Omega Odyssey: A Liberation Retreat

I spent the Fourth of July through the weekend camping with my cousin, Jude, at his friend Kelly's  Omega camp in Grass Valley. It is beautiful land in the Sierras at about 5000 feet. Jude, Kelly, and friends have been celebrating the 4th (also Kelly's birthday) here for 30 years. Here we are, Jude and Kate- the masters of ceremony- conducting the raffle for wonderous prizes!

Grass Valley, CA

 

I headed up to Grass Valley where I stayed with a retired couple who have started homesteading. This is their lovely permaculture garden. They grow most of their own vegetables.

 The lovely compost!

 

Inspiring greenhouse made from an old trampoline frame. Giant monster Swiss Chard. I felt prehistoric when harvesting it for meals!

Cucumbers on a rope!

 

Be sure to wear flowers in your hair...

In leaving Murphys, I made a detour to Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield to pick up my dear friend, Roger. We headed to the Bay for a day in the City!

We ate dinner at this hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant in the Haight-Ashbury. 

Good friends never fade.

Brice Station

 

Here I am at Brice Station Vineyard/Quyle Kilns Pottery in Murphys, California. I have been watering the plants, maintaining the compost heap, cleaning the kitchen, making dinner and cookies, weeding and tending the Merlot grapevines, among other things like hanging out with the chickens.

The family is incredibly kind and hospitable and I am so grateful for their generosity. Stu and Dolores are the winemakers, while Dolores' sister, Pam (above), runs the pottery studio and showroom. Both ladies are hardworking women and I am so inspired!

I made some friends who take me on hikes to beautiful places, such as this mountain top...

...and this awesome river spot.

May 1, 2012

Happy May Day! Here we are dancing the May Pole.

 

The Merry Strolling Minstrels... leading us towards the egg toss.
 

A quartet of ladies in white. Beltane princesses.

Down Home, Hand Spun

I spent a weekend with Kim at her ranch where she raises angora goats for their fiber.

Here is Kim milking Lucy!

One of the goats giving birth.

Such a good mama. I am so amazed at the kids' instinct to stand, walk, and suckle. They are minutes old and know exactly what to do. Such smart animals.

Kim is an incredible lady. She processes all her own fiber, spins it into beautiful mohair yarn, and dyes it using plants she grows in her own garden. Check out her website!

http://www.downhomehandspunfibers.com/

37°13′47″N 119°30′34″W

After leaving Shumei, I headed east to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains and landed in the exact center of California in a tiny little town called North Fork. 

(I learned from my Japanese friends how to take proper photos!)

In North Fork, I stayed for three weeks at Three Springs flower garden. I made some really lovely friends there. Hello to Susan, Kearey, Dawn, Rio, Paola, John, and Dale! 

Pretty garden... green in the spring and full of daisies. I'm sure soon it will be bursting with blooms! 

This photo was taken from the back porch of the house where I spent a lot of time bird-watching. Here is a list of the birds I could identify:

Redwinged Blackbird

Bullock's Oriole

Acorn Woodpecker

Ash-throated Flycatcher

American Robin

House Finch

House Sparrow

Western Bluebird

Violet-Green Swallow

American Dipper

Wild Turkey

Redtail Hawk

and.... I saw a Bald Eagle while I was driving on the highway. So special. 

Three Springs is situation on 160 acres of beautiful forest. A lovely creek runs through the middle and there are upper and lower falls. Here are the upper falls. The lower falls are so beautiful I almost lost my mind. I didn't take my camera.

April 16, 2012

Leaving Shumei was a sad day indeed... As a parting gift, I left with them a painting of some carrots.... HUGE carrots!!

(special thanks to Cara's boyfriend, Todd, for inspiring this piece)

Adventures in Santa Cruz

We went into town and ate dinner at an all-you-can-eat vegetarian Indian buffet. 

SO YUMMY.

Above: Sho chowing down on his fourth plate of food.

Below: Matthew showing us how much he loves his meal

A hard rain's a-gonna fall

It's been about three weeks since I've updated this thing.... It rained lots and lots for a whole straight week. Ben, Mary, Matthew, and I got all dressed up in our rain gear and braved the storms to harvest carrots and chard each morning. Luckily we spent the afternoons transplanting baby tomatoes and eggplant in the greenhouse. (Above: a lovely view of the farm from the top of the hill)

 The storm brought down this large oak tree in the backyard. I actually saw it fall! We were lucky it didn't hit the house, but it did take down a power line so we were without power for a few days. 

The fallen oak brought the glorious gift of firewood, for which I am grateful.

And look, it also brought me a secret message! ^

During the rain, we got to stay inside for an afternoon to make homemade miso! The directions are above (ingredients: soybeans, koji rice, salt) but the real way to make it is below...

Flinging balls.... I think I may have found my calling....

And then the sun came.... and we celebrated!


Other things: We continue to harvest chard and carrots. We planted potatoes and lettuce in the fields. We are still transplanting baby seedlings (peppers!). The sun is warm but the wind is cold and I am making some nice fires in the wood stove. 


We said goodbye to Ben, as he heads north. And we said goodbye to Mary, heading south. I'm sure we'll all meet again in the middle! 

Miss you, friends!

Sisters

Yesterday Cara and Alison came down from Oakland with Terry and Lilly for the day. We toured the farm and then went to Santa Cruz for lunch and ice cream as well as a convenient stop at the Patagonia outlet store.


Check out http://thepennyicecreamery.com/about/ to learn about the Penny Ice Creamery. It's a local ice cream shop that has fresh flavors every day made from locally sourced organic ingredients. On Cara's cone: Earl Grey on top of Meyer's Lemon Poppyseed
On Alison's cone: Burnt cinnamon on top of Rocky Road
I delighted myself with a scoop of Earl Grey on top of a scoop of their incredibly creamy vegan chocolate sorbet. YUM! 

さようなら

Yesterday we said sayonara to our Japanese friends. They continued on to Crestone, Colorado to another Shumei farm.

善哉、ぜんざい

Tonight the Japanese youth group made zenzai, a traditional Japanese dessert made from azuki beans and mochi. Mochi is sweet rice pounded into a paste and then molded into shapes. The soup is served hot and is very sweet! 


In ancient Japan it was believed that zenzai had the power to dispel evil and diseases. However mochi is made from polished rice which removes thiamine (vitamin b1) from the grain. In the 1880s, many Japanese sailors whose diet consisted almost exclusively of polished rice contracted a disease called beriberi, which is an impairment of the nervous system caused by a lack of thiamine. Once the sailors were put on a diet that included thiamine, they stopped dying of beriberi.  So I'm not so sure zenzai has the power to dispel disease, but it sure is delicious!


Also, notice the beautiful origami crane.

Allium cepa

Today we transplanted these baby green onions from the greenhouse into the field. It is slightly redundant to say "baby" because green onions are really just common onions which have been harvested before the bulb has formed. Yet so tasty and sweet! 

For the next few days the farm is hosting a Shumei youth group from Japan! Here Ben and our new Japanese friends are in the rows gently placing each onion in the soil. 

I just love onions! And these onions are so cute! 

Myosotis latifolia

Discovered these little Forget-me-nots while gathering kindling this morning. I would have never noticed them had I not been so close to the forest floor. So delicate and lovely!


"It is one of the most interesting minute flowers. It is the more beautiful for being small and unpretending; even flowers must be modest." -Henry David Thoreau

Daucus carota

I arrived at Shumei Santa Cruz farm on Thursday. On Friday and Saturday I helped wash and bunch veggies for the farmer's markets. Look at these HUGE carrots!