Summer Lake Commentary. Recipes.

Instead of my weekly blog, I'm averaging once a month. This summer is very full of 'to do's'. I bottled some pie cherries with one of my sweet daughters who loves my cherry pie. I'll post a pic. I'm also posting the picture of my raised bed gardens and pea trellis that overlook the lake.

The lake looks kind of sad and green. It needs a major overhaul, with a water inlet and outlet and a draining and dredging. The logs left in have natural turpentine I heard, which doesn't make for a healthy environment. The leaking into the Nehalem also needs to be fixed at some point, in my opinion. The cattails have come back from the heavy winter snows, though we lost chunks of them when the city cleaned them out one year in preparation for the KUPL Fishing Derby, during red-winged blackbird nesting season. In the heat, less people use the trail, but in the evenings and early mornings, the die-hards and committed, still exercise.

I have noticed spraying of herbicide near the lake, even during nesting season, and with the rains we got, I can guess what went into the water. It also concerns me that people fish there, and many probably eat them. The locals have debated on whether or not the planted fish have time to absorb the particular impurities. I've heard fishermen comment about a bad taste. The water is too warm, say some experienced fishermen, and if people are not supposed to swim, where is the sign to say why not? I wrote a newspaper letter to the Independent last year or so, about better lake management. I would like the Parks Dept. or some such tax-supported agency to test the water, and post the results, for user information.

It seems we had a bumper crop of red-winged blackbirds. They have been coming to my bird feeders, along with scrub jays, sparrows, gold finches, etc. I put out fresh water in the bird bath each day, and love to watch busy parents drinking and splashing. A woodpecker has been visiting my poor old plum trees, seeking insects, I suppose. Deer are visiting my yard, and have been stripping the cherry tree leaves and nibbling on blueberry bushes. Today I'm covering some of the trees with netting. I've heard a debate on how high a fence would have to be to keep the jumpers out. The velvet-horned buck was really beautiful, and the two babies were cute, but gardens are a lot of work to supply nature, when they have fields to eat from.

Here are a couple of recipes, and a link to recipes for using greens from your gardens. I planted spinach, red chard, kale and spinach mustard, which did really well. I made some greens tacos this week that were fantastic! I've also created a new pie that I call my 4th of July Jubilee Pie. Some say it's the best pie they have ever....eaten. I enjoy cooking and eating!

http://www.mariquita.com/recipes/cookinggreens.html

Here's a Guacamole recipe:
Mash 2 ripe avocados. Add 1/4 c. finely chopped onions, 1 T. diced tomato, 2T. snipped cilantro, 2t. jalapeno without seeds, 1/2 t. salt, 1T. lime juice. Serve w/ tortilla chips, or as a garnish for enchiladas, etc.

Fresh Salsa: I can't find my old recipe. This one is pretty well the same. I would change the peppers to less and seed them, and the lime juice to taste. I don't peel or seed my tomatoes, either. You can use Walla Walla sweet onions instead of the hot ones, if you want. I don't pour the boiling water over the garlic and onion, either. You can try it both ways. I think the lime juice cooks and marinates well enough.
A delicious salsa recipe made with fresh ingredients.
Ingredients:

3 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 small cloves garlic, minced
3 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and seeds removed, chopped
2 hot chile peppers, Serrano or Jalapeno, finely chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons minced cilantro
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons lime juice
salt and pepper
Preparation:

Put chopped onion and garlic in a strainer; pour 2 cups boiling water over them then let drain throughly. Discard water. Cool.
Combine onions and garlic with chopped tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours to blend flavors.
Makes about 2 cups of salsa.

Red-winged Blackbirds and Sunny Weather...

Cattails Filling a 3-Yard Tipper During Nesting Season at Vernonia Lake...

So, a walk around Vernonia on a Sunday afternoon with sun that was actually warm, revealed people cleaning up their yards from the winter storms. I shared the trail around the lake with a new friend. A fragile ice coat on the lake cracked and shimmered under the rays. Moles are pushing up dirt all over the grass by the lake. A river otter was so busy moving about a few days ago, I wonder if he even noticed me.

The male red-winged blackbirds are beginning to stake out their territory, preparing for the return of the females. Hopefully the lake will be filled prior to the nesting season, (as it leaks into the Nehalem), so the nests with eggs and young will be safe from drowning. KUPL sponsors a fishing derby each year, and unfortunately, lake filling prior to that event has caused casualties among the nesting blackbirds in past years. The bullrushes and habitat were chopped down in many places during the nesting season also, to make room for fishing fathers and family. When I saw the destruction, I called the Mayor, as it is against Federal Law to violate songbirds' habitat or young.

Mother blackbirds panicked with rising waters, as the lake filled that year, and the previous one. Two park hosts told me in these two separate years that the nesting season was over, when online searches verified otherwise, and blackbirds flew at lake trail-walkers to protect their young. (These birds raise more than one batch of young.) The mayor never called me back. I finally called a string of Wildlife agencies, until one promised to send Vernonia a warning. I was gone last summer, but I will send a copy of this blog to KUPL and hope that they will schedule their Fishing Derby before or after nesting season so as not to disturb the 'nursery'. The mother red-wing blackbirds took a back seat in consideration a city worker explained to me, as they had been busy with construction, etc. The day before I wrote the following poem after a walk at the lake, where I viewed the wildlife from a park bench.

Life in Vernonia…….by Pamela Cohen 5-16-07
Blackbird, Blackbird brown and plain,
Clutching on the bulrush cane.
Sleek and black, and very able
Your mate lands on the picnic table.
Warbling, flashing orange red
Lifting wings and bobbing head
What a saucy pair you make
Residents of Vernonia Lake
Eagle, osprey, darting bat
Northwest forest habitat,
River otters swimming, too
Sharing fish with that canoe
Floating, floating on the waves
Wind and sparkling sun behave
To paint a picture like a Kinkaid print
Waiting for that moonlight hint
Black bird, black bird some domain!
A kingdom viewed from your bulrush cane.
And for the moment, life is good
In Vernonia, ‘the little town that could.’

(Did you know that in some areas, the cattail or bulrush is grown to purify the water? Used for weaving. Bullrush or bulrush or cattail. A papyrus plant.)