rows of mature olive trees at the Urban Tree Farm (photo: Ene Osteraas-Constable) I’ve asked Ene to write an occasional post for Deep Craft, and am proud to share her first story (all text and images by Ene Osteraas-Constable): I greet the deluge of the season’s first heavy rains with relief and contentment, knowing that […]
Tag Archives: california flora
The Week in Bloom
a bounty of foraged hedgehog, pig’s ear, white prince* and cauliflower mushrooms Earlier this week, my friend Josef Szuecs invited me to join him on a late season mushroom foraging expedition. Joe has been writing a seasonal Mushroom Report for DeepCraft, and is deeply steeped in mushroom culture, having collected, cooked and eaten wild mushrooms […]
Hoshigaki
nearly ripe Hachiya Persimmon, ready to be peeled and hung to dry Looking up at the persimmon tree’s wild constellation of fruit still languidly dangling, you’d hardly know we already picked over two bushels for drying. Ene recently discovered the Japanese art of Hoshigaki, a technique of drying fruit by a combination of open-air hanging […]
Joe’s midseason Mushroom Report
This week my friend Josej Szuecs has graciously penned the second installment of his Mushroom Report: Midseason Mushrooms (text and photo by Josef Szeucs) The question is often posed to me: “When do the mushrooms start coming up?” In the western US, I start foraging two or three weeks after the first significant rainfall. This […]
Ene’s Winter Garden 2
freshly picked Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana) from Ene’s Winter Garden I never notice our pineapple guava bush, which frames the back entry to our vegetable garden, until the ripe fruit drops from its branches. This morning I picked most of the feijoa, about 2 gallons, which we’ll make into salsa, smoothies and muffins. As always, […]
The Week in Bloom
Hachiya persimmon are ripening early this year The raccoons have commenced their furtive nighttime raids on the persimmon tree, whose fruits are prematurely ripe by a few weeks. We’re still trying to figure out how best to use the hundreds of Hachiya persimmon produced by our single tree each winter, and have been picking and […]
Ene’s Winter Garden
Most people know Ene, my wife and wowhaus partner, as one of the sunniest people they’ve met, and rightfully so. Our wowhaus compound has been blessed by her love of planting, harvesting and saving seeds, as she eagerly scouts out patches of sun throughout the year, populating them with seasonal flowers and vegetable gardens, battling […]