From When There Was Sun

Well, the Pacific Northwest is now experiencing typical spring weather. That is to say, it is overcast, raining heavily, and no end in sight. I'll admit, I actually kind of like the rain. I grew up here in Oregon, so the rain kind of just feels like home. Plus, we really need the rainfall. Oregon is world famous for being green (we are technically a rain forest, after all), but to be that green, we need a lot of rain.

In any case, my point is, rain doesn't make for good picture taking weather. And I would have to clean the house to take pictures inside.

So, here are some pictures from the garden expo I went to a few weeks ago. It was unseasonably sunny and warm for a few weeks, and it just happened to coincide with a lot of fun events, this garden and plant expo being one of them. It was hot and sunny enough that I actually got a bit of a sunburn.

So while it was technically a plant and garden sale, and there were a ton of plants for sale, I ended up taking more pictures of the other types of booths. Hand-thrown pottery and custom bird houses were among my favorite photos once I got home and looked at them all.

But my real favorite was the oca. Oca is a small tuber grown in South America. It is sometimes referred to as a sweet potato or yam, even though it really isn't one. It can be eaten raw or cooked and comes in a ton of different varieties. The different colors taste slightly different, and some are better prepared certain ways. I've only really tried these once, but it was enough to motivate me to buy a bag of the tubers to plant in my garden. So far, I have a few of them planted with my current tomato in a pot, a few in my raised garden bed with the rest of the vegetables, and some in my straw potato tower. I might have put some in the pots with the herbs too, but I actually don't remember. I guess I'll find out if they start sprouting up...

Just look at the amazingly rich colors! Man, I really super love the oca. I really hope mine all grows well so I have plenty to eat and plenty for planting next year. The tubers are supposed to be even more brilliant than these when you harvest them. But, the tubers are all these great colors, the leaves are just amazingly fun to look at, and they taste awesome. What more could you want in a plant?

And so ends my post about pots and plants.