Spring bulb bloom under the cherry trees, and above the olive tree.
Month: February 2014
Cleaning up some electrical.
This Sunday in the morning I planted four new grapevines on the point and started to build the deer barrier. Then Jordan Reed arrived and we continued to complete some electrical clean up and improvement. New switches, new conduit, junctions, & sub-panels and a new light post at the YAHB.
Top photo is the trench to the light post. Second photo is the new switch & outlets at the pole barn, the last photo is of Jordan Reed our friend who is an electrician.
Grapevines getting deer protection
So until we get the “master fence” surrounding the homestead to keep out critters like deer, bear, & lions ( oh my). I am putting up temporary fence around the new grape vines on the point. Beautiful day, blue sky, white clouds, calm moist air. HMMMM YUM.
Spring is early this year.
Shot of the patio retaining wall with the wine barrel planters. Nice blue sky. Lots of weeding to do all the time, but a wonderful place to do it.
Making the fuel break larger.
There is still one more fuel break work to be done. On the south of the house, toward the trail to the spring, the trees & shrubs are still too thick and close to the house for my liking. So little by little Juan & I cut and pile and sometimes burn.
Great Day For Pulling Broom!!
The storm worked perfectly with my schedule today. In the early morning it was just misting in between light rain. Driving up the hill you really only needed your wipers on extra slow. The fog became pretty heavy at about 500′ elevation and I had to slow down. By the time I made it to the canyon gate it was just misting, not raining. I love walking around in the canyon woods, in that weather. It feels like you are scuba diving. The world is under a wonderful green canopy over moss and fern covered rocks and trees. All the amazing shades of greens, yellows, and browns. The wind gently swathing the trees gives the sense of waves.
So instead of staying in the shop to start building the Top Bar beehives I ventured out with Juan to find any over looked patches of Scotch Broom for pulling up. It is amazing how easily the young broom plants pull out of the ground, long tap root and all, when the ground is moist. Winter/spring is the only broom pulling season. When the soil dries out it is impossible to pull even the smallest plants out by their roots. We have made very good progress over the years with beating back the broom. There are now only a few big plant patches – that I know of. So going around and searching out the emerging broom patches is an important chore.