Five On Friday - Camping News

We are back after a wonderful week of camping in the mountains in our little home away from home. Yes, you heard me. We did not sell our trailer. I am so happy to tell you all that. Camping is my favorite hobby/family activity. When our truck was totaled by another driver last year, I thought we would not be able to replace it but we decided to not give up our love of camping in our trailer. With the help of Colley Ford, and an awesome set of rebates and a great deal, we are set to camp again for a very long time.

So there she is. Our 11 year old Surveyor trailer is my favorite little place to be. She got all dolled up with a new awning just before we left for a week in our local mountains. We did something different where my hubby commuted down the hill to his office at the base of the mountains for several of the days. My youngest and I hit lots of sights and took a hike and had just the best time and in the evening, dad would pull in and we would have dinner and a campfire or watch a movie. So much fun.

I love my little trailer kitchen and found the cutest vintage towels to add to her. I am working on some upcoming RV TIPS posts for all of you. The are some of my most viewed posts on this blog. I will link to them below.

Hiking and doing some antiquing at a shop very near the campground is something we always do each trip. We have two more weeks scheduled up at our favorite mountain spot this summer so you will see more.

View all our camping and RV hacks and tips here: Camping tips.

SoCal Rain 1/12/17

We have been having some much needed heavy rains. According to my own rain gauges we have had almost three inches where I live in the last two days. Here is a quick video of my very soggy flooded backyard.



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Camping At Table Mountain Campground, Wrightwood, CA

Today I want to share one of our favorite southern California
campgrounds. We love camping at Table Mountain campground 
in Wrightwood, California.

An easy drive, just over an hour from Los Angeles county, this campground has wonderful views and large sites.

July 2015; Camping, Traveling And More

Whew!! What a busy month we've had. We were traveling half the month. Ten days in Oregon visiting family. I love Oregon and always hate to leave. 

While in Oregon we visited a family member's chicken coop. She had a great set up. I am thinking a post showing their coop is in order.

We also had more rain in July than I ever remember in all my years living in Southern California. It is so dry that we welcomed the inch we received. They are talking of a large El Nino and I sure hope it means above average rain for us.

In between trips we went to a concert with friends. It was hot and humid that evening and we were all a sweaty mess but it was so much fun. I have a bucket list of things I want to do these days and that was one of them. I hope there will be more.

We just returned from a camping trip to our local mountains. We are so lucky to live so close to the beach and mountains and everything in between.

My sister in law and I worked together to make baked smores. She was determined we would have smores despite the fact that for this year, with the drought, no campfires were permitted. 

They were amazing and we all loved it. Recipe to follow this week.

I have not mentioned the garden as this is our winter type rest. In the heat of summer, I suspend planting. I harvest what I can and wait for fall planting time. Our second growing season.

Growing Sunflowers: Tips and My Favorites For Growing and Cutting

I love to grow sunflowers and they are an easy summer flower to grow. Sunflowers can be grown for the flowers and the seeds and because I followed my earlier planting schedule, I already have a garden full of the cheery sunflowers I love.

Growing Sunflowers: Tips and My Favorites For Growing and Cutting

This large variety of sunflower is Mammoth. We took a picture of my hubby's mammoth head next to it for comparison.

As the seed head dries it will turn brown. In about 45 days when the back of the sunflower is dried and you see the brown seed heads, the sunflower is ready for harvesting. I am growing sunflowers for chicken feed. The protein in the sunflowers is great for the chickens come fall when they begin to molt (loose their feathers) and grow new ones as feather growth requires lots of protein.

Best Sunflowers To Grow For Cutting:

If you like to pick sunflowers for bouquets, the best varieties are the multi-branched sunflowers. They will give you long straight stems perfect for cutting. One of my favorite red sunflowers for cutting is the  red Velvet Queen. A deep red velvet color sunflower.

I save sunflowers seeds from this variety to replant every year.  Red and yellow are by far the most popular but there are many colors including orange. This is the best orange sunflower by far.

You can see how huge this sunflower grew and how many flowers were there for the picking.

 Wondering how to grow sunflowers from seeds? They are easy to grow and low maintenance. If you amend with some compost when planting and water regularly, they will grow without care. Once established they are actually pretty drought tolerant which is good for us Southern California gardeners right now. You can grow sunflowers in a pot or container as long as it is fairly large to hold the sunflowers up.
Remember to water containers regularly as they dry out faster than the soil in the garden will.

Remember to check out my tips for making cut sunflower bouquets last longer.

How Changing Weather Is Affecting Southern California Vegetable Gardens

I have lived in southern California my entire life and I have always been a student of weather. One thing is for sure, it seems the weather here is changing. Honestly, it is as if we have been warmer and drier in winters in southern California than in Arizona and as hot but more humid in the summers.

I have struggled with my garden the last few growing seasons. Three years in a row we have had an unusually hot and humid summer. Is this the new normal for us gardeners here in Southern California? That I am not, sure but I have decided to follow the Arizona planting schedule this year to see if not only can I combat the heat that seems to stifle my vegetable garden, but to also try and have two growing seasons here for summer produce.

First, I started most of my seeds in January. I normally plant tomatoes in March but this year they were in by the end of January/early February. It is now March 16th and I already have one inch sized tomatoes on the vines. The earliest I have ever had for sure.

We used to have occasional light frosts but we have not had one in my area for at least three years.
Evenings are warmer and blossoms are setting, so the plants all seem to be thriving. I am hoping to harvest earlier:
summer squash ( four varieties)
cucumbers
tomatoes

Then I intend to start seeds in late spring/early summer for a second growing season. I will plant a second cycle of the above plants that I had only planted once in years past. We have had intensely hot late summers for three years and that is really caused the garden to suffer. By planting and harvesting early, I will keep plants that tolerate the heat but remove others that are spent. Pumpkins and winter squash will take over for mid summer and then I will clean space to start new smaller plants of normal summer vegetables.

Pumpkins will fill the garden mid-summer and as they finish up I will rip them out to make room for the second summer planting season. So this is the plan. I will report how it goes. So far the garden is doing great and we are on track to harvest earlier than ever.

No Rain, Dry Weather and Fire

We sadly have a dangerous fire burning in our community. We saw it early as we were driving my daughter to school.

Here it was at about 6:45am. It took off with the morning winds and blew up.

The high school was open so I dropped my daughter off. It is still open as it sits out of the way though I am getting reports that school is closed on T.V. So I call the school and yes it is fine and they are out of the way and open but everyone is staying indoors due to ash.

I drove immediately to my in laws to make sure they were awake as they live right below where it was burning at the time. Here is a pic as I got out of my car.

They were okay and not under evacuation orders and wind was blowing it away so I headed back to my house. My other daughter's college classes were cancelled due to the fire moving in that direction. Here it is from my house when I got home.

Sadly, homes have been lost but this January. This doesn't happen here in winter. With no measurable rain for about a year and a half now we are in for a very scary summer season if Mother Nature does not move that jet stream and bring us some rain. Very scary.

Colorful

I finally got a new phone that actually has a camera. I have been snapping some pics this week and I love that I can do that while I am out and about.

Oranges waiting for juicing.

One of the nurseries I haunt.

Koi fish and a sunning turtle.

I have to learn to keep my fingers out of the way.

A very colorful outfit.