The (Not-So) Creepies and Crawlies of Summer Summer is here! The hills are turning golden and our little creek has trickled to a dry canyon. We have a small seasonal creek on our property that we named Umbra Creek (umbra means shade
in Latin, and the creek runs through a small canyon heavily shaded by oak trees). The creek feeds a small pond at the bottom of the pasture, which hosts many tadpoles, newts, and damsel flies. Though the pond starts to shrink this time of year, the tadpoles have already hatched and the
chorus of frog croaks sounds in harmony with crickets chirps to make the nights sound like summer! Pictured above is a damsel fly perched on a long stem at the brink of the pond. |
We have finished harvesting our early varieties of avocados and are onto the summer varieties, primarily Organic Hass avocados. We will not be at the market on June 22nd, but look forward to seeing you there
the other Saturdays in June. Have you tried the Calamansi we have been bringing to the market? It is absolutely delicious! So tart, but so fruity. Calamansi makes for tasty cocktails and desserts. Later on in the season, the Kumquats will start to ripen. This is another citrus we love, and it makes the most delicious
marmalade. The asparagus is still coming up. Dave put down a layer of compost on both beds and that makes for some happy plants. I don't think the asparagus will continue to mature very far into July, but the fact that we can harvest asparagus from April through July is incredible and unusual in other climates. |
Our own native ecosystem-- One of the joys of being an organic farm comes with seeing all of the different native plants and insects thriving around the property. During the bloom season, native wasps and a variety of other insects zip from one flower to the next. To encourage more of these beneficial insects, we have planted a 700 foot-long native plant hedgerow along the top of the grove. We put some hedge rows in a
year ago, and this past December, we added a few hundred more plants. It was such a rewarding experience to now see all of those plants growing and flowering. We want to put in a few more hundred feet of hedgerow in the future, and are currently planting lavender in the grove to welcome more of these insects that help us with pest management. |
Scaly friends-- In addition to insects, reptiles are welcome as well. We love to see the lizards, skinks, and different snakes around the farm. We have seen Gopher snakes, King snakes, Garter snakes and sharp-tailed snakes, just to name a few. The other day when I was weeding the native plants I came across a huge gopher snake and the next day he was in the grove. Benny, our dog, started to
bark at him, but then decided instead to go sit in the truck until we were done. The snake had hissed and that was enough for Benny. He went right for the truck, jumped in and didn’t come out again until we were back at the house. |
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