Lovin' the Rancho life (a post from guest writer WWOOFer Ladybug)

With the U-Pick garden up and running we have had many daily visits from supporting neighbors and friends gathering up big baskets of our fresh and tasty goodness grown with love. The garden resembles a rainbow of mouth watering delight with tons of bright leafy green lettuce, zukes and cukes bulging deep purple eggplant and onions, bright blue broccoli, and soon to be juicy red tomatoes! Now that the the garden is flourishing we will be hauling the goods to the Saturday Farmers Market, alternating between Lakeview (where we'll be this Saturday) and Cedarville each week. Meet us there to peruse the produce and chat about our Organic methods.

Sue, Natalie, and Micaela goofing around at last week's Farmer's Market in Cedarville.

This week has also been filled with "hello's" and "fare thee Wells" as Locavore Farm has received 4 new WWOOFers, just a few days shy of sending off our good friend Phoenix and his amazing mutt Abbey to venture onward. The new arrivals consist of Noah & Micaela visiting us from the East coast, as well as Joey & Libby coming up from the Bay Area to help out with the daily grind of weeding, planting, committing aphid homicide and dreaming up many exciting projects for the farm. As of today the new Chook house is drawn up and being pieced together, while a railing for the stairwell down to the U-Pick garden is also being constructed.

WWOOFers doing their thing in the field.

Noah and Phoenix

We are all enjoying the pattern of farm life here at Rancho Love Joy Peace. How refreshing to rise with the sun to the song of the babbling creek as it rambles by WWOOFer's Hollow, arriving at the Hornet's Nest to a hearty breakfast, then on to some good solid energy exertion in the mid morning heat (how good it is to break a sweat!), before breaking for a feast of delicious home grown goodness and a rejuvenating nap. Lazy afternoons of cooling off in the creek, strumming guitars and just enjoying the wonderful company of such dynamic and interesting personalities.
Winding down at dusk to the crickets singing their lullaby to the sleepy sun as she dips her head behind the sage brush covered terrain, watching as the stars wink their shining faces overhead. We love to walk across the dirt path to the hot springs by starlight and bathe in the soothing heat, washing away the dust of the day and letting our weary limbs soak in the mystical healing waters while gazing at the heavens and exchanging thoughts and dreams with people who were strangers only days ago but now seem like soul mates. How lucky we all are, how blessed to have such a place in existence, and such good people drawn to the powerful energy of such special land!

Let's Pick!

Even though the U-Pick is not yet officially open, we've had a few visitors, and yesterday we actually had our first U-Pick sale - our new WWOOFer Natalie showed our neighbor Lili where the zucchini squash, cabbage, and onions were, and the long drive to Cedarville for dinner produce was avoided. We can hardly wait till more of our neighbors are coming to visit us when the U-Pick is officially open!

Natalie and Lili with the very first U-Pick bounty.

We said goodbye last week to our wonderful longer-term WWOOFers Amanda and Philip, who saw the field go from dirt and weeds to harvested and growing abundance. They helped to create this year's farm, laying irrigation, suffering with the pump and the no-see-ums, and helping to make spring at Locavore Farms a wonderful season. Thank you and safe travels to you!

Philip surveying the landscape from Bidwell Mountain

Goodbye, Philip and Amanda! Thank you for being part of our life at the farm!

Now the beans that Philip, Amanda, Kaitlin, and Rose planted are flowering and will soon be full of deliciousness, the cabbage and cauliflower are nearly ready to pick, the potatoes are producing babies, we have squash and chard to harvest every single day - and weeds for Natalie and Laurie to attack and vanquish! The thermometer is in the 80's every afternoon, and the afternoon breezes stir the stillness that takes over a world of animals hiding from the heat. These are precious days, like all days, and we're rooting for the melons and tomatoes to take advantage and do their things. Come on melons and beans! Come on onions, broccoli, and eggplant! Come on U-Pickers! It's summer again!

One of the many kinds of beans we have coming up at the farm!

Starting to See Delicious Results

Amanda with some beautiful radishes

The summer weather pattern has finally set in - warm, sunny days with breezy afternoons (and sometimes the promise of a little thunder shower), early bright mornings and balmy evenings. The plants are loving it and we're starting to see the miracles happen every day right before our eyes.

Philip found the first baby squash.

This is a precious time in our very short growing season, and we're grateful to have the help of our wonderful volunteer WWOOFers. We were so lucky to have Claire and Chris visit us for 3 weeks while they were on holiday from their home in the UK - they were simply a joy. We wish them the very best and will make good on our promise to send them some of the produce they made possible by spending so many hours in the dirt weeding. Thank you, Claire and Chris, for your unending positivity and energy! You catapulted many projects forward in your short time at the farm! Plus, chocolate beetroot cake!

The Hugelkultur is planted and hosting squash, cucumbers, and many tomatoes that would otherwise have been doomed to the compost pile, along with volunteer squash and potatoes. The chickens will be laying before long, and they are enjoying their time in the chicken corral and Chez Poulet, the temporary predator-proof hutch, but it's almost time to build them a proper house. Lots to do as always. Today's activities are pretty typical, really, of a Modoc summer: up early to harvest, then to the Farmers' Market, a quick stop at the 4th of July parade in Lake City (and we snuck into the end of the parade, even though we didn't have the official parade Farm Truck), then home again for naps, a dip in the creek, and a quiet, lazy afternoon. Soon it will be cool enough to hit the weeds in the onion beds and to start the irrigation going. After a bit more work on the farm, it will be dinner made with love from local ingredients and maybe a stroll up the hill to look for fireworks, then to bed for an early start again tomorrow, filled with more friends, adventures, and lessons from nature.

We don't really need to say it, but we're really lucky to be here on the farm.