This is the sort of thing I have begun on my biggest property in the Bajio of Mexico. I see it, and motivating/educating local children born into poverty and violence, as my most important long term investments.
“Humans need creation to find themselves.”
What a lovely and inspiring project. Thanks for the link!
Here is who just showed up in my courtyard — no one has seen one hereabouts in years.
She is (at 6” and growing) of the largest species of spiders found in North America, spins and swings from threads, but actively ambushes or chases her prey rather than constructing webs. She was clearly examining me as I examined her, and seems content with me and our home. I hope she sticks here and has progeny.
Whoa! That’s an impressive spider. I live near Mt Diablo state park in East Bay SF. Certain times of year there are Tarentula crossings on the trails. Also impressive, about the size of my palm. But much “stockier” than your delicate friend.
Oh yes! Mt Diablo is a truly glorious proof of the case for protected parklands, and one where my Granddad’s diary shows he hunted for deer 110 years ago. On my hike up I saw no tarantulas, but it was winter….
Anyone like us who loves hairy big tarantulas will love my green lady’s loveliness. My guess is that the two of them would give each other wide birth, as my lady is much lighter but packs a dangerous bit of protective venom.
What a treat to cross paths on here with someone who knows Mt Diablo! I’ve probably ridden well over a thousand miles there. Followed a deer path once that criss crossed a steep slope and came across an eagle’s nest about at eye level and 18 or 20 feet away from the trail. i would check it out every year and sometimes caught the nest with both parents and a couple of hatchlings.
And yeh, a tarantula would be no match for your long legged green princess.
Oh oh oh! I have never had that good fortune, much as I have sought dreamed and prayed for it.
Only one time (after 20 or so deep hiking trips into the Tehachapi Mountains, mostly up Sespe Creek) was I blessed with condors flying overhead.
Seeing a condor in the wild is still on my bucket list. Back a few years during one of California’s fire seasons I was glued to an Explore.org cam that the Ventana Wildlife Society provided to follow a 6 month old hatchling in a hollowed out redwood tree that was surrounded by flames. One of its parents died in the fire but miraculously both the other parent and the baby survived.
Ventana was a major help in repopulating the bald eagle and now it’s working on the condor. It has been challenging because of the lead poisoning they experience as a result of eating carrion that had been shot with lead bullets.
Why not another frugal living eco photo? Here is my most typical main meal of the day
The beans, rice, and tortillas (fresh made a mile or so away from antique local corn) provide lots of excellent protein in addition to carbs and roughage and minerals and vitamins. The pile of orange and green color is one of my favorites — a nopales cactus pad cleaned up of spines big and tiny and cut up smallish, cooked with similarly sized potato, and slathered in volcanic red sauce made from local dried chilis. The cost per day is exceeded by the price of a bottle of beer. We buy the rice and beans in 10 kilo (22 lb) bags, and they are very very cheap. The trick is to use cheap salsas, cheeses, various other mostly local veges with these almost constant main foods.
Ha! If you ordered that in a California restaurant it’d be $20 if you could even find it. Plus it wouldn’t be as fresh.
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Yes on the $20, and you would never find this very tender Nopal pad that far north.
BUT, I still adore the comida norteño estilo Californio (northern Mexican food in the style of Sonora and the “Californios” who founded Los Angeles) and go to El Cholo originál (The oldest continually open restaurant in Los Angeles that still serves their fantastic old style food).
