When People and Land Lose Each Other These days we in the Napa Valley are spending a great deal of time on the politics of land use. I am running some previous blogs on the relationship of people and land and what happens when they are separated. Migration has torn our relationship to land, leaving deep wounds in the… Read more »
The Serpent Mound Revisited
Three years ago a group of us visited The Serpent Mound in Adams County, southern Ohio, and a series of blogs came from this visit. This last week Carol McRae and I returned to work with Ross Hamilton, author and researcher of this and other “star” mounds. Below is a reprint of a blog from the… Read more »
Labyrinth: Age Old Path of Wholeness
Labyrinth: Age Old Path of Wholeness One of the first things Donald and I did when we moved to our current home was to plant a seven-circuit labyrinth. We laid out the pattern with a string and some stakes, swinging arcs in prescribed ways. We then laid irrigation line in the beds, and planted lavender… Read more »
Essential Oils and the Golden Mean
Essential Oils and the Golden Mean Are there scents that return us to wholeness? I suspect so—and one of those scents for me is that of lavender essential oil. Not just any lavender essential oil, either! In fact, until we started growing lavender, I wasn’t particularly drawn to lavender’s scent. But when the mounds around our home… Read more »
The Fibonacci Sequence and the Built Environment
The Fibonacci Sequence and the Built Environment When my husband architect Donald designed our home, he used a proportioning system which he has always used, that of a series of dimensions derived from the Fibonacci sequence. This sequence is formed by starting with 1+1 and then determining each successive number from the sum of two numbers… Read more »
Healing, the Archetypes, and Patterns of Wholeness
Healing, the Archetypes, and Patterns of Wholeness Carl Jung said healing happens when one is put in right relationship to the archetypes—or patterns of wholeness. All true healing systems incorporate the process of putting the patient back in touch with these patterns. My spiritual teacher, Norma T., whose teachings I discuss much more fully in… Read more »
Tourism and the Environment
I am copying in my letter to the editor of the Napa Valley Register from yesterday, September 20, 2015. It is accompanied today by several letters arguing that tourism is essential to the economy of our state. When profit and money become the guiding star, we lose track of wholeness. I am not against tourism, and,… Read more »
Peaches and Memories
Peaches and Memories I didn’t expect for us both to end up in tears. I only meant for him to sign his broadsides that I had just bought for my brother, sisters, and me, a gift to commemorate the sale of our four generation family farm. The broadside, entitled We Farm Memories, hit a particularly poignant note. David Mas Masumoto… Read more »
The Maturing of a Vineyard
The Maturing of a Vineyard The maturing of a vineyard is not unlike the maturing of a human being. We are of a culture that idealizes youthful image and behavior. Perhaps that is why so many people enter analysis in their early 40’s: youthful pursuits no longer make sense or work. Dreams reflect unexplored, ignored… Read more »
The Definition of Agriculture in Napa County
Monday, August 24, 2015, was the last meeting of APAC, the Agricultural Protection Adversary Committee, a committee composed of 17 citizens from various environmental, government, wine industry, and citizen groups, appointed by the Napa County Board of Supervisors. The object was to make recommendations on proposed changes to the Winery Definition Ordinance (WDO) about visitation and events centers and the inclusion… Read more »
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