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distortions.net

I'm Ryan M. Tech geek. Avgeek. California Native plant gardener. All photos on this blog, unless stated otherwise, are mine. Cameras: Fujifilm X-T5 and X100V. Views are my own.

Yarden

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    Our “Bacon” Avocado tree produced fruit for the first time this year. “Bacon” varieties have very thin skin and, no, they do not taste like bacon. The wind knocked one off and it was ripe. But the bottom had been punctured and insects may have enjoyed its flesh. However, plenty of the fruit was unscathed and we enjoyed a very creamy, lightly flavored avocado! After years of waiting & babying the trees, a nice reward. #HomeOrchard #Yarden #AvocadoA "bacon" variety avocado on a cutting board. The bottom quarter has turned dark green compared to the rest of the skin. Its skin is densely spreckled.The "bacon" avocado is cut in half, and pitted, showing where the puncture happened on the bottom, and that some insect(s) likely already dug in for a meal. Its flesh looks soft and is greener near the skin and a olive-yellow toward the pit. A knife lays to the left of the fruit.On a cutting board, the "bacon" avocado is being smeared across a tostada shell. It looks very creamy and indeed it was easy to spread. One hand is holding the tostado and another is smearing the avocado flesh with a fast moving spoon.

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    Backyard Hooded Oriole alert! #HoodedOriole #BirdPhotography #Yarden #Fujifilm #CropToZoom #SOoC

    Atop a wooden stake is perched a Hooded Oriole, looking to the left, with its bright orange body, black kerchief, wings with black and white stripes, and a somewhat visible cape of brown with black spots. Its tail is black. The background is just off white blur.A front facing Hooded Oriole perched on a Ceanothus branch with many green leaves. Its black kerchief is prominent.

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    We were gifted some daffodil bulbs! The instructions recommended seven inches deep, but I only have the patience to dig to five, just deeper than the trowel. I helped them along by mixing in some fresh wormy compost. #Yarden

    A triangular garden patch, surrounded by river rock, just planted with a paper label with "Dutch Mill Bulbs" and "A Mixed Daffodils". Some tree stakes can be vaguely seen in the background.

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    Here are some random through-the-glass-slider photos of a few of the migratory songbirds finding food-a-plenty in our backyard: Yellow-Rumped Warbler & Lesser Gold Finch #YellowRumpedWarbler #LesserGoldfinch #Birds #Yarden

    Three Yellow Rumped Warblers forage among brown asparagus fronds. Their yellow bellies are highlighted by the morning sunlight

    A Lesser Goldfinch, back to camera & head turned in profile view, is perched in sweet basil foliage, it feasting on dried seeds. It has a yellow face, a black helmet, and white on black chevrons on its black tail.

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    My wife discovered another, smaller avocado fruit in our “Bacon” avocado tree. So that’s two! Very exciting. We still need to continue research harvest time for this variety. It’s a minefield on the internet for that 🤨 #Yarden #HomeOrchard #Avocado

    A small, finger length avocado amongst broad dark green avocado leaves and tree tape.
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    A Nuttal’s woodpecker visited our front yard Toyon yesterday! #Yarden #NuttalsWoodpecker #Birds

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    It’s the backyard Asian Pear harvest! Yellow are New Century variety and the brown skinned are the more familiar looking Hosui variety. They are odd spindly trees right now. I’m not used to pruning central leader trees, but vase shape. #Yarden #HomeOrchard #AsianPears

    A colander with a mixture of yellow and brown skinned Asian PearsA very spindly Hosui pear tree with multiple stakes and lots of tree tape. It has pears still. The sky is blue and there’s more vegetation along a fence in the background. Drip line and gravel are in the foreground.A New Century Asian Pear tree with small yellow skinned pears. It’s better branched and dilated compared to the Hosui tree. In the background, there are ugly metal structures behind a wood fence. In the foreground is gravel and drip line.

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    Our cultivated California native seedy grapes are ready. The two plants mostly feed Northern Mockingbirds, Western Scrub Jays, and in the late fall, Kinglets, but some grapes will be for the humans in the form of a compote. As a bonus, gaze upon our lone avocado! #Yarden #HomeOrchard

    Many bunches of ripe purple grapes hang from a grape vine.A hand is holding a metal colander filled with ripe red grapes. It's being held under a grape vine.An avocado is hanging from an avocado tree. It has a long stem and a narrow, green speckled body. A hand is nearby acting as a scale. It's about five fingers long and three fingers wide.

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    Sorry to those that are squeamish about spiders, but this Western Spotted Orbweaver was just asking for a photoshoot. This spider took the night-shift last night in our front yard #WesternSpottedOrbWeaver #Spider #InsectPhotography #Yarden #Fujifilm #SoOC

    Plan-view of a Western Orbweaver spider with a fat, round abdomen and a tiny brown cephalothorax (head). The abdomen has patterns of brown within a matrix of coffee with cream. Its spider web can be descerned from the background, which is all blurred out. Its legs alternate between brown and coffee with cream. It has hairs on its head. It has spikes on its legs.The underside of the Western Spotted Orbweaver, which appears reddish probably because of light conditions. It has four clear white spots on its abdomen and an elongated white spot just below its head. Its chelicerae are visible. The background is completely blurred out.

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    I think this is the last nectarine harvest. About 6 pounds. The shield bugs were showing up and nectarines were dropping fast from wind and bird pecks :-( They were effortlessly plucked off the tree. Next harvest: Asian pears! #HomeOrchard #Nectarines #Yarden

    A nectarine tree with almost a dozen dropped fruit on the gravel and dirt area below. The tree still has a few dozen nectarines on it.A collander of very ripe dark red to orange colored nectarines sitting on a scale. The scale is on a plastic covering upon a tile counter. The scale reads 6 pounds and 5 ounces, so there’s about 6 pounds of necartines.

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    Another nectarine harvest. This time, 4 pounds. Smelling more fragrant this time! A few came off with a tug (yellower stems) but most still need shears. Also, our milkweed has busted open their pods and omg the tufts are so soft! #HomeOrchard #Nectarines #Milkweed #Yarden

    Four pounds of dark red to red to yellow nectarines piled up in a metal colander.A milkweed pod is releasing its seeds, which are ready to wind carried away by their fluffy, white tufts. The pods are cone shaped and split down the middle to release their seeds.

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    Our lone Mexicola avocado! Maybe this’ll be its first fruit to make it to maturity? It’s a long slog. #HomeOrchard #Avocado #Yarden

    A small avocado, about 5-fingers long & 3 fingers wide, hangs alone in the canopy of an avocado tree. A hand front provides scale.
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    Started our Nectarine harvest. Last year they got bug infested but not this year. So far. One branch got majorly overloaded 😬 so I harvested it first. #HomeOrchard #Yarden

    A metal colander filled with ripe red to yellow nectarines and a few green leaves.A tree laden with nectarines stands in a rocky garden area. One branch, the closest one, is seriously overloaded.

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    Outdoor backyard irrigation system fixed & weeds removed. That’s it for outdoors stuff! #Yarden #CaWx #DripIrrigation

    A freshly reseated irrigation 20 PSI pressure reducer with drip hose T adapter. The area is freshly dug out for access. Dropped leaves cover most the ground.Bundles of 12V irrigation wires in a compact above ground black valve assembly, surrounded by dry leaves. Pressure reducers abs drip adapters are visible.

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    A duo of juvenile Northern Mockingbirds in our elderberry & ceanothus bushes #BirdPhotography #Birds #Yarden #Fujifilm #SOoC

    In the top third of the photo is a sharply focused, juvenile northern Mockingbird with a speckled chest and a little hair is coming down off its chin. It is among in-focus Ceanothus leaves. In the middle third of the photo is an out of focus northern mockingbird among out of focus Elderberry leaves. The sky is a nice blue.

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    Juvenile Northern Mockingbird enjoying our backyard bounty of Elderberries #NorthernMockingbird #BirdPhotography #Birds #Yarden #Fujifilm #SOoC

    A perched juvenile Northern Mockingbird with a dirty face and a speckled chest is looking out over a clump of mostly eaten elderberries. The sky is quite blue.

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    We’ve a bumper crop of volunteer Holy Basil plants and we’re extremely pleased #Yarden Young Holy Basil plants growing in a garden with a drip irrigation system. Orange pin flags are placed at almost each plant. The ground has soil with small rocks and other organic matter.

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    Today we suspended shade cloth over the avocado trees. The trees will now survive 100°F+ temperatures coming later this week. Heatwaves are on the way to California!

    A shade cloth covering a small area of trees. A wheelbarrow is partially visible to the right, and ropes are stretched across to keep the cloth from resting on the small trees. The ground is covered with wood chips and gravel.

    Two short avocado trees with a shade cloth suspended overhead and attached by rope to a fence. There is a gravel path along the far fence and close to the camera with wood chips inbetween. A drip hose snakes between the two trees. The sun is already shaded out with the cloth’s shadow projected along the fence.

    #Yarden #Gardening #AvocadoTrees #HomeOrchard #California #CaWx

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    First year our milkweed has bloomed!

    #Milkweed #BloomScrolling #Yarden #Fujifilm #SOoCA close-up of pale pink and white Milkweed flowers with green leaves in the background. The flowers have a star-like shape and clustered arrangement.

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    A Northern Mockingbird has decided to build a nest on the grape vines growing under the outer edge of our patio cover. We’ll try to accommodate A mockingbird bird is nestled among dense green grape leaves and a thick grape vine, building a nest. It even has a twig in its beak. Sunlight filters through the foliage, creating a warm and natural setting.

    A grey bird perched on an under construction nest, surrounded by green grape leaves and a thick grape vine. Its dark grey tail is pointing straight up and it’s looking side-eye toward the camera. #NorthernMockingbird #Birds #BirdPhotography #Yarden #Fujifilm #SOoC

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