Rainy Day Walk in the Avocado Grove: Fantastic!

The song about it never raining in Southern California is simply not true.    During  winter months the possibility of rain is a major topic of conversation in our house,  because a rainy day is a treat.   If it’s raining, we don’t have to irrigate the trees, which saves us money.  That’s a very happy thing.   But it’s also a day when the Farmer can’t work outside…a day to rest!

Rain came unexpectedly on a Saturday a few weeks ago.   The day had already been planned for my friend Rachael,  who writes the blog  La Fuji Mama, to come take photographs of avocados.    We had looked forward to taking a walk through the grove and   I was  eager to show her some of my favorite places on the ranch.

We hoped to start early in the morning  so we would have the morning light on the trees.   When we discovered that there would be clouds and a gentle rain,  we decided to spend a little time in the house doing something important:  Breakfast!  I wanted to show her my new marbleware pan (see the post I wrote about that) so we cooked eggs and some bacon (which did not curl and did not stick on the pan).      Of course, we needed to slice some avocados too!   We were having plenty of fun in the kitchen.   I learned from Rachael that a food blogger never sits down to eat without a photograph first!

The rain did not stop us from our walk in the grove.  Fortified with avocado, bacon and eggs,  we each took an umbrella and Rachael brought  her beautiful new camera.  We were Adventurers beginning our trek in the rain!  We congratulated ourselves on wearing appropriate footwear so we could get muddy and wet.   We started off to see what we could find, half expecting that we would be coming back empty-handed.

 

We discovered that the light was just right and the water on the trees presented a unique opportunity for photos that aren’t often seen.   The trees and the avocados were practically glowing.   Avocados just love rain!

It was  easier to walk through the open fields than to stay on the muddy grove roads.  We looked at wild flowers and weeds,   spiders and pebbles.  We found the wild peonies and got some beautiful pictures of them!

 

Rachael was fascinated with the old farm machinery on the property…decorations left from Grandpa Holtz’s farming days in Huntington Beach where he grew beans and tomatoes.

 

 

While Rachael took photos of the plow,  I was studying the gravel road.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.   I asked Rachael, “What’s that?”    She confirmed my first conclusion….it was a STARFISH!   A BABY STARFISH!

 

We’re still talking about that sea star …  how it could have ended up on a road in an avocado grove…was it a star that fell from the night sky, hoping to land in the ocean?   Or did a seagull carry the little guy all the way from the coast?   We’ll never know.  We can see the Pacific ocean from the ranch on a clear day, but we’ve never seen a star fish here!

After we found our miraculous  sea star, the avocado grove began to look like an enchanted forest!

 

It’s no wonder that the avocados were glowing in the rain!

 

Aren’t Rachael’s photographs beautiful?   Be sure to visit her at La Fujimama …shes a great cook too!