Category Archives: Uncategorized

Most beautiful spring ever, March 2015

I don’t know what it is, the age of our plantings or the weather, but this has turned into the most beautiful spring ever in our southern California yard and garden. I am utterly enthused about our prospects for a … Continue reading

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White pizza with arugula and proscuitto; Butternut with kale and feta cheese; Moroccan Orange Cake

Here are recipes for Butternut-Kale-Feta sauté, a white pizza with arugula and prosciutto, and Moroccan orange cake. Continue reading

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Spring in southern California and a good Harvest Monday on Wed, Feb 24 2015

I just came in from Yard Patrol–my morning rounds of my  tiny yard and garden. With a cup of coffee in hand, I walk around the garden to keep an informal eye on what is blooming, what is ripe, and … Continue reading

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Farewell to Henrietta, Hello to spring

There is a change in my flock of backyard chickens, and I’m not happy about it. Continue reading

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Correlation of winter chill hours with harvests from deciduous fruit trees

I am experimenting with inserting an Excel spreadsheet directly into my blog (see below, bottom of post). It works so-so. I can’t alter the width of the columns after I paste the image, so the winter chill hours (number of … Continue reading

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Growing fruit on my urban Southern California mini-farm

I have worked really hard over the past 8 years to convert our small, urban southern California yard into a productive mini-farm. I have Barbara Kingsolver and her book “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” to thank for that. That book was transformational! … Continue reading

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A warm Harvest Monday and setting harvest expectations for 2015

A warmer than average winter will probably negatively affect fruit production on my urban mini-farm this year. The reason why is…. Continue reading

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Taking stock of the 2014 harvest

Time to take stock of my 2014 garden. I think I know what went wrong. It was…. Continue reading

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We bought a steer!

We bought a 1/8th share of a 4-H steer project. Here are pictures of the show calves just after they arrived at an Orange Acres farm in Orange County. “Our” calf is being raised by Jenna, who named her calf “Bucket. ” Continue reading

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My southern California garden in August

My how time flies. Where has the summer gone? I know where mine went. Bye-bye. My last post was in April. In May, I went to Yellowstone National Park, driving by myself. I was on assignment from Desert USA magazine, … Continue reading

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