We are so incredibly lucky to experience these unseasonably warm days here in Sonoma County. At the Healdsburg Farmers’ Market last Saturday, I spoke with a winemaker who noted that this year’s harvest has been interminable. Exhaustion had set in well before the rains we had a few weeks ago that further lengthened the harvest. [...]
Today’s air wafts the softness of the after-rain. The world is washed clean and every parched plant and tree has been replenished with streams of quenching water. While the tomatillo, tomato, and squash plants are a little worse for wear in their shaggy autumn wardrobes, the Swiss chard has taken on a new life. Even [...]
On spindly, but stealthy, multi-hued legs, Carlotta scuttles across the light green nopal (cactus) pad. Her uniformly mottled abdomen is plump in brownish-black and yellow, accessorized with orange. Upon closer examination, we find Carlotta’s hairy face and head resembles that of a minute monkey. Eight bristle-haired legs, articulated in three places, stretch as she moves [...]
No, I’m not speaking of the vehicles. This evening I watched three hummingbirds flit and chase each other around and around a flower bed. Their frantic high-pitched cheeps let me know they were serious and this wasn’t a game. They kept at this “hummer-war” for a good thirty minutes before I finally walked away. Their [...]
