WELCOME ...A new resident ? Love the desert? Gardening a passion? Live in Borrego Springs? Thought you could not have a garden in the low desert desert? Ever wonder what desert living is like? READ ON !

Raised Vegetable Beds

Raised Vegetable Beds
Raised Vegetable Beds Resting Until Fall Planting Season

Palo Verde

Palo Verde
Desert Native, Blue Palo Verde

A River Runs Through It

A River Runs Through It
View Through A Wet Window

Friday, September 24, 2010

The Olive Tree

Originally from the Mediterranean area, olive trees began to be cultivated about 5,000 years ago. People from that era discovered many uses for olive oil. Olive trees ( Olea europaea ) probably first appeared in California sometime during the 1700's. The tree needs a long, hot growing season to fully ripen the fruit. Sounds like a great tree for Borrego, doesn't it? The tree is listed as drought resistant, needs a deep watering only once a month and, best of all, is extremely picturesque! They make handsome accent trees and often have multi branched trunks. Old trees develop gnarled trunks, which give individual trees a lot of character. Fruiting and non-fruiting varieties are available at local nurseries. We have purchased all our trees locally to assure they have been adapted to the Borrego region.

We have two fruiting trees but only one produces large green olives. The other is a nuisance, with a prolific crop of tiny worthless fruit - so, be careful to investigate before you buy! We prune heavily to assure large fruit and to keep the height at about twenty feet. We have had no pest or disease problems, to date.

Make Your Own!
Olives for processing should be picked green as soon as they attain the proper size. We have tried several methods of processing olives, only one of which was successful. We tried making black Greek olives and that was a disaster! It took twenty-one days under a heavy layer of salt and the result was bitter olives and a hole eaten through a heavy stainless steel pot!

For many years now, we have been successfully processing green olives . The first time, however, was mind wracking, since the process involves the use of LYE! WE had never used lye before but - like the average person, thought it should only be used for plumbing purposes and was a substance that could eat through things! We certainly doubted that lye could be used to make anything palatable! We bought Red Devil Lye from Ace Hardware and Kosher salt from the Center Market, and used the recipe provided by a farmer who had been making olives for many years. Our process takes seven days. We measure all amounts carefully and time the "soaks" as prescribed. We use a five gallon white plastic bucket and make about two and one half gallons of olives in a batch.We store the olives in the refrigerator in large glass jars ,loosely capped and covered with saline solution. If the olives taste too salty, we wash them off before serving or, even soak them in fresh water overnight.

I'm not giving away my recipe, for obvious reasons but there are many recipes to be found on the web. If you want to try curing olives, you can find out everything you need by referring to the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Publication 8267- Olives, Safe Methods for Pickling.

A Great Gift!

We always make more olives than we can possibly consume and have found they make wonderful and appreciated Holiday or Hostess gifts.

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A New Borrego Garden Path

A New Borrego Garden Path
New Path Under Construction, Indian Head Ranch

Pathway

Pathway
Easy to Maintain Garden Path

It's a Boojum...

It's a Boojum...
Not an Ocotillo

Boojum

Boojum
Captivating Top Knot

Colorful Vine

Colorful Vine
In a Hidden Niche

Bees and Flowers

Bees and Flowers
Mexican Lime- Bees at Work

Citrus Blossoms

Citrus Blossoms
Exotic Aroma

Ocotillo

Ocotillo
On a Cloudy Day

Four Raised Beds, October

Four Raised Beds, October
Vegetable Garden

Desert Gardening

Desert gardening...what a pastime. Natives anxious to attack with thorns, stickers or burrs - earth always thirsty - critters always a step ahead of you - dainty moths turn into hungry caterpillars - coyote eats up part of the irrigation system - birds sample one fruit at a time - gopher pops up unexpected . Yet the first carrot, pea or tender piece of lettuce, the first lime or lemon of the season, the first cactus bloom , the first bright green mesquite sprig, the first bud on a plant...all give such a feeling of delight and satisfaction. Not to be traded for anything else! (JGP)





Super Addiction

When I started the blog, I thought a few words now and then would suffice...WRONG!

A strange pattern is emerging. Seems that guilt has stepped up to bat. Now, if I don't post every few days I FEEL THAT I HAVEN'T HAD MY FIX! I wonder if other bloggers have noticed this same phenomenom.

Beavertail

Beavertail
Close-up

Borrego Dragon

Borrego Dragon
Huge New Sculpture

The Borrego Dragon Fable

IN THE EARLY DAYS, coyote walked many paths. One day, as he was pursuing his travels, he came to a very wide valley. Others warned him as he approached the valley, " You must not enter this place...NO ONE who has entered has ever returned. It is a bad place, guarded by a giant dragon, who kills all who try to pass through. To continue your journey safely, we strongly advise you to go the long way...around this evil place." Well, coyote listened, for he was very smart and often heeded good advice. However, coyote was also lazy and was often prone to use shortcuts. He figured the valley would save him a lot of time on this particular journey. He looked carefully and saw nothing much to alarm him. He decided to enter and pass through the valley. At first, he noticed nothing amiss. However, as he traveled deeper into that still, quiet place, he thought to himself, "This IS an unusual valley, for sure...I see no movement of any type and I am getting to feel a bit strange about this place." He did notice, however, some tall straight trees which had lost all their leaves and made the place look barren, indeed. OH,NO...he also noticed, under the trees, piles of old BONES... and the more he looked, the more bones he saw. He said, " I sure see a lot of bones, but I don't see any dragon...I'll bet he no longer lives here." And, with that, he heard a thunderous voice which echoed over the valley..." HAH, COYOTE! You should have listened to the advice...You are in my mouth, which IS the entrance to the valley!" Oh,oh, caught in a trap. But coyote is smart and moves quickly...as he heard Dragon's first words, he raced to one of the dead trees and, with a mighty yank, pulled it from the earth. He wedged the tree between the Dragon's jaws and as he did this, many animals of all kinds came running forth...pumas, bears, mountain sheep and more...even the smallest animals, gnats, flies, tics, bees and more...lizards, snakes, toads, salamanders and more...all ran from the Dragon's depths to freedom. Coyote watched as Dragon's jaws closed upon the sharp tree stake. He soon died and from that time to this, many of those same animals live here, in this place...and from time to time, many of the old bones and pieces of the dead trees are found here, in this very valley!

Senita Cactus

Senita Cactus
Plump and Happy

Outlaws

Outlaws
Riders View Borrego's Wilderness (photo by Jeff Divine )