The light at the end of the tunnel...

For awhile I was sure the light at the end of the tunnel was the proverbial oncoming train, or even worse, that the light was cut due to budget constraints, but I'm finally there.  The end of the tunnel.  The 2010 Nevada County Grown Farm Guide is off to the printer, the 20th anniversary land trust event was a success, and everything wrapped up last Saturday with the spring native plant sale. Whew, regular programming can now resume. 

In case I hadn't said, I've been volunteering with the local chapter of the native plant society as a way to hone up on my plant id skills.  So Saturday found me cashiering at the biennial plant sale. Riley helped too.  You can see him here checking out a selection of native plants.

Here's what I can home with: monkey flower 'terra cotta', a hot pink penstemon, coral bells 'red bells',a couple of bleeding hearts and blue-eyed grass. And then we picked up some 6-pack plants at Eisley's, including parsley, celery, chard, some cosmos and strawberries.  Here's a wheelbarrow full of the day's haul.

Last Sunday started out with planning the expansion of the goat pens in preparation for the new arrivals expected at the end of the month, testing out the drip irrigation system and getting supplies. Sadly, when one has been working continuously for 5 weeks, the weeds have an opportunity to take over the unmulched portions of the perennial garden, so before I could really plant anything I commenced with the weeding. 

Riley liked weeding. We removed quantities of annual grasses, chickweed and a non-native mallow, as well as the ever present blackberry sprouts. The vegetable portion of the yard is ready for planting, having been thoroughly sheet mulched in the fall  with straw, hay, and goat poop from the goat pen. 

And then I sprained my ankle.  Kind of put a stop to my gardening plans for the rest of the week.  Troy did a great job of stepping up (since I literally couldn't) and continued weeding out the blackberries and installing a fence to keep the chickens out of the garden.  Still gimping around, we managed to get most everything planted this afternoon

Happy Equinox!

Equal day length.  After today the daylight minutes will outnumber the dark and continue to gain in dominance until the summer solstice.  Spring is officially here.

To celebrate I joined the California Native Plant Society's wildflower walk along the Independence Trail.  The trail exists in the remains of the Excelsior Ditch, which moved water 25 miles from it's source on the South Yuba to the diggins at Smartsville.  Since the ditches were designed with subtle elevation differences, the old canal beds area smooth and easily accessible, and it was a good first "hike"since recovering from pneumonia.

Meandering is a good word to use to describe the speed one walks when looking at wildflowers.  We stop, gather around a wee flower, consult the book and come up with both scientific and common names.  I took pictures.  Turns out my new camera has a voice memo utility, so after I snap a pic I record the name.  No more notebook!  (This is really cool.  I love technology.  No, I'm not making squeeing sounds, really!)

Highlights?

Some shooting stars.  The fertilized flowers flip over and point up, the unfertilized are still pointing down in their come hither pose.

Hounds tongue, in the forget-me-not family.

A view of the South Yuba just downstream of the 49 crossing.

A California newt.  We put him back where we found him under the giant chain ferns.