Getting greener.

The grass continued to dry out quickly with the lack of rain this year.

Only a short while after the last rains, the hill is already turning golden brown.

We held another community cleanup this month on the 26th, but forgot to take pictures. Here's a picture of some of the results on another day instead. We took out the thick blackberry bramble, which luckily had no thorns.

Our first community cleanup after getting the grant! we pulled out some wild radishes and talked about the plans with the neighbors. 

The hill is completely back to green already. All it took was that one big storm. We spotted a new inhabitant along with the many slender salamanders under a plywood board. An Arboreal Salamander (Aneides lugubris)

The pile is gone! DPW came by and took away the fennel pile, now its a whole new place. Unfortunately, a thick carpet of fennel seedlings have begun to sprout in its place with the big rain. Time for some raking...

Also, see if you can spot the local cat in the bottom-most photo.

This pile is getting old. Not much has changed over the summer. The hill is still dry grass.

Its been a year since we started cleaning up the hillside and we're still finding new things. Here is a native wildflower, 'ithuriel's spear' or 'grassnut' which only blooms from late spring to early summer. It grows from an edible corm (similar to a bulb) that is edible and supposedly taste like a potato.

All the grass is dry, and the wall was tagged. 

Rabbit on the hill! we brought our rabbit to the hill, but she didn't mow down as much grass as we expected.

The grass is starting to dry out, Lots of wild radish flowers all over too. 

The last trash bag on Velasco is finally gone, but now we have to deal with this fennel pile....

The grass is becoming tall and dense. At the bottom of the slope a clump of native miner's lettuce is growing in the shade. Fennel seeds are also sprouting everywhere, we have to pick them before they get too big. 

The view from the top is clear again! We've also been finding California Slender salamanders all over the place. Dumping at the bottom of the lot has slowed down a lot.The fennel pile has gotten so big that we have started to call it Mount Pasadena!

We trimmed down all the fennel stalks in order to stop it from reseeding the soil. Grass is starting to sprout

Neighbors in Visitacion Valley came together to work on the lot and discuss ideas. Some ideas we discussed:

-Neighbors don't want stairs up to Pasadena

-Creating a trail instead of stairs

-A history park

-Highlighting the rocky geology under the soil

-Honoring/Involving the indigenous Ohlone people and their history

-A rain garden or swale at the base of the slope since the old creek can't be daylighted

We discovered the end of the drainage channel! But, its full of trash...

Smoke from the wildfires made it too difficult to get outside for cleanup for most of the month.

Clearing of Fennel continued. Garbage dumping has slowed down, but it still blows in from Velasco. A couple of large wooden palettes and a stump appeared.

Fennel was cleared from the immediate area behind the rail. But there is still garbage caught in the roots and stalks of the fennel.

The lot cleanup begins. The garbage pile in front of the rail was bagged and picked up by San Francisco 311.

The beginning.