Apple Picking & Feeding Catfish

Yesterday afternoon we carpooled up the hill to Tenaja (past the Santa Rosa Plateau Ecological Preserve) to an organic apple orchard and pond (Apple Creek). Mark, a "retired" professional, started the orchard and built the pond about five years back and he was very generous in sharing his time and passion with our small group. He showed us fish "nests" (spawning circles in the shallows of the pond), the windmill that pumps oxygen into the bottom of the pond (keeping it healthy in an all-natural ecological way), and some cottonwood trees that towered above us and were just "sticks" about four years ago.

The kids clamored onto the dock which extended into the pond and got to feed the fish big chunks of raw meat. We were amazed to see huge catfish with their whiskers and to learn that there were about 10,000 fish in the pond.

After a picnic by the pond, Mark walked us to the orchard and gave us each a big grocery bag and invited us to pick golden delicious apples from his trees. We were fascinated to discover some seemingly intact apples that were actually hollowed out and hiding voracious yellow jackets inside. When our bags got too heavy, we ventured over to the organic vegetable patch where Mark showed us his towering tomatoes, new beds of sugar snap peas, and strawberry patches. We purchased some purple sweet potatoes, white eggplants, golden pear tomatoes, and butternut squash and carried our treasures to the car full of thanks for our generous host. What bounty at the end of harvest time!