Who Knew?

even though there are a few hangers-on waiting to be picked,

the avocado tree is in full bloom

with literally millions of tiny blossoms.

we thought

"all of these blossoms can't possibly turn into fruit"

and after a day we were proven correct.

the new mulch is littered with 

what seems to be the same amount of dead blossoms

as there are live ones on the tree.

so we did a little research.

it seems that the avocado blossom

opens for two to three hours in the morning

when it is female and ready to accept pollen,

then it closes overnight.

if it didn't get pollinated

it reopens the next morning

and the flower is male shedding pollen,

only lasting a few hours as well 

before it closes for good

and falls off the tree.

the window of opportunity for pollination

is not only small

but the temperature needs to be

60 degrees or above to set fruit.

of course the wind or the bees play a part as well.

it's a wonder the world gets avocados at all

standing under the canopy

you feel like you're in a bee hive,

the "hum" of the bees is pretty loud

and rather special 

without all of those unsung, tiny parts of life happening,

 we wouldn't be able to enjoy our 2 Note inspired

Santa Barbara breakfast

of roasted almonds, quinoa,

poached eggs and avocado

with chili sauce

yum!