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04/30/09 - Elwha Update

Spring is coming to the Elwha Trail which starts at Whiskey Bend. There are more people, more trilliums and even some other flowers around. The male grouse are lekking, setting up bachelor pads to attract les femmes. Their deep, booming cry, almost a glottal stop, apparently does something for the ladies. There must be a good number of grouse about judging from the sound of things.

An obligatory trillium shot

Looking downstream

A local orchid

Keywords: elwha, flowers, spring, trillium, grouse

04/19/09 - Flowers Along The Spruce Railroad Trail

We are finally having a few real spring days, and that means that April showers are at long last yielding April flowers. Of particular note, the trilliums are coming out along the Spruce Railroad Trail. These three petaled flowers are a bit hard to spot, at least at first. Our experience is that we don't see any trilliums until we are a mile or two down the trail, but then, once we see our first blossom, we start seeing lots of others. On the final leg of our hike it seems like every other plant is a trillium, and we can't help but wonder how we missed a veritable carpet of these lovely flowers.

There are also a lot of other flowers blooming, including some of the succulents growing out of the rocks in the sunnier parts of the trail. If you crouch down and look carefully you can see lots of little flowers in the sunny patches. We aren't sure of what all these flowers are, but the ones here were growing out of gravel, which is probably why they are blooming so early, where "so early" is strictly comparative.





Keywords: flowers, spring, spruce railroad, trillium

04/19/09 - Expecting

We were at Dungeness Valley Creamery and noticed a number of cows in the field towards the entrance. They're with calf, that is, they're expected to deliver quite soon. Of course, cows deliver calves all through the year at the creamery. After all, that's why they give milk, but it still seems a sign of spring to us.

We are also expecting something else, fresh bread. We were shopping at Good To Go on Lauridsen Boulevard, and we heard the good news. The city has approved the installation of their oven. They hope to have their first batch of bread some time in the middle of May. They are also planning an outdoor oven for some time in the future. We'll fill you in when we taste our first loaf.

Two of the ladies expecting

Keywords: good to go, shopping, spring

04/16/09 - The Triliums Are Back

We saw our first trilliums of the season along the Elwha Trail. As usual, we spotted one because we had stopped to photograph something else, and once we had spotted one trillium, we began to look for others. Trilliums like water, and we had spotted the first one in one of the little canyons with a briskly running stream. We were walking back, sure that there were no more trilliums to be seen. After all, we had come this way and seen none. Needless to say, no sooner than we had expressed this, we spotted a trillium, and then another, and then another.

Trilliums are like that.

The first trillium we spotted

Another trillium

And another

This may look like rock, but it is an old tree stump, overgrown with moss. Parts of this trail look like something hobbits would live in.

Another evocative trail

Keywords: elwha, spring, trillium

04/15/09 - First Flowering at Lake Crescent

If we seemed fixated on blossoms this season, blame it on the long winter and slow spring we've been having. The good news from the Spruce Railroad Trail along Lake Crescent is that the flowering currant is flowering, and the first paintbrush flowers are coming out in that sunny area near the footbridge.

Flowering currant, actually flowering

The first paintbrush of the season

Lake Crescent, as ever

Keywords: flowers, lake crescent, spring, spruce railroad

04/12/09 - More Signs of Spring at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market

The Port Angeles Farmers' Market has been ramping up. The usual winter stalwarts are still here, but more of the seasonal folk have been returning. Quilbay wasn't selling its Quilcene oysters, but G&R was there instead. Gossip has it the Westwind asparagus are coming along, but slowly. Otherwise, all sorts of things are flowering and ready to eat. This has been a slow spring, but the season is starting to shape up.



Keywords: farmers' market, port angeles, spring, oysters

04/05/09 - Spring Comes to the Port Angeles Farmers' Market

To start with, Westwind Farm is offering nettles. You have to cook these carefully, but once blanched, they are delicious. We had ours in a soup with shitake mushrooms from Sunny Farms and miso from McFee's bodega. We also spotted fresh arugula and kale raab which is young kale with flowers, so spring cannot be far behind. As for the QuilBay oysters, we tried some. They were wonderful on the half shell. Finally, Johnston Farms is back for the season. It is good to see the market gearing up after a long winter.

Keywords: farms, johnston farm, spring, farmers' market, oysters, westwind farm, kale

03/26/09 - Another Sign of Spring, We Hope

We'll admit it. We're getting pretty hard up for signs of spring around here, so this salamander picture taken on the Spruce Railroad Trail is going to have to do. Yes, we know that we post an awful lot of pictures of these little fellows, but they are only found on the Olympic Peninsula and they are pretty neat. Watch out, we might get a salamander-cam and offer live coverage. Or, better yet, spring might come.

Keywords: salamander, spring, spruce railroad

03/06/09 - Second Beach Update

We were back at Second Beach the other day. There weren't exactly signs of spring, but winter seems to be receding. To start with, there was a lot more sand around the entrance to the sea cave. There are still a lot of rocks, but the summer sand is coming in. Also, there were lots of starfish, hanging out on one of the rocks for the low tide.

As we said, not quite spring, but things are changing.

There was more sand around the entrance to the sea cave.




Keywords: second beach, spring, winter

02/09/09 - Along The Morse Creek Trail

We saw a first sign of spring, a salmonberry blossom, along the Morse Creek Trail, which is what we call the Discovery Trail running west from the parking lot on Morse Creek. It isn't much, but this has been a hard winter, and we'll take what we can get.
We aren't sure what this is a sign of. That's a broccoli floret. There were a number of them along the trail. Did someone run out of breadcrumbs? We have no idea.

Keywords: morse creek, spring, winter, salmon

06/13/08 - Flowers At Lake Crescent

Winter lingered a lot longer than we had hoped this year, so we've been desperately looking for signs of spring. Well, we've found some. For example, we have several nearly ripe strawberries in our yard. If anything, they're a bit early. On the Spruce Railroad Trail today, the roses were out along with a few other flowers that we should recognize by name, but didn't. For your enjoyment, here are a few pictures.



Keywords: flowers, spring, spruce railroad, lake crescent

04/25/08 - Triliums

Each time we have visited the Spruce Railroad Trail at Lake Crescent we have kept our eyes open for signs of spring. Spring has been late in coming. The skunk cabbage didn't even appear until April, but then we saw the first Indian paintbrush and the first few salamanders. This time the trilliums were out. There aren't many leaves on the alders, but we are finally seeing some signs of spring.



Keywords: lake crescent, salamander, spring, spruce railroad, trillium


Glowing eerily

04/18/08 - Sauerkraut

This spring has been late in coming, so there has been a dearth of the usual spring vegetables. On the plus side, the local farmers still have a fair bit of cabbage. Cabbage is an old winter staple, so we at Kaleberg Laboratories decided that when life gives one cabbages, it is time to make sauerkraut.

A bit over two weeks ago we took two heads of cabbage and ran them through the slicing blade of our trusty Cuisinart. Then, we tossed in about six garlic cloves for extra flavor. We packed the cabbage into a 3 liter storage jar and made up a pickling mixture of about a quart of water, two tablespoons of kosher salt, a teaspoon of peppercorns, a tablespoon of coriander seeds, and a half cup of apple cider vinegar. We brought this to a boil, let it cool and poured it into the jar with the cabbage. We had to add a bit of tap water to cover all the cabbage, but then, all we did was let it brew out in the garage. It has been mighty cool out in the garage lately.

Now, we have a delicious glowing green mass of preserved cabbage, and it is delicious. The cabbage has gotten that sauerkraut crunch, and the coriander seeds are wonderful in it.

OK, maybe it isn't actually glowing.

Keywords: spring, winter, kale

04/14/08 - Signs Of Spring - Hope (For Spring) Springs Eternal

We have been rather desperate for signs of spring. Even in mid-April the temperature still drops into the 30s nightly, and there is fresh snow on the mountains. The landscape at Lake Crescent was barren, but we did see two local salamanders, undersized, but healthy as they basked on the muddy trail. To our surprise, there was some Indian paintbrush blooming on the descent just east of the bridge at the Devil's Punchbowl.

This is rather pathetic for this time of year, but we will take what we can get. Two salamanders and a few feeble flowers aren't much. The thaw has barely started, and the lake water is low. Still, there are some signs of progress.



Keywords: flowers, lake crescent, salamander, spring


No scent yet

04/01/08 - The Skunk Cabbage Cometh, Finally

As part of The Kaleberg Signs of Spring, Finally, series, we offer our picture of the first skunk cabbage in the bogs at the eastern end of the Spruce Railroad trail at Lake Crescent. This is definitely skunk cabbage, so something is brewing, but spring is definitely behind schedule.

Keywords: lake crescent, spring, spruce railroad, kale

03/29/08 - Flowering Currant at Morse Creek

This is one of the coldest, latest springs in recent memory. It is at least a month behind, but we are seeing a few signs. For example, the currant bushes are finally flowering on the Morse Creek trail. (You can tell the late season is slowing us down, or we'd be doing more adventurous trails at this time of year).

At long last

Keywords: flowers, morse creek, spring, trails

01/16/08 - Signs Of The Season

We were down at Morse Creek, walking west along the Discover Trail towards Port Angeles. It is mid-January, so it is surely still winter, but we also found our first signs of spring. Check out the salmonberry flowers! This was just one bush in a sheltered area by a stream at the base of the bluff, but the flowers were out.

There was a river otter on one of the rocks. This isn't a very good photo. We are still learning what we can and can't do with our new camera. Our picture of a great blue heron came out better. We don't see as many of them as we used to back in the Boston area, but they like the mouth of the Lee's Creek, maybe because of the fresh water.

The first salmonberry flowers of the season

A great blue heron

The river otters were out

Keywords: flowers, morse creek, port angeles, spring, winter, salmon, otters


A late season salamander

08/14/07 - Late Season Salamanders

We often see Olympic torrent salamanders on the Spruce Railroad Trail on Lake Crescent, but we usually see them in the spring. Here's proof that we are having a wetter summer than usual. We saw a late season salamander out on the trail just the other day.

Keywords: lake crescent, salamander, spring, spruce railroad, kale

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