Overall we own 3 acres of old apple orchard, with a stand of 30 to 80+ year old-Douglas firs in the NW corner of the lot.  The south property line is planted with 80+ year-old Monterey Cypress trees.  The lot is between two ravines with seep springs which are headwaters to Blucher Creek.  As such, there are plenty of deer, raccoons, opossums, squirrels, a few bats, bobcat, red fox, salamanders, and over 60 species of birds that visit, and/or breed in & around the property.  And more pocket gophers than we can accomodate.

We fenced in approximately one acre of the lot in 1997.  The fence is inset from the property line, to allow passage for the deer to get from one seep to another.  We began planting out native perennials & trees as soon as we moved here in 1995.  (Container-grown, wild-harvested seed stock.)  After joining the CNPS in 2003, and learning more about Habitat Gardening, our plantings of natives became more focused.  Since 2005 we have served as propagators, and as a depot for plants for the Milo Baker Chapter Plant Sale, which occurs every October.

Between the gophers and the daily fog/wind, we gave up trying to grow our own vegetables here.  We have been content with creating a foraging, feeding, and nesting area for wildlife.  We installed a small water feature in 2006, with a waterfall which delights the hummingbirds.  We have a feeding station for the songbirds, and a resident roost of 20-30 turkey vultures.  We use herbicide only on poison oak in the main "garden", and no pesticides.  We keep no livestock, so the weeds are taken down with an electric weedeater, and a once/year tractor-mower.  The areas outside the fence are tangles of native & non-native blackberry, coyote brush, and poison oak.  We're trying to keep broom & other invasives out of our little patch.  There's an on-site leach field system, and private well.  And lots & lots of mulch!

The adjoining properties:  to the south, more old apples, mowed, not disced.  To the east and north, houses with huge yards & gardens, one organic, one not.  To the west, intensively managed grapes.  Unfortunately.