Boris’s Plum Tree This time of year plum blossoms of volunteer trees planted by scavenging coyotes, deer, and birds, skip through the forest foliage. They are descendants of those prune orchards of prohibition. Butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds are delighted! Today some trees bear only swollen buds, insuring this bloom will go on for weeks; some… Read more »
Thursday afternoon the air became acrid with wood smoke, and everyone grew nervous: where is the fire? This is a question that we usually do not have to ask in February. When I returned home, we could see a grey cloud hugging the mountain across the valley in the Soda Canyon area, and about it,… Read more »
Mystery squash in the bowl. They are beautiful! The plant looked benign enough; it was supposed to be a cantaloupe. I bought sets after the birds had eaten the melon seedlings that I had sprouted so carefully in the green house, chose this one because I wanted more melons. Early on I knew I had… Read more »
Yes, it is dry and it feels like we have missed out on serious storms, at least so far, but the bluebirds arrived this afternoon and had a bath in our fountain! They think spring is on the way! View Our Lavender Products
Honey bee visiting rosemary blossom. Many people are surprised to learn that in moderate climates, cities are one of the best places for honey bees to forage. They never go hungry! If you live in such a climate, consider planting a variety of blooming bushes and plants so that your garden always has… Read more »
Pruning was finished February 8! Ramon is still tying canes. Nothing is growing much yet. The garden is in a kind of slumber; beets and cabbage rest in the garden to harvest as needed. Today, February 15, is the end of the crystallization period, that time of fallowness and rest. The plum tree prepares to… Read more »
One more week of the crystallization period, this quiet, dormant time when our psyches and the earth open to larger energies. More suggested reading (a little like studying seed catalogues!): C. G. Jung, Memories, Dreams, Reflections. Jung’s “so-called” autobiography, edited. Still, a great read, and a real introduction to his life and work. Gary Lachman, Rudolf Steiner:… Read more »
The moon is full tomorrow, February 7. Do you remember a time we always knew the phase of the moon and could read the passings of the clouds like e-mails from the gods? Being receptive to the cosmos opens our psyches to knowledge that our shared consensual state of consciousness, as it is often called,… Read more »
We are waiting on rain again! Even after last weekend’s six inches, the garden needs watering! But it is great weather for pruning vines. Ramon is almost 2/3 done and we have not had to spray the biodynamic preparation 501, a solar spray, to insure the pruning wounds do not get infected. Meanwhile, the plum… Read more »
Paul Wenger, President January 22, 2012 California Farm Bureau Federation 2300 River Plaza Drive Sacramento Ca. 95833 Dear Mr. Wenger, We have been farmers in California for the past 25 year and have been members of the Farm Bureau most of that time. My wife, Patricia and I are from farm families in the Midwest,… Read more »
© 2026 Patricia Damery.
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