Pacific Coast Plants!

 We've ridden over 300 miles of our coastal tour! The terrain covered has been vast and varied, from the cool mountains of coastal redwoods to the warm and exposed slopes of coastal sage scrublands.. Every ecosystem, town and landscape that we pass is full of important and unique plant communities.

We parked the bus near a family circle of redwoods.
One older tree falls and a group of younger trunks sprout up.

A hidden beach along Highway One.
Each slope is a new color of plant communities.

 After riding out of our farm stay at the beautiful Avila Family Barn, we stayed with Noey and Glen at the "Garden of...", located deeper inland in the rolling valleys of Los Olivos. We were entering an intentional world of cultivated plants. We worked with them to amend an apple tree orchard with compost and remove a few rows of water thirsty grapes to replace them with native plants like milkweed and white sage.

We rode through seas of grape vines

Fields of strawberries and greens

Ranches with sheep and cattle

And enjoyed the beauty of permaculture.

Converting rows of grapes into a border for native plants.

The greenhouse is full of different stages of plants.

This large bush mallow is an important host for beneficial insects inside the greenhouse.

Noey keeps some plants in different life stages to simulate natural systems and promote growth.

 The farm was incorporating aspects of nature at every turn, plants for pollinators, companion planting, composting and cover crops. It was beautiful to see these guided natural processes and help while we were there. A huge thanks to Noey and Glen! Now we're on our way toward Santa Barbara to visit students of Crane school.

-Turtle