-
Finch Frolic is for Sale
Four varieties of banana in the tropical area. The almost two acres of permaculture food forest and the split-level home of Diane and Miranda will be listed for sale April 5th, 2024. Over 40 varieties of food-bearing fruit and nut trees and plants, plus herbs, vegetables, native plants, timber bamboo and ornamentals. Over 112 species of bird have been recorded on site by Miranda as well as over 40 species of butterfly and the same of moth. Slender salamanders, frogs, coyotes, opossum, racoon, bobcat, skunk, and many more native animals find respite in this chemical-free garden. The three bedroom home built in the 80’s is move-in ready, and can have a kitchen and bathroom updating when ready. The Pergo-type floor resists scratches, newly painted inside and out, new roof 2020, double-paned windows, two fireplaces, new waterheater 2023. Tiled entryway by mosaic artist Jane Engleton; Stars and Moon small bedroom painted by local artist Melissa Ledri. Refrigerator, washer and dryer, split AC/heat installed last year (no more propane tank!), enough solar to run the house and well pump and still receive a check from SDGE. A 700 gallon and four 50 gallon water tanks capture roof water. All irrigation comes from a well, and the pump is run from solar. A small greenhouse, two sheds, composting toilets, an outdoor sink, and a freezer-turned-worm bin along with eleven vegetable beds filled with mature beautiful soil. This garden has educated thousands of people over the last decade on methods of chemical-free gardening and conserving nature. We would love for permaculturalists to continue to love it and the animals that call it home. $850,000. Please do not leave questions here, contact: Greg Farrell
Real Estate Agent Lic# 01203492 (949) 588-8134
gregfarrell@firstteam.com
gregfarrell.firstteam.com
A wonderful screened-in porch. 
Small fenced yard for pets and get-togethers. Chain link is around most of property. 
Windowseat overlooking small lined pond and bird watching area. 
Composting toilets and large shed. 
Dwarf peach is one of over 30 species of fruit trees and shrubs 
Many natives such as Western Redbud 
Smaller bedroom painted Stars and Moons by local artist Melissa Gregg Ledri 
Chemical-free habitat. 
Rain catchment basins to sink all rainwater. 
Inquisitive visitors to the large unlined pond. 
Timber bamboo that is also edible, and non-invasive. 
One of two fireplaces, this one with insert. 
A 700 gallon tank captures roof water, and has submersible pump. 
Outdoor sink (logs help lizards to climb free) 
Wisteria! 
Welcome to the garden. 
-
August at Finch Frolic
Black Beauty zucchini. This year Finch Frolic has been particularly beautiful. Of course, this year we had to close down throughout the spring. Fortunately we’ve been able to reopen for limited-capacity tours with safeties in place. However, I really miss sharing how lovely the garden is, and I want to let you have a little tour right in your home.
Little Marvel Popcorn. It tastes so good! These photos were taken this morning before the temperature rose; its in the 90’sF here today, in North San Diego County. I apologize for the phone camera, as my good camera is in for repair. I only wish that you could also smell the moist mulch from the light overnight dew, or hear the clug-clug of the crow, the tittering of a flock of bushtits and the scuttling of lizards through leaves, which I experienced as I walked around the garden. All of these friends and so many hundreds more are working the garden today and every day, keeping it in balance.
A blue dasher dragonfly, one of many species that patrol for insects all over our property. Their larvae in our ponds look like little dragons, and they eat mosquito larvae as well. Watercress behind. Our food forest is a low-water-use garden, on poor soil, using no additives to the ground other than occasional compost. There are no herbicides, pesticides or other factory-made chemicals used here, and there are two of us who care for the garden. Most of the seasonal beauty this year is due to the diligence of my daughter Miranda who took seed sprouting to a whole new level even before the pandemic arrived. We rely heavily on the insects, birds, lizards, frogs, soil and water microbes and creatures to do all the work protecting the plants, and the plants themselves to create good soil. All we add is a low dose of salty well water which the humus cleans, and leaves or sheet mulch on top. Our fruit trees receive a dose of blender compost once in awhile. Miranda and I hope that these photos bring you peace and lift your spirits, and that knowing you are looking at a safe habitat that is thriving with life gives you a feeling of security as well. It can be done. Permaculture must be done. Best of health! Diane
From the driveway looking down the main pathway into the garden. 
Lorenziana Gaillardia, to feed the pollinators. 
Rock steps cross the large rain catchment basin. Sycamore leaves protect the soil from the heat. 
Our new orchard, with beans trained up a teepee over a fruit tree, and tomato cages behind. 
Our old Ca. Live Oak. Oaks are home to over 300 species of bird and insect. 
Our jasmine-covered gate in the sun. 
Resting place, made from recycled wood. 
Figs! Panache Striped Tiger. 
Dawn through the birch trees, with Naked Lady amaryllis blooming behind the blackberries. 
Our small bamboo bridge next to our little pond. 
Dawn through an olive tree. 
A native mallow wildly blooming over a bamboo footbridge Miranda just built. 
Black Krim. 
A plant guild combines plants with different functions for the benefit of all. 
The Torch Tithonia is over 5′ tall, and butterflies and birds love it. A plum, squash and orange tree in the foreground. 
We pollarded our willow trellis in January, and these tall interesting limbs are waiting for some creative project to arise. 
Kabocha squash. 
An army worm taking a sleep in a mallow flower. 
We grow the timber bamboo, and eat it, too! 
This beauty is a carrot, Lunar White, allowed to go to seed. Gorgeous and great food for our tiny native insects. 
Lorenziana Gaillardia. 
Straw flower and carrot. 
Apples do very well in hot weather. Cripps Two. 
Red Kuri squash vine past the seating. 
A whole mess of Naked Ladies! 
Tall Double Mix strawflowers, (Helichrysum bracteatum). 
The Withy Hide, or willow hut. 
Hard to believe that these massive trees grew so quickly. It has everything to do with water capture in the soil. 
This stump has personality! Brachychiton rupestris, Australian Bottle Tree. 
The leaf cover makes this rain catchment basin look full. 
California sycamore, 8 years old. 
A covered bridge over the rain catchment system. 
You May Also Like
Native Insects and IPM
The Púkas of Caerbannog
The Coon Saga: The Luck of the Draw
-
A Video Journey Through Finch Frolic Garden with Kaye Kittrell
We were visited in early November, 2019, by Kaye of Late Bloomer video blog fame. Come have a short virtual tour of our permaculture food forest in the Fall. Please visit Kaye’s YouTube channel, Kaye Kittrell | Late Bloomer Urban Organic Garden Show , to see more of her adventures in gardening. Also, please ‘like’ the video to show Facebook that you care! Thanks for watching.
-
The Battle of the Bulge
POND FROLICS
In the still of the night….
“AHAAAAAH! ‘INGO! Om wi’ EE, ithter ‘ummy!” 
“…Iddle ard oo ‘thallow…” 
“Utht ‘otta adust.” 
“Abee oer ere….” [Five minutes later…]
“Oou know, imma juuuust –“ 
“You know, I really feel like worms, anyway. Yeah. Alright. Let’s go get some worms! Yeah.” -
Owl Be There
POND FROLICSThat nocturnal birds eat at night is a pretty straightforward piece of knowledge — awake at night, ergo eating at night.
It’s also pretty clear to anyone who finds a large dropping on their car in the morning that wasn’t there the evening before that other functions of life have to happen in the hours in which we sleep or stumble into things as well.
It’s funny how surprising it was to me to be confronted with the fact that owls — as of course they must do — also bathe at night.
Need to install an owl-dryer out there!
-
The Púkas of Caerbannog
POND FROLICSFinch Frolic is home to many Desert Cottontails.
Dah-DUM. Dah-DUM. Dah-DUM, dah-DUM, DAH-DUM –! More all the time, in fact.
“Whoa! Do you see what I see?” “Yeah, yeah — when did that rabbit get there?” Or at least very solid population replacement.
We see them all the time because they are pretty comfy here and used to us, just scooting around nibbling grasses and fighting the ducks (I gotta see if I have photos of that to share — hilarious bunny sass…).
The funny thing is how infrequently they appear on the wildlife cameras, and when they do, they’re invariably being rather sneaky.
“Oops, still in shot, sorry.” 
Sometimes, it can start to feel a little spooky….
(Nasty, big, pointy teeth.) 
— Run awaaaay!
-
Coon Tales: The Beginning
POND FROLICSWhen we first put out our wildlife camera over the big pond’s north bog, we quickly found that aside from the oppressive scourge of the querulous ducks, raccoons are our most frequent visitors.
“Ooo — I wonder if that little red light is edible?” 
“I can just sneak right up on it….” 
“Hmm — nothing inside this shell to eat. A pointless object.” The story they present is also generally a much more compelling one than the ducks’ — they both have intrigue, romance, action and comedy, but when you’ve watched ducks go back and forth and back and forth and back and forth in petty squabbles for the zillionth time, you come to respect the way the coons economize their time.
INTRIGUE 
COMEDY 
ROMANCE 
ACTION The ducks take the whole day to execute their drama, but the raccoons squeeze it all into night visits lasting only a few minutes, perhaps a quarter of an hour.
Or perhaps only the time it takes to capture a single, perfect picture.
-
Getting Your Feet Wet
POND FROLICS
“Oooo that is definitely squlechier than I expected–!” Either this juvie Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) thinks she just caught something or she’s just realizing bathwater with duckweed might not be the best choice….
Subduing an unfortunate young bullfrog? Carefully scraping off tiny, free-floating aquatic plants? Blocking out a new rhythmic gymnastics routine? We’ll never know.
-
From Heron Out
POND FROLICSLessee, what can I tell you about the Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax)….
“WHOA, what was that back there? Gotta check that out….” There’re small herons. They have blackish feathers on top of their heads. I guess you could call it a cap. A blackish cap.
“They were fast – as – light – niii-ing–!” They’re the most widespread species of heron in the world, apparently. Noisy, social, not too fussy.
“Hey! What’re you lookin’ at, lady?” Oh, and this is surprising: they do most of their hunting and such at night or in the dusk: evening and early morning. Herons of dimness. Darkling herons. Gloaming. Blackish-capped. Herons.
…Yep. -
New Wildlife Camera Angle
