Blum Ranch Lilacs

I'm trying to remember who told us about Blum Ranch originally. I am blanking out on it for some reason! Anyway, whoever it was, and I will remember eventually, brought me the best peaches I had ever tasted. I have never been a peach person, but after my first Blum Ranch peach I was hooked, but they're not just known for their peaches and pears, they're also known for their lilac. I think we missed the majority of the blooms, but we got our flyer about two weeks ago and the period of blooming began on March 27th, and is due to end next weekend.

Blum Ranch is located in Acton, California. I would LOVE to live here. One day I dream of having some acreage of my own. Anyway, I took some photos of the old 100+ year old farm house, orchards, lilacs, some family shots, etc., to share with you. I even found a couple of blooming cactus plants to thrown in too! I hope you enjoy them. Oh and don't forget you can click on the photos to get a bigger view!

Blum Ranch farmhouse in the distance. We will walk down that road to view the lilac fields.

But before we walk down the road, we've got to go inside and check out what they have for sale. We found peach jam, honey, and of course, lilac. Chloe runs to the barn store.

Inside we find lots of lilac in containers, in shades of lavender, white and deep purple.

Now we are ready to head down the long road to the lilac fields. (Did I mention how beautiful the weather was this day?).

The sign leading us on our way to the fields.

And what's this I see? In Southern California, you're pretty much guaranteed to see some sort of cactus at any place you visit.

And look: it's blooming! This cactus will probably be covered with yellow flowers in a week or two.
On the road to the lilac fields, we come up to the old farm house. Isn't is absolutely fantastic. I start dreaming of living here immediately. There's so much farmland not being used any more. Awww...what would I plant??? It's hard work though, but I'm so sick of the city...

Here's the front of the house. I love the steps and the style of the front door. It doesn't seem like they've changed it much, but who knows.

Here's your blog host, (in the very back) and her two daughters, Micaela and Chloe. (Chloe's being silly...as usual).

And here's my husband Bruce in front of an old barn. That's it for our little family!

Chloe loves horses and reads everything about them. We need to get her some lessons. Anyway, she spied these gals a mile away. They seemed a bit shabby when viewed closely. I hope they're just old. Of course, we had to get up closer to them.

The horses were a little bit timid. Maybe just shy because they don't know us. There was a really old white horse in the back. I don't know if I got a shot of the poor thing.

Chloe's pretty thrilled about this! Her and Micaela spent some time looking and petting the horses while Bruce and I went off to explore the lilac fields.

That's Bruce way, way out there in the lilac fields. I had to hurry to catch up with him.

But not before turning to snap this little shot of the girls hanging out with the horses.

A nice snapshot of some of the deep purple lilac. Notice the house in the background on the top of the hill? Must be nice!

The girls running through the lilac fields.

And some lovely white lilac.

The girls head back down the road towards the farmhouse and our car, while Bruce...

...stops yet again, to snap another shot with his beloved i-Phone.

Some pretty lavender lilac along the way.

I'm not sure what the story is here. Both Bruce and I had to take a picture of this pile of rusty cans and glass jars and bottles.

Finally, we all head back to the farmhouse and our car.

But along the way Bruce notices a blooming cactus! Isn't it beautiful?

And finally, we're back to the barn, but that's not our car. Would be nice though! I hope you enjoyed this walking field trip through Blum Ranch. When we go back for peaches in the summer, I'll be sure to take a bunch of pictures then too!