I'm Mariana and welcome to my muddy puddle. Follow me on my adventures exploring the outdoors, getting connected with my local food system, embracing minimalism, and whatever else tickles my fancy. I'm also on "The Instagram" @fromthemuddypuddle
After moving to Utah, I put my organic farming career on hold. From what I could tell, opportunities here seemed few and far between (at least compared to coming from the Northwest). I was bummed to leave farming, but I ended up landing a sweet job managing part of a wholesale nursery in the Salt Lake Valley. I love that I still get to work with plants and that I get to be outside all day.
Even though I've put my farming career on hold, its still really important for me to be involved with the local food system. It makes me happy and I can only choke down that so called "organic" produce at the supermarket for short spurts. Having been deeply indoctrinated by Motown, I know that "there ain't nothing like the real thing baby" so I set out to get my hands on some fresh local veggies.
I had played with the idea of starting my own little backyard garden but it was a bit late in the season for getting started, I didn't have a space, and my summer work hours were long. For me, the best option was to find a small farm in the area and volunteer for a work share. I contacted a local farm and have been doing a few hours of weeding in exchange for fresh summer veg.
Peppers from the Farm
"So glad we got the real thing baby"
I've been trying to piece together just what exactly is going on with the local food moment here in Utah. It exists, but seems to be a bit small and disjointed. I plan on making more contacts within the local food movement and farming community here so that I can get a better idea of what's going on and how I can help support it. I'll talk more about what I find in post to come.
I spent the evening on a hunt for the rare Utah fireflies. It was magical and worth putting up with all the mosquitoe drama. Fireflies were unheard of west of the Rocky Mountains until a few years ago when a few populations were discovered in Utah. From what I've read online, researchers are perplexed and excited as they are trying to learn more about these populations.
I live for perfect summer evenings. To me a perfect summer evening is a simple thing. There are many things that help create the perfect summer evening, but for me it usually includes: a pleasant group people, a stunning sunset, warm air that is just starting to turn cool, and being in the middle of nowhere. Here is the last post I made about perfect summer evenings. It's been busy year and I didn't post much of them, but I'm happy to report I've had plenty, just no time to post about them. They are good for the soul.
The photo below has a multiple choice caption:
A) Raise your hands if you saw the fireflies tonight!
B) #SaguaroCactusImpressions
C) We trust our deodorant
D) We don't flipp'n care if our deodorant is working... Die mosquitoes!
Memorial Day weekend I went on a 4 day backpacking trip in the Needles district of Canyonlands (Moab). I went with some family and friends. The hike covered nearly 40 miles and took you though a lot of the ruins left behind by the by Fremont Indians. We got rained on everyday, which is pretty unusual for a May in Utah but the water was much needed and we made the best of it.
This is a video my sister and brother-in-law made for this trip
Day 1
Setting up the shuttle and getting ready to hit the trail.
We had sunny skies for the first part of our hike right as we got to camp a thunderstorm started up. We ate dinner under a rock shelter down the trail from our camp and by the time we were done the worst of the storm had passed.
With the worst of the storm gone, we wandered around camp a bit and took in the sunset
Then we quickly scrambled down the rocks once we heard, saw and felt thunder and lightning strike down the canyon a bit. You could hear and feel it echo around the canyon. It was a couple miles a way but you don't just stick around on a high exposed slab of rock with that in proximity.
Day 2
This was our lunch spot on day 2. My sister brought a cucumber to split and it was a nice treat. Funny how a small thing like a cucumber become so much more desirable when backpacking.
I saw this plant only once on our hike. I didn't know what it was, so I shaped a photo and looked it up at home. It's called a Monument Plant (Frasera speciosa). According to the plant info it usually blooms in July-August so seems this plant is about a month or two early.
We found this really cool cave/crack in the rock. It was in the shape of a cross.
We got rained on four a good amount of time during the afternoon. We had a nice little flash flood right as we got to the "all american man" rock art. Turned out to be a nice hideout though.
After setting up camp, the sun broke (mostly) and we went off to find a water hole to purify some liquid refreshment. Every now and then a sun spot would come out and we would quickly lay out and warm up.
There were a lot of salamanders in the water hole too. We counted at least a dozen.
Attempts to get Some sunset photos. Not a spectacular colorful sunset but the views of the canyons were great
Day 3
Our trail followed Salt Creek Canyon for most of the time. This was one of my favorite days. The sun was out for most of the day. We still got rained on pretty good but the sun was out a lot more and dried us all out and that was nice for a change.
Angle Arch was a side hike we took after setting up camp.
We found this really fun hole in the rock that we let our imaginations run with. This is my to-to rock.
Cody's potty rock.
Golden hour back at camp
Day 4
We got up the next morning and started our hike our to the cars. We stopped at what we called the the "Teva panel"
Approach to peekaboo rock. In case your were wondering what filter I used on the above photo let me share a quick trade secret. Just stick your phone down your shirt, making sure to put the lens toward your body. The sweet will quickly give that 70's soft filtered look that Instagram onlywishes it could replicate.
The trail goes through this little arch in the rock. So cool.
One of the lasts views on our way out. The trail keeps you up on the rim there for a while. About an hour later as we were about 2 miles from the car, the rain made it final appearance and it was a dumper. We contemplated finding shelter and waiting it out but decided to just bull through it. Flash floods in the desert are really cool I learned.
"Fall in Washington means you treat every sunny day like it's the last".
This has become a motto of mine since moving here. I don't mind the weather here, but for me getting Sun keeps me happy and synthesizing vitamin D. So when the Sun is out, I try to be too. When the sun is not out, I still try and get out and be active. It's the best way to beat the winter blues.
On a Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago my brothers and I went on a walk to the park with my nieces and nephew. My nephew wanted to bring a skateboard and one of my nieces insisted on bring a bag of tongue depressors (we didn't have to use them but I was glad we had them all the same). The kids look most of the photos. I think they turned out pretty good.
I found some forgotten photos from this past spring. I meant to post them a while back but it never happened. I decided to break my normal protocol which is to say "oh well" and move on and I am posting these. So here is a quick look back at some spring events.
The Sow-Dow at Oxbow Farm
Kids preparing for the Maypole
Farmers gearing down for a post-Sowdown swim in the Snoqualmie River. This was in early May and although we were having an unusually sunny and warm spring, this river water is never really warm so it was a very quick and brisk swim. It felt great though and now that it is summer there have been many lunch brake and post work swims.
In preperation for the Sowdown, I was on mowing duty and by the end of the day it was pretty obvious.
The OxBox!
This spring on the farm we got new boxes. It was and still is kind of a big deal for us since these boxes have our Logo on them. It was something that has been in the works before I even started working here but I count myself to be luck to have been there for this milestone in Oxbow history
Pigeon Friend!!!
In May we had an injured pigeon show up at our place for a few days. He had a band on his leg and we figured that he must be a pet. We gave him water and some food and after a few days he started taking flights father away until one day he didn't come back.
Jaccomo was not sure about piegon friend.
Fun with Friends
Eating Greek food down at the Lake
One last night out on the town with a good friend before she moved
