Today I was delighted to find my order of seeds had finally come through the mail. I combed through internet and catalog trying to find the right plants. I finally found the gold mine in Native Seed Search, an awesome and inspiring organization. Here is their mission statement: “Native Seeds/SEARCH conserves, distributes and documents the adapted and diverse varieties of …
Water in the Desert
In the desert, water is felt deeply. It is celebrated. A small and rare desert spring nourishes countless plants and animals. Tracks mingle near the source: pack rat, deer, quail, snake, hawk, coyote, mountain lion, bear, human. Rain is precious, and we feel it coming, our bodies responding to even slight changes in moisture and scent. Our average of seven …
Quail Springs Service Learning Internship
DATES TBA Overview: The internship offers extensive education about the day-to-day operations of a full-time functioning Permaculture farm and education center, and is geared specifically for those deeply interested in and drawn to work long-term with holistic, integrated food producing animal systems in a community setting, with an educational focus. This opportunity offers broad practical experience to complement a theoretical knowledge base. …
Growing Chile, Part One: Bed Prep
As the cold of winter is replaced by the mud and rain of spring and our powdered and dried chile alchemizes its last few pozoles, our stomachs begin to rumble at the thought of a fresh crop of Capsicum annuum. We came to the table with a fiery ambition of creating at the very least enough dried chile to last …
Volunteer Weekends with Quail Springs
Over the past 3 weekends, Quail Springs has had the opportunity of having volunteers come to the land and help build projects and learn about how permaculture and sustainability are touching the ground here. With over 80 volunteers over a series of three weekends we got to work on natural building projects, the food forest, and installing a water tank. …
Riled Up Cookies
Riley has kindly donated his peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie recipe for the benefit of all you readers out there. During these colder winter months we have had a few batches of these decadent peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies.They help keep our energy up and our bellies full as the snow finally comes down. Heat your oven to …
Quotol Canyon
Imagine yourself walking down a tight canyon of rich orange sandstone, the elevated spots are loosely adorned with the blue green of Single Leaf Pinyon. The map you in your hand says you are in the San Emigdio Mtns, approaching Burges canyon. The Chumash people who come to visit this place and who call this whole region their home call …
Harvest Day Pesto
Harvesting is one of the many wonderful jobs here at Quail Springs. As the months pass, we get such a large variety of goodness from our organic garden. In the middle of February, we are aiming to do about two harvests a week. With the climate here being rather warm, we are harvesting all sorts of greens as well as …
Yogurt Making
Culturing your own yogurt is not only simple, but also biologically, economically and ecologically satisfying…