Woman in electric blue Mary Janes reading a paperback while walking
Bunches of boys on bikes
Cucumber seedlings set out at the market
Small girl with flower-ringed bun being walked to ballet
100 year old pocket park
Metal chairs on front porches
Cupolas, a flag in the breeze
Dinner special on restaurant chalkboard
Old couple walking with canes
Smell of wild onions
Crack of baseball bat on ball
Dappled sunlight
Hope
Photos by Susan Sachs Lipman
Posted in Community, Odes, Seasons, Snapshot
Tagged Larkspur, Marin, Photography, Poetry, Small Town, Small Town Life, Spring
County and state fairs are wonderful, traditional summer events. They offer down-home fun for people of all ages — rides, carnival games, contests, shows, and farming and animal exhibits. If you’re in California, which has a whopping 58 counties, chances are there’s a county fair near you right now. Even the California State Fair is happening now.
For me, the animal exhibits and contests are at the top of the list of things that make a great fair what it is. As a non-farmer, I can get educated about farm animals and the work and culture of breeding, caring for and showing them. Farmers, breeders and interested youth can also showcase their skills and work. In very rural areas, fairs offer rare opportunities for busy farmers to interact, to show and to see what others are doing.
Animal exhibits have been a part of American county and state fairs ever since 1807, when farmer and mill owner Elkanah Watson showcased his sheep in the public square in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. According to StateFairRecipes.com, he clanged an old ship’s bell to attract attention. His goal was to encourage local farmers to raise Merino sheep, so that his mill would receive superior quality wool. By the late 1800s, county and state fairs were occurring all over the U.S.
Each fair bears the unique imprint of its geographic area. My favorite local county fair is the Sonoma-Marin Fair, which occurs in Petaluma, CA, in late June. I recently posted a pictorial of the fair rides and games. Now it’s time to highlight the animal exhibits.
Of course, the cows are a favorite. We appreciate our weekly delivery of local Straus Creamery milk.
The chicken coop was moved to a bigger, breezier area. It’s always fun to see (and hear) the regal roosters, hens and chickens.
Hog races were a new addition this year. The caller and operation came all the way from Arkansas.
We spent a long time in the sheep and goat barn.
And we took in a Sheep Showmanship competition of 4H and Future Farmers of America youth. We were impressed with the participants’ diligence and sheep handling, as well as with the seriousness of the competition, the obvious work and skill involved, and the sheep themselves. This site explains sheep show judging.
See photos of last year’s fair’s pig showmanship competition and more.
Watch for the final installment about the Sonoma Marin Fair: The Food.
Photos by Susan Sachs Lipman
Posted in Butter and Egg, Community, Field Trip, Nature
Tagged 4H, Animal Photography, California State Fair, County Fairs, Fair Animal Exhibits, Fair History, Farm Animals, Farming, Marin, Petaluma, Photography, Sheep, Sheep Showmanship, Sonoma, Sonoma-Marin Fair, Sonoma-Marin Milkman, State Fairs, Straus Family Creamery, Summer
I love summer’s county and state fairs, none more than our local Sonoma-Marin Fair, in Petaluma, which has come and gone this year. The Marin fair is closer, and the Sonoma fair bigger, but frankly, this one that we latched onto many years ago (before Anna was even born) is the keeper. It’s a wonderful combination of farm animals and agricultural events; classic rides, games and food; a wide midway for strolling; country performers; and down-home exhibits and contests that recall simpler times when people came to fairs to show their baking and animal-handling prowess and to be exposed to new things.
Here are some photos from last year’s fair. This year, I took so many, that I divided them into sections. Come along and ride the thrilling and classic fair rides and soak up the atmosphere and draw of the traditional fair games on a summer day and dusk in June.
I love this Falling Star sign so much, I took movies of it!
Coming up: Fair farm events and food.
Photos by Susan Sachs Lipman
Posted in Community, Field Trip, Vintage
Tagged Carnival Rides, Carnivals, County Fairs, Fair Games, Fair Rides, Fairs, Marin, Petaluma, Photography, Sonoma, Sonoma-Marin Fair, Summer
On Saturday, some friends and I participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count, a 4-day event that is winding down today. We had great fun and saw lots of birds while hiking around the Las Gallinas Wildlife Ponds in San Rafael, CA, a nearby place I’d never visited before! There’s still time to join this and other bird counts. In fact, they’re part of an ongoing effort by the Audubon Society and Cornell Lab of Ornithology to track, learn about, and assist bird populations. Here is complete information about bird counts and how you can get involved. In the meantime, enjoy our walk with us.
We immediately spotted lots of birds in the nearby trees, such as Yellow-Rumped Warblers, Red-Winged Blackbirds, House Wrens, and these Finches, both male (top) and female.
The large ponds were teeming with bird life, both on water and in the trees. It was amazing what I could see in the trees with binoculars. It was as if a hidden world opened up. There were birds everywhere — white glints of gulls, herons, and egrets. (I admit I’m not sure what kinds. My friends, and their kids, were all much better classifiers than me.) Flocks of Canada Geese flew by and we did our best to count/guess how many there were.
In the water were Avocets, and these graceful Black-Necked Stilts.
Plenty of ducks and geese swam by and called noisily to one another. Ducks we spotted included the poetically named Northern Pintail, Cinnamon Teal, Ruddy Duck, and, of course, the lovely emerald-headed Mallard.
I’ll never forget the first time I saw a Red-winged Blackbird. It took me a moment to register the bright orange-red color on the tops of their wings. These seem in repose, watching a duck.
We found a great stand of trees, hosting lots of bird life. (Quickly moving bird life, that seemed to sense when you were closing in with a camera, before flying away.) We were able to identify Robins and these Western Bluebirds.
I quietly followed this Great Egret for a while. I liked the way he mozeyed down the trail, taking his time (Slow Egret?), before sticking his neck out.
This tree was full of noisy, cheery blackbirds.
You can listen to a group of blackbirds, seemingly signaling spring.
The tally for the Bird Count got entered online. As of mid-day Monday, there had been 46,912 checklists submitted, 553 species observed, and 4,531,433 individual birds counted. In a little over an hour, we contributed 170 birds in 24 species to the list in order to help the Bird Count get a snapshot of bird activity over a busy, migrating weekend in February.
As for me, the activity really whet my appetite to do more bird watching and counting. Who knows? One day I might be able to identify those white birds in the trees.
Photos by Susan Sachs Lipman
You might like these other citizen science projects.
Posted in Deck Garden, Field Trip, Nature, Porch Swing, The Great Outdoors
Tagged Audubon Society, Bird Photos, Birding, Birds, Black-Necked Stilt, Blackbird Song, Citizen Science, Egret, Finch, Great Backyard Bird Count, Las Gallinas, Mallard, Marin, Marin Birds, Nature, Nature Activities, Photography, Red-Winged Blackbird, Western Bluebird
I just got wind of the late winter return of several Coho salmon to their habitat in Marin County’s Lagunitas watershed. This is particularly wonderful news because this had been a year of especially low sightings of this beautiful, endangered salmon.
This weekend is the last one of the season in which to take a Creekwalk to see the salmon, led by a trained naturalist. My family and I have done this 2-hour walk and it is terrific. You walk beautiful streams and learn a great deal about salmon, their habits and habitat.
There are two tours daily, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., Saturday & Sunday, January 30 and 31.
Creekwalks begin from the San Geronimo Valley Community Center, 6350 Sir Francis Drake Blvd. There is a small suggested donation. Plenty more information is available on the SPAWN (Salmon Protection and Waterwork Network) Creekwalk page.
Even with a low count, the salmon season has had its share of excitement. SPAWN has a great naturalist blog, which goes into vivid detail about salmon sightings and other activities in the creeks and on the trails.
This is a great explanation from Alaska fisherman Mark Glassmaker about how salmon spawn. U.S. Fish & Wildlife offers a no-frills page that has a lot of good information about salmon life cycle and spawning habits, as well as some information on various species and their rates of extinction.
Whether or not you take advantage of a Creekwalk this weekend, you can certainly celebrate the return of the Coho and what it says about the health and renewal of our ecosystem.
Photos: Public Domain, Susan Sachs Lipman
Posted in Field Trip, Nature, Seasons, Sustainability, The Great Outdoors, Vanishing Breed
Tagged Coho, Coho Salmon, Creekwalks, Ecosystem, Fish, Lagunitas, Marin, Migration, Nature, Nature Activities, Salmon, Salmon Spawning, SPAWN, Sustainability, Winter
Few people can resist the delights offered by a pumpkin farm. They’re wonderful places for urban and suburban families to slow down just enough to feel the turning of the year and maybe try some harvest or other activities from times past. And, of course, there are the pumpkins themselves — jolly orbs that lay in profusion among pastures until you, the visitor, pick the most perfect among them to take home.
With Halloween almost upon us, most pumpkin farms have gone into high gear, with lots of activities over longer hours, and a host of pumpkins still available for the picking. Included in this listing are working farms and special pumpkin patches in the North, East and South Bays.
North Bay
Peterson’s Pumpkins and Dried Flowers, Petaluma
This working farm opens to the public for Halloween. Families may visit on weekends or after 2 on weekdays. In addition to two large, natural pumpkin fields, Peterson’s has lots of animals to feed and pet, including chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, cows, ponies, rabbits, pigs, calves, and a very big but gentle bull known as Wooly Monster. There are also fresh vegetables, flowers, free-range eggs, and an observational bee hive, all in a very intimate farm setting.
See the Peterson’s web site for directions and more information.
Peter Pumpkin Patch, Petaluma
This large, beautifully situated pumpkin farm in the Chileno Valley is also the home of Spring Hill Jersey Cheese. Visitors can milk a cow or dig for potatoes in a potato field, in addition to buying some of the best homemade ice cream around (pumpkin and vanilla) and specialty farmstead cheeses.
See the Peter Pumpkin Patch web site for directions and more information.
Adobe Pumpkin and Flower Farm
This 30-acre farm has thousands of pumpkins and gourds for the picking, along with U-cut zinnias and sunflowers, and vegetables. Adobe also has a great corn maze, a hay ride, a haunted barn, a jump house, animals, crafts, and food and live entertainment on weekends.
See the Adobe Farms web site for directions and more information.
Nicasio Valley Farms, Nicasio
Along with a large, picturesque pumpkin field, Nicasio Valley Farms offers U-pick strawberries, lots of gourds, and a farmstand featuring a complete array of fresh organic vegetables, as well as eggs, breads and cheeses. There is a hay ride, a hay maze and a jump house.
Call Nicasio Valley Farms at (415) 662-9100 for directions and more information.
East Bay
Smith Family Farm, Brentwood
Smith Family Farm has been in the same family for three generations and offers lots of great old-time activities on its large farm. There’s a leisurely tractor-pulled hay ride out to the pumpkin field, a corn maze, a hay maze, displays of antique farm equipment, live entertainment in a barn, a host of animals, and lots of fresh U-pick produce. The farm offers lots of places to picnic and play in a large, varied ranch setting.
See the Smith Valley Farm web site for directions and more information.
Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm, Clayton
Clayton Valley Pumpkin Farm, at the base of Mount Diablo, features a large variety of pumpkins and squash in all shapes and even colors. This working farm offers lots of fun activities for all ages, including a trackless train, a playland featuring old-fashioned games, and plenty of farm animals. The farm represents a part of the area’s rural past that is largely disappearing.
See the Clayton Valley Farm web site for directions and more information.
Joan’s Farm and Pumpkin Patch, Livermore
This large, pretty working farm offers a taste of the Old West: There’s an Old West town, gold panning, antique farm equipment, a museum, and more. There’s also a large corn maze, hay rides, farm animals, and a farmstand with fresh produce for sale.
See the Joan’s Farm web site for directions and more information.
South Bay
Half Moon Bay bills itself as the “Pumpkin Capitol of the World” for good reason. Many people know about its yearly Art and Pumpkin Festival, which occurs each year in mid-October. Less well-known is the bounty of area farms, many of which have been in families for generations, along Highways 1 and 92.
Farmer John’s Pumpkin Farm, Half Moon Bay
This delightful pumpkin patch offers an extremely large variety of pumpkins, all grown on-site. This working farm also features a hay pyramid, scarecrows, play areas, a Native American tipi, cornrows, U-pick sunflowers, and an antique John Deere tractor. The farm is wheelchair-accessible.
See the Farmer John’s Pumpkin Farm web site for directions and more information.
Arata’s Pumpkin Farm, Half Moon Bay
Open since 1932, Arata’s is one of the oldest working pumpkin farms in the Bay Area. In addition to pumpkins, enjoy pony rides, animals, a hay ride, and a huge hay maze — clearly a labor of love — constructed out of 10,000 bales of hay.
See the Arata’s Pumpkin Farm web site for directions and more information.
Little Creek Ranch Pumpkin Farm, Half Moon Bay
Just up the road from Arata’s, Little Creek is a delightful family farm and pumpkin patch suitable for very young children. Pumpkins lay far apart on flat ground, so there are no vines to trip over. The entire pumpkin area is surrounded by low hay bales. There is a play structure and pony rides, along with other animals.
Call Little Creek Ranch at (650) 726-2765 for directions and more information.
Pastorino Farms, Half Moon Bay
Pastorino Farms dates from the 30s and is known today for its huge assortment of pumpkins, along with its big orange-and-black decorated barn. Pastorino offers train rides around a small track, a jump house, pony rides, and a petting zoo. Hand-made signs that identify the many different types of pumpkins, some of them quite unusual. Also nice is the farm’s large selection of Halloween decorations and kitchen wares.
See the Pastorino Farms web site for directions and more information.
Lemos Farm, Half Moon Bay
A working farm since 1942, this popular, charming spot offers lots of activities for all ages, especially young children. In addition to a good selection of pumpkins, Lemos Farm features pony rides, hay rides, a hay maze, a train for small children, a toddler-oriented play zone, haunted houses for older and younger children, and animals you can feed and pet. Lemos Farm retains a great deal of charm from the South Bay’s rural past.
See the Lemos Farm web site for directions and more information.
Have fun!
Photos by Susan Sachs Lipman
Posted in Butter and Egg, Field Trip, Holidays, Nature, Seasons, The Great Outdoors
Tagged Autumn, Bay Area, East Bay, Fall, Farms, Half Moon Bay, Harvest, Marin, Nature, Pumpkin Patches, Pumpkins, Slow Food, Sonoma
Our family just completed a wonderful road trip to Portland Oregon, with stops at the Drive-Thru Redwood Tree, near Leggett, CA; the historic Victorian houses of Eureka, CA; the Rogue Valley Creamery in Central Point, OR, the Enchanted Florist chocolate tasting bar in Ashland, OR; and numerous diners, coffee houses, sushi bars, vintage stores, bookstores,and fun neighborhoods along the way.
Many photos of our trip will be forthcoming.
When we drove back into our driveway, an owl swooped over our car, we believe to a nesting place in redwoods near our house. We stopped the car and quietly got out, to see two owls perched in a nearby tree. We stayed with them a bit, and one came even closer and sat on the railing of our front porch. He seemed especially interested in Anna — we didn’t know if it was her light blue shirt or her lightness of spirit.
We all just watched them (and they us). It was amazing to be that close to an owl, and I wondered if it would ever happen again. The owl’s eyes were huge, black and blinking. He/she really did look wizened. The feathers formed a beautiful pattern. The whole head swiveled to see things.
While we were watching, the largest (and closest) owl coughed up a whole pellet of a mouse or other rodent! It was large, black and wet.
We figured the owls had become comfortable in our absence, and hoped they’d continue to make our home theirs. (We’d seen Northern Spotted Owls before, in summer, but they never seemed to linger.)
Since seeing our owls, we’ve learned that they are on the government’s Endangered Species List, with fewer than 1,500 pairs left in their habitat, the Pacific Northwest, from Northern California through British Columbia. They thrive in old-growth forests that offer a combination of redwoods, cedar, and fir, and those are fairly rare, with many having been lost to logging. (So, indeed, this is the same owl that was made famous by logging/environmentalist feuds.) Marin County is said to be relatively dense with Northern Spotted Owls.
Update: We saw the owls again, a couple days later, still watching Anna. Perhaps they’ve nested here!
Photos by Susan Sachs Lipman
Posted in Nature, Porch Swing, Road Trip, Sustainability, The Great Outdoors
Tagged Endangered Species, Environment, Marin, Nature, Northern Spotted Owl, Owls, Pacific Northwest, Sustainability
Marin County and the Bay Area are blessed with an abundance of natural beauty, open space and trails. This region is also the home of true pioneers in the Land Trust Movement, such as the Trust for Public Land, Golden Gate National Recreation Area, the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, and the group that may have started them all, back in the early 70s, my own neighborhood Homestead Valley Land Trust.
It took vision, those years ago, to realize that our pristine open space would be developed into housing tracts without fierce protectors and enormous public support. The Homestead Valley Land Trust, like so many others, usually works modestly, behind the scenes, weeding, monitoring and maintaining the land, so that my family and I can literally walk out our front door and enjoy a beautiful trail hike, watching the seasonal flow of wildflowers and wildlife, as if the modern world hadn’t interfered at all.
Unfortunately, not everyone feels the same way. The Land Trust was recently in the news when a homeowner who abutted a popular trail encroached onto the land and claimed it as their own, with their own elaborate backyard landscaping.
This happens a lot, and it’s usually not an accident. People move into homes and find the long-time trails a nuisance and seek to close them off and privatize them. Or they illegally spread their homes and land onto the open space. I feel very strongly that our local (and taxpayer-supported) trails remain open for use by everyone — for recreation, for walking to school and other destinations, and for emergency egress from homes.
Another local group, Mill Valley’s Steps, Lanes and Paths, has also worked tirelessly to this end, by maintaining and marking paths and encouraging people to use them, so that it will be more common knowledge that our town has a wonderful system of stairs and paths leading up into the hills and out to the trails of Mt. Tamalpais and beyond.
A century ago, Mill Valley was a railroad town, and commuters returning from San Francisco would disembark from the train, retrieve their lanterns and head up the paths to their hillside homes. A young girl from those days wrote that, when it was dark, the lanterns lights winked and shone like fireflies.
I wrote a letter to the Marin Independent Journal, praising our tireless, passionate stewards of open space. My surroundings, and my daily life, would indeed be different without their work. The full letter is here.
Ring Mountain in Tiburon was also saved from development. Mt. Tamalpais is seen in the background. More about my recent Ring Mountain wildflower hike is here.
Photo by Susan Sachs Lipman
You could forgive us Bay Area types for going gaga for the outdoors in Spring. This is our time of year. The hills are green and spotted with wildflowers, so that they appear Alpine. The blue Bay glistens. The sun shining, the ferry boat captains sound their gleeful air horns, their vessels trailing streaks of foam.
Come July, we’ll be bundled in woolens while people in less maritime summer climates swat mosquitoes from lawn chairs, the sun still hanging in the sky at Nine.
Think about it: One 4th of July, when my daughter was little, she was given a prize at a BBQ for “Best Red Coat”. A coat!
But for now we bask in the sun, walk the trails, plant our own gardens, and marvel at the special wildflowers that need no planting, but faithfully — seemingly magically — return … with perhaps a little pollination push from a bee, a hummingbird, or the wind. Fairy Lanterns, Lady’s Tresses — Their names can be as whimsical and fleeting as they are.
Recently, on Ring Mountain in Tiburon, I had the good fortune to spot some special flowers and enjoy world-class views, all while getting a little workout on nature’s stairmaster. Ring Mountain happens to be home to the Tiburon Mariposa Lily, which grows nowhere else on the planet, but which isn’t due out until about June. It also happens to have been largely saved from developers by Phyllis Ellman, among others. (Thank you!) The main trail bears Phyllis’ name.
Suncups greeted me on my path. They were once used to scent wine, but I couldn’t smell anything.
I love the romantic, viney Vetch, as I do anything in the pea family.
“If the weather you would tell, Look at the Scarlet Pimpernel.” So it is said of this “Poor Man’s Weather Glass,” whose flowers open in sun and close when rain nears.
An Oakland Star Tulip sighting! Also known as the Oakland Mariposa Lily, it’s rare and stunning.
After a little climb, I was greeted by Milk Maids.
And pretty Blue-Eyed Grass, a cousin of the Iris.
And, Ta da! Poppies, the California State Flower. Spanish explorers, spying carpets of them, called California “Tierra del Fuego”, “Land of Fire”. Native Americans used Poppies to treat headaches and insomnia. I read that they were also used as some sort of love charm, but since it’s illegal to pick wildflowers, I didn’t get the chance to test the Poppy mojo.
Shooting Stars are magical. According to my “Discover California Wildflowers” book, Native American women wore them in their hair for ceremonies.
Another vintage plant, Mountain Pennyroyal, is still used to make a soothing tea, as it was for early settlers.
Irises love nice shady spots and are often found in groups. They’re so majestic and a thrill to come upon. In Greek mythology, Iris, the messenger of the Gods, was personified by a rainbow.
A Checker-Bloom: Another lovely sighting.
After a climb, I was rewarded with green hills and this stunning view across Richardson Bay to San Francisco.
600 feet up the mountain is Turtle Rock, a huge metamorphic boulder that was once on the ocean floor. I touched it to feel its history.
Some of the white serpentine rock on Ring Mountain is over 165 million years old and originated deep in the Earth’s mantle. The area is a rich geologic diary.
Looking across the fields into the network of paths put me in mind of the area’s Rancho past. Until it became Open Space (and narrowly averted development), Ring Mountain was owned by the first official Land Grantee in Marin, John Reed, and his generations of descendants. Cattle grazed on beautiful ranch land.
I drank in the view of Mt. Tamalpais and the Gold Field-dotted hills. It was hard to leave.
A Smattering of Gold Fields and Poppies.
I paused to take in some old-fashioned Tidy Tips.
On the way down, a solid gray snake slithered across my path. I did not stop to take a picture of it.
I felt like I had gone back into history, being among ancient land and grazing fields, where you can still look across to the same views from hundreds of years ago, still imagine the land when it was just being built on, and before. I felt fortunate to be alive on a stunning Spring day, taking time to notice the signs of Spring’s renewal, both subtle and grand, each delicate wildflower a fresh discovery.
To get to Ring Mountain, enter from Paradise Drive, coming from either Corte Madera or Tiburon. The trailhead is just west of Marin Country Day School. The Phyllis Ellman Loop Trail is 1.76 miles and very easy to follow.
These books were helpful in identifying wildflowers and providing other information:
Wildflowers of Marin, Lilian McHoul, Celia Elke
Discover California Wildflowers, MaryRuth Casebeer
California Spring Wildflowers, Philip A. Munz
Open Spaces, Lands of the Marin County Open Space District, Barry Spitz
Photos by Susan Sachs Lipman
Posted in Field Trip, The Great Outdoors
Tagged Flowers, Hikes, Hiking, Marin, Nature, Open Space, Phyllis Ellman, Ring Mountain, Spring, Wildflowers
