Tending Trees

When I spoke with Charlie Toledo last week about the forest on our ranch, she said she was always concerned about the overgrowth. First People would have kept the forest thinned with cultural burning so the stream would be accessible to deer and coyotes, so there would be reeds for baskets and the acorns, healthy. … Read more »

Foreword to Fruits of Eden: Deborah O’Grady

Sometimes meaningful patterns of life’s events are revealed only in hindsight. What guides our lives? Is there a subterranean stream that carries us—if we let it? Such is the case in how I came to meet fine art photographer and videographer Deborah O’Grady. These many years later, I am delighted she has agreed to write… Read more »

Poison Oak Remedy

The woods are aflame with Toxicodendron diversilobum, Pacific poison oak. Like a  fastly spreading fire, its red leaves skip across the forest floor and leap high up our California oaks. For many years we tried to rid the ranch of poison oak, annoyed by its impact on us—red rashes and blisters that lasted weeks. We told ourselves… Read more »