Outdoor Wednesday / Almond Harvest~

Yay! Harvest is over for another year, and I thought

I would show you some of the photos that I've taken over the years of the scenery around our almond orchard.

I also thought, I would tell you and show you a little bit about the harvesting process too!

For those of you who could care less about almond harvesting, well...

I hope you'll at least enjoy my photos!

(you can click to enlarge all photos)

The photo above and below I took of our neighbors really large pond, with their barn and the Sutter Buttes in the background.

For those of you who have never heard of the Sutter Buttes, they are the worlds smallest mountain range.

Just a little bit of trivia for ya right there!

This photo above I took from inside our orchard with our neighbors goat pen in the background.

This photo above is the view across the street.


These photos were taken in the springtime when everything is green and beautiful!

I guess this isn't really a seasonally correct time to show these but oh well... maybe my next post will be about Autumn!!


This photo above is of the view from the back of the orchard, beautiful and unspoiled.
Unfortunately someone bought the property since this photo and turned this gorgeous view into their equipment yard. Can you believe it!

Well at least now they are planting an olive grove there that hopefully when it's mature will camouflage all their machinery!

Here's hubby!


This photo was taken at sunset... my favorite time of day. So many beautiful shadows accenting the landscape.


Hubby here again, with bee hives in the background at spring bloom.
If you want an almond crop you have to bring in bees for pollination.

Unfortunately, In resent years prices for bees have quadrupled,
due to bee colony collapse disorder.

Another photo of the bloom.

Pedals are falling, it kinda looks like pink snow!
The almond trees usually bloom in February,

then by August the nuts are mature and it's time for harvest.

Ha ha! How many times have you read the words

"nuts" and "mature" in the same sentence!

Oh my goodness, I just crack myself up!!

Speaking of cracking... when the hulls of the nut crack open,

you're about 3 weeks or so from starting harvest.

We grow 4 different varieties of almonds. Approximately 2/3 of our orchard are Non-pariels, they are they earliest variety to be harvested.

The others are ready about two weeks later.

Non-pariels they are also a premium nut that sell for a higher price than other varieties.

The first stage of harvest is to shake the almonds off the tree with a tree shaker.

Watch here in this You Tube video I found.

After the nuts have dried on the ground for a few days, the next step is to sweep the nuts into a pile down the center of each row, as shown in the next video.

Then the nuts are ready to be picked up with the harvester, or what we call the "pick up machine".

Here's a link below to another video that I couldn't embed here.

I really liked it because it has some cool music and it also shows the harvester picking up the almonds from the center rows.

You Tube-Almond Harvest

*****
So, there you have it in a nutshell!!

hehehe!

Omgosh, there I go crackin myself up again!

Okay everyone, class is over now and you may be excused!!

Only there is a short little assignment...

Just write a brief comment and hit the publish button

and you're guaranteed a "A"!!! :)

Then head over to Susan's at

A Southern Daydreamer

and visit her and the other Outdoor Wednesday participants!

Thanks for stopping by for a peek!

Your Friendly (nutty?) California Almond Grower!

Sherri:)

Outdoor Wednesday~Secret Garden

Hello friends! and thanks for stopping by for another

Outdoor Wednesday.

Hosted by Susan at

A Southern Daydreamer

Please be sure to visit her blog for a list of all very creative participants!

When I first bought the bulb for this peony plant, the picture on the package showed a very full and much more ruffly, lighter shade of pink flower than what it actually turned out to be.

The yellow iris are in full bloom here, and I have garlic chives planted inside the old garden cart that I also painted "HERBS" on the side of it. I built the tower shaped pergola with a birdhouse on the top after seeing one in a magazine that I thought was really cute!

In the past I have also planted a tomato plant inside it . It makes a much better support than a regular tomato cage does.

It's still pretty, but not what I expected.


Be sure to click on any of the photos for close up shots!!

Below is the view from the opposite end, where you can see that one of my rose bushes is beginning to bloom and is smiling up at the morning sun.

The lilacs in the background are just beginning
to fade...boo hoo!!
I wish it could be spring all year long!

Well friends that's all for today.
Thanks sooo much for stopping by to visit!
Have a wonderful
Outdoor Wednesday!

Sherri:)

These are photos I took several weeks ago of my little secret garden on the side of my house just outside the master bedroom.

Outdoor Wednesday~ Squirrels Vogue!

Hi!! all you sweet bloggin friends out there!

It's Outdoor Wednesday time again!

First I'd just like to thank Melissa @ Melissa's Heart and Home, and Barb @ Bella Vista for so kindly helping me solve my tech problem.

The problem I was having, was getting pics to enlarge when you click on them.

Well, it turns out that the program will automatically do it for you, that is... IF you do NOT move your pics around once you've uploaded them!! (or what is also called "dragging and dropping").

Apparently this dragging and dropping messes up the linkage to the enlarged pics...

Which of course is what I've been doing on almost every post!!

But I'm so glad to have the mystery solved now!

With Melissa and Barb's help

and an article I discovered right after they let me know, that all you had to do was just upload the pics and it would enlarge without having to do anything else.

So to all you other rookies out there, don't drag and drop if you want your pics to enlarge!!

Okay! on with today's event!

You see it was especially important for today's event, to be able to see the pics up close or you probably wouldn't be able to see the little critter in the tree that I took photos of in my backyard!

Now call me crazy, but when I saw this first pic, it was as if that little critter was saying to me

"What are you lookin at"!

...and well that made me think of the beginning of Madonna's song "Vogue" and the rest of the lyrics make me think of all you inspiring, creative, and talented ladies (and gents too) out there!

(Vogue background music now removed)

So strike a pose, there's nothing to it!

Come on, Vogue!!
I can almost see ya out there dancing in your chair's!
Just go with the flow!


Thanks for visiting me and my little squirrelly friend!
Hope you had a little fun, and maybe got your creative juices flowing for that next blog you're workin on!

Oh, and don't forget to pop over to Susan's @
A Southern Daydreamer
and check out her awesome blog and I'm sure you'll just go nuts over the other paticipants entries too!

Have a fun day!!

Outdoor TT ~Cherries and Peonies Tablescape

I'm having a double event here today!!

It's a Tablescape Thursday on an Outdoor Wednesday!

"Outdoor Wednesday"hosted by Susan@
A Southern Daydreamer

Please visit her and the other participants!

and

"Tablescape Thursday"

hosted by Susan @
Between Naps On The Porch

Participants will be listed on Thurs. So please be sure and visit Susan and the other participants then!

*****

I tried for several days to get these photos. First the lighting wasn't right and had to wait till the next day. Then it was windy the next day and had to bring most of it in and wait till the next day, again. Then the day after that was overcast when I finally got these photos, and they still didn't really turn out the way I'd hoped, but they will have to do.

So I figured after all that trouble I could at least use them for two events. I guess I actually could have used them for Blue Monday for too!

This table setting kinda reminds me of Mary Engelbreit with a french twist.

You might remember this favorite little rooster pitcher of mine from a previous post...

I just added some fresh daisies and greenery from the yard.

This blue and white china is...

...and they were a thrift store find!

I also just discovered that the china is still available at 
Replacements.com 
they also had some adorable serving pieces too!

Unfortunately not at thrift store prices though:(

The colorful vintage tablecloth with cherries on it, the blue glass bunny jar, the blue serving dish, and the honey and preserves jars were all thrift store finds!

My mom- in- law gave me the blue polka dot glasses as a token of appreciation when my husband and I helped her with some packing when she was moving across town.

You can see some of the backyard here,
 although it's over cast outside and very shaded by the pine trees.

So my little backyard party turned out to be more like a

"Chair full of Bowlies"

instead of a Bowl full of Cherries
But I'm sure I'll

"Snap Out Of It"
Soon!
(Mary Engelbreit quotes)

Thanks for stopping by!!

Butterfly Love ~

Hi everyone! this is my first time participating in Outdoor Wednesday, and of course I'd like to thank hostess *Susan* of http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com/

I was inspired to take these photos the other day when I went in my back yard to check and see how the bloom on my lilac bush was coming along, and of course to get a whiff of their delightful fragrance, when I spotted two beautiful yellow  butterflies doing a little dance of love... As I watched in awe for several moments it hit me, go grab the camera! So away I ran praying they would still be there when I got back. Well it must have been my lucky day... they were still there when I returned, and I got this photo just in time before they flitted away.

You have to look closely... see them? I only wish I could gotten the photo with their wings fully open, so you could see all their beautiful markings.


While I was waiting, and hoping the butterflies would come back so I could get another shot of them, my cat came to see what all the fuss was about, so of course I couldn't resist getting a shot of her.

Well, be sure to check out the rest of the other Outdoor Wednesday posts over at Susan's, and thanks so much for stopping by!