Fall Farm Day

I went on another farm tour in early September in the Capay valley. There are a lot of organic farms in this valley, as well as a large casino (so, so out of place).

On the way, I saw the remnants of a field of corn stalks

 And a giant research/food processing facility in woodland

 Can you see the chickens in this view?

There it is 

I ran across this sign in the fields and was a little tempted to knock out internet and phone service between the east and west coasts, but decided against it

A field of gourds. Mostly winter squashes

Such as this beautiful goose-neck squash 

Purple peppers, white peppers, so many free peppers for the picking

They were so good, everyone joined in 

This canal runs water through the valley for all the farms

a crossing to get to more fields 

Broccoli starting out for the fall 

An empty field of former cucumber. Look closely and you might find some old, yellow cucs 

 

 Asparagus bushes. Apparently the second year you get the spears

Brussel sprouts

Ripe pistachios, that is why some countries dye the shells red 

A little citrus 

 These candy-stripe figs were out of this world; so sweet and juicy, you could eat a dozen in one sitting. I made an amazing pork roast with them

Butterflies and bees on lavender

 They even had a petting zoo and hay rides

I came across this brand new field of endive or lettuce 

So cute 

Another Wine Country 4th

Every year I head up to the wine country town of Sonoma for the 4th of July with my best friend. We love the wine tasting, art, food and fireworks that are so abundant in this smaller cousin to the Napa valley.

They have been growing wine here for years

The vines go and go 

And undulate with the landscape across the valley floor 

Even the neighborhood houses have vines, this one is a good 50 years old 

The tallest building in town is the old fort from mission times 

I was confused with the name of this hotel, switzerland is a ways away 

This sunflower cafe has a great patio 

And the window shopping is nice too 

This was an ancient black fig tree in the patio of a great restaurant that I forget the name of, but it was all that was open 

They had this cool snail too

 

Chocolate lava cake and chocolate sorbet

 Weird stair configuration

So many lovely gardens 

 Doesn't it make you want to just sit there and chill out 

It was way packed this year, maybe people didn't travel as much, but well worth the 30 mins and finale, right above our heads.

Cemetery as Arboretum

I recently went here:

 Home of one of California's founding fathers:

They have a rose collection of heritage/heirloom varieties clipped from 100+year-old cemeteries from across the state. But this post is about the spring bulbs...

Fresia, they smell sweet like fruitloops!

 A flowering cherry at its peak

Fluffy 

Because they are double flowers, twice the petals 

Then the tulips, so many cool varieties 

This is likely the result of a virus, the tulip mosaic virus, which causes this mottled and gorgeous color

My favorite

 

Then the irises

 

 

My favorite

Some other stuff

 

I always love the native ceanothus, which blooms in late winter through early summer with bright blue/purple flower clusters that smell like honey 

 There are so many flowers the petals coat the ground under the trees (they often are grown as bushes for landscaping)

I even found  a rare white one 

It was recently easter, so I made some eggs for my nephew

Reggaegg 

Some interesting cloud formations