Weeding at Sunset is like a Prayer

Goodnight Mindego Hill. Goodnight land of San Francisco gartersnakes.
Goodnight slowly diminishing hillsides of purple starthistle.  

The weeds have raised their ugly heads. Italian thistle is starting to blow seeds, milk thistle is fat and purple, and yellow starthistle is bolting. I hope you got many weeds at their seedling and rosette stages (see Thistle Logic for these early strategies). There is still time to capture more weed seed before it ripens and escapes.

Weeding can be hard and weeds can be depressing. We need a coping mechanism. Every few days, I make sure to weed where I can watch the sun set. Recently while admiring a tangerine-blasted horizon, I found myself singing while tossing thistles into an overflowing wheelbarrow. From whence comes such joy? Weeding at sunset is like a prayer.

Busy, Busy

Grazed hillsides in late spring on the Dipper Ranch.
Soon the cattle will be leaving at the end of their grazing season. Things will get quieter.

How's your late spring going? Busy, busy? Lots of interesting things happening at the Dipper Ranch and in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Seems like the only time I have to write is on sticky notes while washing the dishes.

Here's what I am working on:

Stay Calm and Mow

A clear day in April on hills that often burn. View to the west from Walker Ridge, Lake County, California.

It's smokey in the San Francisco Bay area this morning. Smoke is blowing in from wildfires in Napa and Solano Counties.  The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) now has these local wildfires 100% contained but wildfires are also moving in southern California.  With a nearly dry spring and an early increase in fire activity, the state is preparing for increased fire risk for the summer.

A Pile of Sawdust

Fresh sawdust chips on a trunk.

I noticed piles of fresh sawdust beneath a dying canyon live oak when I was chasing some cows out of The Pasture of Death last week. After unchaining the gate and opening it wide, I snuck through the forest to get behind the cattle and did a chicken dance to get those bossies moving into the proper pasture.  While waiting for the cattle to walk through the gate, I went back to look at the mysterious sign.

Hanging Laundry by Lantern Light

Another sign of summer - the first moonless night when the crickets are louder than the treefrogs.

Fade to Blue

A.M. - just enough fog to outlines the hills.

 Goodbye spring.

30 Years of Conservation

Bringing the outside inside.

Ok, office moved. Attitude shifted. Now I'm ready to start my third decade of land conservation.

Earth Day and Change

This way or that way? As a large mammal, mountain lions have choices on where they can go but they are still blocked by roads and human conversion of natural lands.

Happy Earth Day. I am spending Earth Day moving my office which could be boring but has me thinking about climate change.