This past Friday during the CSA pickup my ears caught an interesting sound, and I looked up to see three Peregrine Falcons high overhead.  They were circling and calling in what seemed to be a courtship ritual.  Peregrines always fascinate me (being the fastest animal on earth, and all), and I was glad to have a pair of binoculars at hand to get a better view of the action.

Here’s a canned photo ...my camera’s not that good.

Since installing our electrical fence last week we are glad to report that we haven’t had a nibble out of a pea or lost any animals.  That feels good.  Waking up  to see that you lost 24 broccoli plants while you were sleeping isn’t a pleasant feeling.  However, our confidence was overridden by an endangered species of all creatures. Last week, we thwarted  hawk and eagle attacks on our ducks, but unfortunately this morning we weren’t so lucky, or at least our ducks weren’t.… Read the rest of this article »

I don’t live at my farm, and when I close the gates and go back to my house at night I often think about all the critters that call this land home.  I’ve seen evidence of foxes, racoons, and skunks ...and there are plenty of gophers and moles.  They probably think of me as just a daytime visitor. I’ve been into birdwatching for a few years now, and here’s a list of the birds I’ve seen at my farm since I got the lease in October: Great Blue Heron    Great Egret   … Read the rest of this article »

I took the day off today.  I went skiing in the back country with my dad, up by Sierra City. It’s part of my sanity reclamation plan, taking days off. Tomorrow is Sunday.  I’ll get there around six (it’s hot this week!), but I’ll knock off early, probably 5. Since I was gone today, I only spent a couple of hours at the farm - watering and generally being anxious about the birds.  I have three really important beds - salad mix/baby spinach, radish, mesclun mix… Read the rest of this article »