Song of Trees continued: These are the trees that planted themselves after the Wild Fire of 1996. This spot had been dozed for a fire break. I had never seen the view as the manzanita, ceanothus, and chemise was so tall and thick. After the clearing when I finally saw the view. That was it. That was where I would build my house.
And for those of you not on social media, here is what Weds looked like while we waited to see if this was going to come with dry lightning.
I took this one Friday around 9 am, just as the clouds were starting to roll in – in the time it took me to go get my iPhone, actually.
And these were taken on Wednesday of last week. I will probably have more similar ones by the end of today.
These guys are doing their damnest to produce fruit right up until the first snow. A week’s worth of below freezing temps, and they STILL hang on. In case you are wondering, my tomatoes of choice for up here are Champion, Celebrity, Ace, and Early Girl. All proven producers for my environment. This was taken on Friday, before the storm. I’ll pick all the remainder during the next break in the weather and let them finish indoors. They gave me a lot of salsa, tomato sauce, and BLTs.
Remember the photos I posted of my garden when it was just getting going? Here it is now.
New hours at the Big Sur Library!
Starting September 2nd 2017, the hours will be changing on Fridays and Saturdays only from 11-4 to NOW 10-3. Hours will remain the same on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Also, schedule changes regarding meetings and clubs will have to be updated accordingly, and those affected will be notified.
As always, please do not hesitate to call with questions or concerns. J
Sincerely,
Julia Mazerik
Big Sur Library Branch Manager
Monterey County Free Libraries
Hwy 1 at Ripplewood Resort
831 667-2537
For your weekend viewing pleasure, a magical place. This place soaks up all the love it receives and gives back in food & beauty. I’m sure it is the work of many, many people, but two I know who put in a great deal of care into this wonderland are Shirley Ward and Kyle Evans. Enjoy this small tribute to a most glorious place. Thanks for letting me wander.
Kate, I am trying to drum up support from the Big Sur community and avid visitors to validate that the improvements to Pacific Valley School’s existing organic garden described in the attached site plan will provide a legitimate new public access opportunity for visitors. I have a funding source that wants to contribute $75K towards this project but one of the parties that oversees this funding source needs to be convinced the public access opportunity is legitimate (and not a private benefit to the school). The fund overseer doesn’t know the South Coast very well and so they don’t understand that the School is uniquely located walking distance to the South Coast’s primary visitor access areas (Sand Dollar Beach and Plaskett Campground). Moreover, the Pacific Valley School already hosts a number of public events including the Jade Festival, the Spring Tide Festival, and the Earth Day Hike where folks could easily saunter over to the garden. All in all, it would be easy for folks to explore the garden while enjoying a sunset picnic. There will be benches and picnic tables along with interpretive signs to share local history and the unique qualities of Pacific Valley School (which is completely off the grid).
The garden would be open weekends, holidays, and after school hours (the times of greatest visitor use). No trees will be removed for the garden upgrades and no slopes will be graded. Notices will be posted at the Sand Dollar and Plaskett bulletin boards to invite the public to explore the garden. The proposed fencing is just open mesh deer fencing to avoid any visual distractions from Highway One.
I’m feel strongly about this project because I camp with my kids at Plaskett and know that other visitors would enjoy exploring the gardens and its views. If I can get a handful of 2 or 3 sentence emails of support, I feel good we can get this funding in place. Folks can just send a quick email to pacificvalleygarden@yahoo.com . (Ed. Note – Angus told me he would like to gather these emails by July 10th.)
This sweet guy, my surviving rose, is an incredible producer. Year after year, he hangs tough against gophers, insects, and benign neglect to surprise and delight me.
It starts out as a nice, orange-peach when it is budding …
…and then lightens to a wonderful peach color. For someone who loves a garden, but doesn’t have time to take care of it, Just Joey is perfect.
Oh, and on a similar note, I discovered a new gopher product today – a “green” gopher product that is non-toxic. It is pricey, but I like the idea, so I ordered one to sample it. If it works as claimed, and I can drive the gophers from my garden, I will be ordering 5 lbs of the stuff! I’ll keep you posted. Gideon and Dakota are both pretty good gopher hunters, but Gideon is still on house arrest for another month.
If you want to check it out (this is not a commercial plug) or are curious, you can find this product here: Gopher Goo
