Tag: Milkweed

Branch Fence Bust and the Boys are Back in Town

Bull grazing in the a. Californica milkweed area

I love bulls. They are simply magic to look at with their size, muscles and intense stares. Fortunately, the bulls run by our cattleman here on the ranch are gentle. They would rather walk away than charge. Still…it is good to be real respectful of their presence – especially when they are around the ladies strutting their stuff. Remember, this is an 1,800+ lb animal. On my quad yesterday to do some watering, there was a big guy laying right in the path. I stopped. I looked at him. He looked– no he stared (intensely) — at me. After 45 seconds or so, I decided I would blaze a new trail to the northeast of him. Bull 1, Heather 0.

I have been checking the plantings in the branch fence (Site XR1) about every three days. Over the last six weeks, I saw that pieces of branch fence had fallen or had been tested by the cattle. The fence needed to be monitored and more branches placed every week or so. Last week, I noticed that the cattle had blazed a trail tightly alongside the enclosure. Hummm. This worried me. The fence had been tested just a week earlier resulting in me placing more branches on the east side. Now, it appeared that the cows were developing more than a passing interest. It makes sense that they would. With the limited precipitation, the grass is getting a bit thin on the ranch. By contrast, the creek beds are lush with growth. This is certainly true in the XR1 enclosure. More than grass is growing healthy and tall – quite an inducement to push in.

Cow trail

After seeing the path, I began to use rocks and other branches to block the path. Just up the hill on both sides of the creek are dead oaks with downed branches. In the last drought, we lost about 300 oaks across the ranch. It can be sad to see their ancient bodies in various states of decay. In this case, as I harvested the branches from the ground, I thanked the trees and limbs and told them that their remains will be used to promote new life so important to the health of this place. It is important to be grateful and respect all things.

I hauled the branches down from the hills, some lifted, but if they are large, dragged. Oak branches are tortuous – twisted and gnarled. This is a good thing for the fence. The twists of the branch tangle with the others. My goal is to lock them together as much as possible to promote strength. They also create width in an attempt to keep the cattle as far a distance from the planted area.

West side of branch fence. Note the lengths pushed out toward the trail

Currently, I fit my ranch work in before and after the end of my work day and on weekends. Especially in the fall and winter, when the days are shorter, I do not have much time to get things done. I did as much as I could before sunset, hoping it was enough.

  • Stand of dead oaks and downed branches
  • Beginning to block the path
  • More bushy branches
  • Helper 1
  • Helper 2
  • Worked until sunset
  • Adding even more
  • Blocked trail

Despite having spent considerable time shoring up the fence, I checked back the next day. What I saw shocked me. There was a cow pie inside the enclosure. Horror!

Evidence! A bovine was inside XR1

I looked around the entire fence. The breech was on the north side. I had built up the south, east and west sides, but felt the north looked fairly solid. Clearly, I was wrong. My heart was in my stomach terrified of what plants I might find gone or trampled. Luck was with me; all the butterfly plants were still there and intact. One had been pulled at, but had not been pulled out. I could breathe again! I tipped that plant back upright and patted tight the soil around its base. It looked like the intruder, enticed by the lush lengths of green, passed the currents and went right for the grass. The cow pie was smaller in size, so I guessed the interloper was an older calf or a young heffer. Usually, you can tell the difference in the poop. Calves have a slicker output since they are still taking milk, but the pie was in the water – so no telling who it was.

No matter, I began hauling branches to shore up the north side. I was not prepared with proper clothing, such was my hubris about the thicket I had installed. If anyone ever wonders why they see people working on the ranch in long sleeve shirts in the summer, it is to protect your skin. I was desperate to fix the hole immediately, so I worked despite having shorter sleeves on. My skin was scratched and bruised, but the hole was filled. Oh well. That is life on the range.

Not the half of it. Scrapes and bruises on my arms

Wildflowers

Pretty low growing wildflowers

Several blog posts ago I discussed that David and I planned to cut the grass early this year to see what would grow. It was a good idea that David proposed. We typically leave the grass to grow long thinking that it would protect the top soil and help the soil retain moisture by protecting the soil from wind and shading it. We cut the grass in February and found that we had a proliferation of wildflowers.

Proliferation of white flowers with some orange ones mixed in

The small white flowers that popped up were the same ones that we always see on the cattle road. They are the first to bloom and fill the air with nectar. How exciting it was to have them in such large numbers near the house. The bees are loving them. We also have a proliferation of the small magenta flowers near the house, which we typically see in smaller amounts. Of course, the timing and amount of rain impacts what grows too. Shortening the grass so that the sun could hit the soil and seed significantly contributed to the larger amount of wildflowers. We will continue this practice.

The blue dicks and poppies are blooming. We get both of these regularly. It is so much fun to see the empty stems pop straight up out of nowhere knowing there will be a blanket of purple in a few short weeks. The manzanita planted last year with the Xerces hedgerow kits are blooming. What gorgeous pink blooms. The coyote mint has finally taken off. I am looking forward to their scent. The lupine is growing well, but will not bloom for a little while longer. Lady bugs are all over the plants. What a welcome site. Finally, I found a remarkable surprise – soaproot. I have seen it on the ranch here and there, but the cows always eat it before I can try to protect it. For the first time, I found it in the house enclosure. What a joy. It is a traditional plant my Mi-Wuk cousins used for grooming.

  • Happy poppy
  • Manzanita blooms
  • Soaproot!
  • Lady bug on lupine
  • More poppies
  • Coyote mint
  • Blue dicks on the south hillside

More Butterfly Plants Planted – Milkweeds are Starting to Re-Sprout

A butterfly pad on the north facing slope near solar panels
A pad on the east

I have taken delivery of 36 butterfly plants and have planted 24 so far. The concept is to plant nectar and milkweed together in a group so that there is everything the monarchs need to live, and to plant many of those groups. I am attempting to create butterfly “oasis” or “pads” (like lily pads for frogs) for them to flit from one to the next. In the home enclosure we now have four pads, two milkweed patches, disbursed nectar throughout and two hedgerow sections with nectar plants.

Milkweed sprout

We have already seen six species of butterflies – a whitish one, a mostly black one, a viceroy, some painted ladies (we think – they move so fast), brown with some faint orange in the middle of the wing and brown moth like ones.

Brown with black markings
Brownish butterfly

Other Items

Healthy oak seedling with leaves

Over time, I have felt more comfortable that I know how to protect myself from the virus. With this comfort, I have had a handful of friends and family who I know follow good practices over to hike or have a meal on the patio. I was overjoyed to have my friend Maggie come over for a hike this past weekend. She has a well-trained eye and ear as a naturalist. Besides identifying blue bird calls, poison oak and a red tail, on our hike she spotted a healthy oak seedling. Somehow, it had avoided detection by the cattle. Maggie and I quickly made a brush pile to help protect it. I will go back out this weekend and build a cage around it. It is in a good spot to grow without other oak competition for light. How wonderful to have friends over again and to share the land with another person who loves it.

  • Maggie helps build a pile
  • Maggie with her base started
  • Finished pile

This brush pile is likely not enough to protect it long term. It is fairly small. It may buy me time however to build a cage around it.

We also had the opportunity to go to Odom Creek and check on the willows and mulefat. All were still there and doing really well.

Willow doing well inside the brush pile

In addition to all the planting, I continue to educate myself and participate where I can possibly help. To this end, the CAFF conference was excellent. I leaned about a wide variety of topics that could be helpful to my work, such as financing. I was also asked to join a monarch and rangeland working group tasked with expanding habitat on rangeland. I am not sure what value I will be able to bring, but it was good to meet and learn from so many others. At that meeting, I met Susie Calhoun. She is another land steward building habitat on her family ranch. She and her family are doing a great job. Check out their website to learn more and see some beautiful photos. https://www.3calhounsisters.com/

Cycles and Seeds

a. Californica (heartleaf milkweed) seeds being launched by the wind

This planet is so amazing. It is constantly humming, moving, creating, recycling – and we are all so interdependent. Watching the comet, Neowise, over the last several days very much makes one feel small and that everything we know, everything we do, is just one piece of an immense puzzle. Putting together a butterfly habitat is its own puzzle. The monarchs migrate, so they need ready nectar and milkweeds at a variety of times during their migration. This means that what you choose to plant must have a variety of growing and blooming times.

On the way to water Site 8, I checked on the heartleaf milkweed (a. californica) community closest to the house. They were mostly all gone. What had been a joyous discovery only two months ago, was either completely disappeared or small, wilting bushes, nearly dried out, with brown, crinkled branches lying just under the failing limbs of the once robust plant.

A heartleaf milkweed plant fully spent probably helped along to its current state by a gopher

As I find always with nature, where there is death, there is life. One a. californica was still vertical and in the process of releasing its seed. What a remarkable site! In May, they were just beginning to bloom. Last month, I saw seed pods begin to form. Now, they were dried, open and a carpet of fluff surrounded the plant and adjacent area. It was reproducing. I plan to trim the grass or graze the area hard in February next year. If there is no rain in March, I will water it with the rain water, and I will see if the plants grow.

I also helped the seeds along by picking up a handful and letting the breeze take them.

I turned my attention to looking at the leaves for any signs of a chrysalis. I got lucky – not that I found anything close to a butterfly chrysalis; I found an unopened seed pod! I remembered Ron (Milkweed expert) and I talking about these plants in May, and him saying he might want a pod to propagate the a. californica. Fortunately, it was not too late. I took a close look at the pod. There were what I think are some non-butterfly cocoons and some other items stuck to the pod. I harvested it, and have it inside for more observation. I left a message for Ron. If he no longer wants it, I will go back to the site when the pod fully dries, and attempt to sew the seeds throughout that area. I am not as good as he is by any stretch of the imagination. I won’t waste any seed trying to germinate them myself.

As the a. californica die back, the narrowleaf milkweeds are blooming. I have one blooming in Site 9 and one in Site 8. For a fantastic guide to what butterfly plants bloom and when so that you have a continuous supply of food, visit Xerces Society.

Site 8 is healthy despite the murderous rampage of the wild pigs. The three plants, two narrowleafs and one showy, left growing are doing well. I am still hauling water from the rainwater tanks. As the days get hotter more days in a row and the humidity drops, I get more nervous about driving on the grass. Fortunately, I have been extremely careful. I won’t go out if the humidity is too low, the wind is blowing, or the air is too hot. Also, the truck is very well maintained. There is nothing dragging or dripping. I am working on another solution. More on that in a different blog entry.

The Spring Creek is just barely producing now. Water movement is very, very light. There are, however, still a variety of wildflowers blooming. The bees are enjoying some of them. While watering the deer grass on the creek, I saw a disturbing site – a noxious weed, yellow star thistle – growing in the creek bank. I have not had it on the ranch before and can only guess that the rain events we’ve had, where we get several inches in an hour or within a few hours, are bringing seeds from other places to settle in my area.

A pile of weeded yellow star thistle with deer grass in background

Our former Agricultural Commissioner, Cathi Boze, was always educating on this weed and telling all the ranchers and ag people in her classes or at Farm Bureau meetings how awful it is and what programs were available to eradicate it. It is an invasive plant that is prolific and steals the moisture from native plants that flora and fauna rely on. It is also toxic to horses. You can see why yellow star thistle is a concern to both ag and naturalists.

Beyond providing ecological services on a ranch, such as butterfly-related plantings, there is the normal stewardship ranch owners/managers must provide to ensure the ground is as healthy as possible. Soil and grass are two critical elements that must thrive to produce a healthy food, fiber and/or habitat product. To prevent further spread, I pulled out the entire patch. I always bring/wear my leather gloves with me when I work outside. They are very needed for plants like thistle that have hard spikes. I think I pulled most before they seeded. I will keep a watch for more in that location, and throughout the rest of the ranch.

Not exactly the same spot, but you can orient by the flopped over dead tree in the upper right of the before image’s frame and in the upper left of the after image’s frame.

Ever since the week of the pig incident, the dogs have been extra vigilant as we approach this location. To honor the valued work of my fur babies, I will share some of what they do. They run ahead of me, circle the area with nose to the ground and in the air. They check out more ground that I can cover in the same amount of time. Once they are sure there are no pigs (or other threatening creatures in their opinion – which can include squirrels, ravens and pretty much anything else), they sit close by, watching as I work. In this next set of photos, Millie sits high above where I am working, guarding the area as I am engaged in pulling the thistle out. She takes her job very seriously and so do I.