Gotcha!

Today, Wednesday - as all Wednesdays, are volunteer days at the Garden. I bought bush beans that Dan wanted to experiment with, and we planted them along with some fast growing carrots and summer squash. It is also dump day in Sunnyvale, and so Carol Phipps and I picked up some really nice metal trellises that folks were throwing away. One person's garbage is another person's gold, huh!

In addition to this, the Executive Director wanted some fruit tree blossom photos for marketing material he is creating for Earth Day, so since I was out there, I snapped a few photos. The new camera David got for me is REALLY nice and has taken some great shots. I got a photo of the brilliant blue Bluebird that has adopted the farm as his home. I've been trying for awhile to get him, but he's a quick thing and is very illusive.

AND... I ate a radish. A Full Circle Farm radish. Cool.

We are going to be parents!

Can you see them? Eggs!!!! Yes - eggs of the killdeer and we are thrilled. At first we didn't know that there are birds nesting in our garden. But there was a bird 'playing with us' every time we got near. We'd go into the garden to weed (there are a TON of weeds. Imagine a field that has not been tended in 40 or so years. The weeds are everywhere.), a bird would run around on the ground and spread its feathers and cry out. Beautiful!

Once we figured out what was going on and found the nest, I roped off the area so that we would not disturb the family - it seems that both the male and female sit on the eggs. It seems to be working... a bit. They are still wary of us. Who can blame them. Humans with shovels around eggs. Hmmm......


The kildeer are good parents... attentive, protective. It can't be easy to have a nest on the ground in an area full of people, ground squirrels and red hawks. Let's hope this family makes it to birth and beyond!