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Strange Fruit

August 18, 2013 Maria Mudd Ruth
The wonders of the Accidental Naturalist's garden: an artichoke long past its peak for clarified butter.

The wonders of the Accidental Naturalist's garden: an artichoke long past its peak for clarified butter.

And yet another artichoke.

And yet another artichoke.

Poppies gone to seed (above). Dried seed heads are full of tiny black seeds that can be shaken out and saved for planting later. 

Poppies gone to seed (above). Dried seed heads are full of tiny black seeds that can be shaken out and saved for planting later. 

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Echinacea blooms offer late-season feast to a variety of pollinators, including this one left out of my field guides.

Echinacea blooms offer late-season feast to a variety of pollinators, including this one left out of my field guides.

Poppy seed heads make resting spots for this butterfly (a skipper, but one I would have to catch in order to identify more precisely.) 

Poppy seed heads make resting spots for this butterfly (a skipper, but one I would have to catch in order to identify more precisely.) 

While most gardeners are harvesting beans, tomatoes potatoes, zucchini, and all sorts of edibles, my garden generated a handful of blueberries and not much else. Why? Deer, rabbits, and slugs. What's in my garden is the result of five years of planting and replanting. It's  an odd mix--a little on the Addams Family side--but the one the bees and butterflies love.

In Gardening Tags gardening, gardens, vegetables, animal-proof garden
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Flying from Mountaineers Books this Spring—the story of the Pigeon Guillemot—the world’s most charismatic alcid. This non-fiction natural history will be on bookshelves and available from online retailers on April 7, 2026. Click a link below to pre-order a copy now from these purveyors:

Mountaineers Books (non-profit, indie publisher based in Seattle)

Browsers Books (Olympia’s indie bookstore)

Bookshop.org (support your local bookstore)

Barnes & Noble (in the book biz since 1971)

Amazon


A Sideways Look at Clouds from Mountaineers Books

A Sideways Look at Clouds from Mountaineers Books

Rare BirdORDER TODAY >>

Rare Bird: Pursuing the Mystery of the Marbled Murrelet

“Compelling…  engaging.” —Library Journal

“Rare insights into the trials and joys of scientific discovery.” —Publisher’s weekly

Learn more about Rare Bird...

Enjoy this song by Peter Horne, "Little Bird, Little Boat, Big Ocean.” Written about the Marbled Murrelet, but the lyrics work well for the Pigeon Guillemot, too.


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