Knöppelåsen

Knöppelåsen 501c3 non-profit specializing in educating environmental stewardship, permaculture and regenerative agriculture using CA natives.

Firescaping: Water conservation: Restoration: Conservation: CA native chaparral/arid food forest project Southern California

Plan on joining Alexander this friday Oct 2nd at the Rose Haven Heritage Garden in Temecula for an educational workshop....
09/30/2026

Plan on joining Alexander this friday Oct 2nd at the Rose Haven Heritage Garden in Temecula for an educational workshop.
Post-fire makes a healthy chaparral: CA native plant fall pruning, care and maintainence in a home garden.

If anyone attending has any clean wood ash, please bring with or if anyone has any clean wood ash to spare and can drop off at anza farmers market tomorrow it would be greatly appreciated.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3123383767971750/permalink/4376999695943478/?mibextid=Nif5oz

Annual Founders day at the in anza. Knoppelasen would like to thank for recognizing our continued efforts for creatin...
09/13/2026

Annual Founders day at the in anza. Knoppelasen would like to thank for recognizing our continued efforts for creating and connecting our pollinator gardens throught anza and hwy371. Thank you to Melissa Morfin, Chuck Washington's legislative assistant for coming to all the way up the hill for Founders Day and giving us this awesome proclamation.

We currently have 3 established pollinator garden locations in Anza with a 4th coming soon. We also have 2 other upcoming pollinator locations that are on hwy 371 near LRE and one more location at the very beginning of hwy 371 x hwy 74 in Aguanga. Meaning we hope to cover all 22miles of hwy 371 with pollinator pockets that bring support, awareness, respect and admiration for our declining biodiversity.

And YES, you may start calling hwy 371(outdated boring),
POLLINATOR hwy 371 (life sustaining, fun, exciting, progressive)

Thank you to all who have contributed.
Please follow us to see how you can be apart of our community projects and or just to see what we're up to.

Pollinator garden work party. With many hands of many ages digging, we not only lined most of the paths but we were able...
09/06/2026

Pollinator garden work party. With many hands of many ages digging, we not only lined most of the paths but we were able to dig and install a bat skimming pond.
Bats need a long water surface so they can drink while flying.
Bat skimming pond requirements: 2.5ftw min 7ftL min. Our newly built pond is 3ft wide and 10ft long. All bat skimmers must have an unobstructed flight path for bats to drink. No plants or fountains etc in the center or ends of water. Can have plants on edges but bats need a clear "runway" for water access.

Thank you to all the volunteers and supporters of the pollinator garden.
Together we can be mighty like the oak.


Work party at Country Corners pollinator garden on the corner of bahrman and 371. This pollinator garden is really takin...
09/05/2026

Work party at Country Corners pollinator garden on the corner of bahrman and 371.
This pollinator garden is really taking form. It is being built by awesome neighbors, friends, and members of the community including supporters and volunteers coming from as far as Temecula, to get dirty.
With many helping hands of all ages, we were able to get much accomplished including lining the spiraling paths with large logs and branches donated by YOU, the community. Thank you.
Together we can be mighty like the oak

Pines. All are keystone species. A well known, varied and widely distributed tree found throughout mostly the northern h...
09/02/2026

Pines. All are keystone species. A well known, varied and widely distributed tree found throughout mostly the northern hemisphere. They are found in the coldest and highest environments but also some of the hottest and semi-arid environments too. Califormia hosts more than 15 different native species including the tallest pines and longest living pines in the world.
Many native pines are fire adapted by being fire resistant (thicker needles, thicker bark, sparse needles) or fire dependant (requiring fire to open cones or diminish competion from smaller trees).

All pines have extensive root systems that are superb on steep slopes as they fan out for eriosion control and also deep tap roots to anchor them on any cliff making them stand outs for wind breaks.

Almost all pines are edible. High in vitamin A & C
From the needles, to the seeds, to the inner bark.
Pine pollen is a superfood containing many amino acids and hard to find nutrients.

Stockholm tar is tar made from the sap. A water proofing and excellent wound healing. Mostly seen for horse wound care, this is the only thing that will seal up a giant gaping wound and heal without infection.

Because of pines antibacterial effects they may help to disapate bacterial infections in soil and around fruit trees just by being present.

Pinesol is touted as the best cleaner one can use.

Coulter pine. 50-70ft max. Found in isolated pockets here in anza and throughout the san Jacinto mountains. Short and stockyist of all the pines. Want a pine that loves hot south facing slopes, dry or loamy soil, or want a drought tolerant pine that can put up more resistance to the bark beetles these two are champions.

Jeffery pine. 70-130ft. Tall and skinny. Common in Idyllwild and surrounding hills. full sun loving pine that thrives in well drained, nutrient poor, sandy, gravely, rocky soil, dry and adaptive to shallow soil.
Seeds were collected from Anza local trees guaranteeing local environmental stresses that ensure genetic diversity.
These seedings were grown by our friend Walker Wilson in fallbrook. We look forward to working together.

09/01/2026

BATS. A poorly understood and villianized animal that are nothing but superheros and protectors. Extremely important to all ecosystems. California has 26 native bats and all eat insects although certain desert species eat nectar and pollinate flowers too.
They are critical insect control, thus anyone including farmers may benefit immensely as they eat so many insects (1000s) there will be reduced use for pesticides.

Depending on the Bat, they will hunt mosquitoes, midges, termites, moths, flies, cicadas, june beetles, ground beetles, butterflies, centipedes, jerusalem crickets, grasshoppers, spiders, wolf spiders, dragonflies and scorpions to name a few.
They are also food for Hawks, Falcons, and owls.

Did you know bats drink while on the fly?

To support and promote our local bats we will be planning and slowly construting the following weeks, a bat skimming pond at Country Corners starting friday sept 4th.
If anyone wants to learn how to be mighty like the oak and build their own bat skimming surface please come to Country Corners pollinator garden. The initial location for our pollinator hwy 371 project.

3pm- sunset.
On barhman next to pizza factory.

Ps if anyone wants to donate some medium sized rocks (about a basket ball size) to line the pond liners for the bat skimming pond it would be greatly appreciated. Please bring to garden
We will be lining the spiraling paths with the community dontated logs also.

Velvet Ash. An olive relative, a keystone species, a southwest native tree that is an absolute work horse. Not as common...
08/29/2026

Velvet Ash. An olive relative, a keystone species, a southwest native tree that is an absolute work horse. Not as common as they should be. This is a relatively moderate to fast growing tree that thrives in our southern Californian riperian deserts, woodlands and does fantasticly in our chaparral too. They support a multitude of insects (including the ash sphinx moths we were hunting for with Dr Gordon Pratt) and will bring all the birds to your yard.

Velvet ash make exceptional shade trees due to their quick growth and maxing out at about 30-40ft. These trees perfer full sun but will tolerate partial shade. The Velvet ash are support trees and are better suited to being the canopy, to shade and disapate heat for the understory.

This ash is very versatile. Drought tolerant. It can tough out our brutal summers when mature and especially when planted with their companions and used in natural settings. They do great on slopes as they have robust root systems.

Permaculture:
Soil builders. Also because of their quick growth they help to quickly establish a barren space into a richer soil structure with the dropping of leaf litter and organic material. Which feeds native soil microbes and with enough bioaccumulation for quicker selfsustainability.

Velvet ash make great firescaping additions to anyone's property and can be used in slightly closer proximity to homes. They hold more moisture in their leaves and are green well into the summer, they offer fire resilience, as ember diffusers near roofs and larger green fire breaks, even on slopes.

Come see the ones we planted in the center of Overland Field. Also on Thursdays stop by our young native plant garden along the fence line of Overland Field within the Anza Farmers Market Part of our Pollinator Hwy 371 project

08/13/2026

ATTENTION!
Update on Humlan's (the humming bird) chicks that nested in our court yard. We know you absolutely shouldn't but did anyway. We named the chicks.
Buzz (female) and Woody (male). Woody was a strong flier and was out flying in the fruit trees and redshank well before Buzz. Buzz stayed in the nest another day and then flew around our courtyard trees and would sleep on the branch directly above Alex's hammock for another couple days while mom feed her. In the video this is Buzz. We can tell because when learning to fly she always sat on the branches to eat. She also comes awfully close and is much more comfortable around us than other humming birds.

Red Fairy Duster. A baja California native plant that is a absolute show stopper. An easy plant that thrives on neglect. Evergreen and a high heat loving plant. This plant wants full sun 12-16h, grows faster with temps over 85*F. This plant feeds many native bees, beneficial insects, butterflies and of course humming birds.

The fairly duster needs NO water once established. However it grows faster and puts on spectacular blooms all summer if given suplemental water. Performs well in a garden or out in the wild. Just like most legumes this plant does have some nitrogen fixing abilities but should be planted with full size in mind.
Because this plant is evergreen and comes alive in the summer the fairyduster makes a great firescaping addition.

This plant is one of the few CA native plants that CAN be planted during the summer. Must be watered once a week though.
Only time you can plant in summer is if you are on the coast, planting in the shade, or planting desert or tropical plants.

Want to live like a Disney princess surrounded by birds and critters that you cohabitate with? Plant Native. Join the FLORA MILITIA.

Thank you to the Anza community! We have received another load of logs at the Country Corners pollinator garden on Barhm...
08/12/2026

Thank you to the Anza community! We have received another load of logs at the Country Corners pollinator garden on Barhman. Thick redshank logs. Do we see some pine logs too? These are very welcomed. Just a handful of truck loads left before we have enough to start. Keep them coming!

Reminder - if taking logs and thick branches of redshake or oak or pine or eucalyptus, etc to the dump
please bring to Country Corners pollinator garden instead. The beginning of town and initial point of interest for Knoppelasens pollinator hwy 371.

Hollyleaf cherry. A keystone species (prunus species the most valuable after oaks and willows). SoCal native evergreen, ...
08/11/2026

Hollyleaf cherry. A keystone species (prunus species the most valuable after oaks and willows). SoCal native evergreen, forming a large bush or small tree. The currently ripe red fruit can be seen throughout the landscape and are a welcomed sight. The cherries are highly prized by wildlife and humans alike.

The edible fruit does taste like slightly sweet mild cherries although has a giant seed. Taste and sweetness are differed between plants. Also they tend to be the best tasting when they still have a little yellow blushing on fruit. They can become bitter when fully dark red.

The wild cherry leaves and bark (prunus genius) like the chokecherry (prunus virginiana) and even the hollyleaf cherry (prunus ilicifolia) was used historically to make cough syrups. The reason all those cough syrups, growing up were cherry flavored was because the medicine comes from these plants.

Hollyleaf cherry wasnt used as just a fruit but also a nut. After eating the little flesh, indigenous communities would crack open the pit to release the large kernel. The cherry kernels would be leached to remove bitterness and roasted then pounded into meal. These roasted kernels were a staple and taste just like almonds.
Infact almonds are in the prunus genius. They are most closely related to peaches. Just one is prized for the flesh the other for the seed.

The hollyleaf cherry needs NO water once established. However it will grow faster and bigger with more. They grow out of cracks of rocks, love slopes, full sun and dry/tough conditions. Evergreen through the summer making it a green firebreak, a firescaping must have.
Tip: plant one or 3 or 10. Allow squirrels, Coyotes, scrub Jays and all other creatures continue your forestry management by planting more, further into neighbors yards and beyond.

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32115 Temecula Pkwy
Temecula, CA
92592

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