Greg Alder’s Yard Posts is a guy who posts every Friday about growing food in southern California. His climate is pretty similar to mine and his advice was a huge help when I was figuring out the timing for growing a garden. He’s also super knowledgeable when it comes to growing avocados, if that’s your thing.
Ooof, in the 2020 Castle Fire alone: “10 to 14 percent of all large sequoias [were killed] across the tree’s natural range in the Sierra Nevada.”
That’s just devastating. I didn’t see a summation of total numbers of killed trees between the listed fires, but it’s heartbreaking to know we’re losing so many of these 2-3,000 year old trees that will never be replaced on any human timescale.
I’m a geologist, but not the fun kind that gets to look at actual rocks.
I do environmental and some geotechnical work, which pretty much boils down to “Is the dirt poisoned?” and “How hard do I have to squish the dirt to make the future building not fall down?” There’s few things to get excited about, but it’s steady work and pays the bills.
I’ve come to learn your brain is really good at subconscious processing of things that don’t quite make it to conscious awareness. Some part of your brain saw the cop and the deer and was trying to alert the rest of you.
I had that happen once when I was out hiking alone doing geology research. I reached this area of the woods and was suddenly overwhelmed by this feeling of TIME TO LEAVE. I tried arguing with myself that there was still enough daylight to check out an outcrop I could see in the distance, but the feeling got so powerful, I finally gave in and called it quits for the day.
I realized while walking out, that with all the little noises of the quail and other animals I’d been hearing all day, that spot in the woods had been silent. The next time I visited the area (and not alone this time), I found a cave right behind where I’d been standing, with fresh mountain lion tracks. Who knows, some part of me might have seen a mountain lion in that cave and was doing everything it could to tell me to get the fuck away!
Hah, that’s kinda what I’m trying to do. When I encounter something that gives me the ick, I take pictures and stare at it, in the hopes that it will desensitize that gut reaction. Only had very mild success so far.
Hah, knew someone would call semantics. Though with what’s ripe on the 20 or so pepper plants in my garden, I probably could go pick myself a proper peck!
They’re also at the lowest drainage point for that whole valley. Plus, the properties of the lakebed make it so that water is very slow to soak into the ground, so it’s going to take a while for things to dry out.