January is a fickle month.

It has been my experience that the month of January can not be trusted. It is the most fickle of months. On the heals of the loveliest spring-like day, a bitterly cold grey day may follow. And on a day like today, the beauty is all wrapped up in drama! A cold-cold breeze and a glorious icing of white and blue on the mountain! The grey bones of the newly-pruned orchard standing austerely against the backdrop of clouds & mountain. It is hard to take my eyes away from the sight - the clouds changing every second; a crow, a string of noisy geese, a flurry of small songbirds when they startle. I could stand at this window and look the whole day long.

Playing with new Christmas toys.

On a chilly January day like today, it is hard to know whether I should bundle up and go outside to prune the rest of our fruit trees in the orchard, or stay inside by the fire and play. I am very fond of these new wooden toys we got for Christmas from Ammi's crew! Especially the little lady farmer with the wheel barrow! Seems like I am forever pushing our wheel barrow around Little Bird Farm. Ours happens to be green too. I can't relate yet to having a herd of sheep. And we don't even have one dog yet, let alone two. But the day will come (for the dogs - not necessarily the sheep).

On Wednesday I had a terrific 3-hour Pruning Tutorial from the dad of my oldest pal. He is very knowledgable about apple trees, and is extremely patient. Today the sun is shining, and it really is gorgeous out. I suppose I will now gather up tools - our lopper, my Felcos, and the green wheel barrow, and get to pruning, while the principles of good pruning are still fresh in my brain!

For Haiti

America and the world at large - must do all we can immediately! The public health ramifications are so enormous! Every ounce of help NOW will profoundly impact the future of the people of Haiti! Today I am so proud of America and what we stand for, as our federal government and our large and small helping organizations step up to this challenge.
www.pih.org

Life is giving us lemons in the New Year, and we LOVE it!

It is chilly outdoors, of course - being January and all. So we turn our tender attention to the indoors! Fertilizing and generally caring for our somewhat neglected indoor plants. This little guy was our 1st horticultural purchase when we moved to California's lush East Bay years ago (before LBF). The tag said, "Meyer Lemon". But we all know that is debatable, given the controversy about true Meyer Lemons. It has lived at Little Bird Farm for nearly 2 years now, and is doing quite well. It summers outside in a protected shady spot; before the first frost of fall, we move it indoors, to a sunny east window. Not a perfect spot for citrus, but we do the best we can to make it feel comfortable. Plenty of food, water, leaf cleaning, and as much sun as possible. Harvest of our lemons occurs sporadically, and somewhat aggressively, when our sweet 3 year old grand nephew comes over and decides it is time to make "yemenade"!

New Year's Day with Abby

It's never too soon to learn about fresh, local, sustainable consumption! Abby is all over this concept!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!