I had a wonderful time volunteering at Alemany Farm. The farm is a fairly short walk from my house. I learned about crops that would be best to plant at this time of year in my backyard garden. Although the weather had been quite cold and rainy, the sun peeked through the clouds for much of the afternoon and we had no rain that day, so volunteering there was quite pleasant. The regular volunteers are experienced gardeners and provided lots of good advice.
I started with lots of weeding, including removing some weeds the size of small trees!
One benefit of volunteering is that you get to bring home some of the produce that you harvest. We harvested some Yacón root, as well as kale, lettuce, and brussel sprouts.
I took a cutting of some yarrow and this plant with beautiful red flowers on the right side of this photo.
With the help of my friend Francis and the great folks at the SF Public Utilities Commission greywater pilot program, I’ve installed a greywater system to take water exiting from my laundry machine for use in the backyard. It requires using an environmentally safe laundry detergent, but is otherwise really easy to use and saves lots of water (lower bills, good for the environment).
Here are some pictures of the installation process in my backyard:
Once a month, there is a free day at the San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers, so I took the opportunity to invite a friend, enjoy the flowers and the amazing building, as well as taking some photographs.
I saw one of these critters around midnight on my next-to-next-door neighbors fence bordering the community garden steps where I often walk home.
A Virginia opossum is not a usual site around here… at first I thought it must have been a raccoon, a cat, or a rat, but its face kind of glowed in the dark almost like an owl and its long snout and tail were a giveaway.
Written June 21, 2008, on train from Manchester, England, to Holyhead, Wales, for ferry to Dublin, Ireland
I met a friendly fellow named Tony while waiting for the train on the platform. He is a manager of a 3D modeling and animation firm, who grows his own vegetables and bonsai, and plans to retire before turning 60. Even though he is a straight guy, when we arrived in Manchester, he took me on a short tour of the gay district in his car, then dropped me at a hotel he felt would be inexpensive. Normally £61 (~US$122), it was at £75 (~US$150) because it was an “event” rate, but it was late so I took the room anyway, after checking that another hotel down the street was full. The room was nicer than the one in London, but was for disabled folks and smelled of mold and mildew.
I checked out the gay district on Canal St. and saw the Rembrandt Hotel, where I ended up staying for the rest of my time in Manchester.
The trip to Covelo was great! We all spent a lot of time hanging out around the ramshackle cabin. Creamy and Yoyo showed up in drag for the big BBQ. Jombi and Win were looking adorably queer. And Eric chowed down on the meat in a cloud of smoke from the BBQ.
Contrary to popular belief, Mitch did not turn into a hedgehog, and his Pan concocktion was delicious, refreshing, and stimulating. Somehow, Brian and Johnny transformed from kitchen queens into kings… now what is that all about? 😉 Along with all the volunteer chefs, their efforts made the event a gourmet success. Selma made fabulous quiche to complement the crate of granola I brought, so much it wouldn’t have gotten eaten if we had left it out every morning and with a bunch left for Yoyo upon our departure. And there is Will (with Eric below) who received many kudos as the meat czar.
Prickle and Buck were dandy-licious, as was Anthony in his lovely collar. Garnet, the bird, was quite often talkative and occasionally took flight as her cage is more of a sanctuary than a lockdown.
John’s boyfriend Bill was kind enough to encourage John to learn about massage, fortunately on me. We set up Eric’s massage table in a madrone grove down the hill from the cabin.
The path to my camping site brought me past a particularly lascivious madrone tree, its brown smooth bark forming a hot crotch I lusted after each time I went to my tent. Another knotty hotty madrone made me drip each time I cruised by as well.
Each day, I hiked down with some of the boys to the Eel River for delicious swimming, rock climbing, diving, sunbathing, and picnics.
Some of the guys got covered in mud and one or two buried under the sand. Win, John, and I made Jombi into tribal art, the remains of which appear below, as does a snake who slithered in the river as I swam.
Some special pictures are in a password-protected location. Let me know if you’re in any of these pictures and would prefer they be on the password-protected web page.
Other highlights of the Covelo camping trip for me were visiting the garden Yoyo is tending, reading poetry aloud while Eric, Mitcho, Anthony, and others made love on the porch, and morning yoga sometimes led by Three*. I really loved the spirit of comradery, the great food, and the healthy environment.
Thanks so much to Eric and Mitch and everyone else who made the trip possible.
From Eric and Mitcho’s land, Covelo, Mendocino County, CA:
How amazing to be back out in the country camping on the land. During the Queer Freedom Day festivities, Eric (aka Cattail) invited me to come to a Fourth of July camping weekend at his and Mitcho’s land in Covelo. Coincidentally, Yoyo (aka Joe), who I met at Antler’s Comfort & Joy Afterglow party, is the current caretaker and Eric and Mitcho’s place. So, I got a ride up with Andrew, his boyfriend Nori, and Anthony. We talked radical politics for part of the ride, considering my proposal for limiting income from all sources to $7 million a year.
We ate at a Chinese buffet restaurant on the way up, after getting a jump start for the van from a neighbor on Bernal, near my house.
We arrived fairly late at night, but I really wanted to set up my tent so I could feel fully landed and grounded in this beautiful place. So, I asked Eric, who was kind of helpful, and Yoyo, who brought me to a fabulous camping spot in a madrone grove not far from the main cabin. The path to the location feels like it is magically warded somehow because I have to concentrate very hard to remember the path even though it’s within shouting distance of the cabin.
Jack T., former housemate, is also at the Covelo gathering and it is great to have an informal environment where we can reconnect.
So far today, I’ve done my yoga — been keeping up a good practice, although my lower back seems tight — and helped with installing a solar water pump down by a creek, which was fairly hard work, but I got to jump under little waterfalls in the creek afterwards. Apparently, there is a bigger river to play in nearby which I hope to check out a bit later today. These are all tributaries of the Eel River, which Mitcho tells me is one of the last few clean rivers around here.
Buck and his friend Prickly made magnificent Hawaiian macademia nut, mango, blueberry pancakes for breakfast, which I ate along with a mimosa from Eric. I skipped the bacon and eggs.
Yesterday, I went to the regularly scheduled queer longhair brunch at the Espresso Bravo Cafe on Valencia Street. Among the usual attendees, there was a new person named Loren who I hadn’t seen for over a decade since we worked together at Sun Microsystems. Sloan (Fruitboy) also made it to brunch and after brunch he came over to my place. We and my housemate Jack weeded the backyard and Sloan laid cocoa hulls as a sweet-smelling mulch. I harvested more than a dozen lemons from the lemon tree to give Bette my next-door neighbor. The garden looks great!
After a shower and relaxing in bed came the radical faerie re-entry party for faeries in San Francisco who had gone to the Breitenbush gathering. Myles (Mouse) asked me to host it at my place and the housemates agreed. 15-20 faeries showed up including Mouse, Fruitboy, Onyx, Mark (Ptah), Rick, Joel, Daniel, Johnny Thunder, and others. There was lots of good food including the split pea soup and wild rice I made and the salad Fruitboy made. We read fortunes from the Faeries’ Oracle tarot deck that Owlswan from work gave me.
Lance and his roommate Sami came too.
I started with lots of weeding, including removing some weeds the size of small trees!
One benefit of volunteering is that you get to bring home some of the produce that you harvest. We harvested some Yacón root, as well as kale, lettuce, and brussel sprouts.
I took a cutting of some yarrow and this plant with beautiful red flowers on the right side of this photo.
