Canyon Gooseberry

The flowers look showy when seen enlarged, but can easily be missed because of their size and they are often hidden under the numerous leaves. Finding this flower alone was worth the hike. And since winter is turning to spring so fast, I have to get out there as much as possible to catch these gems.

Please read this article.

http://www.idyllwildarts.org/academy/press/pressreleasepdfs/idyllwild_native_plants.pdf

Most of the mustard that I am familiar with is the mustard that was brought by the Spanish beginning in the late 1700s,  and people have been eating it for a very long time. In fact, when I went to one of the Indian communities in Baja California, they were eating locally gathered mustard with their meal. To them it is a free and healthy food. Most likely they do not know it is a non native and would not care anyway.

What I also found was another plant that was growing along the roadsides in Baja. It is apparently an escapee from the local farms that grow a lot of food that is shipped to California and other areas in the United States. At first I just thought what could that be, there is so much of it and it is so thick, kind of like a mustard would be. But this plant had an off white flower, although it kind of looked like a mustard flower. I stopped on the side of the road and took a leaf. It was arugula and it will eventually be here in large numbers. When I stopped, I was driving someone to their home in the area. I told her what it was, but she had never eaten arugula. So I gathered a large bunch and took it to her home and cooked it. She kind of liked it, but was not used to it. I told her that it was an expensive herb we buy in the stores. I suggested that she consider eating it and telling everyone else to eat to too, just like they do mustard.

Flowering rugula growing on roadsides in Baja California

Closer image of flowering arugula, Baja California

When do we do this? Well it is a bunch grass that has these beautiful sprays of flowers. A well cared for plant can produce a hundred flowers. These are gathered between late November into February, and used in southern California Indian basketry. I usually ask weavers if they want to gather them or cut them myself. This done by hand to each individual stem, so it is labor intensive.

I cut the deergrass around March or as late as April. I have used a hedge cutter, or weed wackers, but this is choppy. I have used other pieces of equipment even a knife and it is not easy, especially when you have a lot. What works best for me is help…..

After they have been cut down I decide if I need to divide them. When the grass bunch gets really large it can easily be split into four or more pieces. I do this with the shovel or a good knife. Then I replant pieces in a new area, leaving enough space for the mower to go between them. I like to put about 6-10 bunches in an area. After replanting I soak them really well. I water them for the first month, then less and less. Once established, I only water the deergrass during the dry months or if we get little normal rain, which is common here, I will soak the area every other month. Too much water will rot them, too much growth would also result and the leaves can choke the plant.

This grass is not just beautiful, it also provides seeds for birds, materials for basketweavers and much more.

The real work is taking care of my native plants. I have many that are in containers that I couldn’t put in the ground due to the gophers. So, I have decided I will have to kill them and reduce their numbers. I have not done this for about 4 years and they are now at epidemic proportions and eating everything with any length in roots at all. My first attempt did not catch any. I am out of practice.

Traditional Paipai pottery from Santa Catarina, Baja Calif

I recently co presented a workshop for some of the indigenous artisans of northern Baja California. These communities are remote. For San Jose de la Zorra and Necua, one must travel to and through wine country in the Guadalupe Valley. We hope that the wineries will see the value in carrying the art of the local Native populations, making it easier for them to sell. This would help the communities put even the most basic of needs on their tables. It is on the ancestral lands of these people that the grapes and olives are grown. I don’t think it is asking too much.

Sky over Ensenada, after the rain

Recent trips to our southern California desert and northern Baja have reminded me of how little rain we have received this season. Even our old native trees like oaks and mazanitas are dying of thirst. While in Baja on Saturday we had rain all day, sometimes very hard down pours. Although it made it difficult to drive on the torn up road with a hybrid… it was wonderful. I look forward to much more.

Even Quash, our friends dog, can enjoy the view during a cool morning sunrise

I must admit that these days when we go to Baja we stay at a friend’s house. This house is perfect because it was well thought out, it is adobe, it has drought tolerant landscaping, mainly with native plants, it is a simple home for simple comforts and of course it has a magnificent view. I used to stay in the downtown Ensenada area. Primarily at the hotel Mission Santa Ysabel, but the last time I stayed there nothing locked. Not the doors, windows… it was uncomfortable. I have stayed there a lot so I was disappointed in the disrepair of the hotel and the other hotels in downtown. They are just more victims of the falling economy and  the drug wars. Interesting though that the higher end hotels are still costly, even if they are rarely full, but they do have locked doors. I am fortunate to know someone who lives there and I take every opportunity to visit them as often as possible.

About a year ago I had a plant and food demonstration table at a museum of southern California. I had a large photos display of many of the native plants that we use regularly. A man and his wife came up to the table and said that they new the fruit of the nopal back in Lebanon. He said when he was a young boy he loved the fruit so much he grabbed some and stuffed them in his shirt, regretting it for a long time. He said he had always known the fruit. I don’t think he believed me when I said that it was from the Americas. But I did find it interesting that people were actually eating it in other parts of the world.

Today I ran into a woman who said that her mother said she ate the fruit of the nopal while growing up in Italy.

Very interesting indeed.

The matilija blooms from about late May until mid August, all depending on weather. They are drought tolerant and actually prefer not to be watered with any regularity. But during the most dry years and hot dry summers, I do water them once in a while.

As with many natives, this plant is hard to get started. But this is the time of the year to try. Native plant nurseries will usually have 1 and 5 gallon containers. Even though it does not like a lot of water normally, when planting them they must have sufficient water for the first year. This is always tricky so get good advice for your area.

Once they take… they will take off, so make sure that you have sufficient room for this plant. One person I know has a small place but grows this because he loves it so much. It pops up in his neighbor’s yard and even comes through the cracks in the sidewalk. He tries to cut it out and put in pots to give away.

This is really the time of year to cut the plant down to the ground. Only do this once it is established. I waited 4 years before I cut mine back. But it took so long to get it to grow I wasn’t going to take any chances.  But this is the time to do it. The plant will come back better and stronger. If you are ever at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens you find many there. When I was there recently they were already cut to the ground.

Note: the flowers can get to about 6″ diameter and the bush to about 10′ in height.

Matilijas and nopal on the adobe wall at San Luis Rey Mission, San Diego County