Welcome to the Weekend Coffee Share!
It’s a lovely, peaceful Saturday morning at my house. There is a soft rain outside my window. I have one window slightly open to be able to hear the sound of the rain. Looking out the window I see that most of the birch, and aspen trees are green, some are starting to turn into beautiful yellow, and red, but for the most part they are still green. It looks very lush outside. There are signs that fall is approaching though, the temperature is cool at night, in the upper 30’s. Daytime temperature stays around a comfortable 60F. Summer is hanging on by a thin thread. I rode my bike up to my gardening plot earlier this week and even though everything was very green, I wasn’t met by a jungle of new growth. I actually feel comforted by the slower pace that nature guides me towards. It’s wonderful, and well needed, a contradiction to how fast the rest of the world moves. Fall is meant to be enjoyed.
I’m sorry I got distracted, how would you like your coffee? Or perhaps I can offer you some tea today? There’s some freshly baked full-grain ciabatta straight from the oven, if I may tempt you with a breakfast sandwich to go with your beverage? I prepared the bread dough yesterday, and it’s been slowly rising in the fridge over night, to be baked in the morning. It’s such an easy way to give weekend mornings a little extra sparkle. How are things in your world? What are you up to this weekend?
I have some wild plans of tinkering around the house, do a little gardening, and read some books this weekend. I’m going to take out all the warm weather crops, and continue building a new hugelkultur bed at the gardening plot.
My squash plant earlier this week. I was given a tiny plant in mid July. I planted it right before an unexpected heat wave, I believe that caused the plant to stress a bit, and that might be the reason why so far it only produced male flowers. I’m hoping there’s still enough hours of sun shine and warmth for some female flowers (= harvest.) I haven’t got a single squash yet, but the plant is healthy, and the soil perfect. Still hoping.
To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.
-Audrey Hepburn
Speaking of farming, I adopted one avocado tree and one mango tree from a crowd farming project this week (this particular project only deliver to European countries, but the concept exists in other places around the world.) It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while. I’m starting out with two trees that I can not grow in my region, and if it works well I’ll adopt other trees as well. I almost adopted a pomegranate tree, but decided to wait and see how this works out first. We would love to adopt olive and fig trees as well. The farmers that grow the trees I adopted this time, two different farmers, have their farms in Spain. They are both connected to this organic farming project. By adopting a tree you support their organic farm, good sustainable farming techniques, and get a part of their harvest (you can see the minimum harvest you get on the site.) There are no middle hands, you get your produce straight from the farmer. They take responsibility for coordinating the delivery in a climate friendly way. There are many farms to choose from when you decide to adopt a tree, and some allows for visits. Spain isn’t that far away and perhaps my daughter and I visit one day, it would be a very interesting vacation. My daughter LOVES mangoes, always have. When she was an infant and first started to eat solids, mango was her number one favourite. She laughed out loud when I told her that I adopted a mango tree in her name. I’ll keep you posted about the progress.
I hope your week is fabulous! Thank you Natalie for hosting the Weekend Coffee Share.
Love and gratitude,
Maria
GreenDreams 
I hope to spend my weekend reading quite a bit too. I have a major head cold brewing and plan to take a real break from everything this weekend and just rest.
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I hope you feel better soon. A good book is the best company when one need to regain strength 🙂
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Beautiful lake photo! Sounds like it is cooling off there… we’ve just had our first night in the upper 40s, so we’re heading that way, too. We are supposed to get light rain in the next 2 days, we SO need it.
Glad the garden is working out for you and I love the idea of crowd-sharing of trees in support of farmers. A box of mangoes arriving would be exciting!
It’s the Labor Day holiday here and there are the usual parties to note the end of summer. Ironically, after a summer of sunny days, it will rain!
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Enjoy the rain!! I know you need it 🙂 I hope your weekend is everything you want it to be ❤
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Thanks, hope we get a decent amount… still waiting for it to start…. soon!
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I hope you got a lot of it!
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Thanks, 2.75″ and still falling… at last!! 🙂
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Wonderful!
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That crowdfarming project sounds very interesting! So the tree is in Spain and they send the fruit to you? I’ve never heard of it before but certainly a nice idea.
Autumn is a wonderful time of the year. After a (many times, at least) busy summer it’s both a time for new fresh starts and to slow down.
We’re finally getting good amounts of rain today after a long period of drought and also a much warmer August than usual. It’s been a very good late summer both weather-wise and otherwise.
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Yes, exactly! There’s a certain amount of fruit included in the adoption fee, but you can choose to add more and pay extra if you want. I am excited! You could adopt a number of different things on the site, a field of crops, or an animal etc. etc. or simply purchase produce as well. I like the idea of the adoption, and the commitment to the farmer, for him/her to make long-term investments in their sustainable farm. You can choose from year to year if you want to continue contributing, or end the adoption. If your tree dies they replace it. I think it’s a brilliant idea.
It sounds like a wonderful time in your corner of the world 🙂 Enjoy!
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The lake is beautiful, you have a wonderful way to go to work, Maria! Sunny and 105F in Vegas today, summer is still cooking!
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Thank you John! 105! Wow! Definitely still summer for you 🙂 Enjoy! When do you think you are going to be able to ride your bike again?
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It’s still hot and you remember what it’s like I’m sure. 108 today. I think the end of this month will see things cool down enough. I see a few people riding their bikes, a very few! Stay cool. ❤️☺️🇸🇪
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It’s easy for me to stay cool. You stay safe John!
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Thanks, good old air conditioning makes it easy!
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Good!
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Thank you for your weekend coffee share and beautiful pictures. I enjoy reading your garden updates. I hope you get a good harvest this year. Have a great week!
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Thank you so much Natalie! Have a fabulous week!
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Hi Maria,
I’d not heard of this Adopt a Tree project. I’d love something like this.
I’ve joked with my wife that I think it would be fun to create a tree museum or collection in a valley large enough to sustain a wide enough variety, Then have walking paths around the collection. The only problem is that any collection a person might start, would only reach maturity for his/her children – so – not the thing for an anxious guy like me.
Hope you’re having a great weekend.
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Right! I think it’s a brilliant idea. I like your idea as well, and you have the worlds coolest seeedbank right there https://www.sonomacounty.com/shopping/seed-bank. You could literally do anything you want with that. And with your climate, there’s a lot you can do 🙂 I do miss those endless possibilities. ❤
Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!
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This week does seem like green dreams. I know you are very into gardening and farming, and it sounds like you had a bit of it this week.
The tree adoption thing reminds me of two things. The first one is the little plot of land my parents own in Scotland – the whole thing is a conservation project. First, all of the money goes to the conservation project. And then, if anyone tried to buy them out, they’d have to buy out tens, maybe hundreds of thousand people – ain’t goign to happen.
The other thing is the CSA – each year people promise the farmers money in return for some produce. The money up front ensures they survive even bad years. It is a great system.
Anyway, I hope your weekend is goign well and that you have a wonderful week ahead.
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Yes! The adopt a tree projects is a lot like the CSA. The same idea, to help the farmer thrive every year. I have been looking into the conservation project in Scotland and almost purchase a land title as a graduation gift to my nephew this spring, (but in the end decided on something else.) I think that is a great idea, like you said, it would be almost impossible for someone to buy everyone out and destroy the area. Every little idea like this, every project does something in the right direction.
I hope your weekend is fabulous!
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I love your adopt a tree project. The forestry commission near us are experimenting with growing new types of tree to combat climate change.
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Thank you! I do too!
That is great news. Do you what types of trees? My country is 70% forest, but climate changes and warmer weather makes the forest very unhappy in some places.
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We are camping and I’m getting ready to mix together bread dough for a traditional jalapeno cheddar bread my sister and I make.. It’s gotten chilly, was hoping it would be warmer to let it rise..
I LOVE the crowd farming and adopt a tree idea!!
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That is awesome! How fun! I’m sure your bread will turn out yummy. Jalapeno cheddar sound delicious!
Yes! It’s a lovely idea!
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I’ve not heard of adopt a tree, that’s so very cool and it’s great they have this to help farms and ranchers. ❤️ I learn something new everyday, awesome!!
Your photos are always so peaceful and BEAUTIFUL!! And I love having coffee with you this weekend. We are in a brutal heatwave. The heat here in Norco is exactly the heat in Peoria, AZ where my son and family live. Ugh, so hard to be outside for lengths of time without overheating. I stay hydrated as I take care of the horses. They have a huge bucket of water each in addition to their automatic waterer which they drink down daily in this heat. I am not riding during this time, just too hot as we are in the 100’s every day. I’m dripping sweat when I get home from the barn. I’m rather thankful I didn’t move to AZ, this is just awful. 😞 But the horses all at the barn are doing well (knock wood) and this won’t last ~ we are looking at one more week.
Your garden sounds wonderful and so happy you are seeing signs of fall with cooler weather! YAY!! Have a wonderful week ahead! ❤️🐴😍🤠❤️
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Thank you for your kind comment Diana. I always enjoy having coffee with you. I’ve been following the news about the heatwave and the fires further north. So many homes destroyed in this years fire.
I now you are taking excellent care of your horses, making sure they are comfortable, but how are you faring in this heat? ❤ Be safe my friend ❤
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I’ve never been to Spain, but I had no idea Spain had the weather for mangos. I understand mangos enjoy hot and humid weather. My grandfather was a farmer when he retired and he had a mango farm in the Phillippines.
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How wonderful! Then perhaps you have a special relationship to mangoes?
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