Pictures from some of our trips to the farm in July... beautiful, hot, dry. (the mist behind Molly's Oak, they say, is from the irrigation used in the valley)  

In July, one of the projects that we got started on was removing (and repairing) fencing. After lots of discussion, we decided to take down most of the interior (cross) fencing, and separately Mary and Francisco are checking and reinforcing all of the perimeter fencing. Here's some pictures of Zach and Bruce wrangling some of … Continue Reading ››

And, elsewhere, the almonds are dropping to the ground, ready to be enjoyed. We've found these much easier to crack - one tree we harvested from was easy enough to open with just our bare hands. Molly enjoyed a good long car ride with a bag of un-shelled almonds by her side.

I had read that Gray Pines, which grow on our property, produce a delicious (if difficult to harvest) nut, rivaling even the Pinon Pine Nut. Most of the cones that we've found so far have already been scavenged by the (wild) locals, but last weekend Molly found a few pine cones with nuts still in … Continue Reading ››

No doubt, it's been a very dry year. We've been curious to see how long the ponds hold water, and we have that answer: they are empty by August (more or less). The southern pond is totally dry, and the northern pond has just a thin layer of mud left. Just enough to host a … Continue Reading ››

Sometimes you just need to stop and make sure we're all having fun. It's been a long, hot summer, and we're all anxious to get going, but things don't happen all at once. So this weekend we took the time to hang our swing and hammock and give them a try. I might switch to eye-bolts … Continue Reading ››

Today I had the great fortune to be shown some adjacent properties by our neighbor, Jim.  The views were magnificent and a bit of haze in the valley today emphasized the reason why the ridge to the west of the Capay Valley is called the Blue Ridge. Continue Reading ››

I have been having loads of fun remembering my topographic survey skills from way back when. Zach bought me an early birthday present (a transit level! yay!) and I've been making Mary stand with the survey rod for ages and ages while I record distances, height … Continue Reading ››

So, there's a spot on the farm that I like to call the Filaree Field. It's about in the geographic center of the land, has trees around it, and beautiful open fields. It feels both open and isolated at the same time. And it's where we camped the first few times we camped out on … Continue Reading ››

One major accomplishment from our week on the farm in June was that we got water. Sort of. We're still working on getting a well, but we did have a tank of non-potable water delivered for various uses on the farm. Plus, we were able to get a large part of the scraped area … Continue Reading ››