslane that I planted from seed has grown and spread. And new plants are springing up after the rain! 

If you're wondering where I got the seeds... I rinse the purslane off into bowls (usually 3 or 4 times) and the seeds go to the bottom. I simply pour the water with the seeds where I want them to grow. The best place is somewhere you already water. You can see they spread very well in the gravel.   

I got up early to clean up a nearby lot and I still didn't get to the store. So I harvested more purslane for breakfast!

I had a little left over green chili sauce and tortillas that I needed to use up, so I decided to make green chili huevos rancheros with purslane. Yum!  Thought you might like to see how I make 'em. 

The tortillas were thin and crumbling, so I decided to fry them to make them firmer so they could hold up to the sauce. (If they are thick, fresh tortillas I skip this step.)  

Then I cut up the stems of the purslane and sautéed them with the leaves. (Sometimes I will sauté onions and add them to it but this time I really wanted to taste the flavor of the purslane.) I poured the green chili sauce into a big sauce pan, and laid 2 tortillas in the sauce. Then I ladled purslane onto the tortillas and grated cheese on that.

I covered those with tortillas and heated them up on both sides (until the cheese was melted.) Finally, I topped them with a fried egg. 

And my baby and I enjoyed a yummy huevos rancheros with purslane brunch... 

...with a beautiful view of our yard - unseasonably green from the last rain. 

Stories of Exceptional Women; or Taming My Presentation for Tombstone Territory Rendezvous

Performing at Empire Ranch. Photo credit Bob Block 

It's been years since I performed historical readings at Tombstone Territory Rendezvous, so I was honored when Nancy Sosa invited me to present at this year's symposium, "Tramping and Taming of Tombstone: Wild Women, Soiled Doves and Exceptional Ladies."

I immediately went through my collections of historic books in search of "exceptional ladies." I seemed to recall that the Earp Brothers of Tombstone had some quotes from Allie Earp. Perhaps I could share her perspective on their time in Tombstone in her own voice. But as I compiled excerpts of Allie's letters, it became clear that the Earp wives had been hidden off at home while the Earp brothers did their thing. The story where Allie had the most impact, was when she insisted on bringing her sewing machine to Tombstone - which she later used to support them. 

I knew there had to be more impactful women, because I had just finished reading my all-time favorite book, The Forgotten Botanist: Sara Plummer Lemmon's Life of Science and Art.

Sara had worked side-by-side with her husband as they botanized Southern Arizona in the midst of the Apache Wars. Mount Lemmon was even named after her since she was the first white woman to make it to the top of the Catalinas. That was it! I had my subject. The couple had even stopped in Tombstone on their way to Fort Bowie. 

It has been a rewarding journey preparing my presentation of Wynne Brown's lovely book. What a delight to re-read the passages of the couple botanizing our beloved Sky Islands. Their passion for those plants and the sheer excitement they shared whenever they discovered "new glories" is so moving. I couldn't help but feel a kindship with them. My husband Dan and I share a passion for the native desert plants in our rainwater harvesting basin.

Native plants in rainwater basin

While Sara created watercolor paintings of the plants they discovered, I use my cellphone to snap photos for my blog. I like to fancy myself a citizen scientist, studying the impacts of our sporadic Tucson weather on our plants. But Sara and J.G. were the ultimate citizen scientists. Several of the plants they discovered have been named after them and one is still at the Smithsonian. 

Thurber's morning glory by Sara Plummer Lemmon

Photo credit: Wynne Brown*

I was tickled by the way Sara combined her two passions of science and art. It has actually inspired me to pick up my own long neglected sketch pad. It's been many years since I've done any watercolor painting, but I look forward to getting back to it when we return from our trip to Tombstone. 

I am in awe of Wynne Brown's commitment to collecting, photographing and recording the Lemmons' field notes, correspondences, photos and artwork.* And beyond that, organizing and participating in efforts to preserve hundreds of Sara's fragile paintings. Wynne has gone on to share Sara's story far and wide through fascinating presentations and storytelling. I like to think we share a kinship, too. From our love of storytelling and Arizona history to the way we wrangle our husbands into helping us with our projects. 

Her husband Dave Peterson performed with her as J.G. Lemmon to her Sara...

He also worked alongside her preserving Sara's paintings. Reminds me of how Dan has helped me find photos for this slide presentation and doing research for my previous reading of the Clum letters.  

Ye old photograph of Dan and me doing research on the Clums

You might wonder if a bunch of Earp fans would be into a presentation on collecting flowers. But afterwards I got compliments from both men and women. One man thanked me for sharing Sara's story. He said that she was an "impressive woman." Karene Erdman, (who is related to Newton Earp) said that she was waiting to see what flower it was that Sara collected. She was delighted when she discovered that it was columbine - a flower that she had planted in her own yard.  

Feeling a little nervous before my presentation, I added a brief, impromptu introduction. (Talking casually to the audience always helps calm my nerves...) I mentioned how excited I was to share Sara's story because one of the joys of my life is to tend the native plants in our rainwater harvesting basin. At the campfire that evening, Eric Erdman (of the Earp clan) inquired about our rainwater harvesting system. We had a nice chat about all things sustainable. That made my day (or night as the case may be.) 

I want to thank Wynne Brown for her generosity in letting me perform excerpts from her book for my dramatic reading of "Botanizing in Apache Land" and Nancy Sosa for inviting me. 

Me at TRR 2025

For information on TTR, visit: 

https://tombstoneterritoryrendezvous.com/

*Sara Plummer Lemmon's art was donated to the University of California, Berkley and the Jepson Herbaria Archive by Sara's great, great grandniece Amy St. John. 

Watering Just Before the Rain

As the dark clouds of Hurricane Priscilla loom overhead with the promise (or threat) of rain, it may seem unintuitive to deep water plants. After all, won't they get watered by the storm? But one inch of rain can fill up even our biggest cistern. So, it is time to make room for more rainwater. 

I have the challenge of deciding what plants to deep water. I started by giving the moringa in our right of way basin two 5 gallon buckets. (See pic at the top of the page.) Dan drilled two small holes in the bottom of the blue bucket to let the water out slowly.

I also gave three 5 gallon buckets to our pomegranate that has been struggling since we got the water efficient washing machine. It only releases 2-3 gallons of water into the greywater basin (rather than the 12 gallons it used to supply.) 

The 55 gallon barrels that get water off of the roof and the air conditioner condensation have already been emptied.

I used the water from them for our little garden that needs to be watered 2-3 times a day in this unseasonably hot weather.

I've left the water from the last downpour in the cisterns attached to overflow tanks in hopes that one more downpour will finally refill the second tank.  

While preparing for the rain, we also cleared debris from the gutter and the leaf catchers so they work efficiently. After the long dry spell, we are keenly aware that every drop of water is precious.

If Hurricane Priscilla pitches a fit, we could get enough to easily fill the second slimline tank and overflow into our Jujube basin to deep water our jujubes. 

Hurricane Priscilla did fill up the jujube basin! 

And we might just fill up our biggest cistern. 

But the water will overflow into our patio that leads to our Mexican honeysuckle...

That's not a bad problem to have.  That's why it's always important to have overflow for your tanks. 

Just for fun... Here's the blog about my first rainwater harvesting experiment that made that possible. 

Pulverizing Bricks that Dam the Flow

It was a good thing that we used up some of the water in our cisterns before the big storm.

From Drought to Flood: Rainwater Harvesting at Work

With rain so scarce these days, it may seem pointless do rainwater harvesting. I imagine the neighbors scratch their heads at our sign "Rainwater Harvesting Basins at Work." But through the hot summer, that basin has become a refuge for wildlife. I'm amazed how many birds gather in our yard. Sometimes as many as 30 or 40. The birds peck around and manage to find something to eat in the remaining mulch. They particularly enjoy the seeds of the purslane I planted there.  

Here it is mid-September and we finally got two good storms thanks to Hurricane Mario. Needless to say, we are overjoyed! The rain has perked up our parched plants. The birds are enjoying the evaporative cooling sitting on the mulch after the rain. That sign finally makes sense. 

Every rainstorm is an opportunity to see if anything needs adjusting in the basins. This downpour uncovered areas where the mulch has gotten too thin and where the gravel berm needs to be reshaped after some plumbing work we had done. 

The area in front of the sign needs some mulch.

One of the issues of a long time drought is that native grasses and wildflowers die leaving behind parched ground. With nothing to slow down flood waters, any remaining soil and mulch is washed away. This year I made an effort to mitigate flood damage in the main basin by planting some durable pollinator plants and purslane that I kept watered. 

I also left the dried native bunch grass and dead looking globe mallow in the jujube basin.

They slowed the stream that rushed down from the roof while holding the "mulch" and soil in place. By mulch I mean the fallen leaves and globe mallow branches I had "chopped and dropped" in the basin.

NOTE: After watching the bunnies nibbling on the dried grasses, I regret cutting off all of the seed heads - a much needed food source for bunnies and birds.  I'm happy to see those grasses finally greening up and some horse purslane popping up since it rained. 

Dan and I are blessed to have several cisterns that got us through most of the long dry spell. Now they are full again and ready to get us through the hot days ahead. One more rain should fill up our overflow tanks too.

For the tanks that aren't connected to an overflow tank,  I have the challenge of deciding what to deep water before it rains again. That's a good challenge to have.

And there is always a little maintenance after a big rain - like replacing mulch and building up leveled berms.

Yesterday I built up the berm around our volunteer fig trees in our little veggie garden and added more compost to replace some that had been washed away. (I hand water them with rainwater from a cistern, so the berm helps contain the water.)

I just love any excuse to be out in the yard listening to the happy songs of the birds after the rain.

UPDATE: Hurricane Priscilla supplied .35 inches of rain on October 12th. It filled most of the tanks but not the overflow tanks. The thirsty basins sank in the rain immediately.  

On October 13, it rained pretty heavily most of the day. We got 1.08 inches of rain. Rain from the roof rushed out of the downspout, filled the whole jujube basin and even started to flow into the street. It filled the overflow cisterns. The basins filled up several times, even pooling for a while.

Greywater basin pooling

The smaller 5 gallon water barrels were overflowing, so I caught some of the water in these barrels...

NOTE: In our neck of the woods,  our shallow basins in our front yard can handle a pretty heavy rain - with the help of a gravel and dirt berm built up by the foundation of the house. But if you are at the bottom of the floodplain or near a wash, you might need to install some deeper basins lined with rocks to prevent erosion or damage from a big storm. I've seen some excellent rock-lined basins in right of ways that prevent a big flood from getting to the foundation of the house or to cause erosion in the yard. 

#lovemyrainbasin