Treasures from an antique store in Hayesville NC. I just got back from a bliss-full week in the mountains. It was so cool at night and I slept like a rock. I swam, I ate delicious food, drank some nice cold beer and went on a very fun train ride with my nephew. Now I am shuttling off again to the coast for a science experiment. Can't wait to feel that salty breeze.

escape to the sand

We took off for the beach on Monday afternoon and spent a night and day with some family who rented a house for the week. It was pure heaven. I made my favorite chocolate chip cookies (can't remember where I got the recipe, but they involve a whole pound of dark chocolate and a lot of fleur de sel) and we cooked fish and roasted asparagus and drank beers and laid in the surf. Ahhhh. My nephews loved Ruben and they all made a giant crab out of sand and shells. There really is nothing quite like a mid-week vacation, when you just know everyone else is at work and you are thankfully, happily, joyfully NOT. Also, I got to sleep out on the screened in porch and fell asleep listening to the waves and watching the moon shine on the water. It wasn't even hot, because there was an awesome breeze. I wanted to stay all week.

There was definitely a bittersweet-ness to our time there, though.....considering the giant mass of oil and tar that is rapidly heading our way. It's kind of mind-blowing. I saw so many dolphins and periwinkles and fish and crabs, and Ruben saw a sea turtle, and it was really sad to think that they will all probably be dead soon. Huh. Yeah. Mind-blowing. Definitely still in the denial stage of this grief.

beach baby, beach baby there on the sand...

California was....awesome! It was my first visit and I kind of fell in love. I was a) surprised at how cold it was, b) in awe of the foreign (to me) plants and wildlife, and c) seriously impressed with the food and beverage selection. We went to Santa Monica first, where we stayed with a friend who works at Rawesome (a raw meat and dairy market) making raw chicken salad (I tried it! It was good!), raw coconut concoctions, raw bison burgers, and nut milks. We did lots of biking around and walking on the pier. Here I am playing on the rings at the beach:

Our friend took us to lots of gorgeous and tantalizing farmer's markets. One of them spanned about 5 blocks and had hundreds of vendors! This is so very unlike anything where I live... These herbs are from one of my favorite booths.

Ruben ate strawberries and raw avocado honey for breakfast the next day:

We also ate at the Library Ale House and though I don't remember a whole lot about the food, I had the best beer of my life (this one). Seriously, I don't even like beer, but I am STILL craving this one. Of course no one in our entire bioregion sells this. I've already checked.

Then we said our goodbyes, rented a hybrid, and headed up the coast. Here I am in an herb garden in Cambria:
We took the scenic Hwy 1 all the way up to San Francisco. It was so beautiful, and our camera broke on the first day of the drive. Torture!! So, no more pictures of the trip. We tried to burn everything into our memories, though.

We spent a night in Big Sur and ate twice at the amazing Big Sur Bakery and Restaurant. I highly recommend that you stop here should you ever find yourself in the area! I had a wood fired pizza and snacked on delicious olives while sipping wine and staring out at the green mountains. This was a PREMIER EXPERIENCE of my life...not sure if I can convey my contentedness and joy that evening. Something about the view, the food, the weather and the company. Anyway, we came back for breakfast, which was a very good decision. We had pop tarts, chocolate croissants, and a delicious banana strudel. We hiked around the state park, carved a heart into a bench, and gawked at Pfeiffer Beach.

Next, we went to Santa Cruz where I had an appointment with a homeopath, and we met up with one of my oldest friends for a snack at River Cafe, which I totally loved. This place is seriously cute, with delicious food (we had sweet peas with spicy tofu skins, and lavender sugar cookies...not at the same time) and only two kegs on tap (one beer, one kombucha)! I loved it and wish we had stayed longer so I could have eaten there again.

In San Francisco, the highlights for me were eating at Sushi Ran (actually in Sausalito) and Magnolia. There were lots of places that I wanted to eat (hello Zuni Cafe, Boulette's Larder, Tartine, Chez Panisse, Greens, and Ubuntu) but that just weren't in the cards for us this time. I may have been a bit overzealous (nice way of saying obsessive) in the planning of the food aspect of our trip. What can I say? I like to eat.

I was kind of overwhelmed by the hustle and bustle of the City, but our friends showed us around and we had fun walking around the parks and shops. Also, I finally get what the big deal is about the golden gate bridge!

We stayed our last couple of nights at Cavallo Point, where a childhood friend of Ruben's is a chef. It was crazy nice, and we got to do a spa treatment, and I remember saying to Ruben, "Why don't we do this ALL THE TIME?!?" We got to experience a 10 course meal with wine pairings one night, and a 3 hour brunch out on the porch that looks out over the bay the next day. Really incredible and totally not our normal style of staying/dining. Thanks Tim for hooking us up!

And, finally, the Heath Factory Store. Yes please. We have $200 worth of gorgeous ceramics heading our way. Happy Birthday/Christmas to us!

Ruben lost his wallet at the airport on the way home and we almost weren't able to get on the plane. Now I'm wondering...would that have been such a bad thing? Bye for now Cali, and thanks for the hospitality. We're already saving for vacation #2.

GO conference 2010

Last weekend was the annual Georgia Organics conference in Athens and I headed up there feeling very meh about going, but returned with rejuvenated inspiration. A large part of that came from an excellent lecture I heard by Marshall Duke of the Center for the Study of Myth and Ritual in Family Life at Emory University. His talk was called “Family Dinner-- The Real Happy Meal.” It was about the importance of rituals for children and families, and especially the importance of the ritual of sitting down to dinner together each day. And it was great. Very, very. I nearly cried. He has written several papers, but he also recommended this book, which I am going to check out. During the trip, I spent some of my down time reading Nutureshock, which is a really fascinating read—even for folks like me with no kids. I’m just trying to absorb it all, and taking it slow. It's one of those books, though, where you want to tell someone about the crazy statistic you just read....on every page. My copy is from the library and I'm seriously considering breaking my February spending hiatus to one that I can write notes in.

One of the farms we toured was Woodland Gardens, which was possibly the cleanest organic farm I’ve ever witnessed! It was lovely and they had lots of delicious-looking food packed into several high tunnels. Another one, Roots Farm, had the cutest little 3-legged dog and a gorgeous passive solar log house. Swoon.

Upon returning from this conference last year, I changed my work schedule to work 4 10-hr days so I could spend 1 day working on a farm each week. That was my first baby-step towards my dream of farming. It has been fun and wonderful, and this year has flown by! Now….I’m trying to figure out my next step.

susun weed is my hero

This past weekend I traveled to Asheville to visit friends and go to the Southeast Women's Herbal Conference. The weather was cool, the air was clean, the moon was full, and the food was delicious and restorative. Most of the meals were based around recipes and techniques from Nourishing Traditions. I couldn't get enough of the three-sisters chili, the cornbread, the beet salad, or the yummy nettle and oatstraw infusions.

The classes were really fun, too. Susun Weed was a guest speaker, and she told stories after dinner on Saturday night. She is a beautiful storyteller, and enthralled us with a tale about Baba Yaga, a witch-type character from Russian folklore who rides a mortar that she rows with her pestle, and another tale about how the sassafras tree came to look the way it does. I took several of the herb/edible plant walks, and classes on Fostering Women's Wellness and Ceremonial Herb Baths. Yoga was at 7:00 each morning, when it was still dark, and the old gym where the classes were held was gently lit by flickering candles and full of women on their mats, listening to beautiful music. Ahhhhhhh. I can tell that's going to be my 'happy place' for a bit.

It also happened to be Homecoming at my wonderful, beautiful, eternally inspiring Alma Mater, WWC. I just wish I would have taken more than one photo.

28 at the beach

We're not out of the woods yet, but our computer seems to be back in business. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Oh, and backing up the hard drive (finally). While I was gone I turned 28 at the beach with friends, music, and plenty of knitting. We ended up in Grayton Beach on Sunday, just in time to hear Dread Clampitt play at the awesome Red Bar. Then we swam for a while in the blue/green water and I got a sunburn. I think it was worth it though.

This past weekend we got to see The Avett Brothers (swoon) and I fell in love with some of the songs from their new album -- especially January Wedding. Can't get it out of my head!

Tomorrow I'm hoping in the car with my mama, granny, nephew & stepdad, and we're going on vacation! Whew. We're headed for our family's cabin in the mountains. I'm looking forward to peach ice cream, blackberry cobbler, swimming in the creek, browsing the flea markets, and picking Queen Anne's Lace for the dinner table. I'll report back next week-- hopefully with pictures. Be well!