Monday, June 30, 2014

Images from a Ukrainian village in June

It's June 29th, and Yulia just happens to have turned 29 yesterday. Here are some pictures from her first full day as a 29 year old:

Some black currants (and one yellow raspberry) that I picked from the vacant house next door. Yulia made the smoothie. Ingredients: mango, banana, honey, nettle, basil, cilantro, borage, lettuce, and bee pollen
Another of Yulia's creations: Burmese tofu made with chickpeas. Turmeric gives it the yellow color. 
On a Sunday afternoon stroll
How fortunate we are to have access to wide open spaces right by our house!
"Come here, Toma...Good dog!"
Yulia planted these wild persimmons from South Carolina last fall. The seeds overwintered in the pot outside and are now emerging. One persimmon has fully popped out while you can still see the leaves holding on to the seeds on the other two.
There are definitely lots of peas right now :)
We will be picking our sour cherries any day now. Just waiting for them to turn the right shade of dark red...
Is that a scarecrow or man?
Even though we know that it is a scarecrow, the corners of our eyes repeatedly inform us that it is a man. We did many double takes.
Another fantastic sunset!

7 comments:

  1. WOW A very nice post with beautiful pictures. Be careful when picking the cherries, I'm sure you folks don't have Canadians to help you pick.....

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  2. Lovely photos.

    One question: were those "persimmons from South Carolina" (Diospyros virginiana I assume) acquired locally in Ukraine? I do not know if the cat is already out of the bag on this, but introduced species planted in a garden can go locally feral and affect local ecology. More ecologically sensitive to stick with native species only.

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  3. Yes, they are from South Carolina. We have planted quite a few non-native plants--corn, potatoes, squash, paw paw, jujube (though bought locally), and so forth. The only thing that we planted that tends to become invasive is sunchoke. Haven't ever heard of American persimmons being invasive. It's worth a google search though. Good question.

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    Replies
    1. Ah.

      Hm. Did you transported them from the US yourself?

      If not, then okay. Ignore the rest of this comment.

      If so, oops.... that is illegal. This is not just to prevent invasive behavior, but also to prevent introduction of foreign disease that may be on the seeds or saplings that you may not even be aware of. Introduced species are major problem world wide. There are hundreds of examples. Before import laws for example, the European wine industry was wiped out from introduction of fungus and invertebrate pests. And even after laws are on the books, the recently introduced citrus greening is devastating the US citrus industry. So there are rather strict rules about moving plant parts or animals around. While the Ukraine is not in the EU, I am sure they have import laws.

      Upon one trip to the I was sniffed and barked at by a dog at the US airport upon arrival. No, not drugs, I had an apple in my carry-on form Europe (I knew better, but my wife put it there without my knowledge thinking I might get hungry). Protecting local agriculture from foreign diseases is serious business.

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  4. Beautiful article & pictures, beautiful you, guys

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