El Cerrito Hillside Natural Area

Recently someone at Point Isabel handed me a flyer about El Cerrito Hillside Natural Area. I guess it's somewhat new, and it became available through donations to preserve the land. I have been wanting to check it out. This afternoon, I took some outdated electronics to the recycling center on Schmidt Lane and passed by the sign of El Cerrito Hillside Natural Area.  It was my perfect opportunity to check it out. I even had Kelsey with me!

It's definitely a change of scenery from the water front view of Point Isabel. I hiked up the hill where there were benches for people to enjoy the view. I was supposed to keep Kelsey on the leash, but she refused to walk up the hills with me holding the leash. Since there were hardly anyone else around, I let her go leash free. She then followed behind me and climbed up the hill.  Once we were on the top, we could see the bay and even Bay Bridge. It was smoggy on the other side of the bay, but if you look closely, you can see the bridge.  I really enjoyed the short hike.

Abundance of Passion Fruit

For the very first time, I have so many passion fruit that I am able to give bags away to friends, neighbors, relatives, and co-workers. I can have several passion fruit everyday for months. It's end of September, and the vines are still full of fruit, and more fruit is forming from recent bloom of flowers!

When I give them to people, the first question is always, "What is that?" with a puzzled look. Even though passion fruit juice is sold in every grocery store and Jamba Juice, few people around here have seen passion fruit in its natural form. Once I tell them, they are amazed. They want to know where I got them. When I tell them that I grow them, they are even more amazed.

Since all the fruit is coming from just one passionfruit plant, I figured it is time to propagate it.  I have promised to give baby passionfruit vines to a few friends. Today is overcast and drizzling. It is the perfect condition to make some cuttings. I found a spot in one of the vegetable beds to place my tray and stuck a bunch of cuttings in it. I think I got the original cuttings from a friend back in summer 2009 or 2010.  It took about 5 years to get a full harvest. My next challenge will be growing golden kiwi along side of passion fruit. I don't know anybody who has a golden kiwi vine, so I probably need to order my first plant online.