Welcome

Welcome to the college town in which we now live. Rohnert Park, the official home of Sonoma State University, is a very short drive from our house in Cotati. The above banner stretches across one of the many streets here in Cotati.

The college students are often seen eating in the eateries of downtown Cotati. Others are found working in them as well as in Olivers, the local grocery store.

And while the college students flood back to the area, I have just finished up with the Summer canning. On a recent foray to see Shasta's Auntie T a very large bucket of the Pink Pearl apples were picked from her tree. While several other buckets could have been filled one bucket seemed like what I could handle with the peeling and coring before the cooking and ladling into pint jars for sealing. We will so enjoy eating this beautiful apple sauce this Winter. And Tanis says "they make great holiday gifts".

Whole ripe Pink Pearl apples

Pink Pearl apples cut in half
which is such a stunning beautiful apple
especially for making sauce!

20 pints of totally natural pink applesauce
was reaped from one large bucket of whole apples

Yeah! the seasonal canning has been completed. My focus now is on completing sheet mulching. Today another load of woodchips arrived which will probably be enough to complete the entire yard. Stay tuned for the next post identifying all the native plants purchased for probably November planting. I am so excited looking forward to the fun of planting and creating another native habitat.

Another shout out for the birds . . . we have Goldfinches and Lesser Goldfinches coming to eat the nyger seed provided in one of the cylinder feeders. Both are in  daily quantities I have not seen at either MuRefuge or Santa Fe, New Mexico. However, in Santa Fe quite a few goldfinches did come to ravenously eat the Rocky Mountain penstemon seeds in the Fall. It was so fun watching them go up and down the dried flower stock eating the tiny black seeds. 

When plants are transplanted in a month or so, at least three of these stunningly beautiful plants will call PageRefuge home. I know . . . I know . . . I know I just said I was creating a native habitat! I just cannot resist planting a few of these for the finches. And a Desert Willow has already been planted on the West side of our house for its beautiful flowers and lovely foliage. Since the '80's when I first saw this blooming tree, it has held a special place for me. In Santa Fe I planted two and both flourished, blooming the season after they were put in the soil at San Felipe Circle.

While sheet mulching I thoroughly enjoy many a