embraced at trout gulch

i had a wonderful visit at trout gulch farm.

i got a little tour from my hostess cole when we arrived in the late afternoon yesterday. she even took me down to take a look at the neglected three-acre plot where they want to establish the farm. i could feel the potential there. it used to be an apple orchard. we hung out in the outdoor kitchen before dinner. sean fed us delightful and smokey slices of seared lamb heart he cooked over the fire! i shared slices of a wonderful sweet pepper i had been given from the alan chadwick garden. i prepared a miso soup and sauteed greens (leek, onion, fennel, romanesco, brussels sprouts, and nettle). cole made radical refried beans and fatty rice. after dinner i kept warm by the little fire pit, meditating and then doing some wood carving on the mini-mask project i have carried with me from orcas.

i slept in a treehouse that was tall enough to stand in and just long and wide enough to sleep in comfortably. books line some walls(clever insulation idea!). i read an old national geographic article about micro chips before falling asleep around eleven i think. i felt really cozy with a mason jar of hot water in the foot of my sleeping bag.

it was a beautiful day starting with a beautiful morning. when the goats were moved from their night time pen to the daytime paddock i jumped up to join the herd. i saw that they could use fresh brush to munch and asked jeremy if i could get some. he showed me where i could cut some oak branches for them. this was a comforting chore as i used to do this all the time for our goats at wild's edge. i also harvested some trailing blackberry for these fine goats later.

the family who owns the land requested volunteers for a work party to pour concrete into the cinder block forms that are becoming the walls of a new room below their current house. this room will be for their youngest son. i was happy to have the chance to help, to give back. the position i took in the party was as the one to pour the concrete into the forms, overseen by a most vigilant man experienced with this kind of work. i enjoyed talking with him. he is writing a book about psychology as it relates to biophelia. i think that is basically accurate. anyway he had some interesting thoughts and appreciated where i was coming from.

i didn't get to meet the main farmer fellow there, but met many of the other members of this loving and hard-working community and was very impressed. it was very tempting to stay, but i felt ready to head on and left feeling elated.

tonight i am staying with some very pleasant 'warmshowers' hosts in seaside. the ride here was taxing and i rode the last twenty miles or so after dark. almost the shortest day of the year! tomorrow i'll hit the big sur coast. we'll see what happens there.

esalen farm and trout gulch farm

do you know of this place called esalen in big sur? i didn't before this last week. after realizing what this esalen institute has going on i made some efforts to arrange a visit there, but it has not worked out. through these videos i got a better idea of what their farm and garden are like. maybe i will visit there at some other point in my life. for now there are other amazing places on my path to experience.

where i will be going today is a new farm project called 'trout gulch farm'. a girl who has been involved there is going to be working with my younger brother at Wild's Edge on Orcas Island this winter. when i was looking for a place to stay in santa cruz she offered that trout gulch might be a possibility. to make it happen i have had to spend a couple more nights than i intended here in santa cruz, which has led to some other good experiences.
trout gulch is interesting particularly as a bridge between urbanized, media savvy youth and radical, ecovillage lifestyle. hard to describe exactly what i mean... here is an article that supports this perspective. when i see it for myself maybe i will have a better idea of what this means.
anyway, i am excited about this opportunity to see and maybe do some work at this farm!

oakland to santa cruz

this is another section i thought i was going to bicycle but ended up finding another way. i figured i would take the BART to Fremont, bus from there to san jose, and then ride about 35 miles from san jose to santa cruz. but a guy on the bus told me there was another bus that would take me to santa cruz for only $5. the idea of getting there with some daylight left and not having to ride over the mountain led me to go with the bus. all the connections were very easy from BART to bus to bus and i didn't have to wait more than fifteen minutes. the trip cost me about $14.50 and took less than three hours.

another guy, a member of couchsurfing in san jose, who was at the bus stop, informed me that the farmer's market was happening that day in santa cruz. what luck! while on my way to the farmer's market i happened upon this hot tub place called well within that is owned by a friend of my mother. he is traveling i found out, but the guy who received me let me use one of the onsen rooms that happened to be free at that moment! it was wonderful! i had time to heat up in the sauna, do some yoga, heat up again, then dunk in the tub of cold water. i felt so rejuvenated! i gave this kind man some turkey tail mushrooms as thanks.

at the farmers market the cosmic good fortune continued. i had a very nice interaction with a gal who had lived in seattle and then been traveling in argentina for a year. we had both bought nice avocados and she overheard me asking about trout gulch farm. she knew of the road... anyway then i found a place to sit in the sun, play mbira, and eat my lunch. i was kind of abstractly imagining someone asking me if i needed a place to stay when this gal in spandex shorts popped up next to me and asked where i was touring from. she proceeded to ask me if i had a place to stay. i found it really funny because it was almost what i had been imagining. she did not have a place to offer as she was also a traveler, cycling down to LA like me. we may run into each other on the road... she had quite a story and a wild sparkle in her eyes.

i went to the library to use the computer. they charge a dollar per 20 minutes, so i had to make it quick. couldn't find an address for trout gulch farm, where i had been invited to seek hospitality. i brushed my teeth in the restroom as another guy was doing the same, though he seemed to be trying to brush his teeth OFF. i let him use some of my tooth powder.

i went back to the farmer's market and found someone who let me use their cell phone. it was a nice fellow working the 'occupy' table. they were trying to get folks together to 're-occupy santa cruz'. through some calls i managed to secure a place to stay with a friend of a friend of my sister. his name is my middle name, Paul. just as stands were closing down i bought some of the fantastic produce just in case i had a chance to cook. i found some nice folks sitting on an adjacent corner selling crochet hats and other crafts. i ended up doing a partial trade of one of my zines and $15 for one of her bear hats. she got a picture of me.

oakland herb garden

went with alicia when she got her car SMOGged. when we took a walk around the block i picked some herbs, mostly from one somewhat neglected garden that had a nice diversity of perennials. the sage plant was doing very nicely. just what i was looking for!

over the next couple days i used the herbs in soup and in two spectacular omelets.

today i decided to go back there and see if i could help in the garden in order to close the loop directly. the young woman who does the gardening there answered the door and was receptive to my offer of help. we got some funky pruners and a slightly bent hori hori from the basement. she couldn't look at the garden because she said it makes her too depressed. i assured her i had some experience and could direct myself. with joy in my heart i went to puttering around in the garden, mostly deadheading the herbs, taking out some blackberry vines, and clearing dead skeletons of annual plants.

my new friend was very grateful and we chatted over tea (mint and lemon verbena perfection!) before i had to be on my way. she dried the herbs which she had trimmed from plants at the nursery she works for.

kindred travelers

today i discovered two kindred traveler's websites. check them out if you have the time. i know there is a lot of work to do!

this guy just came through seattle recently!
whereas this fellow is way down south on his way to argentina!

story stick

i'd had a significant experience out in the forest above bob connard's home farm on thanksgiving. i'd told the story of this experience to many of my friends and family. while staying at tom's place, the walnut farm, i got a message from a friend back on orcas island in which he told me i should go back and get a piece of that black oak tree, because it might be an important power item. it was not very convenient at that point to make a special trip back to bob's, hike up to get a piece of this tree, and then go back to green string for one last visit. but i figured out how i could do it and decided it was important enough to me to go to the effort.

tom drove me a little ways to give me a head start. i got a flat tire almost immediately after starting towards bob's. i was really upset about this misshap, but felt determined to do what i could to make the trip. what else could i do? i ended up getting a ride with a nice geologist fellow, who dropped me and the bike off at the bottom of the road that leads up a hill to bob's place. i left my bicycle there and hiked on up. when i got to the farm i ran into bob by the house. it felt strange to be there all by myself on such a peculiar errand. bob acted like it was the most normal thing in the world. he was like, "alright, have fun!"

i hiked up at a brisk pace to the black oak which had acknowledged me. i took some time in choosing the piece i would take from the section that had fallen. all of them seemed similarly decayed, but i chose a piece that still had rigidity to it and had an appealing shape. when i got back down i asked bob if he had a patch kit i could use to fix my flat. at first he didn't think he did, but when he scrounged around somewhere he came up with one! just my luck. beaming, i headed back down the hill, patched the tube, and rode all the way to the intern house at green string, where i arrived in time to share one last meal with the new interns!

walnut farm

sunday was my last day at the Green String Farm, where i was an intern for three months. it was a tiring period and, while it was also wonderful and a greatly beneficial period of growth, i'm glad to be done with it. i feel a lot lighter.

for these couple nights i stayed with some new friends at the farm of tom's family, where they produce mostly walnuts. i helped shell and harvest some and was given some to take with me.

its been beautiful and sunny here the last week. the nights are very cold.



here is a picture of me with the desert of my first night there. it was a quince tart (unsweetened and crustless) which we put unsweetened whipcream and persimmon-whipcream (my idea) on top of. it was nice and light, and we found the quince and persimmon worked well together. these fruits were from Green String Farm.






a song came to me after a morning meditation while in this peaceful home of my friends:

rainbow warriors
warriors of the heart
there's lots of work to do

the time is upon us
this is just the start
let healing begin in you

oooooooooh unfurl your heart
oooooooooh let magic happen through you

oooooooooh unfurl your heart
oooooooooh the love within surrounds too

(repeat)