Lili Von Shtupp

The other night I was awakened by Sammy growling and looking anxiously outside. I peered into the darkness and saw nothing, and walked the house to be sure, and headed down the hall to the laundry room.

I had just awoken and when I found the back door ajar, my heart skipped a beat, but I peered out into the darkness.   Standing before me was a glowing iridescent white pit bull, staring right into my face. I did what any self respecting person would do at 3 in the morning with an open door and a ghost dog. I slammed it! Hard!

It took a while to calm myself down. What just happened here? I checked the house again, but I couldn't shake the open door and seeing the dog. Did we water out back and forget to close it tight? Did I imagine that white glowing dog in the moonlight? I looked through the peep hole but couldn't see a dog. No way was I opening the door again.

I'm not sure how I talked myself back to sleep, but around 3:30 I drifted off. The Hubs had slept through the whole thing, so imagine his surprise when he rose for work at 4:30 and took the dog out for a pee and met up with a (real live) pit bull.  I was awakened in all that excitement, and we checked her out. She was a sweet little dog other than the breed; a recent momma, by the looks of it, no collar or ID, just hanging out hoping for a little help. Sam sure liked her.

It took a day or so before we chanced letting her in - but we did feed and water her, and kindly gave her somewhere to lay in the shade. We put up signs for her owners knowing her pups must be missing her. We asked around, called the Humane Society to register a found dog, but nobody's called or come by. But by day two it had become clear that our dear Lili Von Shtupp might have been dumped out here on purpose.

What a
terrible thing
to do.

She is a very even tempered and kind dog, accustomed to people and being inside, friendly and good mannered. She and Sam get along wonderfully, and she would be an ideal companion if it weren't for her breed.

There's a twang of guilt as I write this, knowing how selfish it sounds not to want a perfectly good dog because she happened to be born a Pit.  But we have learned since getting Sam that owning a dog is all about fit, if you want it to be part of the family. We love that we can take Sammy everywhere with us - we travel with her, take her to Home Depot and into the shops in Carmel. But sadly, we wouldn't be able to do that with sweet Lili. People are afraid of Pits and they are not welcome in hotels and businesses. Heck, they are not even welcome on public sidewalks or at dog parks.

Lili is a Staffordshire Terrier. Her early ancestors came from England, where until the first part of the 19th century, their bred Bulldogs looked more like Pits than they do today. A Pit Bull is a Bulldog and Terrier mix, that made its way into America around 1870. Pits weren't originally bred for fighting, as the modern myth suggests. Their use in dog fighting is a vicious abuse of a loyal breed by traffickers capitalizing on illegal gambling at the dog's expense.

After much talk, we decided that Lili needs a forever home with loving people who will treasure her. She may not have had a very good life up to this point, but you'd never know it by her kind and gentle nature. We think she may have been forced to have many litters before being discarded when they were done with her. For that reason alone we want to help her find a brighter future.

Please, if you are interested in offering a permanent home, email us here or on FB.

Feedback

We have been hard at work on the repellent formulas.  Now that the black gnats are gone, we are concentrating on a combined formula that will work on a broader variety of flying bugs.

Feedback has been positive for the most part. It smells nice. It goes on well and dries quickly. It works consistently around the house, doing yardwork, at afternoon BBQs and on little hiking and biking excursions. Results are from (so far) Beebe, AK; Coal City, IL; Auburn and other towns in CA; Berthoud, CO; and a couple of places in TX.  Nice first term report card.

Also, the improvement feedback has been great.

One wrote that the product still separates when sitting, and we are working on that.

Another mentioned a lot of the first formula product was necessary, and we agree. The newer formula has a broader spectrum of essential oils and in a stronger solution.

Yet another found the scent overpowering. Naturally repelling plants have a strong (and often unpleasant) odor, and it is challenge to balance them with more pleasant natural scents. This feedback was especially interesting because he suffers from many different allergies and still willingly tried it.

A young man found the first formula not very effective when he was fishing on the lake. We are sending his mom the latest batch to test and compare.

The Illinois Science teacher's students on a field trip to the Everglades (FL) are trying it now. The first group reported back that the formula worked moderately well on land but when they hit the swamp, it gave little or no relief. There are three student groups willing to try and let us know how it works for them.

Back @ home, the swell of dragonflies has begun and that marks the beginning of Dragonfly Season. It is a short and intense two weeks as the mosquito larvae hatch in the first big wave. Dragonflies fill the air just before dusk, thousands of them darting in all directions as the last rays of light catch and reflect their iridescent colors. 

We are more ready for it this year, with bug juice and a camera. What a show.

Striking it Rich

Planter Bed w Decorations

 This place has buried treasure.  There have been plenty of rusty hand tools like trowels and small spades, metal children's farm play toys, shovel tops and long tree spikes that are decorating the planting beds.  There are bird bits and snake skins and squirrel bones. We haven't heard the mourning call of the coyotes echo across the valley yet, in large part because they are being picked off by a neighbor for getting after their animals. That's how it works here, but a little knot still forms in my belly. 

Pomegranate

Living relationships are solid and we are learning how it is. Take for instance the other day at a neighbor's house, we saw some movement in the big tree, and up scampered little things ... one two three four five six! ... raccoon babies.  It was the most delightful moment watching them turn in unison and press their faces together and look down at us. They continued up the tree, turned, worked up farther, turned. Nothing could be cuter than that.

Needs, not wants:  three cameras ~ 1 for the house, 1 for the truck, 1 for the car.

Baby

Astonishingly, it turns out that gangly tree at the edge of the lawn with beautiful bright orange flowers began bearing fruit the other day. I know what these are: Pomegranates!  There is another smaller one in back. The best part of any day is discovering what is hidden in plain sight.

Mission Fig

The drip system is a blessing after the soaring 112 temps two weeks ago. The heat killed off the gnats, too. Gotta love it.  The bug zapper is working OT on mosquitos and the birds have already learned to stop by in the morning for a free, nutritious breakfast.

The self sufficiency of nature continues to amaze, and discovering bits of what remains from one hundred eleven years of planting and living with purpose is our link to the future.

• Enough big trees to entice big birds to roost and they in turn keep down rodents and snakes.
• Enough shade for the house to help protect against wind and sun.
• Enough seasonal fruit - almonds and figs and olives and pomegranates that remain, but many more I can imagine were here - along with a big healthy garden for a bountiful table.

Hawk

Our very first harvest ever is table ready. The olives, in brine from November to May, then were placed in a 5 day water bath before being grouped into five different marinades and 12 different combinations of herbs and spices. They empower us to do more. Next up is learning how to preserve, dehydrate and can.

La Bella Vita

I shined up my ring for the occasion. When you take a thought slash idea into the world of action it is, as it turns out, a very big deal. 

This day was made for making the rounds - first to the County Recorder's Office (for a fictitious business license), then to the Planning and Public Works Department (for a Business license), and finally to the bank to open a business account.

We talked it up and wrote it down, gave away samples and that is how CityFolk Farmers was put on the map. I want to be consumed by the newness of it, the excited promise and hopefulness of looking ahead. There's a baby in the family again, something to nurture and grow.

I know it will stretch us farther and work us harder than we thought possible, but not today. Today we are honeymooning with License 2013501, with dogs at our feet, ripe figs on the tree, a garden of green things, and olives on the table from our very first harvest.

We are also just days from the first anniversary of closing escrow and getting the keys. Life was full of so many dreams and plans, and concerns, too, about what lay ahead. Looking back, what I see now is that we couldn't imagine how good it would be.

Year 1, down.

The Rumsey Lavender Farm

We headed into the Capay Valley over the weekend to check out the Rumsey Lavender Festival.

Rumsey turned out to be not too different than Zamora, other than having three times more people and being less developed, probably because of its remote location.  You get there by taking windy, country two lane roads.

The farm is small, just a few acres, with some big oaks and fruit and olives dotted around. Rosemary and Oleander and Grapes grow wild on the perimeter and in the center are rows and rows of lavender. They have six varieties planted - three American and three English varieties.

We were too late for the farm tour, and so wandered around and tasted some free samples ... lavender shortbread cookies, lavender mint iced tea, lavender brownies, and lavender lemonade.  The recipes were printed and sitting in a basket next to the food table for visitors to take home. Everything was good, but the lavender lemonade was exceptional. We came home and first thing made up a batch. We didn't have enough fresh lemons on hand, so we substituted bottled juice which still tasted okay. You can really tell the difference, though.

They had little lavender bushes for sale, and we picked up two Hidcote and two Buena Vista, both of them English varieties. We have six American lavender in the ground already - and these will be a nice compliment with their deep purple flowers in a more compact, rounded bush. The English lavendar is quite fragrant and striking.

The Rumsey Lavender Farm sells year round the most wonderfully fragrant body sprays and lanolin based moisturizers, warming oil, soaps, and of course small vials of essential oils.  They are an organic farm, as well. http://cachecreeklavender.com 

In the shade under the tree was a jazz quartet playing smooth background music, and situated near the arts and crafts table where children made things to take home.  A local vintner offered wine tasting if you wanted to do that, and local wines were for sale.

We learned about the different varieties and their use, and snipped two large bunches of blooms to bring home. The fragrance in the air was unbelieveable.

We sprayed down with our homemade mosquito repellent before going and walked with confidence right between the rows with bees hovering all around. We actually were able to reach in and snip stems and the bees agreeably moved out of the way. That's a definite first for me.

It was enchanting. I have never been that close to a lot of bees, right among them, as they happily fed on the nectar.  I am allergic and have been afraid of them all my life. But since moving to the farm with hives all around, it has been great to get over some of that and learn to appreciate and trust them more ... especially with an Epi-Pen in the medicine cabinet. :)

All in all, it was a pretty great day.

Step A

Done

Honest Progress

Every week is an interesting one around our place, and this was no different.  Right after Memorial Day, a local radio station mentioned the BlogSpot on the air at the end of a piece on Black Gnats and how there is no known repellent. Okay...if stuff like that is going to happen, we'd better get serious with developing a product. (!!)

F533113 from the weekend test turned out to be stronger and long lasting, and has more varieties of essential oils. It is still gentle and natural and sweet smelling, but the percentage of essential oils increased to see how that would affect its effectiveness. A SuperHero Garden Club member applied it at 6:30 am and didn't need to reapply until 11am, but the Hubs and I reapplied about every 3 to 3 1/2 hours to be on the safe side. That was a huge improvement over the last formula which repelled bugs but lasted about 2 hours before needing to reapply.

No bites. But we did notice a little interest from the bee population. Hmmm. Looks like we need to cut back a little on the vanilla!

Eight small bottles are on their way to the Florida Everglades next week, and today we get feedback from someone returning from Hawaii. A family in Oklahoma who is surrounded by floodwater from the tornados asked for a sample with temps heading into the 80s by the weekend. They expect to be inundated by mosquitos in no time. Crossing my fingers it works for her there.

We also dropped some off to the neighbors who are harvesting now, and they will use it right away.  That will be especially helpful to see how they like it. After all, Yolo is our home and the gnats and mosquitos are why we started on this journey.

There is a lot ahead - shelf life and storage needs, and what sitting in a backpack for a weeklong hike will do to the formula. Can it sit in direct sun at the beach? Or in cold weather on a shelf in the garage?  How many lavender flowers does it take to make a vial of essential oil and what is the extraction process?

Online hints and suggestions have been very helpful. We have also ordered several books to learn more about essential oils, their medicinal properties and chemical inter-relationships. It is insightful to see what online people are combining and what works and doesn't work for them. For instance, last night I learned that several of the essential oils thought to repel spiders are commonly used for other purposes. Peppermint. Citronella. Lavender.

There's a Lavender Festival at a Lavender Farm in Yolo County on Saturday -- we will swing by as early as possible, with triple-digit temps expected by the afternoon. The weekends fly by, I can promise you that!