Happy Halloween!

Lazy Saturday, Beautiful Saturday

Fall is Here!

I spent a little time in the garden this morning, just taking in the sights and scents of fall. The leaves are just starting to turn golden, the pineapple sages are full of bright red blooms, and poppy seedlings are appearing everywhere thanks to those few rain storms we've had. Grab a chair, a nice cup of tea, and listen to the sound of the leaves dropping from the trees.0

Adding More Apples to the Garden!

This week has been an exciting and expensive week for my family.  First I ordered the new iPhone 4S, then my husband (who was perhaps a tad jealous) went and bought himself an iPad 2.  As much as we've been PC people our entire lives (practically anti-Apple), we're now wondering how we lived our lives without them! 

Kiddo and I took our two new purchases for a spin in the garden today- and I have to say, they are both my new favorite garden tools!  I went to Talini's today to attend their Fall Party, and came home with a few plants.  I used the iPad to bring up the web and search for the perfect location for my new garden guests.

My daughter also took a crack at being a future garden blogger, walking around snapping photos with the iPad while I took photos of her with my new iPhone.

I was amazed at the quality of pictures from both devices, and having fast Internet out in the garden is really convenient!  I'm still testing out a few "garden apps", but as soon as I'm done, I'll be sure to post reviews here. 

 I do, however, feel sorry for my daughter.  She didn't get a new "techie" toy this week, and has instead started pretending her books are laptops, and telling her hair brush to "Call daddy" (yep, she's caught on how to use Siri too!). 

So, I'm no longer going to feel sorry for you guys for having to put up with my pics from my phone.  Because they are pretty awesome :) 

Talini's Nursery- 1st Annual Fall Celebration Day!

This Saturday I'll be attending Talini's first fall party- and I can't wait to attend! There will be several speakers there covering all of the major topics that aspiring urban homesteaders want to hear about! Here are the details:

Talini's Fall Party

Saturday, October 15 · 11:00am - 6:00pm

5601 Folsom Blvd., Sacramento, CA 95819

11:30: Kate and Michelle from Worm Fancy will be talking about using worms to assist with composting.  Check out their website !

12:30: Greg and Brian from Two Flew the Coop will be there to talk about keeping chickens in your backyard. These are the same guys that build the beautiful chicken coops that Talini's carries, and they'll even have some of their chickens there for you to meet!

2:00 Brian Fishback, owner of BD Ranch and Apiary, will be speaking on backyard beekeeping. Brian is a past president of the Sacramento Bee Keepers Association, and will be available to answer any questions you might have on the benefits of having bees on your property (on my list of things to do!).

 

Hope to see you there!

The Lamm Farm: Fields of Lavender

Imagine if this was the view you woke up up to every morning.
A few months ago I got up early, made myself coffee, and drove myself 45 minutes over to the Lamm Farm. I admit I've never had anyone say "Hey- we could use help planting nearly a thousand lavender plants," but it wasn't until I got there that I got a better idea of what I was getting myself into.

(okay, so maybe a large reason why I went was to see their bee hive.)But when I arrived.... I was speechless. What a beautiful farm! As the volunteers arrived, we were all commenting on where we'd like to hang our hammock. We had master plans of fine dinners at tables nestled in the future lavender fields, and finding the perfect location to build our yoga platform.

Oh! But we were here to work! The Lamm Farm asked for help, and help they got! This is where social media came in to play! Not only did they get me, but they got help from @tikikristi, @scribbykitty, @the_jenny, and many more! Yes, they all have real names, and once we got past the "wow- you look nothing like your avatar" conversation (kidding!), we grabbed our shovels and started digging.

From there what took place was amazing. First off, we learned that garden bloggers are SLOW planters (ahem, that would be me and Kristi). If you need to plant lavender in record time, DO NOT ask a garden blogger. We sit there and chat with the plants....and we catch frogs and lizards, and we get all excited every time we get a worm in our shovel..... or maybe that's just me?

We also learned that when you need help, turn to your locals. The Lamm Farm utilized Twitter, Facebook and their blog to get enough volunteers to help them start their dream of a lavender farm.

We took a break for a BBQ lunch. It was a chance to bond with new friends, learn more about the Lamm Farm, and chance to relax and enjoy the scenery.

Later we would learn that this landscape fabric was not an ideal choice for weed control here....

And I would also learn that the row closest to a large oak tree was not the best row to adopt.....

But what I would learn is how attached I've become to this farm, and to this family.... and these plants!

I went back here this past weekend to spend a day helping them weed, and again enjoyed the peaceful sounds of country living.

I was excited to see how well these plants have grown over the past few months, and it was an awesome feeling knowing that I had been a part of the original crew that put them in ground back in May 2011.

Have you planted something beautiful lately?

Davis Ranch Harvest Festival

So, our pumpkin got smashed, but I refused to let some snotty teens/young adults ruin our Halloween traditions. The only logical thing to do was to go get another.

The same day that we found our pumpkin smashed in the street, kiddo and I ventured off to Davis Ranch in Sloughhouse, CA, to find ourselves a replacement.

Let's just say we had no problems finding one. Actually, I should say we had a problem sticking to JUST one!

I took her here when she was just about a year old for her first pumpkin, and we hadn't been back since. I regret that now, as they have an awesome selection of pumpkins at AWESOME prices. My husband had taken her to Apple Hill the day before and sat horrible traffic and battled lines of people just to get an apple donut. Davis Ranch was the opposite: well organized parking thanks to their several parking attendants, and lots of check-out stands for you to make your purchases.

We lucked out and showed up during their Harvest Festival, but even though they were busier than normal, it was never out of control. And since there weren't a gazillion people there, my Fall photos with kiddo turned out great without me having to crop random people out of my pictures (I hate doing that).

She and I had a BLAST. We got feathers put in our hair by one of the vendors, then spent the next couple of hours loading up our cart with almonds, pistachios, avocados, corn, green beans, gourds, winter squash for soups, and of course.....pumpkins.

And for the same price of the one pumpkin we lost, we added SO many more pumpkins to our front entry way. Thank you Davis Ranch for a great day! Next year, we're coming here first!

Dear Teens....

This morning we woke up, got dressed, and headed out to meet our family for breakfast. Everything was going great until I started pulling out of the driveway and saw a sheriff's car parked near our house. The officer was outside of his car looking at what you see pictured above. I'm sure you're thinking "Wow, must be a SLOW day if the police are investigating a pumpkin smashing." No, this is just part of the damage that occurred in our neighborhood last night. The neighborhood was hit up by what looks like a bunch of drunk teens. Red plastic cups full of beer were littered all over our street, lawn jobs galore,a bunch of stop signs and street signs were all knocked down, my neighbor's retaining wall was in pieces in the street, and this pumpkin was smashed in front of our house, with a sign stuck in it advertising our annual tree planting day. Normally I would have gone about my business, but then my daughter started screaming. That was HER pumpkin. It was the pumpkin that we bought as a fundraiser for her school. It was the only pumpkin I had planned on buying because it cost me a small fortune (although they also took my fake Styrofoam pumpkins and ripped them to shreds too)! She was screaming, tears gushing down her cheeks, and the police officer was just looking at me stunned, kinda like "How do we turn that off?!"

A bit over dramatic? Yes. But she gets that from me!

I asked the officer if they knew who did it and he replied, "Yeah, we have an idea." I told him to add me to the report. Sure, it was just a $35 pumpkin, but if I was the parent of those kids I would want to know the extent of the damages that my own child caused. I would make them go door to door and apologize and pay for the damages they caused. My daughter, age 5, spent the rest of the day bombarding me with questions about why someone would steal our pumpkins and smash them in the street. I really have no explanation for her. Teens are destructive. Teens are rude. Teens are disrespectful. What's a good response?! According to her, the policeman is going to go hunt them down and throw them in jail. I kinda wish that were true.

So, to my neighborhood's ruthless teens, realize that you are almost adults and as adults "sorry" doesn't cut it. Your parents have worked hard to provide a nice home for you, in a nice area, and your little acts of defiance to the rest of your neighborhood is crappy. We buy your stupid candy bars, your magazines, and your PUMPKINS to help fund your education and your field trips, and you repay us by vandalizing our neighborhood. Please stop. In the meantime, there is a 5 year old here waiting for your apology.