Trump budget proposal targets USDA spending cuts  - High Plains Journal President Trump’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget calls for nearly a 20% reduction in U.S. Department of Agriculture discretionary spending.

See also: the proposed 19% cut to USDA. hpj.com/2026/04/07/t...

Was just thinking about texting mine...

anyone else having a hard time getting any work done today?

Wildfire Season by Jobi Riccio. youtu.be/qwVVFaDYnY8?...

haha 😀 It works for me! YMMV

I started taking improv comedy classes. It’s been a huge help

Trump delivers farmers another financial blow with Iran war Some of President Trump's policies, the latest being the war in Iran, are testing his support among farmers who are being burdened with higher costs.

Wrote about how Trump policies keep stacking up problems for farmers...

-tariffs made machinery more expensive and made China buy fewer soybeans
-deportations thinned out the labor force
-Iran war raised prices of fuel AND fertilizer

www.npr.org/2026/03/24/n...

Poison oak in California is Toxicodendron diversilobum. I think T. pubescens is the Eastern species of poison oak.

If you wake up angry, sitting outside with a coffee and listening to the morning bird chorus is a good antidote. You might even hear your first Bullock's oriole of spring.

A black swallowtail butterfly on large bright yellow flowers set against a clear blue sky.

A California pipevine swallowtail butterfly (Battus philenor hirsuta) on flannelbush (Fremontodendron californicum).

It’s been a while since I’ve heard this, but I have heard some farmers refer to them as “shit-squawks” because that’s what they do when they take off. It’s always startling because they’re hard to spot when you aren’t looking and you have to practically step on them before they fly

Damn you take nice bird photos!

Maybe the fattest bittern I’ve ever seen. Or it soon will be!

The world could be such a nice place if we allowed it. It's all so goddamn unnecessary. There's no need for any of it. It's so beautiful here. It should be so cool to be alive

that's amazing. I read about kea decades ago in a conservation book called "Last Chance to See" by Douglas Adams (of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fame). I loved that book, and I'm glad that people are still getting a chance to see kea!

With apologies to Bad Bunny...
mucha lluvia, ey! mucha lluvia ey!

I've known people like the mayor in this story: nobody sees race, but the city council was "too busy being Latino."

JB Kwik Weld would be my bush fix. Good luck!

Bill Gates
Bill Clinton
Billy the kid

It do not matter… go to jail

Let's check in and see how much January has warmed in the U.S. and Canada over the last 75 years. 🔥🔥🔥

Aerial photo of sprinkler system installation. A tractor digs a trench against a crosshatched background of grass and sprinkler lines.

New orchard sprinkler installation.

Good thread Tom! In my experience in CA rice, Industrial Ag is not efficient. Excessive tillage, diesel consumption, very low Nitrogen Use Efficiency, and every year more herbicides and fungicides. Dust, methane, smoke. Meanwhile we are doing no-till organic rice with none of those issues.

I must not be on "Antiques Roadshow" Bluesky.

Eliminate DHS entirely. And don't replace it.

That scene still creeps me out 35 years after seeing it

California researchers create nitrogen-fixing wheat | The Western Producer U.S. crop breeders have created a wheat variety capable of creating its own nitrogen fertilizer.

www.producer.com/daily/califo...

for example, one order going out today to the East Coast will cost $9.85 via UPS but $12.96 on USPS. It's not even close to competitive!

USPS shipping rates have skyrocketed this year, and delivery times increased. I used to ship almost solely with USPS, and now I barely use them at all.

but would rather be kayaking on the American River.

Working our booth at the Terra Madre food show in Sacramento this weekend