gathering leaf litter in the Hammel forest

…just steps from the site of Edible Estate #14 at the Pederson residence is one of my favorite things about the site, so down the street a few houses we go, entering into the dappled spring green shade with wheel barrows and bags in hand to gather things for the garden – long branches for wigwam plant structures, semi-decomposed leaf litter for plant mulch, logs and rocks for retaining the beds, stumps for sitting – bringing parts of the forest back in (and as we were hauling our last big load a neighbor passing us on the street made a comment with a sweet face and a smile – later translated for me, she asked “…and are you taking the whole forest?”)

a Saturday walk in Kungsträdgården in Stockholm

…in Stockholm this afternoon where everyone is soaking up the rays after a long winter, and though it is still a bit chilly to my sensitive LA constitution, the sun is already leaning towards it’s summer solstice here with sunset at 9:15 and sunrise at 4:15.

the conservatory Victoriahuset at Stockholm’s Bergianska Trädgården

…are a helpful to see today, both in preparation for a June project here, and also planting in the similar climate of the Twin Cities in just a two weeks of for Edible Estate #15, so today we are at the extensive botanic gardens, Bergianska Trädgården, at the university, where in particular it the simulated rocky alpine mountain, some espalier apple trees, miniature raised beds of compacted peat moss, the endless berry varieties, and a visit to the Victoriahuset conservatory – which I can imagine would be quite a welcome tropical refuge in the depths of Swedish winter – that impress most.

Upplands Väsby woods panorama

…this morning in Upplands Väsby north of Stockholm with Swedish nature illustrator Bo Mossberg as our guide in preparatory research for the wild foragable rocky/woody landscape installation I’ll be constructing just out the doors for the central Väsby shopping mall in June.

Pugliesi olive tree trimmer showing the exact age of each of various sections of the branches which he can determine just by their color

…kicked off at first light on my last morning on the farm, to the sounds of the crew of Pugliesi – who specialize in this very particular work – moving trough the fields with chain saws and then long trimmers followed by small clippers, getting rid of anything that the tree doesn’t need that season to produce and support it’s olives, transforming hundreds of trees in hours.

preparing for the planting circle

…by farmer Luciano on his big tractor gets the compacted clay soil ready for our planting circle.

The geodesic dome basecamp at the center of the Foraging Spiral in Liverpool’s Everton Park

…in Liverpool’s Everton Park has been installed today for the upcoming weekend of activities and conversations about the past and future of the park, marking the opening of the Liverpool Biennial. (webpage)

walking stick cactus in the woods

…or Cylindropuntia spinosior, in the cactus gardens buried in the sloping pine woods of the Montalvo Arboretum and County Park - lights up with a halo of back-lit low sun this evening on a long-anticipated exploration of the grounds around our artist colony studio where we have our noses buried in work for the month.

colorful yarrow in Nikki’s Montalvo garden

…or Achillea millefolium is a favorite pollinator attractor, providing a broad horizontal landing pad for lots of good airborne visitors – today found in Montalvo culinary fellow Niki Ford‘s garden just down the hill from my studio-for-the-month.

digging up the backyard Budapest Domestic Integrity Field of wildflowers

…was a last minute inspiration this morning while in residence for the week at the hospitable and innovative Blood Mountain Foundation (smartly founded and graciously run by Hungarian-Aussie Jade Niklai and Aussie Tom Sloan – though presided over by their precious two year old Pepper) commissioners and producers of Edible Estate #12: Budapest, planted last weekend – but even though the heavy earth, plant, and garden work is done, and crocheting begins on the Domestic Integrity Field rug this morning, I found myself looking out the back window, with the Danube in the distance, at the lush yard below, and imagining a perfect circle of native wildflowers to mix with the nice wild stuff already down there (like alpine strawberries and yarrow), to reflect the circle of the rug expanding inside…which will soon become an integral indoor-outdoor relationship in upcoming editions of Domestic Integrities…but more on that later.

Liverpool beachy dune landscape

…was a quick welcome sight after hot days moving dirt and planning for tomorrow’s planting of the Foraging Spiral & Basecamp.

Founding Gardeners, 2011

…is the title of the 2011 book by Andrea Wulf I am just finishing, engrossed in the stories of gardening maniacs Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Adams, and how that passion formed the nation.

the boulders and hot springs at the bend in Deep Creek

…was the destination for a last-minute impulsive day trip – having enviously heard stories from friends of leisurely days spent there over the years; so heading north on the 2, east on the 210 (through the endless Inland Empire), up the 15 (where the San Gabriel Mountains meet the San Bernadino Mountains at the Cajon Pass), off at Main Street in Hesperia (lined with endless anonymous chains and stoplights), on to Bowden Ranch Road (a long windy scenic rough dirt road), terminating at a place to park and hike for another 40 minutes of up and down and dramatic mountain and valley views and rattlesnake dangers, finally depositing you deep to the bottom of the rocky valley in a miragey assemblage of boulders at the bend in a stream with dammed up thermal springs.

From the USDA Forest Service: The landscape surrounding Deep Creek is unique in a southern California context, and its recreation opportunities are valued at the regional and national levels. Thermal hot springs located here are unique and regionally important.Deep Creek supports the greatest diversity of wildlife habitats of any drainage on the San Bernardino National Forest and has earned the State designation of a Wild Trout Stream. It also represents some of the greatest diversity of vegetation communities of any drainage on the national forest. The surrounding area represents a transiticonifer forest. The vegetation ranges from sparse creosote, chamise and California buckwheat at lower elevations to oak and pinyon woodland and scattered mixed conifer, healthy riparian habitats are also present. The Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) follows the creek from the Lake Arrowhead area to the Mojave River Forks Dam for 16 miles as part of the 2,650 mile national scenic trail crossing Deep Creek twice on elevated bridges. For more information on the Pacific Crest Trail, visit their website at www.pcta.org Also Deep Creek is home to the Southwestern Arroyo Toad, an endangered species who lives in the sandy shore of the creek. The toad is a small (2.2-2.9 inches), dark-spotted and light-olive green or gray to tan with dark spots and warty skin. The toad lives from confluence of the Mojave River up to an elevation of 4,300 feet usually spending the day burrowed in the sand and coming out at night to forage for food.

view over Runyon Canyon towards downtown Los Angeles

..the scenic Hollywood Hills / Santa Monica Mountains park popular with fit youngish Angelenos in the ‘industry’ is not a place I get to visit very often, but wanting to make a gradual informal tour of the wild regions of the city, it’s where I headed today for a hike up and sweaty jog down. (more on Wikipedia)

Matilija Poppies at Theodore Payne

…or Romneya coulteri, or fried-egg flower, are the towering white petaled and yellow native Californians whose drama is greeting visitors to the Theodore Payne Foundation right now (the place I can’t get enough of, and where I have returned today for some native grape vines, currants, sages, and such) – which of course leads to excited inquiries about, and high demand for, a plant that really should to go in the ground before the rains in six months, and not now before the summer heat…patience.

geodesic triangle framed pine tree

…out the geodesic dome window from bed this morning is reminding me of Italian days.

Jupiter's Beard on the hill

…or Centranthus ruber, has been creeping around the gardens here for years, looking great and flowering and continually coming back with little encouragement or even a drop of rain through the summer months, and this season it is especially happy – covering the slope at the front steps with it’s happy pink flowers – and after having it around for 12 years, now I find out the leaves and roots are even edible…nice.

Midwestern monoculture gridded plains

…of Midwestern monoculture are giving me something to look at and think about while anticipating a return to L.A. home at long last.

Washington Square Park purple

…is usually the preferred route when I have a choice while navigating the city by foot through that part of lower NYC, which is more and more dominated by NYU lately, though walking through the park today on a warm spring afetrnoon, you still get a sense of of that lively youth culture meeting the old chess players, which has always made it such a cultural and social nexus – plus some early  purple color popping up among the renovated park planting beds.

giant crab apple

…looms over the house, only for a few days every spring it becomes a blossomy pink giant, reminding us of what it is.