July 14, 2019 Exhaustion

It is Saturday evening and I am exhausted. The Project Green open gardens weekend is half way done. 30 gardens in Iowa City have opened their gardens to the public from 10-3 both Saturday and Sunday. Our garden is one of those 30. This meant that I was on my feet for most of that 5 hours. (As I notice that my feet are a little slow to wake up this morning, I am reminded that I was out in the garden at 5:15  on Saturday watering and doing the last minute preparation for the walk.)
We did spiff up the garden for the occasion. All the paths were given fresh wood chips, and all the bricks were in their proper place.
Since there was no rain all week I actually broke down and used the sprinkler on Friday. While it is a rather uneconomical way to get plants watered, if you run it in the same place for an hour it can provide most of the water needed. Then you move it to the next quadrant.

But there have been deer. On my. They have done more damage in the last ten days than in the previous 35 years combined. They have no shame. After munching on 75% of my daylily flowers, they would find something else to eat, each night. One night it was orchids. They took some of them right out of their hanging pots. Then much to my surprise they went after the Christmas cactus. What? Yesterday I noticed that a lot of the toad lilies were topped.
I think what has been surprising is how this problem developed all of a sudden. There were occasional issues earlier this year. They were not major however. Just when the weather turned hot the major problem developed.

Theory: Maybe when it was wet, earlier in the year, the vegetation in the woods and elsewhere was satisfactory for the deer. Now that it is hot and dry the deer have realized that that gardens taste better.
Or maybe one just found the garden and told its friends.

I at least had the satisfaction yesterday of bad mouthing the DNR in Des Moines to anyone who would listen. They have not let Iowa City have a controlled shoot. Instead they insist that Iowa City allow for bow hunting instead. What? Are they disturbed by the sound?  I think State government just thinks whatever Iowa City wants, they should not be allowed to do. Greater minimum wage-no way. Controlled deer shoot- try something else.
In the meantime the daylily season is mostly consumed.

But let me end that rant and show you some nice things that were in the garden in the last week.
The first of the night blooming cereus bloomed Friday night. It was the variety that does not open fully, as near as I can tell. Here is the picture from 4:30 Saturday morning. Maybe being up at that hour is one of the reasons I am exhausted.





This was one of the black daylilies that was not eaten. I found this particular flower interesting in that it had more petals that usual. I guess genetically it would be on its way to becoming a double.





The lilium stole the show at the garden walk. While the Asiatic lilies were finished the trumpets, and Orientpets looked great.




The calla lilies I planted June 1 also bloomed on schedule.







































This was a new daylily this year. I have misplaced the name. It is somewhere on the computer.



Here is another nice one that managed to bloom.





Did I mention that Katie and Christopher are visiting for the long weekend? I will have pictures next week.

Today is the second half of the open garden weekend. I still find the concept difficult. My garden is always open.
There will be more people and more being on my feet. Can you feel more tired when you face more difficult tasks that are yet to come?

Julia's recipe

Mrs. Davis' Chicken salad

This recipe came from Sue Davis, an old and dear friend who was a good cook as well as a friend to all. She called it Chinese Chicken Salad, I think because of the presence of fried rice sticks. This is another recipe that is fast and easy if you have some cooked chicken on hand, either of your own preparation or from a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.


Here are the salad ingredients: about 3 cups of cooked (and cold) chicken; a pretty head of lettuce (making about 4-5 cups when sliced up); 4 scallions; a handful of rice sticks (maybe 1-2 ounces); 3/4 cup of regular oil (for frying the rice sticks); 1/4 cup of sliced almonds and 3 tablespoons of sesame seeds. 

We used purple lettuce because it was the prettiest kind at the farmer's market. Any kind of lettuce would be fine. It would be okay to add some shredded cabbage to the lettuce.

And for the dressing: 1/4 cup of regular oil; 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar; 2 tablespoons white sugar; 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.



I cleaned and sliced the scallions; washed and sliced the lettuce (into ribbons or little pieces); and sliced the chicken breast into thin slices.

I poured the almond slices (slivers would be fine too) into a little pie plate, and I poured the sesame seeds into a different little pie plate. I had the oven on at 350 degrees to bake a small pan of cornbread, and I put the pie plates in for about 10 minutes, keeping an eye on them. The goal was to toast the almonds and sesame seeds lightly. But "lightly" to "burned" can happen quickly so vigilance is necessary.

Then I turned my attention to the only exciting part of the recipe: frying (and thereby puffing up) the rice sticks. I poured the oil into a skillet and turned it on until it reached 375 degrees (you will need some kind of thermometer to determine temperature). I broke off a little chunk of rice sticks (they are surprisingly tough - I put the whole package into a big clean plastic bag and then I used clean kitchen shears to break off three chunks). When the oil was hot, I dropped (gently) the rice sticks into the oil and they puffed up in a flash. Really the frying part took less than 30 seconds per handful of rice sticks. I used a slotted spoon (one of those spider things would be ideal) to fish them out of the oil onto a plate lined with paper towels. I repeated twice (I was making 3 salads - Maggie joined up for dinner).  Then I moved the skillet (carefully) off the stove to a sturdy trivet to let the oil cool off.

Now it was time to assemble.


This is a dinner salad so it is assembled on the plate: 1/3 of the lettuce as a base, followed by 1/3 of the puffed rice sticks, followed by chicken, then scallions, then almonds, then sesame seeds.

Last, I mixed the dressing in a little jar with a tight lid and poured it over top of the salads.








Here it is. We had it with corn bread (I figured it would be a good use of the oven since I needed it to toast the almonds and sesame seeds), which I prepared and put in the oven before I started the salad work.

And we had some nice cantaloupe. No leftovers. Except for some cornbread.







Odds and Ends
I am tired.
There is no rain in the forecast.
The menace of the deer is the major garden consideration at the moment.
I will need to investigate various sprays, after the garden walk.
Maybe I should go walk around outside and see what needs water.
It only "cooled" off last night to 79 degrees.
Talk to you next week.
Philip