I drove out to our ranch today in Lancaster/Palmdale area of Southern California. While Los Angeles was 62 degrees, Lancaster (2 hours north of Los Angeles) is 85 degrees with gentle warm breezes.

It is spring in the Antelope Valley and life is awakening. The birds have nests in the trees and are tending to their babies.  Springtime in the valley is gentle and fragrant. Our roses have blossomed and their fragrance is in the air.  I am thinking of putting a wooden bench, next to the building in the shade of the winery. It is a lovely cool area surrounded by roses and honeysuckle.

This year we have noticed so many monarch butterflies flying around. I think they migrate here from Mexico.  They like to sleep under the grape arbor.  Under the arbor, there are hundreds of Monarchs floating around, much like a butterfly pavillion.  They get thirsty, so Farmer Max sprays water on the patio underneath. They flock to the patio because the puddles are shallow and easy to drink from.  I’m not sure how long they will be here…we will see. It would be fun to look up their migration patterns.

Next to the grape arbor is a vineyard where Farmer Max has also grown a beautiful herb garden, with tarragon, chives, dill and parsley.  He keeps the mint in a separate container, because it takes over if planted with other herbs.  We cut the mint every other week to keep it healthy, cutting just the top 4 inches so it will grow back within a couple of weeks. If you brew mint leaves with Chinese green tea and sugar, you have a fragrant Moroccan Mint Tea.

We’ve had lots of rain this spring and the chives have grown like weeds. If you allow them to grow without cutting, they eventually develop flowers, which are edible and look so pretty in salads. Chives will also regrow if you don’t cut too much. This week I harvested the chives as well as some tarragon, dill and parsley and took it back to the kitchen. I chopped everything together, adding mayonnaise and finely chopped garlic to make the most tangy delicious Green Goddess dip.

We love incorporating our produce, herbs and fruit into our meals. It feels so healthy.  You can just feel your cells absorbing health & energy.  We harvest and make as many products as we can think of to use year-round. We make wine, wine vinegar, distilled grape vodka, olive oil and grow pomegranates, peaches, plums, tomatoes, potatoes and melons among other things.

Every  afternoon, Farmer Max and I like to take a stroll around the ranch to check on the plants, to see if anything is broken and check whether the sprinkler system is working properly.

 After our afternoon stroll, we generally have appetizers and drinks on the front porch. This week I made crudités to dip into the green goddess dip, along with vodka & tonic cocktails.  We sit on the porch rocking and listening to music and spend hours gazing at the prairie/mountain view,

When the days are 100+ degrees (which is often in the high desert), then the evenings are heaven…in the mid-80s with nice, gentle breezes.  From the porch, you can gaze about 30 miles in each direction, which relaxes and gives a sense of peaceful, wide-open spaces…something I think we need in a stressful world.