Rabbit vs Hare

There are hundreds of these rabbits/ hares on the property.  We see them bounding about the gardens, orchard and up and down the roads.  I greet them as "bunnies" but it occurred to me that they may not be rabbits.  So I did a little research and looked at a lot of pictures of both and I have come to the conclusion that these are hares.  The main differences are the long ears, long legs, their solitary life and their instinct to run from us rather than hide.

If someone can correct or confirm my assumption please let me know.  Either way, they are the cutest thing to see on the property.

Organic Pest Control

As many of you know we are trying for a completely organic property. That being said, there are some creatures we would rather not have on the property like: mosquitos, mice, rabbits (in the garden) and gophers. The organic way to control the pests and balance our ecosystem is to encourage preditors to live on the property.

In the case of bats and owls we are building them homes. Bat boxes and owl boxes are easy to build and you can find the plans for free online. You can also find kits and prebuilt ones as well. We have an owl that lives in the palm tree by the deck and if you sit out there at dusk you might see it leave to hunt. Watch carefully because when they fly they are completely silent.

Here is a link to the Bat Conservation page which has tons of resources including step by step plans to build your own bat box http://www.batconservation.org/

Same for the owl boxes. http://www.owlcam.com/whatever/boxbuild.htm

In our garden, we have a family of gopher snakes that keep the rabbits and gophers at bay. We didn't need to build them a home, we just avoid approching them so they don't get scared away. Since they are completely harmeless they are invaluable to anyone with a garden.

If you give nature a chance it will balance itself out and benefits our guests in the process.

Garden Update

Here are the current pics of our veggie garden.  As you can see it is doing very well.  Our sunflower has bloomed, we have a ton of baby zucchinis growing, the beans are blossoming and our watermelon is starting to vine.  It's so exciting to see all our seeds grow into such huge plants.  Our hard work is soon to be rewarded with fresh vegetables.

Dr Jensen left us all the tools...

...we just had to learn to use them.

While reading an article in an organic gardening magazine I read about a 100 year old farm tool called a wheel hoe. It is still used today and has changed very little since 1890. I immediatly thought about getting one to assist in preparing the garden beds rather than using a pick, shovel and hoe like we had been doing.

The funny thing is that while walking the property last week I realized I had a wheel hoe sitting right next to the barn. All this time we had the tools; we just didn't realize it! So here are a few pics of Van sharpening the blade then using it to plow our new children's garden (more details to come). I'm sure this wheel hoe is at least 50 years old so it must have been used while Dr Jensen was here. Thanks Dr. J!

Our First Kids Camp!

The property was in top form last week as the Safety Patrol teams from Curie Elementary School and their parents enjoyed a fabulous experience at the Hidden Valley Retreat and Ranch. They had three world wind days of fun both on the property and enjoying local attractions. The kids loved the fountains, swimming, rock climbing, rope swinging and fruit picking right on our campus. They enjoyed day trips to Kit Carson Park where they visited the colossal sculpture garden called Queen Califia’s Magical Circle. They also went boating at Lake Wholford, visited a local equestrian center to feed the horses, and enjoyed morning runs way out on Old Wagon Rd. Take a look at the pictures below to see some of the great fun they all had during our first camp experience for kids!

Bees!

We are now the proud owners of a new bee hive! Our bees first came to us about 1 month ago and set up residence in the wall of our barn house . They busily began making honeycomb, honey and pollinating our flowers and fruit blossoms. Although they are nice bees and not at all aggressive we couldn't let them stay in the barn. We called up Geoff from http://www.bees-on-the-net.com/ and he came and relocated our bees to a hive in the far orchard. They are happy in their new home and we are looking forward to sharing all the honey they will make. We already got some from their first hive and it is delicious. If you haven't had fresh local honey you are missing out! If you are interested in bees or need some removed from your property (humanely) contact Geoff, he's the best!