Bees, Bugs, and Suburban Fauna
Our beloved Golden Retriever passed away in 2018, and for a long time I was unable to move past the loss of my canine friend. I had not realized until he was gone what a big part of my life he was. For more than 12 years, he had been my constant shadow around the house and yard and on twice daily walks. He helped to keep me motivated to be active. He was wicked smart, loving, friendly with everyone…
Life has been pretty busy around Hanbury House, but first and foremost, it is plant sale season! For Hanbury House blog readers that are local to SoCal, this weekend and next weekend is the 2015 LBCC Horticulture Department Club’s 2015 open house and annual plant sale. Normally it starts mid week just before Easter break, but not this year. This club sale is a great chance to stock up on summer veggies, drought tolerant perennials, and all sorts of great plants…
Yup. On Monday, I was in the back yard doing some pruning, when I heard an angry crow. Looking up to the power in the next door neighbors’ yard, I noticed a huge hawk trying to enjoy its lunch in peace with a crow incessantly harassing it. In addition to bugs, chickens, and plants, I am also a nerd about birds. I ran inside and grabbed my old camera. When I uploaded the photo on the computer to see it…
Happy Halloween from Hanbury House! I find lots of spiders in the yard all the time, and finally managed to get a couple of pictures of my favorite, the Bold Jumper. According to BugGuide.net Bold Jumpers are classified as Phidippus audax, and can be easily distinguished by the green fangs and three markings on the abdomen. The Bold Jumper is a highly variable species, and the markings on their back can come in white, orange, or reddish, but they always…
I usually like to post links to TV and newspaper articles related to backyard chickens all together on a different page, but this one hits a bit closer to home and was on the front page of the local paper yesterday. Excerpt taken from the Long Beach Press Telegram, June 18th, 2012. Residents want Long Beach to allow livestock by By Greg Mellen Staff Writer LONG BEACH – If urban farm advocates have their way, several meetings last week could lead…
Hoping to provide refuge and bring more solitary bees, like the native Valley Carpenter Bee, into our yard, the kids and I created homemade carpenter bee houses over the weekend.
Well, it turns out, I actually need to deal with it by DOING NOTHING. I was out weeding and deadheading on Wednesday afternoon and I was dismayed to find so many aphids on the new growth of my Mexican Flame Vine, Senecio confusus. My first instinct was to start squishing or get out the high pressure hose nozzle! But after taking a closer look, the vine was also covered in newly emerged tiny lady bug larvae. They discovered the problem…
Pesticides cost lots of money, especially organic ones. A carton of iron phosphate type snail bait sets me back $10 to $15, depending on volume, and it needs to be reapplied every few weeks. Hand picking is generally as affective as using chemicals, and a whole lot safer, but I don’t always make time to do it. However, the bug bounty hunters are often happy to do it for me. My kids, as well as a few of their friends,…
Almost 2 years to the day, we had a red tailed hawk kill one of our free ranging chickens. Obviously perturbed at me for ruining its meal, it watched from overhead on the telephone wires as I cleaned up the carnage, with tears running down my face. After that, I became more cautious about when I let my chickens out and for how long. With supervision, I do let them enjoy at least an hour or two most days for…
There are regular sightings of opossums, squirrels, and rats in our neighborhood; and the majority of these sightings are along the Furry Freeway, as my husband calls it. It is the system of the power and utility lines that run overhead between the park and the houses. The connecting lines are a safe expressway where they are able to by-pass the dogs and cats below on the ground, confined in fenced backyards. The power poles down into the yards are…