Let There Be Lupines

Maddie Jo Laughing in the Lupines

In early June, Mercer has a Lupine Festival which celebrates the native Lupine wildflowers and the beginning of the summer tourist season.  We missed it this year, but next year I will be prepared (just as I will be prepared for Midsummer's Eve).

I wanted to plant some Lupines, but I wasn't sure how, when, or what variety.  Here is what I have found out through my Internet research:

Ten Things About Lupines

1. There are over 300 species in the genus Lupinus (L.). They are a member of the Fabaceae family, which is the same family as the pea and bean - more on that later.
2. They are easy to grow from seed and reseed themselves.
3. They will not flower the first summer, but will return each spring from the same roots, forming expanding clumps.
4. Lupines need full sun. They like loose, sandy soil and don't need a lot of water.  They can grow up to four feet tall and attract hummingbirds.
5. To start from seed scarify them and soak overnight.  Pick seed pods when they are dry, but not split.  Put them on a paper plate and dry in a warm place for 2 weeks. Slice the pod open on the seam. Each pod will have 3-4 seeds.
6. The seed and the plant of most varieties are poisonous.
7. Lupines are deer-resistant.  The high alkaloid level results in a bitter taste.
8. Lupines aid soil fertility as they fix nitrogen from the air.
9. Certain varieties are grown as grain legumes.  They are fed to livestock, used in pet food and milled into flour for baking.  This varieties are  white lupine or sweet while lupine (L. albus) and yellow lupine (L. luterus).
10.  Non-edible common varieties include:

      Lupinus perennis - Sundial Wild Lupine

       Lupinus villosus - Lady or Hairy Lupine

       Lupinus plattensis - Blue Bonnet or Nebraska Lupine

       Lupinus polyphyllus - Big Leaf Lupine  

       Russell Hybrids - come in all different colors

The most interesting thing was the lupine flour information.  Evidently there have been experimental crops in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but I couldn't find any sources to buy flour in the United States.  You can buy pasta, supplements, and dog food. There is an Australian company that will ship the flour and seeds to sprout - Irwin Valley. http://www.irwinvalley.com.au/ An informational resource is http://goodgrains.com/lupin_products.htm.

Asher Looking Forward to a Lupine Dog Biscuit

Longest Day of the Year - Midsummer in Mercer

Payment Lake at 9:00 this evening

I intended to have a Scandinavian-style Midsummer Night's Eve picnic supper, but the longest day of the year snuck up on me, and I didn't realize it was the 21st until I thought, "Wow, I can't believe it is still light out".

Frenchman in the Forest

In the mid-1600s Jean Nicollet, French explorer, translator and negotiator, traveled through Wisconsin. Today, a feline ancestor, Mr. French, explored the forest along Ashe Road.  Nicollet planned to live in the forest with the Native Americans to learn their language and trade fur.  Mr. French also has lofty goals; he seems determined to stealthy walk through the woods unnoticed over fallen logs, through high grasses among the birds, squirrels and spiders.  He has no interest in learning the language and habits of the domesticated Weimaraners, but seems very curious to find something exotic in the wild.

Jean Nicollet

Mr. French walks the log

Mr. French in high grass

A Frenchman in the Forest

A Paris cousin

Mr. French is a great walking companion.  He allows me to walk just to the side of him or a bit behind him.  Being a cat, he decides upon the route and rarely allows he to lead.  He doesn't startle easily and doesn't run very fast if he sees something of interest.  Maybe it's because he is a mature (11 years old) cat or maybe he is just very nonplussed in a very French fashion, but he seems to take the new surroundings in stride.  I am amazed that he has gone from a downtown Long Beach cat, to a gated community Las Vegas cat, to a Northwoods cat - all outdoors, for the most part.

Now that he is a bit older and the property is a bit bigger and badder than anything he has been in before I am considering an outdoor cat enclosure.  I think it would be safer for him and it would certainly ease my mind.  Best Friends, in Utah, had wonderful cat houses. It looks like there are several places on the Internet that offer them including Sun Catcher Enclosures and Habitat Haven.

First Day Photos

First Day in Mercer

We're finally here! We're in Mercer, Wisconsin ready to begin a new life.  Pete and I unpacked the U-Haul today with some help from Rick.  Wow, we have a lot of stuff and not a lot of room to put it all. I see another possession purge coming up.  Luckily, Mercer is holding a Townwide Rummage Sale on June 26. This may be an opportunity to get rid of a few things.

The dogs love it here.  Asher swam after his first loon of the summer on Net Lake.  We didn't need to pull out the coast guard kayak, but it was loaded up and ready to go.  The girls are sticking close to the car.  I shuttled them back and forth from the U-Haul to the garage with loads of tools and gardening stuff.  They sat in the back seat, Asher was in the front seat (a lake break) and the stuff was in the rear.  Back and forth from one end of the parking area to the other - to them it was just like a ride at Disney World.

The water heater went down today and Pete's afternoon shower was nippy.  This morning we discovered one of the washing machine pipe filters was so clogged with glob that it couldn't be cleaned; threw it out and need to replace it.

Pete discovered several toadstools around the house and is now researching them. I assume they are poisonous.

Mr. French seems comfortable in the basement away from the dogs.  I took him for a jaunt outside and he was very curious, but Maddie Jo started barking and scared him back into the garage.