Thanks to blogging, I know that the last time I hiked this trail was in March 2024, as part of the whole Backbone Trail. I saw a striped racer that day; it’s been a long time since I’ve seen a snake, now I come to think about it. But it’s sure nice to witness the return of the wildflowers.
In the U.S. we call this the floss silk or silk floss tree, but in South America (where it is native) it goes by palo borracho (“drunken stick” in Spanish). Looking at this specimen, I can see why!
Well, this was a surprise. A forgotten cabbage was busy procreating in the back of the fridge. I’ve nestled it into the dirt—let’s see if the babies continue to grow.
A and I explored Santa Ynez Canyon for the first time since the Palisades Fire burned through a year ago. There’s a lot of regrowth and things are looking pretty good. We were excited to see a lot of young Humboldt lily plants; we’ll for sure return in late spring to see the flowers.
I spotted some caterpillars of the Genista Broom Moth munching on lupins. Genista caterpillars feed primarily on acacias and members of the pea family, including brooms (Genista spp.), Scotch broom, Texas mountain laurel (Sophora secundiflora), blue wild indigo or false indigo (Baptisia australis), and lupines. These caterpillars ingest and store alkaloids from their host plants, making them bitter—and sometimes toxic—to mammals, birds, and some insect predators (so definitely don’t eat them!).
This solo sunflower in a neighbour’s front yard reminded me of a song my mother used to sing when we were little, “I’m a Lonely Little Petunia (In An Onion Patch).” Mrs Google tells me it was first released by Dick “Two Ton” Baker and His Music Makers in 1947.
We offered a beginner’s class at Nature Journal Club today, and thirty people came! After spending an hour learning the basics, everyone wandered off to journal their curiosity. Having just done a training on identifying invasive borer beetles, I was interested to record some data about insect activity on a fallen oak log. Boring? Nope, fascinating!
It’s not the first time Bodie’s seen a pig, but this is the closest she’s ever been. Both animals seemed curious for a minute, and then satisfied to walk away.
Semi-blind continuous line.
hashiworks 