San Diego Beach Blog

Cabrillo Tide Pools

Taking our 7 year old granddaughter to look for intertidal life here last week was a thrill. It’s quite a treasure hunt.

New adventures in the Salt Life

Here now in the Bahamas exploring the lifestyle, food and ocean fun. It is hurricane season and the water is warm! Turtles are swimming by and you can see starfish moving along the sandy bottom. We are in a remote part of Abaco Island on Cherokee Sound where you see nothing but  Casuerina trees, shallow green sea, and vast blue sky.

Quarantine with Jedi Warriors

Our grandson Dane had a birthday coming up and decided on a Star Wars party. His mom covered their living room wall in black paper and I had the job of making the cake. He chose to be Obi Wan Kenobi challenging his cousin as Darth Vader and their sisters were Princess Leia and daughter Rey. 

Obi Wan's tunic was improvised with a rectangle of heavy fabric, cut up the front and crisscrossed in front.  The belt was just a strip of the same fabric.  When we put a hooded jacket over the tunic it was impressive but he really wasn't into wearing it much.

The biggest hit was the light saber with special effect sounds and the kids also used the pool noodles that magically became light beams.

The dark chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting from "Simple Cakes" was delicious. It was such a fun party especially when housebound for weeks on end.

What grows well in San Diego gardens?

Our native California poppy loves to wind it’s way along stone paths and will come back every spring. Scatter seeds in the fall before the rains and you’ll be surprised where it pops up!

 

 

 

 

 

Natives Slowly Replacing Invasives on Sunset Cliffs

Encelia abounds as visitors enjoy the beautiful weekend weather last Saturday and the yellow coastal sunflowers.

Amazing Native Plant Display in Hillside Section of Natural Park

The super-bloom at Sunset Cliffs Natural Park includes California poppies, lupines, encilias, and baby blue eyes among many other coastal natives and wildflowers that thrive here along our seashore.  A wonderful demonstration of how beautiful natural landscaping can be.

Native Plant Showcase in Sunset Cliffs Natural Park

An Open House for Nature Lovers was held last weekend at the Park to show off the beautiful spring blooms and answer questions about the Trails Improvement Project underway.

 

All Eyes on Sunset Cliffs throughout the Trails Improvement

Our local treasure Sunset Cliffs Natural Park is looking great and smelling fragrant after the winter rains. It’s one of those places where you want to walk through the trails and take in  the surprising variety of native plants that are growing so well . The work continues but it’s not stopping admirers from enjoying the progress so far. 

The Hillside Improvement Project Phase 2 included the installation of over 20,000 new plants in the 35 acre hillside section of the Park.  This was done after many volunteers led by David Kimball and the Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Council created a successful demonstration garden to show how native plants could grow and thrive on the Cliffs and help prevent the erosion that had carved a jagged and dangerous route for visitors. 

Now it feels like a sanctuary with scenic trails from which to catch glimpses of migrating whales from January to March.

 

 

Interview with Ocean Beach People’s Organic Food Market

 

Kylie Oliver, Membership Coordinator, was kind enough to answer some questions about their unique business here in OB. 

Me: I can’t help but feel that between the ocean breezes and the availability of fresh organic fruits and vegetables that your market stocks daily that our community must be the healthiest place to live.  Did you grow up here?

Kylie: I did grow up in Ocean Beach/Point Loma. My family immigrated to OB in 1980 and we lived across the alley from People’s. I was 5 then and have fond memories of the store, from a child’s view of course. Fast forward to 1995 and I was hired as a bagger.

Me: Cooking with organic produce has never been more popular.  And People’s shows us that organic fruits & vegetables can be beautiful, flavorful and well-priced compared to conventionally grown produce (which you will not find anywhere in the store, by the way) What a revolution that has been! Someone had a lot of foresight. Who was that at People’s and what was their inspiration?

Kylie: Ocean Beach People’s Food Co-Op was born as a small neighborhood buying club in 1971.  The people that nurtured it’s growth were activists in a local movement to create alternatives to established institutions, including grocery stores.  Their dream was a store providing healthy, non-polluting, cruelty-free food at a fair price. A store that belongs to the community it serves. A year later, on August 19, 1972, we set up our fast growing enterprise in an apartment storefront at 4859 Voltaire Street. In 1973, People’s moved up the street  to a former pool and dance hall. As the store’s reputation grew, People’s became known as a truly people-oriented market with a unique selection of food and uncompromising standards for quality. For the first 14 years, People’s operated as a worker’s collective.  Then, in 1985, the workers decided that since People’s had always been a community store, its future was to become cooperative.

Me: As a grandmother who has 4 of 5 grand kiddos living locally, I am so thrilled to see our toddlers prefer to eat apples  over any packaged snack.  Of course their mothers (our daughters) shop at People’s too. How many varieties of apples do you carry?  They all have a different flavor and all wonderful! Where do you get most of your produce?

Kylie: We carry on average 20 varieties of apples. Most of our produce comes from within 100 miles. Our produce buyer looks at about 100 local sources and 7 wholesalers on average when making buying decisions. 

 

          

Thanksgiving

Giving Thanks for beautiful weather while visiting relatives soak up  ions and vitamin D before traveling back to snowbound New England. Well we can pretend we have snow with piled up sand dunes that make a toboggan run for toddlers on boogie boards!