Do you mean the birds, Farmme...or are you referring to the neighbors???

Our home is within walking distance of Disneyland, Disney's California Adventure and Downtown Disney. :O We are serenaded (?) with the sounds of visiting bands, MILLIONS of year round visitors, a Fireworks display every Friday through Sunday UNTIL June and then EVERY NIGHT fireworks and sometimes the cloud cover is low and so the noise is amplified and we even hear the screams from California Screamin' (roller-coaster) and the Maliboomer. ;\ The traffic in front of our house backs up 3 blocks in the mornings.
But---we put in double vinyl windows, we are growing a hedge in our front yard,;-) and we have 1/4 acre of land which is gold in California. And I still have lots of birds and way too many gophers! I know it's not the best-but I am grateful to be in a home instead of a condo, (just bought 8 months ago) and we are learning to accept the 'drone'. :x Best deal is that I walk to work instead of being on the freeway for hours-gives me time in the garden! :^O

Birds--all sorts of birds, owls at night, and many, many others at dusk that I can't identify by call.

The computer drone.

Aquarium filter (kinda soothing, actually, dribbling water back into the tank...)

Sweet giggles of my 16-month-old. I *like* the sound of children playing, even the screaming. Wish there were more of it on our street.

During the day--rustling leaves from the million robins snacking on my worms, more rustling leaves from the billion squirrels fighting & courting & chasing each other.

Our street is relatively quiet, relatively suburban. It's not perfect, but we have lots of trees to buffer the noise from other streets, and ours is a dead end so it stays pretty quiet.

And there's always the sweet sounds of my son to enjoy.



Heather

Buffalogal, when I think of Michigan I think of--like Canada, forget about the other part of it. Then you would go thru Iowa. Can't tell you where the first bar is across the state line, depends where you cross I guess. If it's Dubuque or Quad Cities you won't have any trouble. Maybe plan an overnite stop there! I also have a Mercury Sable with 205,000 miles and still running. Fortunately, it has become our second car. Feel pity for you driving with 2 kids yelling "are we there yet" and "I have to pee". My condolences. It should only take us 8-9 hours to get the the Black Hills and with only 1 kid in the backseat. Have a great trip! We live smack dab in the middle of the state.

Neighbors ??? NOPE -the only human loon in the area is reputed to be this weird white haired (tho QUITE youthful) guy who is trying to grow lots of veggies and cutting flowers while the "real" farmers laugh at his methods, tease him unendingly, and give remarkable advise and support - (tho they as a rule are pretty far from organic, but infinitely experienced in reality, all of which I greatly respect)
Aaoh Gawd, whaat's ol man Gray done this time? Cain't noone tell him you jus caint keep the deah out of the patch ifin they wanta browse? He's jus dubbin around...

Front porch, evening, yea a glass or two of wine, then the incredable sound of the loons - haunting, melancoly(?), touching as they call to each other from all over a two mile lake.....

Sounds like heaven! But isn't the growing season very short there?

How nice of you to say! I'm actually a few miles from the breaking waves, but can see the ocean blue, if there's no fog on it (maybe 40% of the time)...And when the fog does come in it brings with it the salty mist that the waves kick up all day, which rusts everything. I won't be surprised if the plastic starts to rust! But when a place suits your soul it feels lucky indeed, which is good because there's always tons of hard work to do!! And the sound of water or sight of it is worth it...I was just at a decorating show and they had a wonderful bedroom with one of those garden fountains in it, I'm tempted to try something like that!

Ah, a rebel on a mission! Sounds exciting! Would like to hear more stories about how you interact with the traditionals. Being a female among serious male farmers where I am I get a lot of head patting and wistful smiles at my "foolishness", and although I couldn't do the scale of the traditional guys around here, I try to show that quality, creativity and non-destructive techniques are just as valid.

I'm not far from San Francisco....OMG, 160 acres in Mendocino!!! It must have been heaven, must have made you sad to see it go! My grandfather grew up in Parkfield, and told stories about how a chance to Go Into Town to Paso Robles was a Very Big Deal. Hot, but those wonderful peaceful hills are so sweet. Saddened a bit by PR becoming quite the franchise center, and although I know it's necessary to have a supply center, but the cutified, pale peach, over-architectured facades of the malls seem a shame. Sounds like you have exciting plans!

Oh my!!! What an amazing description!! You must have a very unstressful social life, just invite people over and pull up lawn chairs! I feel your gopher pain, and although I feel like I'm cheating gardening in California with not much weather or bugs to worry about, the gophers can destroy everything in just a few weeks, and they seem unstoppable. They run across the path from hole to hole right in front of me, they were taking down three tomato plants a day. Really a worst nightmare!

Yup, the growing season is very short. Miss a week cause of weather and you might lose a late crop to frost.
On the other hand, we have remarkable luck with all "cool" and early season crops. Early season to Western Maine is just about all summer long.

I will be happy to share experiences/stories about my interactions with the "traditionals" -I like that term and it is new to me.
FYI my place is bordered by:
Dairy Farm - several hundred acres and currently milking about 90 Holsteins (they buy/barter 100% of my hay and field corn)
New Apple orchard - was part of an old, not active farm- 12000 + new apple trees (2 year)- I am somewhat concerned for wind drift when they start spraying- but we are 1/4 mile plus away at nearest point
Major potato farm - contract growers for some chip company- Frito/Lays?- these guys are the most "commercial" Most of the folks I know from each of these groups are exceptionally nice/helpful guys-

Shame that you have taters growing nearby. That is one of the most intensively sprayed crops. Pretty well sickout out Prince Edward Island, if the reports are to be believed.

http://www.life.ca/nl/59/potatoes.html

Hmmmm.

John

Eco: good reason to grow as many of your own taters as possible. Been to PEI many years ago, beautiful place. The quide we had did make it a point to say that McDonald's gets most of their potatoes from PEI. I'll have a second thought before I eat another one of Mickey D's fries! We need more tourists to complain. Wonder what it does to ocean life, the runoff etc.

Interesting - bothersome - link. Thanks for the info. The guys around here do not spray anywhere near that many times, but I will talk with them next week about what they are using. Both the potato farm manager and the processing plant mgr are good guys who are pretty straight talkers.
And I was more concerned with the orchard because they spray upwards, and the orchard is large enough that it could be sprayed from the air, but I think that has been banned.

I was missing a few of the old voices from the forum -- buffalogal, mumsey, mulchy, farmme, phoebe, and gardenz to name a few. I thought I would bump up this post so you could enjoy their voice as well.

BTW, if you missed sweatpea's initial entry in this thread, I suggest paging back up to read it. It is a lovely description. Heather head's is very nice as well.

As I read this thread, the sound of tires from the distant expressway is being muffled as the local critters have begun their nightly song. The fluty song of the grosbeaks' song is being replaced with a cacophony of high-pitched buzzes and melodious chirping of the toads and crickets. Only a firetruck blasting through the neighborhood drowns them out.