My Farm, RDI, is featured in this new documentary.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Last Minute Gardens
Fall is here but before it arrived we were able to get lots of plantings in the ground. This statement probably sounds completely opposite to traditional growing ideology. But because of our particular microclimate we won’t see really cold weather until January, which means there’s still time for growing. Unfortunately the light is shifting so we don’t have as many daylight hours. And this effects the plants. But because we got them in the ground in time, they should have a couple of months to get big and strong before the first frost.
Just as the weather is changing so are many things in my life. I officially handed over the reigns of my title as farm manager to our new managers. I was just filling in for them a couple of months as there was a gap. I’ve also changed houses. I just moved into my new abode, which is a strawbale cottage. It’s a little smaller but still sweet. In fact my deck (that overlooks the valley and the Pacific ocean) also has a hammock. But I’m still in major transition mode as my role is changing and finding my exact place with it.
Contemplating how to align the new bed (that's me in the red hat)
Beautiful new bed for bell beans...look at that soil!
Planting fava beans
Just as the weather is changing so are many things in my life. I officially handed over the reigns of my title as farm manager to our new managers. I was just filling in for them a couple of months as there was a gap. I’ve also changed houses. I just moved into my new abode, which is a strawbale cottage. It’s a little smaller but still sweet. In fact my deck (that overlooks the valley and the Pacific ocean) also has a hammock. But I’m still in major transition mode as my role is changing and finding my exact place with it.
Contemplating how to align the new bed (that's me in the red hat)
Beautiful new bed for bell beans...look at that soil!
Planting fava beans
Monday, November 1, 2010
Busy Busy….
My days are so busy. I’m not really complaining…Just saying really. From my Farm Manager responsibilities, to our community well-being meetings, and EOL classes. I’ve also started a 2 year long adventure in Earth Based Judaism. I’m taking a weekly class with about 20 other students and we gather weekly for 2 hours on a conference call led by Rabbi Sarah Etz Alon. And speaking of school I’m completing the graduate course work for IIN (Institute for Integrative Nutrition) as I completed my year long certificate course in August, and decided since I loved it so much to keep going. To top it off, in my spare time (lol) I’m taking guitar lessons. I’ve had about 4 now and can read music, play a few cords, and about 6 notes. Not much but it’s a start. And I’m super excited. I’m really excited about all the new things I’m learning.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Bolinas, California
Arriving….I arrived by car, after driving 10 long days across country from NY to Bolinas in mid August (I only now really feel like I’ve gotten my feet under me) During this drive I was given a glimpse as to how large this country really is. So many ecosystems. So many diverse cultures. Wow. All I can say or rather ask is how can our political system even contemplate absorbing so much diversity? How can we say, that what is good for a coastal city dweller, must be good for a large corn farmer, and visa-versa? But even with these large questions floating in my head, I was able to get completely caught up in the beauty and majesty of our wild lands and national parks…Such amazing geological formations, foliage and landscapes…From the Rocky Mountains to the Salt flats of Utah.
Chicago Deep Dish
Somewhere in Iowa
Arches National Park
Hitting 3,000 miles in the car
Lake Tahoe
Bolinas, CA
As I was saying, I arrived in mid August to my new home and job at Commonweal Garden in Bolinas, California, the primary demonstration site and educational center for the Regenerative Design Institute (RDI). We work in collaboration with Commonweal, a health & environment research institute and retreat center in Bolinas. Commonweal and our property are on the border of a magical place, the Point Reyes National Seashore. It’s not uncommon for me to see dancing foxes and lolling sea lions all in one day. I say magical, because this place has a really intense energy. It may come from the fact that this was sacred Miwok lands or that we are on a lost continent that is slowly rising out of the Pacific. Whatever it maybe Bolinas is special.
RDI has a collection of amazing programs & workshops that range from one-day classes like knitting & weaving to longer programs like the nine-month RDNA (Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness) course. Because these programs are hosted on the farm there are always students here milling about or sitting in our large yurt library having class. It’s usually very busy with these folks coming and going but then there are the quiet days when there are no students here and it is just my fellow work traders and staff. In total we are about ten people that all live here permanently in our small humble community. Our community’s main responsibility is to care for the land and the facilities of the educational center. For me personally this ranges in all different ways from gardening to teaching, as I’ve also been given in the interim the title and responsibility of Farm Manager for the next couple of months.
It’s been a blessing and a challenge, having these new pressures of Farm Manager…Farming in a new climate, new people, lots of animals…deer, voles, gophers, slugs, and quail, eating at our garden,….learning an unfamiliar land. But the garden is looking beautiful and my crew is awesome. I’m finally getting to really express my creativity and skills on this land.
As farm manager I get to live in a beautiful cordwood cottage with a deck that has a stunning view that overlooks the farm and behind that, the Pacific Ocean. I share with the rest of the community, the kitchen, office, bathhouse, and living room. This is just like past communities I’ve lived in. I really enjoy sharing, especially when we all get to partake in delicious organic meals straight from the garden and lots of stories.
The altar in my room in the cordwood
Composting Toilets
Bathhouse
Our living space
Another perk to living here is that I get to join in on the workshops taught here. We also get our own private EOL (Ecology of Leadership) class and I think this week I’m going to take an indigo dyes class.
A little note about the farm...So Commonweal Garden is Certified Organic and super diverse with our main growing area about 1.5 acres with a variety of plantings, a large kitchen garden, a 2 acre orchard, and tons of perennial zones. Because it’s California we grow year round so that means we are entering a season filled with brassicas (kale, cabbage, etc), though, this little valley I live in has it’s own weather patterns. It can be sunny and 80 in San Francisco (which is 20 miles away) and 40 and foggy here. As soon as the sun is gone from the sky it gets cold. Which makes me extra happy about my little cozy cottage. On hot dry days it’s a bit more of a challenge as we are on our own water system. We’ve got a couple of ponds and a creek that runs straight through the property that we collect water from to irrigate the plants, so we have to be extra thrifty when watering. But this also means that we have cool crisp unpolluted, unchemicalized water to drink.
RDNA's Garden Beds
Baby plants hardening off outside
Lion Paws
Snow Peas
Kitchen Garden
The farm is designed with a traditional permaculture infrastructure with greywater and rain catchment systems, composting toilets, swales, etc….As well as goats and chickens! I’ve gotten pretty proficient at goat milking and cheese making. And this week we may get our apple cider press out and start harvesting apples.
Basically to sum up, I’m working hard, but in a beautiful area of California and teaching beautiful people in a beautiful garden, so at the end of the day I’m exhausted but very happy.
Chicago Deep Dish
Somewhere in Iowa
Arches National Park
Hitting 3,000 miles in the car
Lake Tahoe
Bolinas, CA
As I was saying, I arrived in mid August to my new home and job at Commonweal Garden in Bolinas, California, the primary demonstration site and educational center for the Regenerative Design Institute (RDI). We work in collaboration with Commonweal, a health & environment research institute and retreat center in Bolinas. Commonweal and our property are on the border of a magical place, the Point Reyes National Seashore. It’s not uncommon for me to see dancing foxes and lolling sea lions all in one day. I say magical, because this place has a really intense energy. It may come from the fact that this was sacred Miwok lands or that we are on a lost continent that is slowly rising out of the Pacific. Whatever it maybe Bolinas is special.
RDI has a collection of amazing programs & workshops that range from one-day classes like knitting & weaving to longer programs like the nine-month RDNA (Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness) course. Because these programs are hosted on the farm there are always students here milling about or sitting in our large yurt library having class. It’s usually very busy with these folks coming and going but then there are the quiet days when there are no students here and it is just my fellow work traders and staff. In total we are about ten people that all live here permanently in our small humble community. Our community’s main responsibility is to care for the land and the facilities of the educational center. For me personally this ranges in all different ways from gardening to teaching, as I’ve also been given in the interim the title and responsibility of Farm Manager for the next couple of months.
It’s been a blessing and a challenge, having these new pressures of Farm Manager…Farming in a new climate, new people, lots of animals…deer, voles, gophers, slugs, and quail, eating at our garden,….learning an unfamiliar land. But the garden is looking beautiful and my crew is awesome. I’m finally getting to really express my creativity and skills on this land.
As farm manager I get to live in a beautiful cordwood cottage with a deck that has a stunning view that overlooks the farm and behind that, the Pacific Ocean. I share with the rest of the community, the kitchen, office, bathhouse, and living room. This is just like past communities I’ve lived in. I really enjoy sharing, especially when we all get to partake in delicious organic meals straight from the garden and lots of stories.
The altar in my room in the cordwood
Composting Toilets
Bathhouse
Our living space
Another perk to living here is that I get to join in on the workshops taught here. We also get our own private EOL (Ecology of Leadership) class and I think this week I’m going to take an indigo dyes class.
A little note about the farm...So Commonweal Garden is Certified Organic and super diverse with our main growing area about 1.5 acres with a variety of plantings, a large kitchen garden, a 2 acre orchard, and tons of perennial zones. Because it’s California we grow year round so that means we are entering a season filled with brassicas (kale, cabbage, etc), though, this little valley I live in has it’s own weather patterns. It can be sunny and 80 in San Francisco (which is 20 miles away) and 40 and foggy here. As soon as the sun is gone from the sky it gets cold. Which makes me extra happy about my little cozy cottage. On hot dry days it’s a bit more of a challenge as we are on our own water system. We’ve got a couple of ponds and a creek that runs straight through the property that we collect water from to irrigate the plants, so we have to be extra thrifty when watering. But this also means that we have cool crisp unpolluted, unchemicalized water to drink.
RDNA's Garden Beds
Baby plants hardening off outside
Lion Paws
Snow Peas
Kitchen Garden
The farm is designed with a traditional permaculture infrastructure with greywater and rain catchment systems, composting toilets, swales, etc….As well as goats and chickens! I’ve gotten pretty proficient at goat milking and cheese making. And this week we may get our apple cider press out and start harvesting apples.
Basically to sum up, I’m working hard, but in a beautiful area of California and teaching beautiful people in a beautiful garden, so at the end of the day I’m exhausted but very happy.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Hope
This graffiti has been on a wall outside the main shouk in Jerusalem as long as I've been visiting...And just recently someone painted over it and created this new one.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Some Wonderful Articles
I just came across these great articles written about Hava V'Adam (my old farm) that I thought I would share for everyone to enjoy....To add another voice of love for this place.
This Is the World We Live In
New Voices: Eco Israel
This Is the World We Live In
New Voices: Eco Israel
Monday, May 3, 2010
It’s the beginning of another spring month and the weather is still cool with some occasional showers.
Flowers in the garden
My daily diet has been including such things as: artichokes, kale, swiss chard, fennel, kohlrabi, beets, lettuce, radishes, and white mulberries from the garden and omelets (made from our chicken’s eggs) and freshly baked sourdough bread. Supplemented of course with dried fruits, nuts, and grains from our co-op and fruits from the friendly neighboring grocer in the next town.
The days are also counting down with fewer holidays left for this Jewish year. In fact I believe there is just one. Shavuot. We just ran through 3 of them, Yom HaZikaron (Remembrance Day), Yom HaAtzma'ut (Independence Day), Lag B’Omer.
For both Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzma’ut they are commemorated by a long siren throughout the entire country that sounds for 2 minutes. It’s such an eerie sound as everyone stops what they are doing to stand in a moment of silence. Even Israelis driving in their cars will pull over and get out of their car to stand. It is always a sorrowful yet beautiful moment for me especially when I reflect on how many millions of people are standing together at that exact moment.
Lag B’Omer is traditionally celebrated by families and friends getting together and lighting bonfires. It’s an amazing site to see with so many fires and so much smoke. For the festivities Yigal and I went for a hike through this beautiful mountainous forest near Jerusalem and met up with the rainbow festival camping out there. Needless to say there were tons of bonfires, singing, and music playing.
Flowers in the garden
My daily diet has been including such things as: artichokes, kale, swiss chard, fennel, kohlrabi, beets, lettuce, radishes, and white mulberries from the garden and omelets (made from our chicken’s eggs) and freshly baked sourdough bread. Supplemented of course with dried fruits, nuts, and grains from our co-op and fruits from the friendly neighboring grocer in the next town.
The days are also counting down with fewer holidays left for this Jewish year. In fact I believe there is just one. Shavuot. We just ran through 3 of them, Yom HaZikaron (Remembrance Day), Yom HaAtzma'ut (Independence Day), Lag B’Omer.
For both Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzma’ut they are commemorated by a long siren throughout the entire country that sounds for 2 minutes. It’s such an eerie sound as everyone stops what they are doing to stand in a moment of silence. Even Israelis driving in their cars will pull over and get out of their car to stand. It is always a sorrowful yet beautiful moment for me especially when I reflect on how many millions of people are standing together at that exact moment.
Lag B’Omer is traditionally celebrated by families and friends getting together and lighting bonfires. It’s an amazing site to see with so many fires and so much smoke. For the festivities Yigal and I went for a hike through this beautiful mountainous forest near Jerusalem and met up with the rainbow festival camping out there. Needless to say there were tons of bonfires, singing, and music playing.
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