Climate Strike, Napa Style

For many of us attending the downtown Napa Climate Strike yesterday, the event was energizing if also poignant. Such enthusiasm! I could hear cheering and chanting from several blocks away as I parked and walked down Main Street to Veterans Park, the beginning of the march. We’re students, united, we’ll never be divided! We’re students,… Read more »

Using a Quill

My youngest son Casey made this quill fountain pen for me. The point of the pen slows my writing down, but I also like to think it brings something of the spirit of wild turkeys into the written word. Casey has always been unique in his pursuits. When he was still in the early years… Read more »

Pilgrimage

In two and a half weeks I fly to Lisbon and then on to Galacia, Spain, to join ten other women in walking the Portuguese Way Camino. The path has been traveled for centuries by pilgrims, a path weaving through myth and legend, fiction and fact. Preparation for this journey involves walking 4-10 miles a… Read more »

A Mountain Lion’s Death

A Mountain Lion’s Death Last night or early this morning a landowner shot a 13 month old mountain lion cub, a lion that had recently been pushed away from its mother and was out hunting for himself. Only four nights before I had watched scientist Quinton Martins’ team trap this lion, sedate him, and then… Read more »

In Celebration of 19 years! Thank You!

The biodynamic process has changed both Donald and me, weaving us into the land in a way that nothing else could have. Biodynamics is good farming, yes. You learn to watch the crops, to walk the land every day (“the best fertilizer is the farmer’s feet”).

The Holy Nights

The Holy Nights A blog from three years ago, but the sentiment endures! I know! Many people are happy when the days lengthen, but I am always a little sad when the morning light comes earlier and the sunset stretches the day into the evening.  I love the festiveness of Christmas and then the contrasting quiet of the … Read more »

Return of the Light

Return of the Light Note: This was originally published three years ago, but its sentiment still holds. May you too celebrate the returning of the light on every level! The longest night of the year is over. The light is returning. The pause is to be noticed, like the moment between the inbreathe and the… Read more »

Yule Goat

Yule Goat Another of our past postings, first published three years ago today! Somewhere in our psyche we know these things. Evidently Santa Claus is the result of a long development of the original legend of the Scandinavian Yule Goat.  The  Norse god Thor’s chariot was draw across the sky by two goats, which Thor killed  and fed… Read more »

Letting Go

My Feldencrais practitioner told me that the human nervous system  is organized around two bipolar processes at birth: Pushing and being pulled; and latching onto the nipple and letting go. He said the most difficult action is letting go.  Letting go of Harms Lavender business has been a saddening process. We have received wonderful e-mails… Read more »

New Eyes on the Ranch!

New Eyes on the Ranch! First published March 9, 2016. Casey and Melissa and their two sons are living on the ranch with us. Both boys know where the sweetest blackberries grow, when to pick wild strawberries and where. They have helped with the lavender harvest every year and they continue to be a joy… Read more »