Sunol Agpark Experience Week 3

Hello everyone!


           News Flash. If there is there one thing you should eat before you die, it should be ground cherries aka poha (well that's what Kristie said. I think I ate the Hawaiian kind). The scientific name of these ground cherries are Physalis. It's sweet, small, cute, delicious, and addicting. Really addicting since I ate like fifty of them; I don't think I'm exaggerating on that fact. They're so GOOD!

Enough of my cravings for such exotic food, moving onto my reflection over the past few days.

The Poha Berry

The Wrapping of the Poha Berry shapes as a flower

July 13, 2015 Monday

 8:00 am to 12:00 pm.

              Today I walked over to Kristyn and Will's Korean farm at the end of the Agpark. I came just in time for the tour that she was giving to her friend Steve. They shared something interesting stories about Korea and some of the plants to all of us. I got to learn about different types of herbs and veggies as I learned about their characteristics and their link to the Korean culture. I also got to try out some long beans, special herbs, ground cherries, and nightshade (not the deadly kind, the edible kind that tastes sweet and delicious. I already read the deadly nightshade symptoms and I have not experience any of them since I have eaten them). Kristyn also showed me the burdock which inspired Velcro. As we see the farm, Kristyn continue to show her crops like peppers, beans, okra, sorghum, winter melon, squash, etc. They all look wonderful and delectable.

Burdock

             When the tour was over, we come over to the longbeans and continued to build trellis for them to grow on. I already experienced building trellis for the MSJ garden, so the job was simple for me. You take a long piece of string, tie to a horizontal string at the top, and tie to the next string below until you reach the bottom. Meanwhile Kristyn and Will placed the longbeans on the string, making sure they have ample space to grow.  To pass the time, we share some pretty interesting stories with each other. I started off with interesting questions like so.

"If you have one last meal on earth, what would it be? It can be like what my friend said of having crab with butter on top and a steak and such," I asked.
"Are desserts included?" asked Steve.
"Yes, desserts do count," I replied.
"Well, what would you have?" asked Kristyn.
"炒麵! (aka the chow mein)" I quickly said.
"Wow, that was quick," replied Kristyn.
"Hmm. I would have to say corn dogs," answered Steve.
"Really, huh. Corn dogs. I never knew that. We're been friends this long and thanks to you I now know that," replied Kristyn.
"What would you have, Kristyn?" I asked.
"Umm. I go with rice, like the one I have when I was little," replied Kristyn. ( She specified the dish, but I can't remember what she said exactly.)
"Nice choice. I like that one too," commented Steve.

And we continued to talk about random things especially noodles and movies, ranging from the ones that made us cry and the ones that made us leave the movie theater. Meanwhile we play with B.B. Kristyn's Chihuahua. Her original name was Beyonce, but when Kristyn adpoted her B.B. responded to B.B. more. After a while, we had a snack break and Kristyn made a herb tea drink for everyone and it was minty and delicious. Also she shared some more poha berries and I ate the rest of them. I also mentioned to Steve some business ideas for his Ramen shop: have a wax mannequin of himself, invent a phone that allows it to grow plants in it and harness its photosynthetic energy, and place a poster of his face on the shop's window if the latter two are expensive.
He-he-he...

B.B. lying in a pile of dirt

July 14, 2015 Tuesday

8:00 am to 12:00 pm

             Today I walked over to Kristyn's farm again and met her other friend Will Santiago. She told me that Will and her had noodles in the honor of me, since I'm a noodle fanatic. Yet when I came, I heard some news came that the energy company next door are planning to take over three more acres of the Agpark so its workers would "work more." A bit suspicious, I may say. Matt and Helena were taking with Kristyn about what they should to fight back by contacting their supporters and the organizations they work with, the mayor, and more people. I suggested they could refer to The Grapes of Wrath as historical and literature backup. Still I'm worried about them, but they are strong.

              After Matt and Helena walked back to their Happy Acres Farm, I followed Kristyn who showed me the activity today which was weeding. But how she and Will weed are different from simply pulling it from the ground or using a knife to cut the roots. What they do is they use a hoe-trowel tool to to break up the soil by prodding the trowel up and down close together. Later we pull out the weeds and then smooth out the soil flat around the plants. With the hoe-trowel, the soil uplifts the little weed sprouts and letting them be exposure to the intense sun. It's slow but it prevents future weeds from growing and puts off more weeding in the future. The soil felt smooth, crumbling and fine.
However I did some thorns in my right hand and Kristyn applied some homemade balm on it. It eventually came out and as I waiting for the pain to subside, Kristyn showed me a tub of eucalyptus branches and told me that these branches have a growth hormone that can give a boost for young plants not just for eucalyptus. o.0
(I'm thinking of those eucalyptus trees near my home...)

Later we took a lunch break as the sun continues to rise. I ate my Nutella sandwich and we all chat with each other. And I recommend Will South Legend Szechuan Cuisine's Dry-Braised Fish with pork in spicy sauce as a dish he should try as his last meal on earth, or this week. :P
And Kristyn gave me some spicy Korean garlic. Yummy.

Row of Beans!

July 15, 2015 Wednesday
8:00 am to 12:00 pm

            Today I walked over to Will and Kristyn's farm and helped them weed the sorghum beds as they prepare the beds adjacent to sorghum and mulch them. Kristyn told me that she felt happy when I said the soil feels so good and have a lot of bugs inside. She said she have been irrigating the soil for months and covering the bed with mulch so that there's least possible exposure to the air and sun for the soil. A healthy soil has bugs inside, air equally disperse, moisture, and life. Kristyn explain that instead of using only chemistry by providing the minerals the soil lacks, she and Will use biology by helping the bacteria grow and provide the nutrients for the plants. Their process is slow but worthwhile since the soil is amazing♪.
 
             Anyway I continued to weed out the Amaranth, nightshade, morning glory, and thistle with dandelions. It took me a while clear out the area but it does take perseverance to continue and finish the job. I see that determination in Will and Kristyn and it motivates me to weed on even though I have been weeding almost every time at the farm. I don't blame any of the farmers since there are numerous weeds growing everywhere. During our lunch and water break, we were discussing random topics like choosing rice or noodles.

I replied, "Well it's like choosing between air or water. You need both. "
Kristyn replied, "Thank you, that's exactly what I mean. You know what. I'm going to say that next time someone asks me that questions. "
We all later talk about how common Filipinos like sing karaoke ( I still don't why), the existence of K-rage (which does apparently), which led on to K-pop which also sounds like cake-pop. I then told them that my friend made cake-pop of pink piggies' heads for his English project, which is based on Lord of the Flies. 

I said,"That's a scary book. I mean those British kids lost their innocence. They like killed like two people. I imagined my two friends would be on island with me and them and I would like choose to tell what the kids to and have my friends as my bodyguards or die. I think death is a better option."
Kristyn commented, "Huh, so you can choose to enslave everyone and have your friends as your bodyguards or die. I don't blame you. Like being in traffic makes me want to kill someone."
I look at my watch and realize I have to go.
"Uhh, bye!"I shouted as I quickly walked away. Will and Kristyn started laughing out loud as they waved goodbye.
'I'm okay if you kill Will, Kristyn. Bye!" I said as I walked all to my mom's car.

Fun times.
And I grabbed a few poha berries on the way. They're okay if I do that.

July 16, 2015 Thursday
8:00 am to 1:30 pm

             I came to the farm around 8 to work on Emily's farm, Root and Bloom. But I couldn't find anyone except for Kristyn, Will and Vinnie (Helena and Matt's dog). I waited at Emily's farm as I pet Vinnie like he's my kitty. Later he followed me as I looked over the farm and reviewed a bit of my Pre-calculus notes. Yes, math. I then decided to walk over to Kristyn and Will as Vinnie slowly followed me. I waiting for B.B. to bark out loud, but it turns out that it was her day off. I greeted Will and Kristyn who were preparing to transplant some eggplants and squash, I believe. I watched as I checked my text message from Aspen and realize that I messed up the time, which was 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. Whoops. I spent the last 15 minutes studying math and snacking on some poha berries. Later Emily came and so did Aspen who came to check up on me.

Aspen Kvicala, Emily Finkel and me, Deborah Chen
(left to right)

                 Aspen then left to help guide a cooking camp of kids around the farm. Emily and I then went over to her peppers and tomato beds to remove all the weeds that have growing there. I borrowed her trowel to remove the deep-rooted weeds and it was rewarding to remove the weeds that almost suffocated the peppers and tomatoes. While we were weeding, Emily gave a quick shout and asked me to come over. I walked over to where she was pointing and I thought it was garden snake. But instead she pointed to a caterpillar. We couldn't figure out what kind of caterpillar it was so we walked over to Aaron (after we took a lot of pictures of it). Aaron then said it is a tomato horn worm  as Emily was reading some description of it. I so decided to name the moth caterpillar with seven V's  shapes on its back Emily. And as a surprise, Aaron called over to the camp of kids to come over and look at the bug. So I was surrounded by little children who were petting the caterpillar and want to touch it more. Good thing it lasted for a minute because I don't like being crowded. Afterwards, we took pictures of the worm and placed it in a coffee cup of tomato leaves.

A Tomato Horn Worm named Emily
(Whoever finds the worm should have the worm/caterpillar named after her.)l仁,l什麼?分

             Later we fixed some of the hose that are part of drip irrigation system used at the farms with some electrical tape. And then we weed the flowers and some eggplants until we have a water break. But I got to say "茄子" to one of the supervisors named Jiang Chi. After our break, Emily decided to make another bouquet and cut some sunflowers, stasis, cosmos, and more types of flowers as I stripped the leaves of the flower stalks. Later I arranged the flowers and have Emily tied it up with chicken wire. She then cut the stalks to make sure they're level to make sure they get enough water if they are placed in a vase full of water.

My bouquet

Deborah Chen with my bouquet

To pass some time, we took some pictures like the horn worm and the swallowtail who visits her arm.

Flowers in a flower

Swallowtail
(I named it after myself since I knew the name.)

A Dahlia

                 By the time it was 1:00 pm already, so we all walked near the entrance. I talked with Aspen who was chatting with one of the cooking camp counselor, Caroline. I like her Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. Go Percy Jackson! (or Perseus Jackson if I'm a monster...) We already brought Emily the horn worm and Emily said, "Deborah gets to be the beautiful swallowtail and I got to be the ugly tomato horn worm. Thanks."
I said, "Well whoever find it and find the name of the bug should name the bug after herself."
Later I told Aspen and Emily a joke that the horn worm can go to the great beyond by being eatien by a bird which will fly to the great beyond. We all laughed and Aspen told me," I don't know if its's the school or the people but you guys are amazing. Once I see someone from Mission applies, I'm like yeah a Mission student." She later asked me about the previous interns who went to Mission like Stanley Gu and Samuel Sze and where they're going to college. Such a small world. Later I ate some yellow watermelon (the inside is yellow. Wow.) and some quinoa and salad made from the little kids and it was delicious. I wish to go to this kind of camp and I go to to this kind of cooking camp when I was little.
Fun.

Aspen and Emily admiring Emily the tomato horn worm.

Sunol AgPark Experience Week 2

Hey guys!

        I hope you enjoy the little spin-off from my previous post. I try to write a more concise one. Let's go♪

June 29, 2015 Monday 8 am - 12 pm.

The Agpark Farm

     I return to the farm and met Joanna again with her boyfriend.  I then continued to weed out the Amaranthus talk with her boyfriend as he used a tool to uproot weeds in the furrows. He showed me a weed named Purslane or Portulaca Oleracea, which has Omega-3  fatty acid (has ALA, DHA  and EPA specifically) , vitamin E, Magnesium, Riboflavin, Vitamin C, Potassium and Phosphorus. Plus it tastes good. 

After I weeded and ate the Purslane, I helped Joanna planted some Mexican sunflowers and marigolds from her planter trays. I also took some of the leftovers home and to the MSJ Garden to plant, obviously with Joanna's permission. But I never imagine that I would working outside for so long today. Six hours or more is a long time.

Questions: Where can I get the Purslane seeds? And what types of soil are available and best for the plants? I saw Joanna have some volcanic, gypsum soil at her farm. Cool.

Cloudy day over the fields

Break Place

June 30, 2015 Tuesday I had to skip because of my family's timing.

July 1, 2015 Wednesday 8:00 am. to 12:00 pm.

       Since Joanna was coming later in the day, I worked with one of the interns Desiree on Stephanie and Aaron's farm. They needed an extra hand of harvesting some of their crops for the weekly CSA (Community Support Agriculture). You should definitely sign up to receive some organic sweet veggies from them! Over a few hours we harvested some Curly kale, Lacianto lettuce, spinach and basil and tied a bundle of ten of each kind with a rubber band. As we harvested, we removed some of the dying, pest-ridden leaves from the plants. Aaron told Desiree and me that sometimes these plants send out chemical signals to pests to eat their leaves away because the plants needed more room to grow. It's the farmers' job to harvest the plants to encourage more growth 

       Also we learned about hybridization when we picked the lettuce with its colorful stems. Some of the lettuce have yellow, yellow-white, orange, red-orange ,etc. stems caused by their phenotype expression. It's interesting to see how plants can create such variety. After we picked up the veggies and herbs and tied them up with rubber bands, we then washed them in a water tub and place them in cleaned baskets, which later had a wet potato sack covering each basket. With all this hard work, everyone decided to take a break and have some sweet plums and peaches that Stephanie and Aaron brought. Yummy. As we relaxed, Desiree and I told each other stories about how we found about the farm and what we have done on the farm as our shift ended. And it's a beautiful day to chill and make new friends.

Questions: How does the CSA program work? What are some ways of keeping a plant healthy?

Sunol

 Sunol

July 2, 2015 Thursday 9:00 am. to 1:00 pm.

          Today I got to hang out with Emily, whom I already met when I was working with Matt at the Happy Acre Farm. It turns out their farms are right next to each other. Anyway, I walked over to the greenhouse where I talked with Emily and saw Joanna again. They were both watering their plants an getting ready to plant them in. After Joanna walked back to her farm, Emily then showed me her farm and what she had stored for us: planting eggplants, weeding and making bouquets for fun. Afterwards, we went back to the greenhouse to pick up some eggplant sprouts and planted them in the bed. Meanwhile two of Emily's friends came over to help out weeding and planting. As Emily and I planted the eggplants, we talked about why we chose to farm and some interesting facts about ourselves like college, interests, plans for the Fourth of July, etc. After we finished planting the eggplants, she showed me her vegetable-flower farm. Since I'm interested in flowers, I asked her for some of the flowers she grown. She grows Zinnias, Celosia, Sunflowers, Gomphrend, Dahlia, Rudbeckia, Statze, Marigolds, Clarikia, Yarrow, Ammi, Nigella/love in a mist, Ruplurum, and Cosmos.

          She should me some of the beds that she started weeding while one of her friends worked on weeding out the bed with the dahlias. So Emily and I worked on the opposite side and we all worked towards the middle. As we weeded, Emily told me that usually on Thursday she won't be working this hard because she has work at 1:30pm. But with me here today, she feels more motivated. So having a buddy work along with you helps! And it's more fun too. And while we weed, she told me that even though weeding takes a long time, it's rewarding to see how much you progress. After we were done weeding the bed, we took a lunch break and exchange more stories. Plus I learned I like pesto, the dip she had on her sandwich. After our break, she then took me over to the farm to pick out flowers for to make a bouquet. So we each carried a bucket of water to keep the cut flowers turgid. Later she cut the plants and telling me which one is the filler and the main spotlight to put on a bouquet. Like it's best to not have the leaves on the flower stalks especially near the bottom because they can rot and affect the rest of the flowers. And that you have to be careful handling the plant of else the stem might break. For the sunflowers, if you grow them closer to each other, they have smaller heads and that it's best to cut them before they're fully open. Let them last longer and make more people smile when they see them. And I really like making the bouquets and the flowers all look so beautiful. I should have take a pic of them, but the feeling still remains in my memory. FUN!

And Emily said I could go to Johnny's selective seeds to order a free catalog request. And that she gets her seeds from Geoeed.

Questions: May I make another bouquet again? What are some ways to make sure the flowers last longer?

Water temple Mural

Water Temple



Road View

Philosophy: Don't let anyone hurt you; you have the power to stop them.

Sunol AgPark Experience Week 1

Hello I'm back guys with a some great news!

                    So I'm an intern at the Sunol AgPark farm over this summer break. I shall begin with a day by day description. But as a bonus (and because I want to) I included some retouched pictures and information about the farmer and their farmers.

And I shall throw in a little humor of mine.

Warning you are now entering a highly classified page.

June 24,2015 Wednesday

Deborah's log.
It's 900 to 1230.

      It's the day I met the interns: Desiree and Eden at the quaint, rustic Agpark located in Sunol. It is also the day I again met up with Aspen Kvicala, a really nice, enthusiastic woman who gave us a tour around Agpark farm.  After we visited the farm and the water temple, which is built to commemorate that the area from Yosemite to San Francisco has water. It's not built for religious affiliations and it's pretty cool. So after we visited the water temple, we each begin working on a farm and I got to work on Joanna Letz's flower farm called Bluma Farm. Her website is http://blumaflowerfarm.com/.

Agrostema

       So Joanna showed me her one acre farm and the tasks she planned me to do. And one of the famous tasks a farmer must do is weed. I remember when Joanna lend me the weeding knife and showed me the bed of flowers I thought the weed was the flower. The weed is called Amaranthus retroflexus and it produces a LOT of seeds, which means I have a lot to remove. But to make it easier for me, Joanna said to remove them up to a certain line she drawn on the bed.

                        I learned that instead of feeling overwhelmed, you can conquer the problem by breaking it up into small tasks, conquering them one at a time. And also when you're working with or for someone else, you feel more motivated to finished the task. So I realized it's better to tell others your goal so they can support you and remind you of your goals. 

Joanna Letz's farm

       After I was done removing the Amaranthus up to a certain line drawn on the bed, I then helped Joanna transplanted some more flower plants she grew in trays in the greenhouse. She taught me to push the plant down into the soil instead of digging holes in the ground since the tractor already had broken up the soil into a fine, powdery kind. Yet I found it difficult to plant them in the new bed , because the soil and the roots would break up underneath my fingers when I pushed them down into the soil. But even though I have to replace some plants that didn't survive the transplanting, that's okay because there's more to compensate for the loss. And that some the plants grown in the trays may not have grown well, which is okay too.

                        It doesn't mean you did something wrong; it's natural that some didn't grow well while other do. You can't blame yourself for all the problems you faced because some of them are beyond your control, so it's best to move on and not bear yourself down. 

There's a lot of philosophy one can learn from gardening and everyday. Maybe I should be one when I grow up. Hmm, I shall ended with some word of inspiration I gave to my friends.

        After we were done, we took a snack break and introduce ourselves more. We mentioned our ethnicity, stories, schools, and why we chose to farm here. I enjoyed my first a lot. Too bad I didn't bring my camera. Meh.

Questions: How come some plants can be pushed into the ground while others have to be digged into the ground? How does the tractor make the soil so fine and smooth?




June 25, 2015 Thursday

Deborah's log.
It's 800 to 1200.

         I  arrived at the farm with my backpack and hat on. I walked over to Joanna's farm but I didn't see anyone there. Still I remember my weeding task and found the weeding knife I left behind in one of the rows. After I picked up the knife, I then looked for the flower bed that has been half-weeded and continued my job until Joanna showed up. She smiled at me and said that I could continue weeding up to the line she drew yesterday and that later she would show me how to harvest some flowers. So after I weeded the bed, I then came over to her and she taught me how to harvest snapdragons.

Snapdragons

        And my job was to cut about ten of them, placed them in a cool water-bucket, then later wrapped them in a newspaper that has been folded in a triangle, and finally place a rubber band around them. Joanna said she going to sell them to a florist who will used them for a wedding bouquet. The thing was I love flowers but I don't wanna cut them. And there are beautiful snapdragons with different colors and shades like yellow, pink, orange, and peach. Later when I talked with Aspen, she told me that even though cutting the flowers hurts the plants, it does allow more room for more flower stalks to grow. So what I was doing is like pruning, which then help the snapdragons grow. わかりました ( I got it).

Some things aren't meant to last forever, but for now we should enjoy them before we miss the opportunity again. But again, maybe the opportunity will come around again. :D

        After I was done, Joanna allowed me to then harvest some flowers for myself and peruse around her farm. So I made a tiny bouquet of Snapdragons, a few Coreopsis, a few Agrostema, a blue one Bachelor button, one orange Daisy, and a red Poppy flower.

Here are some of her flowers.

Bachelor Button

Sunflower with a bee

A flower ripe with seeds

A pink flower ( I don't know the name)

Questions: How do the florists use and pick the flowers for their bouquet? What are some ways to make sure the flowers are still fresh?

June 26, 2015, Friday

Deborah's log.

It's 800 to  1200. 

        Today I got to work on the Happy Acre Farm with Matt and Helena since Joanna said he wanted to take a day off on Friday after she worked on the farm for a long time yesterday. So I walked over to the first farm I saw from the entrance and met the two farmers. Matt gave a short introduction of their two-acre farm, and Matt and I started on stripping down the curly kale and Lacinato kale ( I think that's the name). These kale were infested by flea bugs which happen  to come out when the weather is warm. Still it was pretty cool to see the bugs and the new leaves growing near the inside of the kale. However the flea bugs might still infested the rest of the kale since they seem to coming back to them. There's this saying that Matt told me : "One third of your crops go to mother nature, One third goes to the bugs, and the rest goes to you." Cool.

Honeysuckle 

Happy Acre Farm

         Afterwards, we then removed some peppers that were sunburn, Yes peppers do get sunburn when it's too hot for them, but it's pretty interesting to see the spots on these growing yellow pepper. Matt said, "We're banking on these peppers." It's because the peppers they are growing turn different colors over time from yellow to purple to red and it's beautiful. I can't wait to see them  (and eat them). During our break, I then asked him the problem about G.M.O. foods and he told me that many of the G.M.O. foods have chemicals like pesticide genetically encode into them. Then the company uses the pesticide on these plants so that they would survive the pesticide. As a result, people are getting twice the chemicals from G.M.O. and it's so common in America. Wheat, for example, used in America is normally G.M.O. unless the label says the product is made from organic wheat. So read your food labels. 0.o And for the sugar intake, it is recommend to have 24 grams of sugar per day, which is about 6 tablespoons. But with the processed food in America, it's easy to overload the sugar intake especially with the drinks. Cough cough Coke and Pepsi with 39 grams of sugar cough cough.

Hammock (break time)

        But on the bright side, you guys (if you read this far) know and that I had one of the healthiest snacks ever made by Helena. Tortilla bread with vegetable mayo, cucumber, onions, rhubarb, and a little salt. All the vegetables were grown from their farm which is pretty cool. As I shall refer from a TED talk my friend told me, let's be Gangsta Gardeners. Oh dear. But growing your own food and know what happened to your food is satisfying and amazing. Warning: there is a lot of hard work so don't take farmers for granted .To think that I  am working with the less than 2% farmers of America. :D

Honeysuckle

       Later Matt and I removed some nitrogen fixing plants to enrich the soil of a bed. They use these cover crops instead of pesticide since using pesticide cause a lot of harmful long-term problems and they are certified organic farm. Afterwards we picked up the kale leave with rakes we took a break. Then I helped him load his truck with garlic and wash some vegetables that he wanted to give me. My mother did enjoy the squash, beets, garlic, sunspot pepper, cabbage and more veggies. After I was done, he then allowed me to take some pictures around the Sunol Agpark since I told him that photography is my one of my favorite hobbies. I think this blog proves it. And I really enjoy working with them and hanging out them. I think Samuel Sze was glady talking about them when he found out I got accepted as an intern at this farm. It's definitely a small world here.

Questions: When can I work there again? And where is their website? FUN♫

My Philosophy: The problems you’re facing now will go away. Have Faith!

♫Summer Break♪ Part 1

Hello users of the Internet,
whether you are human,
a cat,
or some supernatural being...

        As mention before in my previous post, I have working on some pictures and here are the ones I have taken in June. They all have been retouched by Camera Raw ( except the pictures of Samuel Sze. :D The rest of the pictures took me a while to them edited).

        Keep in mind that in reality all of the June pictures I want to show are scattered in my other posts. So I have a Sunol Agpark post coming up full of beautiful pictures I took there. These ones are the pictures that didn't quite fit in the "Mission Peak hiking" or "Sunol Agpark Experience" posts.

Enjoy♫

Samuel Sze 

on the Last Day of Digital Photography Class

My friend Jamie and me

Yes, yes my face is actually shown...Boo

Sunset

 Flowers on a vine

 A Desk in a UCB dorm

 Hallway

 A Rainy Street

 Reflection in the Glass

(btw, buy my mother and brother's book, My Beloved Son)

 Gracie my new kitty

(She's a Wild Cat)

And a Scary Cat too!

Mission Peak Hiking

Hello guys! I'm back♪

         Okay sorry for the long delay of not posting up pictures on the blog. It's just that summer break got busy with college application, vacation, the MSJ Garden, and personal stuff. It does not mean that I have not been taking pictures or having fun. I did went on two hiking trips with my friends to Mission Peak on the Ohlone Trail (if you have no idea where I'm talking about, there's a search engine called Google or another search engine called Bing, which ever you prefer). 

          And I just spent about two hours collecting picking the pictures I want to edit on Camera Raw from the ones I have taken in June. And then I picked the pictures I want to put online. So here is the Mission Peak one and keep in mind that I have around 5 seconds to take each picture (except for the turkey one, which took me about 15 seconds) because I was hiking almost non-stop with my friends.

 So enjoy♫ and I have posted some on my Facebook account too.

The Road

 Shall Continue

 Forever

 A Life's Journey

 Has Friends Along the Way

 Out In The Unknown

A Family (Of Turkeys)

[with six kids, a mom, and a dad]

 You Are

 Never Alone

 In This World

 As Long As

 You Have A Friend

To Be With

Remember Me and 

The Times We Have Together

Thanks you guys for a great hike. 

Never expected so many piggyback rides.