Raptor Hill Farm, 9071 McGurrin Road, Oakland CA (2024)

22/07/2024

Didn’t get to post the second in the “warm and hot” flower series. But here is the HOT end of the spectrum. These are the third and fourth flowers this year! Enjoy 😊

08/07/2024

We’re in flower mode around here. I’ve been watching this bud grow, and this morning thought “Oh, it might flower in the next day or two.” Passed by an hour later and it had puffed up some more, then bam it’s here! So pretty.

Tomorrow we’ll be see more floras in the deep end of the hot spectrum…

04/07/2024

What happens when you don’t visit your raised beds during a heat wave because you’re tending your potted plants!

All the beans, cucumbers, squash now have fruit! But that spaghetti squash that was already showing powdery mildew just went insane in the dry heat 🙀

Last image, the Speckled squash is a beast 💪✋ it has completely smothered a 3’ Vietnamese purple pepper. And has taken over the nearby tomato cages. Sigh.

I guess I know what I’m doing early@morning tomorrow before the heat- pruning!!!

24/06/2024

Mom’s lovely arrangement using a vessel by . I love the circle repetitions ⭕️

21/06/2024

I’m still bowled over by this new succulent for show last weekend. WHY didn’t I buy a couple more? It is almost indescribable- true translucent windows, red brown lower leaves in the light. Out of direct sunlight, the lower areas are deep purple. Some emerging parts are green. I’m totally enchanted, and so is everyone who has seen it! Aptly named Haworthia “Ice lantern” 😍

Thanks to Thorn Oasis for selling it!

16/06/2024

Yeah, a lot of plants jumped in my crate. But when you can get your hands on Korean hybrids that aren’t available readily in the US, or a guru of tells you about his rarities on offer… you just have to buy!

09/06/2024

One more day!

Plant Sale Today 6/9 Noon-5pm
9071 McGurrin Road, Oakland

We decided that while we have everything organized, we’d go for one more day. Sundays can be slow so here’s hoping that it’s boisterous and fun. So many neighbors getting to meet each other over plants… that’s the real magic behind having these sales. And it allows me to keep propagating.

Many plants heading to our local Ace Garden Center afterwards, so get them while you can 😄

05/06/2024

It’s happening again!! I have a HUGE amount of houseplants (100+) and about the same number of succulents that are ready to head out to new homes. I also have some perennials and herbs- geraniums, tarragon, Italian oregano, chives, rosemary, bee balm, etc.

There are a couple of tomato and pepper varieties in case you’re tempted into “just one more.” I didn’t get a chance to start them until end of March so they are recently potted up and still small but should be bedding ready in a week or so. I will be planting my own of these on Thursday after the heat breaks! Jaune Flamme, Patio Princess for Tim’s, and Fish, Guajillo, Early Japapeño on the peppers.

I will have some pots available for sale in case anyone wants to take a gift-able plant with them. Hello Dad!

19/04/2024

Ahh, spring time in Northern California! I was traveling for two weeks in March which meant that I couldn’t start seedlings until I got home. To have tomatoes starts that are only putting out their first true leaves now would be disastrous for many locations. But our summer is really August-October so I don’t sweat it. And I never plant peppers or eggplants in the garden until mid-May because we will get some nights in the low 40s between now and then.

How are your veggies growing?

28/11/2023

Okay, I dropped 1/3 of the fruit on our mandarin orange trees in August. Can’t you tell? Don’t you see those barely orange bejeweled branches after my monstrous pruning efforts???

Yeah, I see this has given me a greatly reduced amount of fruit. 🙄 The goal was to take each branch down to 2-3 fruits so the trees could focus on maximum flavor. Then I left them be while doing other tasks, and I think the trees secretly replaced all of them while I wasn’t looking! 🤯🧐

13/10/2023

We’re having a plant sale tomorrow and Saturday!

Come on over to 9071 McGurrin Road in Oakland. We will have hundreds of plants for sale. I have heaps of indoor plants and succulents, along with some perennials. Parking is easy!

My thumbs are healing but I’m still not sure what the future holds in terms of raising lots of plant babies, so some of my mother plants will be on offer, as well as a clearance table for some plants that need more TLC than I can give them at the moment.

20/08/2023

Hurry on over! We’re having our summer parking lot sale !!

Open until 5pm today. The weather is beautiful. The studio is open for visiting if you’re clay curious. We also have sign ups to learn about classes or memberships. Hope you can make it over!

04/05/2023

What a busy weekend! Besides plants sale at our farm on Friday and Saturday, my ceramics studio is having its big spring parking lot sale on Sunday! Mothers Day, graduations, weddings- so many events this time of year where a locally made piece of art would be a heartfelt gift!

Come out and support us if you have the time!

02/05/2023

It’s happening again!! This Friday, 5/5 2-6pm, and Saturday 5/6 9am-2pm. More photos later but I wanted to get this out as soon as we made the call to have the sale😊

It’ll be a little chilly but we’ll set up the small greenhouse with a heater for the colorful indoor houseplants that you know I love.

Of course, lots of succulents so you can get a head start on your hot weather plantings. I do not have many annuals this year due to my hand issues, but there are perennials. Special note- I divided my organic tarragon this winter and have limited stock of this hard-to-find plant in 4” and 1gal sizes!

Hope to see you this weekend, and remember that Mothers’ Day is just around the corner!

21/03/2023

Wunderground map says it all. This storm has stalled over parts of the Bay Area, and we’re in it.

Just had another eucalyptus fall in the north gully (not owned by us), and luckily it fell uphill away from us. There is now a massive one left naked in the wind that could hit our home 🫣🙏🤞

26/02/2023

Please garden carefully, friends. A few years ago my left thumb started to bother, and progressed to grinding. My GF the hand therapist comes to the rescue and makes me some custom thumb braces. They work@great but eventually break.

Well, this past year it got much worse. DON’T be sloppy in how you carry your pots, especially women whose hands aren’t as broad. I have big strong hands, but intense lifting and flipping 4” and 1gal pots all 2022 landed me in a world of hurt by the holidays. I have to take a rest this spring growing season… which pretty means the year is a loss.

The bandages are the cortisone shots I just got that should relieve my inflammation and pain, for awhile. Gardening and farming is hard work. I stretch. I get good rest. I hurt myself. Be careful and cautious as you work. ❣️

29/01/2023

Hello beauties! The peony shoots are starting to emerge 😍

Seven plants are in the ground, with one still in a pot from last summer. It won’t be super happy with me but maybe I’ll still get a blossom or two. As soon as it’s done flowering, I’ll get it in the dirt.

As I’ve posted before, I mostly plant Itoh hybrids now; they’re almost double the price of standard peonies, but they will bloom reliably… and that is what counts with the garden space dedicated to these plants. I still throw ice or ice water on them a few times in the winter, but it’s so much less effort than standard peonies. In our warm winters, they just don’t get the chill time they need.

22/01/2023

If anyone ever needs to know why Patio Princess tomatoes will ALWAYS be grown at our place, it’s because I’m still harvesting fruit on 1/21… on last year’s plant. I’m sure it has some healthy roots that went into the soil beneath the pot. It’s almost 8’ tall, and we just kept adding armatures to prop it up during the growing season. I haven’t pruned it back since September ‘22, and it isn’t adding bulk at this point but the fruit keeps ripening.

We are having sub-30 nights, torrential rains, but it don’t care! Proof is on the thermometer in last photo. So far over 400 chill hours and it don’t care! (The fruit is also delicious and meaty.)

15/10/2022

What else happened in the past week?! I made a super yummy mango-apple-citrus preserve.

I’ve been making jams and chutneys for awhile but finally took a class with Rachel Saunders. Fun fact my middle name is Saunders!

I finally took the big financial plunge and bought a copper preserve pot at Preserved at the end of class. This one is made in Texas and has beautiful hammer marks on it. I was worried that the marks on the bottom might interfere with the cooking process, but no the pot was a star 🤩🤩🤩 Thanks for the workshop and stocking everything we need for preserving our produce!🙏🧑‍🌾🧑‍🍳

I also have to shout out to as it was their luscious Keitt mangoes (less fibrous) that made this all work. The Fuji apples stayed just firm enough through maceration and cooking, too!

15/10/2022

Mad harvesting before going on vacation!!!

It always shocks me how many tomatoes it takes to make even a thin sauce. Roman's don't grow well for me so I use regular toms which are much more watery. In the end, five full quarts went in the canner💪😵‍💫

11/10/2022

Who could resist such a lovely creature?!? It needed a new pot immediately and I’m happy to say it was accomplished without any blood being drawn. 😁

08/10/2022

I was very happy/sad to see this little bonsai go home with someone last weekend. I think it was very well balanced in its vessel. It was a birthday present so I hope it was well received 💝

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01/10/2022

Plant sale! Today until 2, or 3pm. I have to be honest, it was quite slow yesterday and we aren’t used to that. Please share this with friends in the East Bay, and tell them we have plants of all shapes, sizes, and prices! Mostly indoor and succulents, but the oregano and Tulsi basil are in great shape too. 🌱🌵🪴

Tagging some of you local folks who might be able to spread the word. Thank you all for supporting your local business!

9071 McGurrin Road, Oakland

28/09/2022

It’s happening again! This Friday (9/30) and Saturday (10/1) at Raptor Hill Farm.
9071 McGurrin Road, Oakland.

Hundreds of succulents and house plants this time around. If I have time to prep them, we might also have some perennials or herbs.

Easy parking. Venmo, cash, and Zelle all work. We hope to see you if your in town.

17/06/2022

My last major plant delivery of the spring season… it is middle of June after all. Big drop of , so come get your Wild Boar Farm tomatoes, Japanese variety peppers and eggplants while you can! Thanks to everyone out there who supports your local small growers- we appreciate you!

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17/06/2022

As you’ll see in another post, I dropped off some more plants at my local Ace Hardware Garden Center. Whenever I do, my vehicle pulls hard to go look at Ann’s garden. Here are some pix from today.

Maybe some of my cacti/succulent/airplant friends can tell me if it is a tillandsia albida that is about to bloom in the third image. TY! And yes, that superb aloe in the second image is aloe polyphylla. I now have some and can only hope that they will grow as well. Might need some expert help on getting them properly sites though!

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14/06/2022

Okay, I have to admit that this is a very proud moment for me. Grand Lake Ace said that they would carry my starters. I took them in last week and went to check on stock today, and they seem to be selling well. Do I make as much money as selling directly? No. Do I get to interact with customers and share in the love of all things that grow? No. Do I feel like “I’ve made it as a grower” to have my products in one of our most respected garden centers? Yeeesss!!

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12/06/2022

Thanks to my friend for tipping us off that the NAMES AIDS Quilt is on view through 5pm today in Golden Gate Park. It is just as moving the third viewing as it was the first time I saw it.

If you live in the Bay Area, please consider checking it out.

12/06/2022

I had some much fun this morning at a kokedama workshop this morning

The instruction was clear, and we made to pieces with lots of encouragement and guidance from our teachers.

I’m looking forward to making more soon and already have ideas about potential other materials to re/utilize!

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07/06/2022

What a fine evening for event in Piedmont, CA. Sandor Katz is doing a little book tour for his newest book, Fermentation Journeys. It was a lovely mix of storytelling, recipe demonstration, and Q&A for the active fermenters in the crowd. Active. Fermenters. Yeah, you were already onto that one weren’t you?!

There is usually a couple of fermenting projects going on in our household but I may just have to start another one, or five.

Raptor Hill Farm

22/07/2024

08/07/2024

04/07/2024

24/06/2024

21/06/2024

16/06/2024

09/06/2024

05/06/2024

19/04/2024

28/11/2023

13/10/2023

20/08/2023

04/05/2023

02/05/2023

21/03/2023

26/02/2023

29/01/2023

22/01/2023

15/10/2022

15/10/2022

11/10/2022

08/10/2022

01/10/2022

28/09/2022

17/06/2022

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