Stop reading for a moment. Breathe deep. Now, take another breath. Feel better? Remember when you were a child? If not, reflect on any child you know. We all start with love – love of nature, love of animals – an innate empathy that is part of our DNA – because we are comprised of our world. Find that place again, find that love, if you’ve lost it. Breathe. Refocus your thoughts on your natural space. It doesn’t matter where you live – apartment, suburb, room in another’s house, a large ranch – there is always something you can do to improve the natural environment, thus your health, our health and the health of the planet. What did you decide to do, or what more did you decide to do? We each have the power to make decisions on re-balancing how we live — how much we take on, how much more time outside of typical hours we give to work or volunteering, what we choose to spent time on. Sometimes they are big changes, but most times they are small, but make a difference. Rebalancing your life can lead you to wonderful experiences.
A major choice I made was to focus more of my time on the ranch, with a particular focus on climate resilience. It has been some of the best work of my life, building habitat piece by painstaking piece and building new structures to scale the work. It was not always clear that this work would be successful. If you are a regular reader, you know my failures and emotional troughs! Yet, mother nature, with a little partnership from humans, delivers, and she delivers every time.
Monarchs Going and Coming + More Butterflies in October
It was overwhelming on October 12 when I saw two monarchs nectaring and flying around the garden. They appeared out of nowhere, flitted on the marigold, then the sunflowers, then the butterfly bush. As quick I as saw them, they were gone. Whoa. I had to catch my breath. “Did I really see them”, I asked myself. Fortunately, I took a multitude of photos and found one that I could zoom and see the distinctive markings. Yes! We are back on the monarch migration route!
Not only monarchs, but other beautiful butterflies have visited the plants. I was losing hope last month with the ongoing heat, but October has been the best month so far for butterfly spotting. It cooled just a little, and then they all started showing up. There was the one buckeye at the Spring Creek spring. It was hanging with several California hairstreaks. We have had a procession of sulphurs in white and yellow and some large painted ladies. We had one or two red admirals, which was fun to see. The goldenrod and pacific aster attracted the visit of a large number of Caliofrnia hairstreaks. Finally, I saw what I thought could be a parnassian, but I really need an expert look. It was not the right color for those, so maybe not.
Ranch Health
Beyond butterflies, the ecosystem seems to be functioning despite the ongoing heat. Only recently has the air cooled significantly overnight. Daytime temperatures were in the 90s in September and have finally decreased into the 80s in October. That is still warm. Plants continue to grow, bees continue to harvest. The growing season is longer. Nothing is resting just yet.
I have only counted 10 tarantula sightings. That is low. The ongoing heat has kept them in their holes I think, or perhaps the profusion of tarantual hawks earlier in the season (yikes!) reduced their population. Everything still needs water. The springs are still shrunken. The neighbor’s pond is dry. This continues to make the guzzler project extremely important for wildlife: mammal, bird and reptile water access. It is still in place with water, but no overhang or permanent fence yet – a work in progress. The cows are back on and did hit the guzzler a few times emptying it. The cows have plenty of water on the south side of the ranch, where another neighbor’s ponds are still wet. They need the water too. They are calving and need to produce milk. Fortunately, we had that rain in September. I was only able to refill the guzzler because of those 1.25″, which half filled the rainwater tanks. That storm has helped me continue not only wildlife watering but irrigation – since I do not use my well water for that purpose.
To keep the cattle out of the guzzler, I repurposed the panels I used to protect the incubator milkweed in June. Thanks again to my neighbors for the loan! I will build the required overhang and exclusion fencing before the end of the year. The panels were a nice, quick remedy.
October definitely means spiders. We have had webs flying through the air with their precious cargo, thousands of baby spiders. They are tangled into everything: tarweed, grass, boulders, fence posts – you name it. I did have some time to fill the trench I dug to the oak tree (see last blog post) with gravel. It needs another two or three passes to fill the trench. The rock helps maintain open space for the rain water to move through in a rain event all to deliver more water to the large old oaks. I have been collecting acorn as well. As mentioned in the last blog, it is slim pickings for acorns this year. I am desperate to start some seedlings from my acorns so we have younger trees growing and available to take the place of the grand old ones in front of the house when their life span is at an end. To choose the ones most likely to germinate, you float them in water. The acorn that sinks to the bottom will be the healthiest to use. The lighter the acorn, the less energy it has stored or the more likely bugs have already gotten into them to eat. I did try to start about 10 trees 10 years ago. I was not successful. I have more expert help now. That makes a difference.
Winter Garden Growing Well
I have already been able to harvest red leaf lettuce, basil and dill for salads. We will see if I get any tomatoes and corn. With the decrease in sunlight and the cooler nights, I don’t know if they will produce. As I mentioned in the previous blog post, since it was still hot, I thought I would make the most of it and see if I could extend those crops. There are some blooms on the tomato plants. Very exciting. I will see if the plants can beat the clock. I will also continue to look for free or low cost greenhouse elements for me to piece together something that can amplify the heat. I will likely add spinach, radish and carrots later. For the in-between time, I will add oats and peas as nitrogen fixing cover crops.
Rebalancing Off Ranch
The Southern Sierra Miwuk Tribe has been working on meadow restoration in Yosemite. Before colonization, their people would burn the meadows to clear the conifers and encourage greater black oak proliferation, thus acorns. Due to the attempted extermination of Indigenous people from the area and then wrong-sighted conservation policies, the meadows have been disappearing, and with them their remarkable ability to recharge groundwater. More recently, the National Park Service has understood the importance of First People’s knowledge and activities prior to Park status. Once again, Indigenous people are leading the restoration work in our most cherished wild spaces. The Tribes may get to use fire in the future, but for now, all of the work is by hand. This autumn, I joined my Native cousins in planting black oak seedlings and removing pine seedlings. Don’t worry dear readers who love pine trees (I love them too), there are many other places where they flourish. They grow like weeds and are not in any danger of extinction. The meadows, on the other hand, are.
Thank you to the wonderful young people who are leading the way in so many efforts around the world and to our elders everywhere for keeping ecological knowledge and parts of our culture intact under great stress and not so good odds. Chiokoe uttesia in weweriam (Thank you my relatives).
Any of us can join efforts of restoration, conservation and rebalancing. Look for them in the places near you and make a commitment for one day a month to start. If you love it, if it reconnects you, if you are feeling the rebalance happen, commit to more time. If you aren’t feeling it, try a different effort – beach clean-ups, campaigns for better climate policy, implementation of Green New Deal efforts. It is an all hands on deck moment, and you are one of the many hands we need. If mother nature, me and a small group of supporters, can bring monarchs back to the ranch in less than three years, imagine what ALL of us can do across every aspect of climate. Let’s be good relatives now for our future generations and all living things. Aho.
Heather Bernikoff 