Baby #2 On the Way

Most of my dear readers know by now that Drew and I are expecting our second child sometime in the middle of July. This may have something to do with why I haven't posted anything since early January! That, and the fact that we only recently returned from our annual winter vacation, which seems to get longer every year. When I left, I was still feeling pregnancy sick, and now that I'm home, I realize just how tired and ill I was back in January.

So now, many weeks and many telemark ski turns later (that's me up above tearing up the slopes at Heavenly, at 4 months preggers), not to mention a week in Santa Cruz, the flu and a trip to Disneyland, we are settled back into home and spring is just around the corner. There's so much to look forward to, I'm sure I'll be getting back into sharing about the goings on in our little corner of paradise.

Sack-a-Tomatoes for the Weekend

Sliding down from Owl's Treehouse in Hundred Acre Wood

Somehow, my only photos of our weekend adventure to Sacramento, are a few shots of Ella from Fairy Tale Land. But our weekend included so much more. It began with duck feeding at the ponds at Real Goods, and elevator rides at Grandma Barbara's house in Oakland, an amazing dinner followed by Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote video, a round-trip BART ride to breakfast in Rockridge, lunch at a delicious Mexican cantina in Oakland, a drive to Sacramento which included a round of the alphabet game, dinner at a very busy Chinese restaurant, a stay in a 7th floor suite across the street from Capitol Park, a visit to said Fairy Tale Land, a trip to the zoo, and a first-ever ice cream sundae, as children were not invited to the wedding, and Ella remained with our friends for the evening. And at the end of the trip, our last piece of fun was a short mini-hike in the redwoods, an hour from home, where we all breathed a sigh of relief at feeling the quiet of the giant trees, the gurgle of Bull Creek, and the songs of the solitary vireo and the varied thrush. Ahhhhh. That experience was complete with warm breezes.

While we were hiking, I asked Ella if she was still sad we were coming home (she was crying and saying she didn't want to go home). She said, "I thought I didn't want to come home, but home is so great!" So there you have it.

Vacation from the Vacation

The Spring on the Cascades Trail

Last weekend, we vacated the Tahoe area, partly because we didn't have a place to stay, but partly due to the President's Day holiday, which overwhelms the resort mountain with hordes of people. The congestion is a little much. And after three weeks of holiday, we were ready for a break. So passing through Reno for a little fun, we headed to Quincy in the northern Sierra to visit with some dear friends.

Every other time we've visited them, it's either been wet, rainy, snowy and cold, or it's been unbearably hot. This time, daytime was springtime, and we spent our days wandering the hills near their house, in t-shirts, soaking up the sunshine. We hiked along the river, taking in cliffs, springs, bright green turf, rolling waterfalls, and the final day, we foraged as a group for quartz crystals. I've never done such a thing, and never realized you could *find* crystals, right there on the surface of the ground, but we did. It is definitely an addictive practice. We found some beauties. I found a small one that was the whole, faceted, perfect shape, and when I hold it up to the light, there are opalescent rainbows inside of it.

But even more than all the outside time, and the crystals, was the joy of being with our friends, who have created such a peaceful, grounded space. I love sinking into the feeling of timelessness, good food, good company, friends supporting friends all around. It was the perfect replenishing of spirit, needed for one more resort week.

Now we're back in Tahoe, and we were blessed with a powder day, right off the bat. Even better, Karl offered to take Ella for the morning, so Drew and I hit up freshies all over the place. Addictive, too. It's official. I will never be able to go back on this interest in skiing powder.

Vacation

Drew, Ella, and I are now on our long winter vacation, and today while Ella naps, I am fiddling with a photograph. I've been severely geeking out on photo literature, trying to learn more about this craft that calls to me more all the time. Specifically, today I was reading about how to take a color photograph and to make it look as though it was done using infrared black and white film. These images turn out with black skies and white foliage, and are very striking, if you've never seen one.

Anyhow, here's an approximation of what it might look like, though I don't have all the necessary software. This is a photograph I took last week on an oak photo shoot. The day was bright green, with intermittent sun and bright, gorgeous, high-piling clouds. I'm also trying on a lot of new digital developing skills, shooting with a tripod more frequently, and trying to get sharp-sharp-sharp photos. I suddenly realize how much I have to learn, but I am having a lot of fun with it.

Here's another photo from that day, though this is what's called an "HDR". It's a digital image that's a composite of several exposures. Enjoy these rich, lovely shots! You can click on them to see a larger image.

Redwood Vacation

Once the walls were finished, it was time for a vacation already, sheesh! So as fast as we could muster, we threw together our backpacks and gear for a short-distance trip to Redwood National Park, about an hour north of Arcata. Our first night, we went out for sushi, and tried to camp at Patrick's Point State Park, but they were full, so we (oh darn) spent the night at the Lost Whale Inn, a fabulous B&B in Trinidad. Took a hot tub. Slept on soft sheets. Ate their phenomenal breakfast, mmmmmm. It was truly the breakfast that swayed us.

After all that gorging and relaxing, we drove up to the park, collected our permit and bear canister, and drove 10 miles or so out of Orick, to a locked gate, and then another 6 miles down a dirt road to the trailhead to the "Tall Trees Grove". More organizing, and then finally we were ready to disappear into the backcountry for three days, and headed down the trail with heavy packs. Ella carried her pink Kung Fu Panda pack full of her own clothes, and she ran ahead of us on the trail, so excited about the adventure. The hike to the nearest camping is about 1.75 miles, which was just far enough for this not-so-recently-gone-backpacking gal. We set up our camp on the banks of Redwood Creek, on a soft, sandy bar, beside a lazy, glassy, quietly murmuring stream, which was packed full of fresh-water snails, cutthroat trout, and perfect skipping rocks.

We proceeded to relax for the next little while, taking small walks as we felt, swimming in crystal-clear, cerulean pools, tracking the otters, elk, and other wildlife, listening to birds, and taking in the breathtaking grandeur of mature redwood trees with very large diameters. We heard marbled murrelets calling at dusk and dawn, and sank into another universe for a short little while. Ahhhhhh. Ella loved it, though her tantrum rate went up while we were there.

We watched cliff swallows gathering insects for their babies, diving in and out of a tiny hole in a cut bank. We saw osprey fly far overhead, calling out midday. We saw what we think was a mink, hopping and leaping along the bank, after taking a swim across the creek. We heard the pileated woodpecker drumming in the deep forest. We experienced ourselves as small little people, while trying to travel off trail through the forest, crossing downed logs that were 7 feet high, tumbled across other 7 foot high logs, requiring balancing travel along tree highways. We heard a fox bark in the early morning. It is truly magical to feel the old-growth forest, in its undisturbed state, it really does have a different sensation, a deeper pulse. Please go and find out what it feels like for yourselves.

We all emerged deeply calmed and rejuvenated. Ready for more construction, time to move on to the roof!

Home Alone

Drew is away in Seattle for an Aikido seminar. It's the first time since Ella's been born that I've held up the homestead alone for more than overnight, let alone for the five days total he'll be gone. It's really not so bad, but what does stand out is the incessant list of chores related to cooking, cleaning up from cooking, feeding animals and children, tidying, laundry, watering plants, keeping a fire when it's cold, answering and returning phone calls, pumping water, and monitoring our new slab. Even with one less person around, it's still rather full. Ella has acquired our habits, when she bustles around the house building "alligator gates" and saying "I'm really busy, buildin a alligatow gate". I mean, life in the country is supposed to be peaceful, bucolic, and relaxing, right? With all this, when is there time for enjoyment?

Though it is difficult to break away from the chores, Ella and I did manage to go on a hike today, with friends, up to the top of the hill. It always feels like such a mini vacation to go up there. Maybe it's the metaphoric wide-angle view of reality, since you can see all the way to the ocean, up the Lower North Fork a-ways, and off to King's Peak, along with most of central Petrolia. Or maybe just the lack of human-made intrusions, other than 4-wheeler roads, and cattle fences. No phones or power lines, just grass and trees, springs, brooks, and edible spring foods, and happy dogs. A gratuitous pause at the summit, reclining in the grass, tossing pebbles, and shooting the breeze. Contemplating reality, or life. It kind of feels like what country life is supposed to feel like, taking that walk up the knoll. I think I'll do it more often.

Favorite Day

Our cold-hot, rainy-sunny, winter-spring weather continues on the first day of Daylight Savings Time. This weekend has been filled with family time, with yesterday almost a mini-vacation at home. We hiked the big hill with our neighbors, taking it slow for Ella, and for Deva, who is 8 months pregnant. Ella fell a lot, simply because she is learning to walk in her own big feet. When we reached the top, we all laid down in the grass on the south side of the knob, the sunny, and leeward side. With the green velvet valley spread out before us, we loafed in the warm sun for a long time, having adult conversation, while Ella and Maple rolled a little ways down the hill, and made grass braids.

But today, Drew, Ella and I worked all together in the garden, preparing beds, planting seeds, catching up on tasks that are past due. This was simply divine, and I realized that this is the life that I want, spending Sunday gardening with my family. Yesterday, we helped Deva dig up some extraneous raspberry canes that were sprouting in the bed next to their intended home, and she sent us home with them. This was a serendipitous moment, as we have been planning on getting raspberries. So we prepped their future home today, by mowing the cover crop, forking the soil, and sheet mulching the beds.


Raspberry Beds Settling In and Waiting for Plants


Raspberry Plants Ready to Go

Then we moved on to preparing the bed for our peas, by removing all that runner-type grass, adding some chicken manure compost, and oyster shell flour (to lower the pH). Then we had to build a trellis out of old fence posts and wire. At last, after lunch, I sowed the seeds, and mulched the bed and watered things in. This year, I'm growing both sugar snap peas and shelling peas. I've never tried the shelling peas before, and I'm hoping I'll have enough to freeze.


Sowing Shelling Peas


Pea Bed All Ready with Trellis

The other day, I transplanted the long-awaited artichokes. I can't wait to eat their yumminess. The artichoke and raspberry beds should behave as a wind barrier to protect the annual garden plants from the northeast wind that swoops down out of the sky during the late spring and summer.


'Romanesco' Artichoke

One of the best parts of having Drew and Ella out there with me is that SO much more got done than if it had just been me alone. That same amount of work would have taken me at least a week. Amazing what we can do when we do it together! And Ella is increasingly helpful. She worked very hard scooping oyster shell flour, and planting pea seeds, all with a little help, of course.

Then as a grand finale for today, an amazing rainbow arched its vibrant colors directly over our homestead, from the back of our flat, to the other side of our house, which I luckily captured on film to share with all of you. Looking forward to eating all those veggies and fruits coming our way.


The Pot of Gold...

Home At Last

The Family that Skis Together, Stays Together


The Weather was Great at Mt Bachelor


Bald Eagle at the High Desert Museum in Bend


Family Portrait, in the Shadow of Mt. Shasta

It's been a long five weeks of travel, and after that, there is nothing like seeing the tundra swans on their way north floating in flooded fields north of Klamath Lake, or flying through the Trinity River canyon with storm winds howling against the car, and eating a fabulous sushi meal at Kyoto in Eureka with Samuel, and visiting with Jenny in Blue Lake, and entering into early spring from the snowy, wintery mountains. We traded white icy snow for white plum petal snow, exploding all over the north coast. We traded those tundra swans for tens of thousands of Canada geese migrating through the green velvety fields of the Eel River Delta and along the Humboldt Bay. We traded icy roads for golden wild mustard, and coltsfoot, and when the storm that's raging outside tonight lets up for a minute, I can hear the frogs calling out their lullaby music, to sing us to sleep in the land of water.

There was a big storm while we were gone, at last the skies opened up, and brought our river up to 20,000 cfs, a respectable level. We're not yet to our average annual rainfall, but we're getting closer by the minute, with 5 inches predicted by Tuesday. What a return, truly, to some of the worst weather of the year. Our yurt walls are flapping, and the rain is pouring down, drumming on our heads incessantly, as we try to remember how to sleep beneath it. I am hearing unfamiliar thumping noises outside, hoping that nothing is getting damaged. We have been living in sensory deprivation, compared to this!

Looking forward to blogging more regularly again....and discovering all that's changed in the time in between. Keep posted.

Ski Powder

We're still on vacation, and we are in the thick of our month-long ski bum life. We have been blessed with several days of snow after a particularly dry January. Today is the first sun we've seen in about four days. It's lovely conditions out there! Several folks on the chair lift have said that the Farmer's Almanac is calling for 17 feet of snow this February! Who knows, there is snow in the forecast every day but tomorrow as far as they're predicting. I'm having to learn to ski powder. I thought I had it until this morning, the 18 inches was a little much for my weakling coast legs, and my bindings, which are showing serious signs of wear. I do hope I'll figure it out so I can take advantage of that feeling of lightness and flying without so many falls and exhausting attempts to right myself!

Ella is becoming a skier in her own right. We've gotten her out on the snow almost every day we've been here, and she begs for more when we're done for lunch! We got her on the lift the second day, and she can ski short distances without any assistance. She just hasn't figured out how to slow down on her own yet. We keep reminding her to "make a pizza wedge, honey!", but I think she needs to develop a little more leg strength.

Looking forward to more powder! Yeeehawww!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

You may ask what the Monterey Bay Aquarium has to do with California Homesteading...absolutely nothing, except that we are on vacation from homesteading, and soaking up all the urban experiences we can while here in Santa Cruz and surrounds. Nothing preserves our sanity, nor enables our endless list of toiling for future comfort at home, nor cements our appreciation for our amazing Mattole Valley, than going on a trip to somewhere else.

On Sunday, we left recently arrived-in Santa Cruz for Monterey to visit Drew's family and take Ella to the LONG AWAITED aquarium. We have been visiting their website in preparation for weeks. She has asked about it daily during the entire 10 days before. After securing our guest passes, courtesy of Drew's dad and step-mom (THANK YOU!!), we drove on down and spent about an hour and a half relaxedly wandering through the exhibits, following Ella's lead and interest. We explored the life-size hanging whales, the jellyfish, the tunafish and pacific sunfish in the outer bay tank, spent a lot of time feeling starfish and such at the touchtanks, experienced what it might be like to be under a wave in the "Splash Zone", and peered into tiny tanks to search for itty-bitty fish. Ella thought all of it was great. And the one item she chose over all others in the gift shop: toy binoculars. Ah, a girl after her own mother's heart!

Afterwards, we visited a local chowder house with Dad, Ann, Katy, and Drew's uncle and aunt Mikey and Jane, and all enjoyed fried seafood delectables before exploring Wii Fitness back at the house (perhaps to negate the effects of beer batter and tartar sauce!) A great first day of vacation! Looking forward to more days...

New Year's Cabin Trip 2009

Smoky Cookstove Haze, New Year's 2004


Ella playing with snow in the front yard


New Year's Eve Burn Pile


Ella and Miller share New Year Grapes

Though a not-so-obvious fact, Drew and I are part owners of a rustic cabin near Trinity Lake, 45 minutes north of Weaverville. Kyle (Drew’s friend from high school) and his family had a mining claim near Paradise, in the Sierra foothills many years ago. Drew and his high school cohort would go there at New Year’s and other times of year to experience the freedom from parental oversight, and to practice back-woods living arts. There are some pretty rowdy and colorful stories from those early years, of cars getting stuck in ice and snow, a little too much alcohol, and a lot of ridiculous fun.

About 7 years ago, the timber company who owned the cabin land decided not to renew the mining claim, and informed Kyle and his family that whatever was left after a specified time would be burned.

Determined not to give up the cabin experience and all it entailed, Kyle hatched a plan to preserve the cabin, so that it might rise like a phoenix at an unknown point in the future. He gathered the fellow cabin visitors on a mission to deconstruct it, piece by piece, label the parts, make drawings, and haul it to his rural acreage near Kelseyville. Which he successfully did.

Then began the process of finding a new home for the cabin. Kyle and his wife, Kathy, searched far and wide, and finally found a location on Hall’s Gulch, a small tributary to the East Fork of the Trinity River. The price was very affordable, and they, Drew and I, and another two partners went in on the five acres of mixed oak, doug fir, cedar, and ponderosa pine forest, with scars of mining left behind. We crafted an ownership agreement, which basically guarantees we can never sell it at a profit, so that it will remain in our hands in perpetuity. (For example, the agreement can only be changed by the oldest great-grandchild among us after we’re all dead. Really).

The cabin itself is a very rustic affair, with one 20’ x 24’ room, with a partial divider to separate the sleeping quarters from the kitchen/living area. It has a 1912 cast iron wood cook stove that we cook on while we’re there. We have to haul water from the creek in the winter for dishwashing and toilet flushing (there’s a flush toilet in an outhouse, lovingly named the “Darkroom”). If it’s raining or snowing while we’re there, we hunker down and cozy up, there’s not really anywhere else to go.

So as is traditional, we converged at the cabin this New Year’s, though without any cars getting stuck, and enjoyed a relaxing, do-nothing holiday of snow play, too much meat, solo reading, burning brush piles, and catching up with Kyle and Kathy and their 18 month old son, Miller, who moved across the earth to South Africa two years ago. Ella was so excited about snow, we went on long walks through the trees and underbrush, following fox, rabbit, and squirrel tracks, eating handfuls of snow, sliding on our bums, and making a snowman. Ahh, the good life.

Maintaining Connection

We left home today to head to our little cabin in the Trinity woods, which is even more rustic than our yurt (although it does have a flush toilet, albeit in a water closet 50 yards from the building!). Tonight, we are staying at our friend's little studio in Arcata, which is a cute, has-all-the-essential-features unit, walking distance from downtown. What a different reality than our rural homestead! Most people leave the city to get a break: we enjoy going urban and eating out to enjoy a change of pace.

But the urban scene challenges the locavore and the naturalist, in that the earth beneath your feet is more veiled and obscure. Whereas it has become commonplace for at least several ingredients in each of our nightly dinners to be from our very land, when we patronize restaurants, unless they focus conscientously on local food, we don't know where the lettuce, or fish, or anything else came from. And visiting buildings can be rather disorienting, when you can't remember which way north is, or if they don't take advantage of passive solar day-lighting.

Though I feel like a fish out of water at moments, for me, it is sometimes an opportunity, to re-orient and re-locate, to hold that space as I walk through the world of disconnect, to hold the space of connection to natural cycles. I hold this vision for the future, where the passage of the sun across the sky is a primary informant of design for buildings and public spaces used by humans.

The Journey of A Thousand Miles....

...begins with a single step.

So they say. Two weeks ago, I was suffering from rather intense and continuous anxiety, which had been troubling me for about 6 weeks. In desperation, I decided that maybe if I left home for a little while, I might feel better. So I left, rather suddenly, which has something to do with why there haven't been any posts for a while.

Ella and I hopped on our friend's little airplane and journeyed to Quincy, in the northern Sierra Nevada, to visit our friends Jeff and Susie. Drew became friends with them many years ago when he was living out of his VW bug with his girlfriend Foobie, while they were looking for housing in the area. Jeff married Drew and I, and we consider both he and Susie to be mentors as well as dear friends. Their place is in a lovely little pine and douglas-fir forest, along Spanish and Blackhawk Creeks. It always feels wonderful to be there, and Jeff is a very talented healer and massage therapist. They very generously welcomed Ella and I to land and ground out for a while.

We stayed in a 35-foot trailer, cooked and ate, swam in the river, took walks. We went to the Plumas County Fair (Ella LOVED the animals: goats, sheep, pigs, cows, horses, etc). I received two sessions with Jeff which were tremendously helpful in dealing with my condition. We visited and played. Ella and I had a lot of great one-on-one time, especially in the evenings, when we would retire to the trailer and read a lot of stories together before bed.

I had planned on returning to the North Coast with our friend via airplane, but his plans changed, and we had to find another way home. This delayed our return by about four days, meaning that I missed our anniversary! :( I've never really travelled without my car, so this was a different kind of way to try moving around. We tried several different ways to leave Quincy, looking for rides in cars and airplanes, contemplated having Drew use his precious days off work to drive all the way there (a 7-8 hour endeavor), and in the end, Susie, bless her, drove us to Sacramento, where we caught the train to Oakland for a visit with Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Jim. Ella really enjoyed riding the train, seeing the grass, cows, bridges, BIIIIIG boats, cars, and whatnot. I enjoyed the slightly different route, especially where it rolled around the edge of the north bay and delta through Crockett and Richmond, and that Ella didn't have to be locked into a car seat for the ride.

I had planned on riding home with my friend, who is planning a visit. Turns out I was off by a week...she is coming NEXT week, so we waited until Wednesday to ride home with Drew's mom Sherill. What a trip it all was. I'm not sure about why, but I AM feeling better, and seem to be on a positive track toward a more normal day-to-day, for which I'm very thankful.

Nancy's Garden

This past weekend, we went to visit my family down in Little River, near Mendocino, to celebrate four Leo birthdays: Ella, Phil, Nancy, and my Uncle Jim. Nancy and Phil are our special surrogate grandparents, whom we love dearly. They moved to Little River from 40 acres outside of Ukiah a few years ago, and Nancy is a lifelong, skilled gardener. She has been very devoted to making their modest yard at their new house into a beautiful and productive garden. She has done quite a job at this point, with a mix of veggies, herbs, and ornamental beauties, like copromosa, japanese maple, strawberries, ornamental yarrow, geraniums, and such. I hope you all enjoy these lovely photos of Nancy's garden.

Otherwise, this weekend, we ate ourselves silly on meat, blueberry cheesecake for birthdays, cole slaw from my garden cabbage, we talked and played music, and took walks with Ella around the neighborhood and played with all the neighbor's lawn ornaments, and my aunt Barbara took me to the greatest yarn store ever. Oh it was a great time.