This year California had a record amount of snow and rain, which was a problem when trees fell and creeks flooded but in general cheered everyone up. Long droughts are wearing like any chronic illness, and the relief is wonderful. The snow collapsed parts of my cat fence, which I haven’t had time or money […]
I didn’t know that fruit grows in cycles until I moved to this house 19 years ago and started a long-term relationship with fruit trees. Some years are stone fruit years (plums, in my case, but elsewhere peaches, nectarines, apricots, cherries) and some are not. Here, it’s an every-other-year pattern, and this year is an […]
It used to be that one would call the phone number or look at Ananda Village‘s website to find out when the gardens were opening to the public every spring. Now we just wait for the Facebook posts to appear, and then we know it’s time. The gardeners at this retreat center/religious community plant 900 […]
Last year, right around this time, county road crews were finishing up some extensive and dramatic widening of the street in front of my house. I’ve written elsewhere about different ways that I made my peace with the project and managed to stay as emotionally steady as possible during the construction. I stopped saying much […]
Spring. I never remember what it’s like until it comes around again, and then I’m bowled over, each year as if it were all new. The scents! The colors! The bravery as daffodils get snowed on again! The first robin! The first quail (today, in the driveway, little chatterbox). Last summer my front yard was […]
I am not a farmer. I’m not even much of a gardener. My skills relate to hiring smart people and then agreeing with their ideas, which is how I come to have any sort of garden at all. But for the last few years, water has been in short supply in California. The combination of […]