Weekly Walkthrough: Hot Harvest

Phew. It's bloody hot. This video reflects that; I'm only out in the sun for short bursts. Our plan for Father's Day is to go boating at a nearby reservoir - yeah, we're re-thinking that.

Enjoy!

Stupid Latin Names

How would you pronounce the above Latin name?

Many years ago, I went into Annie's Annuals looking for this plant. I had trouble finding it, so I went to one of the workers there and asked her to show me to the a-gah-STASH. The worker stood there looking at me, clueless. Finally a lightbulb went off and she said 'Ah!' and took me to the appropriate section. I wondered about that for days. What had I said wrong?

Fast forward to this past spring, sitting in class at Merritt College. One of my teachers explains that Latin botanical names are usually (though not always, wouldn't you know it) pronounced with the stressor on the antepenultimate syllable.  Hence the plant Pittosporum is pronounced pit-AH-spore-oom. I immediately flashed back to a-gah-STASH, and realized what I had said wrong all those years ago. I felt smug, and learn-ED.

Not long after, another professor bought the Agastache for the section of the garden I and my team were working on. "Oh!" I said to him, "I love a-GAH-stash-ay." That professor stood there looking at me like I was nuts. Finally he said, apologetically, "I say a-gah-STASH-ee." Well geez. So much for smug and learn-ED. I changed back to my original pronunciation and added his 'ee.'  "NOW I've got it right!" I thought.

Flash-forward to this morning, as I was buying two of this very same plant for my yard in a reputable nursery near here. On the descriptive sign below there was a helpful pronunciation guide. Neatly typed, it cheerfully read, "Say: a-GAH-stah-kee!" For heaven's sake, I thought. Just how many pronunciations are there???

So I came home and looked it up on Fine Gardening's Pronunciation Guide.  Wouldn't you know it? a-gah-STACK-ee. 

I mean. Come ON.

So screw it. There is no right way to say these things. I'm sticking with whatever comes out of my mouth in the moment. I suggest you do the same. 

On the Trail

Years ago, we used to watch a show on TV called "Sunrise Earth." We'd put it on while we were sleepily moving about our morning routine, getting dressed and eating breakfast. It never failed to help us get centered and grounded and focused on the day ahead.

Well, it wasn't long until Dora the Explorer replaced Sunrise Earth in our household, and now of course our teenagers either sleep right up until they simply MUST get out of bed, or just look at something on their computers until it's time to go. So much for centered and grounded.

However now that I'm out of school, I have been trying to implement a new routine, which is to get dressed and out of the house early (early is never a problem; the hens wake us up at 5:45. Who needs a rooster?) and out into the hills before it gets hot. This definitely helps me all through the day, in so many ways. 

This video is my attempt at a homemade Sunrise Earth. It's nowhere near, of course: I use my iPhone and the sounds are so overwhelming - the wind (the first minute of the video is very windy!), an airplane above, the whine of traffic on the 680 freeway which is never far from our ears, even if we're miles from it. But maybe you're sitting in your office having a sad desk lunch and you need a little nature to make the afternoon bearable. My humble hope is that this video will take you away from work stress, and into the hills with me, for four minutes.

Weekly Walkthrough: A Stroll Through the Garden

We open the hive, take a look at what's growing, and watch a bee in the artichokes.

Thanks for watching!

Happy Cows?

Glorious weather today, so perfect that I knew I needed to get and take a walk. I decided to hike in the Diablo foothills, starting at the Macedo Ranch trailhead. It was a nice 2.5-miler up to the China Wall and back, and only a couple hundred feet of elevation change.

I was surprised to find cattle on the trail. Around here there are vehement arguments about whether to let the local ranches graze cattle in open space. The hikers and bikers don't like it much, because the cattle rip up the trails. There are also more flies when cattle are near, and dogs often need to be on leash when cattle are around. And most open space trails around here are set up so that dogs can be off-leash. Mt. Diablo (and the foothills) are different - they don't allow dogs at all - so that wasn't an issue up on this particular trail. But I will say that the trail was in bad shape, though that could be due to our recent winter rains. 

Also, many people think that cattle grazing makes it difficult for wildflowers to survive in the hills. One of my horticulture teachers, also an avid hiker, would strongly disagree. He said cattle have been here for centuries now, the ecosystem is used to having them graze, and the only thing that grows more when the cattle don't graze are weeds.

A sign at the trailhead

That's a discussion for another time. Mostly, I just wanted to talk about those ads we used to see. Do they still run them? The "Happy Cows" ads?

Ok, that one's pretty good, and they even show the grass the right color. Because, unless it's winter, around here it's dry. That's one of the reasons it's called "The Golden State." The cows aren't eating green pastures; they're basically eating hay.

That is, dry grass. Not the mustard, not the thistles, just the dead grass.

I wonder how happy that makes them? I guess they don't know any better. There are no dreams of luscious pasture for a cow, I would imagine. Think of how much milk and meat comes from California. Nine months of the year, those cattle are eating brown stuff. It just makes me kind of sad.

But, I suppose that's what cattle eat in the winter in other parts of the country.

It was a great hike, by the way. China Wall is one of my favorite places to walk - so impressive. I could see Castle Rock in the distance, which is closed this time of year due to nesting Peregrine Falcons. I swear I could see them flying around the rocks. Woulda been good if I had remembered the binoculars...

A dead branch with thistles

Nothing's so attractive to wildlife like a dead tree (or dead parts of a tree). This one was covered with Acorn Woodpeckers.

Part of China Wall; it spans a whole valley

These mamas and babies found a 'seep' - mud to squish in

Amazing pineapple weed, surviving beautifully in dry, cracked clay

That sky, oh my heart! There are some benefits to living here.

I forgot to mention that last Friday when Tom and I took our sunset hike in Shell Ridge near here, the rangers had completely fenced off an area for cattle using electric fence. We didn't realize this, and headed up a familiar trail, only to find a bunch of barbed wire. We managed to crawl underneath and then realized our folly; we weren't sure we were going to be able to find a way out. We ended up hiking through a lot of cow muck but managed to exit ok. It was quite an adventure. I guess that is one way to control where the cows graze; just would have been nice to have a sign at the trailhead informing us of certain closed sections.

Anyway! Here's your yearly reminder to get out and see the world a little, if you can. It's always interesting to see what you'll find in the hills. (No rattlesnakes today, though I was expecting them.)

A majestic Valley Oak