Happenings at Hedgerow Farms in July

Harvest is almost done and seed cleaning is well underway.  Here are some photos from the farm in the heat of the summer:

A black tail deer in one of the cut fields

The waterways around the farm are filled right now. We are irrigating a few of the fields that are harvested in the winter including Muhlenbergia rigens, deergrass, and Artemisia douglasiana, mugwort.

Winter's Canal full of water

A tailwater pond filled with water

Elymus triticoides (creeping wildrye) straw being baled

There are a lot of pollinators around the farm right now including dragonflies and lots of monarchs.

If you are interested in learning more about dragonflies, specifically about their migration check out the Migratory Dragonfly Partnership website:

http://www.migratorydragonflypartnership.org/index/welcome

A saddlebags dragonfly on Agrostis ssp. (bentgrass)

If you are interested in learning more about Monarch butterflies check out the Xerces Society's website page dedicated to them:

http://www.xerces.org/monarchs/

A monarch on Asclepias fascicularis (narrow leaf milkweed) with Elymus trachycaulus (slenderwheatgrass) in the background

A very hungry monarch caterpillar feeding on Asclepias eriocarpa (Indian milkweed)

Celebrate National Pollinator Week!

This week is National Pollinator Week! It was initiated and is managed by the Pollinator Partnership. The Pollinator Partnership is a great resource for all things pollinators and you can get more information at their website:

 Pollinator Partnership Website

The Xerces Society also is a great resource for pollinator information:
Xerces Society CA Pollinator Resource Center Webpage

To celebrate we have compiled several of our favorite pollinator photos that were taken around our Farms by the owner, John Anderson.  Enjoy these and get out this weekend and look around for pollinators in your area.   

A bumblebee on phacelia, Phacelia californica

A swallowtail butterfly on coyote mint, Monardella villosa

A bumblebee on common madia, Madia elegans

A swallowtail butterfly on pink flowering currant, Ribes sanguineum var. glutinosum

A honeybee getting ready to land on common madia, Madia elegans

A bumblebee on bull clover, Trifolium fucatum

A skipper butterfly on goldenrod,  Euthamia occidentalis

A honeybee heading for vinegarweed, Trichostema lanceolatum

A Buckeye butterfly on button-willow, Cephalanthus occidentalis

Some honeybees and a butterfly enjoying coyote brush, Baccharis pilularis

A bumble bee on golden lupine, Lupinus densiflorus

A bee on Bolander's sunflower, Helianthus bolanderi

A bee on tomcat clover, Trifolium willdenovii

Two bees hanging out on cliff aster, Malacothrix saxatilis

A bee on California aster, Symphyotrichum chilense (Aster chilensis)

A hummingbird on evening primorse, Oenothera elata ssp. hirsutissima

A hummingbird enjoying California fuchsia, Epilobium canum

A monarch butterfly on narrow leaf milkweed, Asclepias fascicularis

A Duskywing butterfly on Bolander's sunflower, Helianthus bolanderi

A bee (maybe a wasp, not sure) honing in on an evening primrose, Oenothera elata ssp. hirsutissima bloom

An Anna's hummingbird  (Calypte anna) in it's nest 

A butterfly on Agastache urticifolia, horse mint

A pollinator on caterpillar phacelia, Phacelia cicutaria

A wasp on narrow leaf milkweed, Asclepias fascicularis

A bumblebee on deergrass, Muhlenbergia rigens

A monarch and two bees on showy milkweed, Asclepias speciosa

**This was edited on July 2nd to correct for the miss identification of butterflies as moths as pointed out by a reader. Please let us know if you see anything else, we know the plants but are learning our pollinators!

Carrizo Field Trip Part 2: Vernal Pool

Written by Emily Allen

In the afternoon of our field trip to the Carrizo Plains National Monument we were able to visit the Carrizo vernal pool region, at the southern end of the valley. A few pools had water in them from recent rains.

View of the vernal pools.

There was an amazing amount of wildlife around and in the pools including a large spider, evidence of ground-nesting bees, and a centipede. There were also large numbers of fairy shrimp in the shallow edges of the pools.

A centipede

A spider in a dry area  around the pools

A close up of a nest tunnel. 

A collection of nest tunnels made by ground-nesting bee.

There was a diverse collection of plants in and around the vernal pools as well:

Lasthenia ssp. , goldfields

Plagiobothrys ssp., popcorn flower

Distichlis spicata, saltgrass

Frankenia salina, alkali heath

Carrizo Plain NM Field Trip: Part 1

Written by Emily Allen
At the end of March John and I joined in on a field trip to the Carrizo Plain National Monument, located in San Luis Obispo County. We were fortunate enough to have Larry Saslaw and Denis Kearns, botanists with the BLM, as our guides. They are a wealth of knowledge about the flora and fauna of the Carrizo. We started our trip at the Guy L. Goodwin Education Center.  There is a lot of information about what you can find in the area and a great display area with a cross section of a Giant Kangaroo tunnel. Around the center is a labeled garden with some of the species of grass, flower, shrub and tree species found in the monument.

Our first stop was a site that was planted with Stipa (Nassella) cernua, nodding needlegrass and Poa secunda, one sided blue grass. Hedgerow Farms has been growing Poa secunda and Stipa cernua that was collected in the Carrizo so the seed can be used in areas that are disturbed or being restored throughout the Carrizo. This site was seeded in 2006 and there is an established stand of Stipa cernua that has started to fill with new seedlings. There is a lot of weed pressure from red brome, but the Stipa seem to be doing well. There were only a few Poa at this site. 

An area successfully seeded with Stipa (Nassella) cernua in 2006.

Our second stop of the day was to a cinder cone that we hiked to the top of. From the top you can see a large amount of giant kangaroo rat (k-rat) precincts. A k-rat will generally keep his burrow and the area around it (all together called a precinct) cleared and groomed. Each precinct houses one k-rat.

View of the giant kangaroo rat precincts from the top of the cinder cone.

A k-rat will harvest seeds from his precinct and dry and store them in his burrow. The giant kangaroo rat is a state and federally listed endangered species and is a keystone species within the Carrizo NM.

A trail of seed at a burrow entrance.

A Giant Kangaroo Rat burrow entrance.

We also got to visit a site where Poa secunda, one sided blue grass, is the dominate perennial grass (below).

A view of the valley and Poa secunda, one sided blue grass.

 Below is a site near a parking lot that was seeded in early 2011. The Stipa cernua is doing really well.

Stipa (Nassella) cernua that was seeded in early 2011.

Usually this time of year is a great time to see wildflowers, but since it has been a dry spring so there weren't very many to see. One of the wildflowers that we did see throughout the valley is Phacelia ciliata, valley phacelia (pictured below). There were patches of it along the road as we entered the norther part of the valley and there were pockets of purple throughout the valley.

Phacelia ciliata, valley phacelia.

Stay tuned for part 2: the Vernal pools.