Freestone Ranch

My guess is that this is a male sapsucker or woodpecker using the metal roof as a drum to impress a girl. Maybe the second bird is another male trying to steal the spot.

Where are the pollinators? I have memories of warm busy afternoons on these flowers but I’m not seeing it this year. We’ve got a few bumblebees, occasional honeybees, and a few humming birds but numbers are low and I see almost none of the diverse little pollinators that are so great. Maybe they will come when the buckeye and coffeeberry bloom. The madrone put on a huge flower show this year but it looks like 1 in 50 flowers is making a berry. For the currants, it looks like 1 in 10 flowers is making a berry. Maybe the rains will come next year and the little bees will be back but it’s hard not to worry. We’ve done our best to support pollinator habitat but the negative trends seem much bigger than our positive work.

Visit freestoneranch.com to purchase beef that supports your health and the planets health. To stop global warming, stop using fossil fuels and invest in the restoration of nature. To find inspiration for planet damaging luxury consumption purchase any of Condé Nast’s magazines. What a strange time to be living on this planet.

For years I watched this little 8 live oak grow on a remote edge of the ranch. Yesterday I looked to admire the thriving tree but the tree was gone. It turns out that our new neighbor hired a tree guy to clear trees along a shared fence. Apparently, the tree guy said there was too much poison oak in the willows that actually needed to be pruned so he took my friend the young oak tree instead. It’s sad when we pointlessly destroy life. This little stump has a huge lesson that our culture desperately needs to learn about valuing and supporting more life on this planet. RIP.

Our best hope for the future is to take better care of our planet. I’ve been working hard to build the skills and capacity to do that here. The biggest barrier to is economics. We’ve been thinking a lot about ways we might be able to earn a living and pay for some help caring for the land. Producing healthy local meat is not profitable. Heathy wildlife is not profitable. Protecting soils is not profitable. Edible food on the landscape is not profitable. Teaching people about ...land care is not profitable. Wildflower and bird watching is not profitable. Growing grapes is profitable. Growing cannabis is profitable. Regulations prevent it for us but zip lines and horseback riding are profitable. Providing beds to guests is profitable. Basically it seems like the only way for us to support ourselves as we care for the land is to make wealthy people feel good. Won’t we all feel good if we live in a beautiful world with a healthy future? It’s such a fundamental problem. How can we get there? See more