Showing posts with label Wildlife. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wildlife. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Build Your Own Salad & Greeting Geese During a Walk

A while back hubby and I went to a restaurant and they had a new build-your-own salad option and it was pretty impressive for our area I have to say!  I took a picture of the salad but had yet to post it here until now.  Check it out...it has multiple types of greens in it including spring mix and iceberg, fresh raw mushrooms, dried cranberries, steamed and chilled broccoli, roasted red peppers, cherry tomatoes, raisins, pecans, and a balsamic dressing!  YUMMO!

The following video was taken and apparently was stuck sideways -  sorry about that but you will get the idea!  It's just a quick one showing you the Geese and River and such...


Monday, May 11, 2015

Around The Grounds...

I still have a few more posts to blog about with more pictures to show off from our trip to West Palm Beach Florida last month and our stay at The Breakers!

Today I thought I would share with you some of the random photos I took from around the grounds of The Breakers.  I still have pics coming soon from our trip to the Garden of Life Headquarters as well as our downtown West Palm Beach Walk.

First up...I'm pretty sure that this is an old Fiat.  I could be wrong I couldn't get much closer to it that day but I thought it wasn't something we saw every day and thought I would take a pic of it.


In addition to all of the photos I've already posted having to do with the Organic Herb and Vegetable Gardens they have at The Breakers I thought I would post this, too!  It's a photo of a sign that I saw more than once on their grounds.

The Breakers utilizes reverse osmosis, an environmentally friendly alternative water source, to irrigate our golf course and landscaping.

I thought this was so cool!  The Breakers is a very old and historic place and even they are able to take steps to help the environment so why can't everyone else?  Every little bit or large step helps!
Here's a photograph of one of the ducks we saw on a walk one day.  It was on the one golf course.  He wasn't afraid of us in the slightest!

This duck is a Muscovy Duck.

He was pretty cool!

I wish I was able to see more wildlife while we were there - we did see more birds in the middle of flight - but we didn't see very many on the ground while we were there.

For those of you who are from or have visited Florida - what's your favorite bird of the region?

And finally - this is one of the many hallways in The Breakers.  I just LOVED all the lamps, tapestries, chandeliers, ceilings, rugs, comfy chairs - you name it!  They really have mixed past and present with the decor at just about every turn!

To the left of this hallway was one of the bars and restaurants called HMF. The name of the restaurant stood for Henry Morrison Flagler the owner of the original Breakers. Did you know that The Breakers Hotel Complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973? In 1973, the 105-acre listed area included 15 contributing buildings and one other contributing object.

Monday, May 4, 2015

Organic Herb & Vegetable Garden at The Breakers

One of my FAVORITE parts of The Breakers was that they had an Organic Herb and Vegetable Garden on the grounds that they grew and maintained themselves.  They also used what they grew in their restaurants.

I had heard about their organic garden prior to our visit and I was super excited to check it out.

Dale and I took a stroll thru the gardens one morning and I took another walk thru them at least once.  I absolutely LOVED them. 

In this first photo you can see a huge cactus/aloe-type plant they potted.  It was mammothly large!  They had a lot of potted plants and numerous raised beds.


Here's a look at some of the raised beds.  We were free to walk in and take a look at any time, stop by touch/feel/smell the herbs - it was so neat!

They offered a weekly garden tour, too, but we weren't around while that was going on...I think we missed it by a day! 

Some of the chef's would come out in the mornings to pick what they wanted to use for the day!  Talk about 'from garden to plate', eh?

The decorative bricks that surrounded the raised beds were delightful, too!

But it wasn't just this area that featured what they grew...many of the fruits were along side the one golf course walkway!
But before I get to those photos I thought I would post another shot of the herb gardens.

I counted at least 5 different kinds of basil!  Now that is impressive!

There were a few other raised beds that they were prepping for the next item to plant/grow but almost everything was well into the growing stages!

Nearly everything was clearly marked, too!  Which was super helpful for someone like me who was interested in what they were growing!

I probably nerded-out a little bit but it was so fun!



Just past the herb section of their garden was a walkway that ran along side the one golf course.  Again you could see the decorative brick under  your feet and green at every glance!

I mentioned in an earlier post that the salamanders and lizards were NOT afraid of humans and popped out to surprise passer-byes often.

The same went for the local squirrels.  As you can see this one didn't take his eyes off of me as he was ready to climb this tree.

I wish I had been able to more of the local birds - we did see some in the sky - flying by - but not as many on land as I had hoped but then again we didn't got outside of The Breakers all that much in the few days we were there either.

While walking by several different varieties of fruit plants, trees, etc...we saw these CUTE pineapples! 

They also had an Avocado tree that was doing well and a Lychee that already had a permanent sign...among others!

There was one tree on the opposite golf course that I was unfamiliar with and am still wondering what it was.  I'm tempted to call The Breakers and ask them.  I don't think it was a Sugar Apple but then again I haven't seen a Sugar Apple up close and personal before.  I will try and post it here down the road in case anyone has any ideas on what it COULD be.  I was so excited I was able to see The Breakers Organic Gardens while we were there!

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Vegan MoFo ~ Moldovan Fasole făcăluită & A New Friend

Yesterday I was scrolling thru my Website Stats for 'who comes from where by country' and noticed I had a visitor from Moldova.  To my knowledge this is my first visitor from that country!  I was THRILLED!  Welcome!  It tempted me to learn more about the country and foods they call 'theirs'.

If you have been here before you know I LOVE learning about world foods and how to veganize them.  Here is a soup I made - inspired by Moldovan Fasole făcăluită...which...from what I understand can be both a dip and/or a spread.  Moldova is near Romania and they share many traditional flavors and foods between the two countries!
Here's what I put in this dish!

1 C White Beans (I actually used Lima Beans, here)
2 Carrots
1 VERY Large Onion (or you could use 2 to 3 small onions)
3 Cloves Garlic
2 Tomatoes
1 T Tomato Paste
Splash of Grapeseed Oil (I used Wildtree Roasted Garlic)
1/4 to 1/2 C Water (depending on the consistency you desire)

I've VERY VERY VERY pleased with this dish!  It tastes delicious and it's something I did in my Ninja so it's incredibly easy and awesome!  I will certainly do this again!  YUMMY!  Totally worth the attempt!

Yesterday at the office we found this Youth Pigeon on the 'middle' roof of our building.  He hung around all day and we were fairly concerned about him since it was so hot and muggy and it didn't appear to be any food or water anywhere in sight.  Near the end of the day I found an old Ice Cube Tray stashed away in a closet and decided to fill it up and take it out to him.  He acknowledged that it was there so that's a start.  I didn't want to get too close.  I didn't want to scare him.  But by the end of the day 3 of us were able to get really close to him so he might be starting to trust us.  He's still out there and looks to be ok and roaming around and trying to fly a bit more.  I hope it's just in the middle of his learning process and that there isn't anything wrong with him.  We'll keep an eye on him in the meantime.  I know exactly were a bunch of the Pigeons live back there but it's almost like they are ignoring him.  We've named him Bubba.  A few years ago there was a Red Tail Hawk back there that stood about 2 and a half feet to 3 feet tall and we named him Rudy.  But we haven't seen him in YEARS.

Participating Post: Vegan MoFo, What I Ate Wednesday

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

It's a Duck? It's a Goose? It's A...

 Perhaps my blogging buddies and readers can help me with this one!
A few months ago - My Mom, Sister, and I were vendors (with our Wildtree Products) at a show in Erie, PA.  Behind the facility there was a small pond and I saw this beauty!  I hadn't seen one of these in our region until then.  I researched a bit and the closest I could find online was a Mascovy
This gorgeous creature was quite large.  It looked like a duck but then again it looked like a goose!

Regardless it was full of character and VERY memorable!

Fast Forward to a few weeks ago...

We saw another one even closer to our house.  It appears they are 'moving in' to the area.  I'm ok with that!  The more the merrier!  Many of you know I LOVE animals and nature!

Any ideas?  Am I right?  Am I close?  Am I way off?  Let me know if you know for sure what kind this gorgeous bird is!

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