Treasure Hunters

Joseph Foreman was once again our guide to finding geological treasures in the area near us.  We met up at the Hales’ home in Colfax for a short lesson on how the earth shifts, the result of which we had felt on Thursday night when our beds shook from an earthquake!  Our area is very rich in gold because of the faults below the surface.  Joseph explained how gold is a very heavy metal and sinks to the bottom.  This is why gold panning works.  The heavy gold settles to the bottom of the pan allowing the other rocks and soil to be washed away.  Iron is also heavy so you will usually find a black sand-like material at the bottom with the gold.

 

Joseph also expalined that gold is most often deposited on the inward bend of the river where the flow of water slows.

That is where he took us.

We made the short drive from the Hales’ house to the Bear River Campground off Placer Hills Rd.

We walked a short distance to a spot along the river just up from the parking lot.

We found a little spot tucked in the trees by the rivers edge to settle in.

We started with panning by taking scoops of sand and soil from the bank and swirling it with water in our pans.

All eyes out for gold!

Joseph came around assisting and giving tips.

The older boys were especailly interested in trying out the sluice box.

 They would take scoops of soil and strain it through the sieves into the buckets.

Then they poured the material into the sluice box and allowed the river water to wash over it.

The sluice box has ridges and the gold washes up under them.

After many buckets through the sluice box they rinsed its contents into a pan.

With Jospehs help they were able to all get several small pieces of gold.

The kids began dreaming of what they would do with their newly acquired riches! 🙂

Another thing the kids learned is that searching for gold takes patience and can be hard work.

Before leaving, Joseph also let the kids try out his metal detector on the shore.

They found a rusty old bottlecap!

Another great day learning while enjoying the beautiful area in which we live 🙂

Wild Oak Llamas

Our trip with the Juarez and Greene families to Wild Oak Llamas in Grass Valley was truly delightful.  Upon arriving at the beautiful farm off Greenhorne Rd we were greeted with a warm and welcoming hug by the owner Mary Adams.  Mary and her husband Rick purchased the property about 7 years ago and moved up from Benecia in the bay area.  Their hard work is evident in the well groomed grounds and lovely home which sits at the top of the property and looks over the farm.  Mary and Rick created this farm so that their grandchildren could come and experience nature and the animals.  It is apparently by their very nature that they love kids, human and llama!

Llamas are raised to breed, compete in national shows and produce a very soft fiber

used for making blankets, hats, scarves, sweaters etc.

Here is a basket of fiber that was sheared from the llamas on this farm.  It is cleaned, brushed and spun into yarn.

 You can see the skeins of yarn here.  These are all natural colors with no dye.

They let the llamas up into grassy lawn area.  Here you can see the two babies, the silver one is only one week old!

A baby llama is called a cria. A mama llamas is called a dam.  They are pregnant for 11 1/2 months before giving birth.

They explained that llamas are generally friendly and nonaggressive.

We learned that llamas are part of the camelid family.

They weigh between 280-450 pounds and live for 20 – 25 years.

The llama’s gentle nature makes them non-threatening and safe even around small children.

When we sat quietly on the ground several came up to the children.

Llamas have a delightful habit of coming close to sniff you.

This one is quite curious about Sophia

Gracie and Brooke make a new friend:)

Mary and Rick hold this one still long enough for us to feel how soft the coat is.

We watched as the llama enjoyed eating the leaves from this apple tree.

This one enjoyed leaves from a nearby cherry tree

Another interesting thing we learned was about hydroponics.

Hydroponics is growing plants in mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil.

Here they sprout barley to use as part of the llamas nutrient rich diet.

The first tray shows how the barley seed has sprouted and began to grow after about three days.

The bottom tray had been growing about 5 days.  It was about 6 inches tall!

Mary let each of us pull a blade out and taste it.

Not a big surprise but it tasted a lot like grass 🙂

The way it works is that a water solution is fed into each tray every four hours for about 15 minutes each time.

This is done on a timer.  The room is keep at a temperature around 72 degrees and dark.

You can see here that there is no soil.  The bottoms are a weaving of roots.

The llamas are fed a strip about 18 inch long.  In addition to this they are fed a “slice” of hay.

Rick was nice enough to offer those both tired and curious a ride to the lower portion of the ranch in his golf cart.

No one wanted to be left out.  Who knew a golf cart could hold one friendly llama farmer and 9 happy kids! 🙂

More curious and friendly llamas to meet.

Llamas reputation for spitting is highly exaggerated.  Spitting at people is rare in most situations.

These are some of the sires, male llamas.

Several of us wondered what the difference between a llama and an alpaca was.

Mary explained that alpacas are generally smaller.

They also have shorter pointy ears whereas  llama have bigger ears often called banana ears.

Mary showed us how llamas do not have upper teeth.

Did you know llamas give kisses?!

Kristen wanted a kiss too 🙂

Rick got this guy to stand up nice and tall for us by offering him snack from a willow tree.

Llamas weren’t the only animals here.  This is a not so friendly African goose.

They also had a cage of doves

This one was a Eurasian Collared dove (according to our ornothologist,
Brayden) named Colfax.

We even learned a little about composting.

Llama beans (no, they are not really beans!) are watered and turned and eventually become nice rich soil for planting.

Mary and Rich’s sister in law Carol even made us some delicious cookies that we sat by the pool and enjoyed along with some cool drinks and apples.

What a fabulous afternoon!  We can’t say enough about this wonderful couple and their beautiful farm!

They welcome vistors, just call ahead.  You’ll be glad you did 🙂

Bridgeport

On Friday, May 3rd we visited the historical site of Bridgeport.

It is located about 20 miles outside of Nevada City off hwy 49.

Shortly after the discovery of gold in Coloma, gold was discovered by

Jonas Spect at Rose Bar, just 15 miles downstream from Bridgeport.

Bridgeport was a stop along the Virginia Turnpike, a road connecting the

silver mines of Virginia City, Nevada and San Fransisco.

What made Bridgeport so important, as evidenced by its name,

is the 229 foot bridge originally constructed in the 1860s.

It allowed travelers to cross the Yuba River safety and they did so by the hundreds .

As many as 100 might cross in one day.

This bridge is the longest single span wooden covered bridge still in existence in the United States

This large barn, since reconstructed, was a place for early travelers

to feed and rest their horses along their journey.

Today it is used to display some of the wagons used back in the day.

This wagon was a passenger wagon – still doesn’t look very comfortable.

Imagine a long ride on bumpy, dusty roads in this!

This is a freight wagon.  Notice the solid wood wheels.

That bridge had to have built strong to handle this wagon and its load!

Later a small gas station was added.  The price for gas at this time was 12 cents per gallon!

Inside the vistors center they had displays on the native indians, Southern Maidu Nisenan,

native animals including a grizzly bear and rattlesnake skin,

and photos of some of the early settlers of the area.

We walked along the short cemetary loop trail.  Lorenzo decided Brayden was his new best friend 🙂

Gabi, Lorenzo and Gracie watch as a squirrel scampered along the rock wall.

We spent sometime in the Kneebone family cemetary where Brayden

read stories about each from a handout we picked up in the vistors center.

This tomestone marked the grave of a sea captain who left a wife and

young daughter behind when he died of illness in 1863.

These were a few of the wildflowers we saw along the trail.

Glimpse of the river

We found a somewhat sandy spot in the shade along the river to eat our lunch.

The kids were more than anxious to cool off in the river.

Some were more prepared for swimming than others …

The river was surprisingly warm for early May and the water looked clear and clean.

We were glad that our friends the Juarez family and Jake and Blaynne Rogers were able to join us.

Another wonderful Friday! 🙂