Glass Beach

Another location we wanted to visit on our trip up the Northern California coast was Glass Beach at Fort Bragg.

I've collected small amounts of sea glass over the years, but became much more interested in it a few years ago when I started making flame-worked glass beads.  Most of the beads we flame-workers make have a glossy, glassy surface, but it is possible to create a more matte surface, either by using a chemical etching agent, or by tumbling the glass in a rock tumbler with silicon carbide grit, which is the method I prefer.  If you etch or tumble glass beads made with a transparent glass, the matte surface resembles that of sea glass.

The sea glass at Glass Beach at Fort Bragg was the product of a former city dump; the glass dumped there was eventually eroded by the action of the ocean and created a beach that was largely glass.

However, when we mentioned to local people that we were going to Glass Beach, they told us that it had been pretty well picked over, and that there wasn't much glass left there.  It turned out that they were right about that.  The few pieces of glass we saw were very small.  The glass may have been broken down and eroded by the ocean, but more likely it was just carried off by people who ignored the city's warnings to leave the glass for others to enjoy.  The quantity of sea glass in many places has been declining in recent years, mostly due to the fact that less glass is being used in soft drink bottles, and thus less dumped into the oceans.

We didn't come away empty-handed from the beach, though.  We found one trophy that we carried away with us, only to deposit it into the nearest recycle bin.

Plastic Bottle "Trophy"

Muir Woods

At the top of our list for our vacation trip to Northern California was a visit to the Coastal Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) at Muir Woods.

There is something incredibly peaceful and calming about being among the giant trees in a Redwood forest, and there's absolutely no aroma on earth like Redwoods, especially early in the morning.

Also, fortunately, not too many creatures on earth like the 8 inch Banana Slug we saw crawling over debris on the forest floor.

We spent several hours walking through along the forest trail, through the dappled sunlight filtering through the trees.

The water in the creek beside the trail was low, as California's drought continues, but these trees are amazing survivors, many showing evidence of damage from and regeneration in previous forest fires.

It's always a special place.  Even a short visit to it is, in John Muir's words, "the best gift any tree lover can have."

Elk and The Greenwood Pier Inn

Probably the biggest, and least pleasant, surprise that we had on our vacation trip up the Northern California coast was when we went to check into our bed-and-breakfast inn, the Greenwood Pier Inn at the small village of Elk, a place we have stayed at many times in the past, only to find the parking lot empty and the buildings apparently deserted.

View From the Cliff House Deck

We finally located the caretaker, who told us the place was in foreclosure, the inn and cafe closed and the staff laid off.  We quickly made arrangements to stay elsewhere, but found it tremendously shocking that such a lovely place could have come to that.

The cottage we had planned to stay in, the Cliff House, is truly right on the edge of the cliff above the ocean about a hundred feet below; you can hear the surf crashing on the rocks below all night long.  The view is spectacular; the sea has carved large openings in the rocks just off shore and the tide flows back and forth through them.

Rocks At Elk

The Greenwood Pier was a pier at the small town of Elk where timber was loaded aboard steamers bound for San Francisco in the later part of the 19th century.  Timber and fishing made many thriving communities in this part of the California for many years.

But eventually most of the timber was cut and the fisheries depleted by over fishing; now the chief source of income for people living here is:  tourists.  That makes the decline of the Greenwood Pier Inn at Elk all the more tragic, as the inn, with its restaurant, garden shop and boutique was probably one of the largest employers in what is a relatively poor area.  Its closure, even temporarily, has to be a tremendous blow to the economy of the area.

We have many happy memories from previous stays at this beautiful place; we can only hope that future owners will restore it to its prior glory.

Meanwhile, if you've got $4 million to spend, it could be yours: http://www.showcase.com/property/5926-Hwy-1/Elk/California/9044617 .

Sourdough Bread

On our recent vacation in Northern California, we ate at several wonderful restaurants, but the highlight for me was the Tadich Grill at 240 California Street in San Francisco.  Although it has changed locations several times over the years, this restaurant has the distinction of being the oldest restaurant in California in continuous operation.

Since it's only a couple of blocks away from the building where I used to work, I have some vague recollection of having eaten there once before, but didn't remember much about the food.  Silly me.

As an old-style restaurant in the City by the Bay, they do seafood.  Oh, yes, they do seafood.  I love Dungeness Crab, so of course I had to have the sautéed Dungeness Crab legs, and it was perfectly done.   Cindy finally decided on the sea bass after she heard the people at the next table raving over it, and hers was wonderful, too.

And the sourdough bread--I could have eaten a whole meal of it.  I've had bread that was alleged to be sourdough bread in many other locations in the world, but there is nothing, NOTHING that even comes close to true San Francisco sourdough bread.  Nothing.

Dungeness Crab and sourdough bread.  Sigh.  We'll just have to go back.

California Academy of Sciences

On our vacation last week, we stayed in San Francisco for a few nights and then went up the coast to Mendocino.  We ate at a lot of nice restaurants and visited the many food-related shops in the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero, which is always fun.

But, of course, Cindy can't just relax on a vacation, there has to be some activity related to gardening or plants, so while we were in San Francisco, she wanted to visit the California Academy of Sciences, located in Golden Gate Park.  The building is the largest public building to be rated at the platinum level for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).  It has a 2.5 acre living roof with 1.7 million native California plants and a four story high rainforest.  See "About the Building" for more information.

Well, it certainly sounded worthy of a visit, but thanks to a screw-up with our rental car, we never actually got there.  Who knew Fiat made cars with transmissions that were both manual and automatic?  We didn't-- we couldn't figure out how to shift it out of second gear, making a really interesting adventure driving on the Bay Area freeways, and it sounded like a truck, so we went back over the Bay Bridge and returned it, and by the time we got a different car it was too late to get to the museum.

So we'll save the museum for a future trip.

And just say "no" to anything Fiat makes.

What To Do With Green Tomatoes?

Lots of Green Tomatoes

Due to the unfortunate progress of the fungal wilt affecting several of the tomato plants this year, we've had plenty of tomatoes, but most of them have been green tomatoes taken off the plants Cindy has had to tear out.

According to other Master Gardeners, their tomatoes are not doing well this year, either.  One friend has already ripped out three of her plants.

We're guessing that because San Diego, unlike most of the rest of the country, had a very mild winter so the temperature never got cold enough to kill off the pathogens in the soil.  Those pathogens are now having a roaring old time destroying our tomato plants, but fortunately don't seem to be affecting the rest of the garden.

So what do you do with that many green tomatoes?

So far we've had Green Tomato Pasta, Green Tomato Soup and Green Tomato Bread.

We've had the pasta and the soup in previous years, but I was a little skeptical of the bread, at least until I tasted it.  The taste and texture were very similar to Zucchini Bread, so I guess it shouldn't have been much of a surprise that it was as good as it was.  It could have used some nuts, though, so Cindy has added them to the recipe.

So here's the recipe Cindy used:

Green Tomato Bread
Ingredients
1/2 cup canola oil
8 ounces nonfat yogurt, plain
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup Splenda (or use all sugar--Cindy used sugar)
2 cups green tomatoes, pureed, juice drained and discarded
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves (scant)
1/2 cup nuts  (optional)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour two loaf pans.

Combine oil, yogurt, eggs, sugar, Splenda, nuts and green tomatoes in a large bowl and mix well.  Sift together all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices and add to wet ingredients along with the whole wheat flour.  Stir together just until combined.
Divide evenly between two prepared pans and bake just until a toothpick comes clean from the center of the bread, about 45 minutes.  Let cool in pans, then remove.

Not Good News

Not Winning First Prize This Year

More bad news about the tomato plants.  Two weeks ago Cindy ripped out the Sweet Seedless tomato plant because it was showing clear signs of some kind of bacterial wilt.

Yesterday, she also ripped out the First Prize tomato plant for the same reason.  As you can see from this photograph, the plant was showing many yellowing leaves and the whole plant had begun to droop over the protective panels.

It had plenty of tomatoes on the vines, but, since the plant was dying rapidly, there was no chance the tomatoes would be able to ripen before the plant collapsed completely.

When Cindy took the plant down, she cut a cross section from the biggest part of the stem, that clearly showed the progress of the fungal wilt, which gradually plugs the xylem tissue and eventually cuts off the supply of water to the plant.

Plant Cross Section

Without a microscopic analysis, we won't know whether this is  Fusarium Wilt or Verticillium Wilt, but in either case, it's not good news for the tomato plant.

Other Side of the Cross Section