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This is the view from Hwy 32 looking West across the Sacramento Valley to the snow capped peaks of the Coast Range.

Great group of friends took in Chico Creek Canyon!

Arrived Friday about noon and had camp set up and relaxing by 4pm. Pulled out Sunday about 2 pm.  They took big raft down to Bear Lake and set it up!

July 13th.  The peaches are coming! Must be the harsh stressful conditions the peach trees are put through that makes Canyon Peaches ( and other fruit too ) taste so good.  Or it could be the camping syndrome, where you are so hungry and tired and worked so hard, the camp food tastes amazing!    This was an off year for apricots.  Cherries were just ok, good flavor but light crop and smaller fruit. Plums, figs, pears, apples, nectarines, pomegranates, persimmons, and walnuts all seem to be coming along well.  Almonds and pistachios are looking light this year.  The new Beer Fence ( that’s bear & deer ) is helping the fruit trees and the chickens and the beginnings of a pasture, as is the new water system. More on those later.

I stopped and picked up the usual Safeway Deli sandwiches for lunch with Juan before heading up the hill to the Canyon. I arrived at the Canyon gate at 11:05 am.  I gave the combo lock on the chain a shot of lubricant ( WD-40 ) and re-set the combo to 1-1-1-1 for this coming weekend in which Tai, Ross, June, & Harrison are bringing up a group of camping friends ( “their tribe” as Tai puts it ).  Sounds like a hoot!

As is often the case when I arrive at the house instead of starting on the list of things I have been planning for on the way up, Juan has “una cosa” or two that needs fixing. Today it was the “Weeder” ( string mower ) which was spinning off its plastic cords as soon as it started up.  So I had to take off the plastic head, take it apart clean it and put it back together.  It will take 2 or 3 more cleanings before the head needs to be replaced. Last week it was the air filters that needed cleaning so the unit would run well enough to get work done. The week before that is was a big one.  The Billy Goat mower blade clutch wore out.  That is out of my limited mechanical ability to complete in an expeditious amount of time.  So I took it down to Chico for repair. It’s in the back of the pick up now and I will take it up tomorrow.  But back to today.  The other “cosa” was a leak in the main water line up closer to the spring head.  When it’s too hot to work Juan will sometimes take an inspection hike up the water pipe to the spring head.  The path is through the forest so its shaded and quiet and the sound of the brook accompanies you most of the way.  Yesterday on his water pipe inspection hike he noticed two places that were leaking, slightly. So after fixing the Weeder we hopped in the Zuki and drove back up the road to the spring head.  The first trip out I just wanted to get an idea of where the leaks were and how bad they were.  What would I need to fix them.  Fortunately they were close together and both looked pretty simple to fix. Each leak was at the only two places in the entire pipe that are joined by rubber couplings held on by hose clamps.  These are at angles in the pipe that don’t fit a standard rigid coupling. I was able to loosen the hose clamp a few turns and reposition the coupling and re-tighten. Leaks fixed!  I think one leak was caused by a curious bear. Not sure how the other coupling shifted out of position. Below is a picture of the Billy Goat mower all fixed and ready to go back to the canyon, to help make the house wild fire safe, and to slowly with good timing control the star thistle and other things.

Rats! Got to stop now before I finish the story of the day.  Got’s to go pick up Kim.  Juan and I drove the Zuki to the creek and blew up the rubber rafts for this coming weekend and checked things out, and…

This Thursday visit I had to put off, finishing off, the gates to the orchard, again!  I have been testing the pistachios for “readiness” to harvest, and today it happened.  I squeezed a fruit between my thumb and forefinger and the nut slipped out of the hull!! Everything I’ve read to prepare for this years crop says there is a short window period of a few days between ready to harvest and too late to harvest, so I felt I had to drop everything and harvest those pistachios.

Then we carried the nuts up the hill in the wheel barrow to the cleaned off parking apron of the shop and danced around on them ala Zorba The Greek to “hull” them – ( It was the quick solution. I think it worked pretty good.  I’ll think up a better option next year. ) – and spread them out to dry.  We will have to cover them up in the evening to keep the critters from eating them.  Deer LOVE them. 

The Lupin is going crazy this year! This is the field below the orchard.  Mowing down the star thistle after it flowers has helped the other grasses and flowers get a better sprout in spring.