Quick Bloom

This week's photo was done by Sheryl.

Can you see the bee in the left hand blossom? She has much more patience than I do for that kind of thing. She has taken some beautiful almond blossom photos over the years.

   Almond bloom has come quickly. Most years bloom lasts two weeks. After cold winters it can be over in eight or nine days. Thursday afternoon we barely had a few blossoms open at the house. Friday afternoon one variety was about half open. When I got home yesterday the orchard was glowing with blossoms. 
   Of course, the weather man forecasts twenty percent chance of rain today and fifty percent chance of rain mid week. The nice weather has been glorious, I just wish it could have waited until this week. We know there is still unsettled weather out there. So, tomorrow we will be spraying to protect the blooms from fungus and mold caused by the rain. The blossoms are fairly tender for the next few weeks. Fungus and frost can take a crop overnight. We will be on pins and needles until the danger has passed.
   Elsewhere on the farm. We have been busy in the shop working on equipment this week. Ruben has everything squared away for the Spring. The planter and harrows are ready ready for next month. Even the fertilizer tool bar is ready for May. We started working cotton beds, knocking down the winter weeds.

The Valley Looks Pretty in Green

By Paul H. Betancourt

Copyright February 2013

                The Valley looks pretty in green. The rainfall in December got the grass growing and the foothills look gorgeous.

            I haven’t worked cattle in twenty years, but I still pay attention to grass conditions in the hills. It’s hard to raise cattle when there’s no feed in the hills.

            John Muir walked across the Valley on his first trip to Yosemite in 1868. He described the Valley floor as ‘bee pastures’. Muir came across in April. The Valley was full of wildflowers from one end to the other. It must have been beautiful. Of course, Muir was up in the Sierras before the summer heat hit and everything got barbequed.

            Sheryl’s great grandfather came over from Switzerland. He worked all over the state milking cows and then settled out between Firebaugh and Dos Palos a hundred years ago. I suspect they got here in the Spring when things were lush, green and cool and he thought, “Wow, this looks like home.” I bet a few months later, when the heat hit they were thinking, “What happened?”

            Our climate is dominated by that summer heat and things get dried up fast. But, for now there is green grass in the hills and even along the roadways. The Valley looks pretty in green.

I hope Y'all have a great week.

P