May Newsletter
I hope this finds you as well as can be within this continuation of crazy times.
Funny, but life seems so much easier when the sun is shining and we don't have to put on so many layers in the morning... It's practically easy living, and so much easier to find a sense of optimism! This spring has brought warmth, blue skies, birds chirping, and a strong sea breeze. It's gorgeous out there! The kids all seem to be having their own growth spurts, too. The end of the school year is creeping up on us, but I'm not ready to let it go.
Our new camera is dustproof, shockproof, and waterproof. I love this shot one of the kids took at Dry Creek!
Nature News
The grass in the hills is turning brown nearly as quickly as it turned green. We ran across some haybales the ranchers left out for their cows, so hopefully they'll all make it through this short growing season, too. I remember a few years ago when the price of hay got crazy expensive from drought conditions. Looking into the East Bay hills, the coast live oaks seem to be the healthiest out there, but there's little to no growth on lots of other species of trees. As for other herbaceous plants, there's a huge proliferation of creeping thistle, mustard, poison hemlock, poison oak, and California poppies. I learned that, ecologically speaking, there are grass years and there are legume years. Seeing all the California native peas, lupine, clover, and French broom helps us know that this must be a legume year. When their seed pods form, some look just like farmed peas, but these ones are not for human consumption. And the butterflies! Beautiful, black pipevine swallowtails are EVERYWHERE!!! Here's more information about them:
http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/bfly/pipevine_swallowtail.htm
We're already seeing red flag warnings for the East Bay hills and other areas, and East Bay Regional Parks is looking toward this year's fire season. Here's a press release about their efforts, and we often see their trucks going in and out of the park as they work:
https://www.ebparks.org/civica/press/display.asp?layout=11&Entry=656
I bet we'll see goats again this summer!
Community
I often work with one of San Francisco State's professors and his graduate students. They have a fantastic child development program and they're hosting an information session about their graduate program tonight at 7:00 PM PDT. Here's the information if you'd like to know more:
Enrollment
I'd love to see your kid(s) come September! I'm currently enrolling students for the 2021 - 2022 school year. For more information, please visit: www.outside.school.
Kids 'n' cows just can't be beat! There were a couple new calves to make this gathering even sweeter.
If you want to know more, I invite you to check out the website and my social media (links below)... Be sure to "like/follow!"
Take care,
Heather