As the wild oat and its cousins transform the south slopes from bleached gold to emerald green, the poison oak leaves take on the same hues of purple to daffodil blaze as the vineyards. In…
Posts published by “Spec MacQuayde”
Returning to the farm on Friday afternoon I was surprised to discover a flock of maybe two dozen seagulls lining the ridge of the roof of the barn. I had not noticed seagulls in a…
If the Giants had played host to the final two games of the playoffs, the National League Pennant series might still hang in the balance because of the deluge that swamped northern California over the…
On Saturday morning the boys made a beeline for the Boonville Farmers' Market once they'd stuffed their guts on blueberry pancakes at the General Store. For unsocial parents like me who never seem to feel…
Harvesting crews are working around the clock in the Valley these days, diesel engines humming and halogen lights burning in the vineyards as well as the headlamps in pot gardens. Apparently the wine grapes are…
It's no secret what the main agricultural crop of this region is. Wine grapes are the most visible but for the most part only Big Money plants vineyards, whereas any fool peasant can pull off…
The first mornings after the autumn equinox you really feel the shift in season on the west side of Anderson Valley, with the redwood forests shedding cold drafts that undermine whatever heat is in the…