Chapter 7, The Bypassed East

What we have learned about the Bypassed East from the text is that it is cold, receives a good amount of precipitation, and is mountainous.  In comparison to the Bay Area it seems very similar, except for the mountains.  San Francisco averages 57.3 degrees Fahrenheit annually.  The climate is mostly cool all year round, with the warmest month coming in September at an average maximum of 71 degrees Fahrenheit.  According to a weather site, www.idcide.com, San Francisco has an annual average precipitation of 22.28 inches with the wettest month being in January with 4.72 inches. 
               a couple walking on sidewalk along Ocean Beach, SF, www.mccullagh.org

As far as mountains in the Bay Area...they are nothing compared to what the Bypassed East has to offer.  Mount Tamalpais, just across the Golden Gate Bridge, has a peak 2,604 ft. high.  At the base of the mountain is the Muir Woods National Monument.  Mount Tam is the product of buckling and folding of the North American plate as is slides along the Pacific Plate near the active San Andreas Fault. 

Because the Bay Area is in a high traffic, high population location it would be hard to set up a farm close to the City.  But on the outskirts of the Bay Area we do find places in Solano and Sonoma counties that have agricultural land.  In Solano county they grow beans, sunflower seed, wheat, corn, almonds, walnuts, grapes, and alfalfa.  In Sonoma county we like to think that only grapes to be made into wine grow in that region, but they also have other million dollar crops such as apples, mushrooms, watercress, and chestnuts.  But winegrapes dominate most of the crops in Sonoma.  

                

Vineyards at Opus One Winery, www.superstock.com

Growing p in San Francisco, I was always told not to eat the fish that come out of the Bay.  Why?  According to www.eponline.com on January 31, 2011, the mercury mining gold recovery in the mid-1800s to the late 1900s have contributed enough mercury to threaten wildlife and prompt a fish-consumption advisory in the Bay Area.  The main sources of mercury in bay floor sediments have shown up in small fish near the base acquiring mercury from those sediments.  Warning...always know where your fish is coming from.  I do.