Spring and Lavender Our son Casey, daughter-in-law Melissa, and grandsons Wesley and Sabien, join us on the ranch with the lavender and aromatic cultivation and marketing. They will be sharing their experiences over these next months as they weed, harvest, and distill to get the lavender to you! By Melissa McLaughlin After a week of heavy rain which soaked… Read more »
Category: General
Ticks and Aromatics
Ticks and Aromatics by Melissa McLaughlin Winter is receding and Spring emerging. It means more time outdoors–time spent picking wildflower bouquets, time hiking in the fresh green of Spring. For the lavender, it is a time to weed all of the opportunistic weeds and grasses that have grown up under the freeze cloth, which means… Read more »
Seeking Common Ground
Seeking Common Ground Okay, I will be be honest. The blog denigrating me and my most recent Letter to the Editor in the Napa Register impacted me more than I wanted it to. I know character assignation is a way to diminish an opponent’s position, and I (smuggly!) console myself: I must have hit the mark. But… Read more »
Elizabeth Herron: The War On Trees
Elizabeth Herron: The War On Trees Finally, watersheds have advocates! Workers are getting signatures to put the Water, Forest and Oak Woodland Protection Initiative on the November ballot. The Initiative will give enhanced protection to our watersheds, forests, and oak woodlands.The wine industry is poised to stop the initiative before it gets before voters. Consider donating even a small… Read more »
Retirement: Eulogy for a Beloved Professional Life
Retirement: Eulogy for a Beloved Professional Life After 40 years in private psychotherapy practice, today is my last day. I am retiring from doing analysis and analytic psychotherapy. It’s not an easy thing, for sure, taking down the shingle that I worked so hard to establish. It brings memories of that first “client”, a family that a… Read more »
Sante Fe Presentation: Messiaen’s Symphonic Work and the Land
Sante Fe Presentation: Messiaen’s Symphonic Work and the Land On Tuesday, June 28, Photographer Deborah O’Grady and I will be presenting our work on Messiaen’s piece, From the Canyons to the Stars at the 2016 Jung Society for Scholarly Studies Conference, Earth/Psyche: Foregrounding Earth’s Relations to Psyche (Sunday evening, June 26-Wednesday evening, June 29, 2016). Deborah was commissioned… Read more »
When did Farming become Political?
When did Farming become Political? —When industries decided to redefine agriculture for financial reasons! This is happening in many communities. When my husband and I visited his hometown of Plainfield, Illinois, he barely recognized the environment. The once small farm community with its rich topsoiled lands had been sold to developers, and housing tracks stretched as far… Read more »
Everyday Surprises
Everyday Surprises Happening across the unexpected always stops me in my tracks. It feels like a message from the Lords and Ladies of Creation, as my spiritual teacher used to put it. Open your eyes! Look what’s here! Life is precious! One of those surprises happens each January when I enter the garden to find the yellow jonquils, which… Read more »
Change on the Ranch
Change on the Ranch The meditation that I have been doing on Headspace these last days has been on Change. The concept is to allow space to not know, to tolerate uncertainty—mystery. In the meditation one is directed to witness shifts within the body and emotional self, realizing the connection. Focus is on the beginning and the end… Read more »
Initiatives and Oaks
Initiatives and Oaks I continue to be shocked at how acrimonious things get when you get between a rich man and his oak! (see the comments on my Letter to the Editor, Napa Register, February 4, 2016) This so-called controversy is never more apparent than when the discussion turns to the importance of watersheds and what… Read more »
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