Yearly Archives: 2025

Garter snake 2025-10-09

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This small snake was in the front driveway.

You can tell by comparison with the pine straw that the snake is quite small, maybe 8 inches long.

[Snake with pine straw, sand, and pebbles]
Snake with pine straw, sand, and pebbles

I think it’s an Eastern Garter Snake, Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis.

What do you think?

-jsq

Two kinds of persimmons 2025-10-09

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Evidently we’ve been mis-identifying our persimmons.

[Two kinds of persimmons]
Two kinds of persimmons

The prolific persimmon tree has acorn-shaped fruit like the red one here. Those are apparently Hachiya persimmons.

The younger tree with only a few fruit not yet ripe has flat-bottom persimmons like this yellow one. Those appear to be Fuyu persimmons.

See, for example, this GrubMarket blog post, Fuyu vs. Hachiya: How to Use California Persimmons.

They’re both varieties of the Oriental persimmon, Diospyros kaki.

-jsq

Making beautyberry jelly 2025-10-11

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Smells good while doing this.

[Pouring beautyberry jelly into jars]
Pouring beautyberry jelly into jars

Very tasty later as jelly.

American Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana.

This is the same plant whose leaves repel mosquitos, yellowflies, and other insects.

-jsq

Persimmons to eat and to dehydrate 2025-10-05

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Still picking those persimmons.

[Picked Fuyu persimmons]
Picked Fuyu persimmons

One was so ripe we went ahead and ate it.

The rest, we picked deliberately still orange, not red ripe, so Gretchen could slice them up and put them in the dehydrator. Continue reading →

Fuyu persimmons 2025-09-28

Update 2025-10-05: Persimmons to eat and to dehydrate 2025-10-05.

A very flavorful fruit, and sweet but not too sweet. Perfect to go with breakfast oatmeal.

[Persimmons on the tree, 2025-09-28 --jsq for OPF]
Persimmons on the tree, 2025-09-28 –jsq for OPF

These are Fuyu persimmons, a variety of the Japanese persimmon, Diospyros kaki.

Many moons that tree has been there since Gretchen planted it. This year it’s really bearing fruit. Continue reading →

Sunrise over Woodhenge, Fall Equinox 2025-09-22

Here’s the sun rising over Woodhenge on the Fall Equinox.

[Sunrise over Woodhenge, 2025-09-22 jsq for OPF]
Sunrise over Woodhenge, 2025-09-22 jsq for OPF

In Merrie Olde Englande they go to Stonehenge for this seasonal event. Here, we go to the arbor where we get the grapes for eating, jelly, wine, and vinegar. We call it Woodhenge, because it has wood posts. Continue reading →