Ruth: great to hear from you again! Nope, I didn't expect to see all the activity when I first posted, but I'm glad to see it.
Kent
Cost of strawbales?
Ruth: Welcome to CA! You've found a beautiful area.
rosewynd, are you a long time in Anza? My sister lived there many years prior to moving up to Washington.
Ruth, bet the Ricotta will be good in the souffle, and bet the souffle will be wonderful in the Lasagna, Let us know.
Jeanette
This message was edited Nov 25, 2007 6:42 PM
I have been here for 3 yrs now. I can't wait until spring to get some bales!!
My ground is solid rock that only the gophers or a backhoe can dig through. I am so excited about the straw bales!!
Rose, you mean you have been on Dave's 3 years? Not the strawbale back and forth banter? How soon can you start bales in Anza?
That is why I am doing the strawbale gardening. Because, as you say, only the gophers and moles can get thru this stuff.
Jeanette
No, I've lived on this rock for 3 yrs.
It's getting cold, so will freeze at night soon, then snow. So, I won't be able to start until spring.
We sometimes get snow up until Mother's Day, but not usually.
I'm so excited I'll probably start too soon, just because I can't stand it. And least having to cook the bales will slow the process down.
Also, do you start your own plants from seed or buy them? That takes a little while too and it is so much fun to see them growing and then repotting.
Normally after our first snow the ground isn't very cold so it melts, but this year the ground is frozen solid so the 5 inches we got last night will be around for the next one which is suppose to be tomorrow night and then another one on Friday. By the end of the week we will probably have around a foot of it. The night time temps are suppose to be 11.
Jeanette
rosewynd, thanks for the welcome! I've been in northern CA for a good 14 years already, several of them up the hill in Aptos (near Santa Cruz on the upper shoulder of Monterey Bay) and several in SF which was a delight but we couldn't get a tomato to set (chilly, chilly fog and Mark Twain wasn't kidding about SF summer being a chilly winter; generally chillier than winter there!) and the past few in Redwood City, where there are signs at the edges of the little downtown main strip proclaiming its "Climate Best by Govenmenet Test" since 1925.
You're in a gorgeous spot, too; we've come through Anza-Borrego s.p. in wildflower season, and midwinter heading to visit folk in Tucson - the first time I drove the hill of S22 over into the state park was around 11:30 at night with a full moon; what view! We pitched the tent by moonlight alone.
I've got our five bales cooking, and we'll plant beans and greens and chard when the moon comes around and they've cooled back down a little bit, in the meanwhile, we're canning pear butter from the generous tree in the yard (to the utter delight of our landlords, grin) and it's the season of ripening Meyer lemons and blossoms all at once.
I haven't lived with a Wisteria before...they propagate by seed-pod explosion! Who knew?
Well, I've got ice and snow this morning, so there'll be no gardening outdoors for a while.
Ruth and Rose, what is the difference in your weather? It sounds like you have a totally different growing situation. I think Anza is pretty much high desert isn't it? So, Ruth you must be down lower and maybe closer to the water?
It also sounds like you both were missed by the wildfires. So thankful for that.
Jeanette
I'm in S.CA - and I got to watch Palomar burn..... we could see the flames. It was frightening, and I am so grateful that my area didn't burn.
The smoke was terrible and my DH, who worked out in it, coughed for weeks. It didn't smell like normal smoke - I know there were plastics and asbestos and insulation in it.
I can just imagine how bad it was. Nothing I would want to see. Do they have any way of getting that stuff out of their lungs now? Or is it just by coughing it up? I would think they would have some kind of inhalants that would help??
Jeanette
He just finally seemed to cough it up. It can't be good.... But he seems ok now.
Glad to hear he is better. Unfortunately, so many times it is the ones that help that end up with the worst problems.
Well, I hope that you and Ruth manage the winter well and get your bales ready for the plants. Keep us posted with pictures.
Jeanette
Oh dear, Rosewynd, I'm sorry to hear your DH at risk from the gupp in the smoke. heavy duty breathers are worth years of life with good lungs...
I'm away up in Northern CA, on the Peninsula between San Jose and San Francisco about 1/3 the way up, near Palo Alto in Redwood City (half a block off Hwy 84 / Woodside Road, which goes over the Bay at the Dunbarton Bridge, if that helps place). So, yes, we're closer to water in a couple of directions, and also in the lee of the peninsula's ridge. We were able to plant into bales last week, and expect things to do okay in the big rains coming in today and the next few days.
Pictures of our bales, both these new five and the set that lasted us nearly two years at the old place, are up at http://flickr.com/photos/rtds/
If you have a local pumpkin patch that has other activities...namely the straw maze for kids to walk through...check there. My buddy picked some of last years maze walls (straw) for 50 cents a bale. The bales on top of the pile were wet and heavy, but worked good for covering newly sown grass. I don't see why they would not have worked for straw bale gardening.
MaterMan2: another great idea and good source for some bales.
Kent