orchard part 2

Meredith and Penny sorting through what we need for the Stone Fruit food forest

 The Trees!

so after a nice car ride down to the central valley near Modesto Ca, Penny, James, Danny and Liam went to Dave Wilson Nursery to pick up our 100 fruit trees. their operation is epic, around 7 million total and 3 million went out this season all over the country to nurseries, stores, and businesses. we now have a huge pile of assorted fruit and nut trees! 

as you can see below, and after the previous post, we made quick work of the second half of our banana belt that contains our first mostly Meyer lemon food forest, and left the two apples for a little gateway into our new 28 tree packed stone fruit zone!

Meredith and Danny in deep thought with an aprium.

Liam getting down with a peach

+Danny Vitali  getting after his path through the peach haven

reclaimed concrete stone wall! this path will continue up past those two trees and up further into that golden light coming through just yonder

  After Danny and i placed flags, we began the tree digging! soon after our first couple of holes, we discovered this wall, apparently the old driveway from long ago used as a retaining wall! i decided to uncover the whole, and plant tyme into it. it will now serve as a foot path and an intersection up into our wild life trail and the upper orchard where ole "Pedro" the massive walnut will grow.

before!

after!

we worked quick for a day, and about 7 of us got 28 trees in, uncovered an old stone wall, cut in 3 separate paths, mulched main path, and trees.... we were stoked to be finally planting and out of the winter blues! the last couple of days we have been prepping the upper orchard that will mainly comprise of apples, pears and some more stone fruits (since we are a little heavy on those) stay tuned, much more to come!

chicken helping out with planting some lavender at the base of our lemon food forest.

new orchard part 1

Well a lot has been happening on the farm here at RDI, we have been taking out the old orchard, an honor in its own right since it only really happens every 20 years or so! and what happens when you get donated 100 trees from Dave Wilson nursery? you install a new orchard... another opportunity that only comes around so often as well!  we have a happy and interesting mix of mostly stone fruits (apricots, plums, peaches, nectarines, pluots, apriums, and cherries) and of course some apples and pears. we also got 6 genetic dwarf trees that will stay about 6 ft max! the process has been really fun to learn our root stocks, our tree hardiness, and the on going experiment that our varieties that were picked out by Dave Wilson staff will do well in our cooler but mild coastal environment. it will be a on-going relationship with Wilson staff since they want to use us as a test orchard for their almost 3 million tree operation that has been hand grafting their stock since 1930s. wow. below are some before pictures and the start of the installation!

looking east towards the upper orchard- notice a pile of wood directly ahead... all fruit wood!

the new stone fruit orchard- one of these trees has come out where a path now runs east.

this is looking right where that middle apple was in that upper photograph! digging holes for our new stone fruits!

shore birds

All together now

flight path

birds of a heart (with a sanderling hiding amongst them)

our feathered friends....and drift wood

recently on a trip up to Sebastopol i got to capture some fun bird friends all hanging out! along with a really huge piece of wood i found on the beach at Salmon Creek, i wanted to take home and make a table out of it... too large though! could not figure what type of wood it was.... good mystery.  enjoy!

Northern Flicker with a purple finch? maybe...

flicker again with his friend!

this little guy just left the branch as i snapped the photo

the grain of the huge slab of wood Meredith and i found

hand scale and texture of this wonderful wood

if only we had a small crane....

all the rains have to promise and more!!!

MUSHROOMS!!!! WOOO!!!

well the rains have come full force, and with them lots of cool mushrooms, in fact, some of my favorite and fairytale mushrooms from our favorite video games.....

Aminita!

 these pretty large aminita muscaria are EVERYWHERE! along with and not limited to- porcini, chanterelles, candy caps and more! been really fun seeing what Liam brings home from his adventures. the rainy season is a must have here in nor cal... the mushrooms have been wonderful!

Porcini mushrooms

huge Aminita!!

humanure!

well its been a long time coming people- we finally had to deal with our shit! Danny, Liam, Penny, James and of course, me, went to it!

but first a little bit about our composting toilet system.

 our composting toilet system is pretty simple- make your deposit, throw some sawdust in, and every once and a while change out a big grey trash can. when we get close to filling all our 30 or so cans, we build a big straw bale fort and dump it in! cover it with some tarps and screens so animals can't get in. hopefully 10-16 months later, its broken down and ready to use back on the farm for tree planting, and whatever plant looks hungry. 

Liam in the out house, thumbs up!

the stack ready to be transported... that is one big line of shit!

old straw

old pile broken down and ready to use! 

as you can see from the above pictures, the old pile is a cross between broken down sawdust and compost in color and texture. it has no smell, and seems perfect for use! i was truly amazed. 

breaking down the old pile with Danny!

 to close with, this was one of the most amazing experiences iv ever had. not only did we conserve hundreds of gallons of pure wonderful drinking water by not flushing it down the toilet or polluting another water source with our waste, but now we are able to use it back on the farm completing a closed energy cycle... why we are not processing all of our waste this way is beyond me, since even though it is our shit, we still need to deal with it! thanks for reading. 

oh ps... for those of your following, sorry for the empty void of posts lately! been busy here on the farm and around California! the rainy season is in full effect!

chickens wanted to help- the new straw for the new Poop Fort!

Danny in the poop fort pre-pour! +Danny Vitali 

still building the fort!

the master of the tractor, Mr. James Stark!

Penny and Danny getting after it!

time to add the poop!

poop.....

glass, art, and life.

hand made glass dogwood flowers for a project in Connecticut for an installation at a casino. 

its been 7 years since i first started working for a summer art school in the woods, teaching kids, teens and even adults everything from silk screening, ceramics, drawing, painting, welding, photography, life casting, and for the first time ever glass bead making.

color rod for beads and other small pieces.

since then it has lead me to an outdoor adventure camp teaching kayaking, surfing, standup paddle sports, windsurfing and how to connect with the ocean. but most of all it took me on a 3 and a half year adventure with Megna Glass art studio, where i apprenticed and worked for an amazing couple on hand made kitchen and bath hardware, lighting sculpture, big casino theme work, traditional Italian style bench glass blowing, fusion work, a glass press, metal work, wood work and almost everything in between.

the torch set up.

last week for the first time in nearly 2 years i purchased for my birthday my first glass torch for making beads! i only made one test, but its been such an exciting time to be able to get back into glass work.

hand made glass hardware for kitchens and baths.

below is some of the wonderful memories and work which i got to be a part of with Martian and Mariann Megna. big love to them both for teaching me so very much and being such wonderful inspiration.

2300 glass blown dogwood flowers for a big glass chandelier at a casino. doing the installation.

almost finished and the glass valance begun to be hung in the background.

a collection of hand blown cylinders for a kitchen installation in Aspen. all aspects of this piece we fabricated from scratch. 

this video is a time lapse of us creating 3 separate pieces for a lamp restoration.  

the blowing deck and studio.

furnaces

bronze casting

wood, water, glass, metal, wax, heat, hand, mind all contribute to the process.

working on one of the hand made lighting pieces at the bench.

the bench and all its glory.