Keats called autumn "The season of mists and mellow fruitfulness". I don't think we're quite there yet but in the past week or two the light has definitely taken on the quality of late summer sunshine.
 The raspberry canes on the allotment are well on the way to being fruitful.

 Tahoe trails part 9. The Desolation Wilderness is the area to the north of the Meiss Meadows on the western flank of Lake Tahoe. On day 9 -the penultimate day- of my hike I was close enough to do an in and out day hike into Desolation having made camp near the Echo trailhead the night before. Here the Pacific Crest Trail enters this stretch of wilderness via the Upper and Lower Echo Lakes.
 The first photo gives a sense of the stark grandeur of the terrain as I headed to the shores of Lake Aloha as seen in the second photo. The landscape is characteristically alpine but the sun was beating down and it was very hot. The waters of Aloha were actually a lovely temperature for paddling and there were a number of people swimming. Nonetheless there was still a lot of snow on the heights- en route I met a couple heading higher still with skis strapped to their backpacks!
  Tahoe is well known as a ski resort in winter but skiing in late July is unusual even by Tahoe standards.

 The history of making dyes and pigments from plants goes hand in hand with using them for food and medicine. I would go so far as to say that the desire to create colour seems to be as strong an instinct in human nature as the need to nourish ourselves.
 When I began working the allotment a couple of years I noticed some very interesting and unusual plants were growing on the neighbouring plot. Subsequently I met Susan and Ashley and learned that most of the plants they grow are dye plants. Indeed they know a great deal about the subject and are highly skilled practitioners.
 So when they mentioned they were inviting a few people to join them at the weekend to do some dyeing I was very happy to join in.

 We utilised a number of plants including the flowers of Dahlias and Rudbeckia and in particular the leaves of Woad. Isatis tinctoria is the traditional Dyer's Woad of this country being a biennial of eastern origins that reached our shores in ancient times.
 The first step was to gather up bucketfuls of leaves then steep them in hot water. Susan says they smell of the colour blue to her but I must admit I was only getting a slightly cabbagey whiff as they are of the Brassicaceae family of plants!

 Ashley and Susan are expert in the art and science of using mordants, alklisers, reducers and all the tools of the trade to produce colourfast dyes in conjunction with various natural fibers. They have a very informative (and very lovely) website/blog which is well worth checking out: www.naturesrainbow.co.uk

 It's said that the Ancient Britons dyed their bodies with Woad before going into battle (the original Blue Meanies?). Susan noted that Woad is associated with antiseptic properties and speculated this may have been part of the reason they did so.
 She also mentioned that the traditional blue of French window shutters is Woad which has wood preserving qualities!

 For textiles the reason for processing Woad is to produce the beautiful hues of Indigo. And sure enough we dyed various samples and fabrics in the characteristic blue/violet tones that made Indigo a mainstay of the dyer's palette.
 So thanks Susan and Ashley for a great day and sharing your knowledge.

 Tahoe trails part 8. Big Meadow is about 4 miles to the north of Dardenelles Lake and this was my final stretch on the Tahoe Rim Trail on day 8 of the hike. Beyond Big Meadow I cut west on some back roads to a very steep trail known as the Hawley Grade which took me up to the Echo Summit area thereby completing a looping route round the Meiss Meadows.
 Big Meadow is exactly that- a big meadow surrounded by pine forest. The Washo people lived round and about Lake Tahoe for thousands of years but were decimated by the colonisation of America. They migrated with the seasons around their territory- Big Meadow for example was known to be rich in plants for food and medicine.

 Tahoe trails part 7. I camped at Dardenelles Lake for three nights [see part 5] which gave me the opportunity to do a couple of day hikes without lugging all my gear. On day 6 of my expedition I walked down the steep and rocky Lake Valley Trail (and back up again). This was a shady, forested trail for the most part which opened up to some very scenic vistas looking towards Lake Tahoe itself (and the first time I had a glimmer of a phone signal since setting off!).
 On day 7 I hiked out to Scott's Lake and back. As I have mentioned previously the Meiss Meadows are known for their waist-high wildflowers in summer but due to the severe winter and heavy snowfall their peak flowering was still a week or two away when I saw them. The trail to Scott's Lake is the best part of a thousand feet lower (approx. 7000 feet above sea level) and here the wildflowers were in full bloom and they were indeed waist high. 

 Here is a pretty (though unintended) flower bed on the allotment. The mauve/purple spikes in the middle are Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum). The sea of white flowers are Radishes (Raphinus sativus) that have bolted. I seeded them a couple of months ago then didn't get round to picking them because I was away.

Spot the white butterfly on the white flower!

 Tahoe trails part 6. Water is life. Streams and creeks were plentiful on the trail thanks to all the melting snow. The surrounding mountains drain into the Meiss Meadows and thence into Lake Tahoe itself. It became second nature to refill my water bottle every time I came to a crossing.
 Water was scarcer when I hiked to Mount Eddy last year (and it was considerably hotter) so I was glad to keep hydrated on this trip.