☀️ End-of-Summer Summary 🍂

Now that two weeks of dense smoke have given way to both rain and blue sky in our region, an immense sigh of relief has swept across the land and through our bodies here atop the hill just in time for the autumnal equinox. We've also been treated to a flurry of bird activity over the past few days, as flocks of many species hop happily amongst the oaks and grasses, foraging and chittering after so many stressful stuffy days. The return of our Steller's jays, towhees, and robins signifies a much-awaited shifting of the seasons.

To be sure, summer brought energizing light and splashes of delight to hazy times, but the parting curtains of golden-brown leaves offer an opportunity for rejuvenation, deceleration, and transition. We'll have some big announcements to make about our autumn plans soon...

But before we wave goodbye to the last beams of the summer sun, we thought we'd take a bit of time to step back and reflect upon various happenings around the Hill during this year's dry months.

  Little Paintings: A Bumble Bee Rests in the Sun

  A Sparkling Green Discovery

Last month while doing some planting, I happened across this incredibly vibrant, metallic green cuckoo wasp (also called an “emerald wasp” for some reason). These shiny little insects cannot sting and have earned the named “cuckoo” because they lay their eggs in other insects' nests (usually other wasps), where their larvae eat the host's larvae & food stores as they grow (sound familiar?).

Last month, I was delighted to come across this extremely cute and hummingbird-esque bee fly which is—we think, aptly—named Bombylius major.