#33 Busy

California is the only place in North America where almonds are grown commercially. More than 80% of the world’s almonds are grown in California and, to pollinate them, the 7,000 or so growers hire about 1.4m of America’s 2.3m commercial hives. Thousands of trucks deliver the hives in February—from Maine, Florida, the Carolinas and elsewhere—and will soon pick them up again. The bees’ job is to flit from one blossom to the next, gorging themselves and in the process spreading the trees’ pollen.

 

#24 Blooms Redux

The almond orchards are full of blooms. I love this time of year in the central California Valley. People from all over the state come to view the orchards.

#24 Blooms

More flowers that are blooming in our atrium. The daffodils are in full bloom. The azaleas have had stray blooms for most of the winter...hidden down in the leaves. The jade plants have been blooming for several months. Finally, a hyacinth is opening up.

Daffodil

Azalea

Azalea

Jade

Hyacinth

#365 Vivid

This is one of two Gerbera daisies blooming in my atrium. They are protected from the worst of winter at our front door, partially walled in from the front yard.

#25 Blue

We have been watching a new type of bird in our yard (photos taken through our window). I have been calling it a blue jay, but it sure doesn't look like one. I finally found it online...it is a Western Scrub Jay. It looks like the pair has taken our arbor as their home. They stay mostly in the orange trumpet vine area. I hope they aren't spreading the seeds from the pods (see below photo), since we have far too many volunteer plants coming up all over the yard. 

#282 Spring - Redux

Our weather has been unpredictable, as it has been in most of the states. We had a week or so of beautiful, sunny and warm weather, then a few days of windy, rainy weather, then a few days.....you get the picture. My unusual iris that bloomed all through December has bloomed again...but lost a flag on a windy day. The primroses have bloomed all winter, but I had to hunt for them under the weeds (which loved the time that we ignored them).

Iris blooming out of season

Primrose

Primrose

Primrose

#282 Spring - Redux

I have a few more photos of spring showing up in our valley. I think this is a Chanticleer or Bradford pear tree, but if you have another suggestion, I am willing to change my mind.

#282 Spring

It is not spring by the calendar yet, but there are some signs that it isn't very far away in our valley.

#67 Dairy

While looking for barns and tractors, I came across this dairy barn. Also found an old water tank house which many farms in the area seemed to have preserved.

 I used a watercolor filter on the tank house.

#14 Barns

 When you look for tractors, you also find farms. Here are a few barns I was able to catch in my lens.

I wanted to get closer to this old farm in the image below, but a person was working around the property and a German Shepard was tied to a tree nearby. I just missed the mules that were there when we pulled into the Wendy's parking lot across the street. The geese weren't showing off, either. This property must be worth a lot of money, since it is in a thriving business district. New businesses are developed on the other three corners of the intersection, which is a major offramp from Highway 99. Costco is just down the street. They seem to be barely holding on to an old way of life.




#335 Tractors

On a beautiful, warm and sunny day this week, I went out looking for tractors. Now I wouldn't want everyone moving to California to get away from the snow, ice, and cold...so maybe you can enjoy the sun from afar. Within two weeks we will be seeing almonds in bloom. The bee hives are been put out in the orchards now.

This tractor is an advertisement for the tractor repair business (below).

I used a posterize filter on this...but it really didn't need to be grunged up at all.