On our way south from the Bay Area to LA, we picked up another beautiful road-killed grey fox.  We skinned and cleaned it on our first day back at the co-op, removed its brains and cleaned its bones on the second day, brain-tanned it on the third day, and smoked it over the fire pit on the fourth day.  I think we may have given some of the younger coopers a bit of a shock!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

In case you’re interested in becoming one of us weird people who does these kinds of things, here are some good resources:

Brain Tanning Furs by George Michaud

Tan Your Pelts with Nature’s Tools by Jim Miller

Skinning, Tanning, & Working Hides: A DIY Guide to an Ancient Skill by Rowan Gangulft, PhD

-Rachel

All in one night!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enough oil to get us from Oakland to LA via the South Bay Trader Joe’s circuit, no probs.

Mariposa Grove is a retrofit co-housing community of about 20 people (aged 50s to young children) in Northern Oakland, very close to where my friends live.  Most of the property is owned by a community land trust, though one of the houses is owned by an absentee landlord.  We’ve visited retrofit co-housing projects before; the term refers to an intentional community consisting of several neighboring houses which were standing before the community was created, and which were (usually) purchased by the community in their original locations to be owned and operated communally.

Mariposa Grove’s Mission Statement: Mariposa Grove is a member-owned, consensus-based intentional community in an urban setting that supports sustainability, social justice activism, creativity and the arts. We are creating a permanently affordable home, a physical and social space where we share resources and responsibilities, grow together and support each other to fulfill our personal dreams while providing a model for the larger community of which we are a part.

Mariposa Grove is technically “low-income housing,” though most members own their homes and pay mortgages (the exception is the house owned by a landlord).  There are all-community meetings twice a month and decisions are generally made using consensus, though not everyone who lives at Mariposa Grove is members of the land trust, so the land trust board has more power in certain decisions.

The top floor of one of the houses is communal space, with a large kitchen and living area.  There is a beautiful garden (even in winter), nine chickens, and a grey water system which feeds out to a stand of fruit trees.  Despite its location, it doesn’t feel urban at all.

I was only able to meet two community members (one being an infant!), but I spoke at length with my guide about diversity at Mariposa Grove.  Almost all members of the community are white, and though some members would like more racial/cultural diversity, this has always been a challenge (despite the diversity of Oakland generally and Mariposa Grove’s neighborhood specifically).  Recruitment usually happens within an already-established East Bay co-housing community which seems to be predominantly white and middle-class.  Despite Mariposa Grove’s Mission Statement, which mentions support for social justice activism and “providing a model for the larger community of which we are a part,” the co-housing community appears quite separate from the larger community of people in this area.  I didn’t ask my guide what Mariposa Grove meant by “providing a model for the larger community,” but I often find such intentional community models to be gentrifying ones.

The one house which is soon to be rented out by its landlord is, despite the unideal situation of being owned by a landlord, a potentially positive situation because it could provide housing for lower-income people who cannot or will not buy in to the community land trust to pay a mortgage on a house.  This option, which is relatively new to Maripiosa Grove, seems similar to what Monan’s Rill was planning during our visit there; it might lead to a more diverse community.  Of course, for people of color to feel comfortable living at Mariposa Grove, the current members would have to be willing to listen to their needs and concerns, and change (perhaps drastically) their status quo to make their community more welcoming, and this is entirely up to the current members.

-Rachel

I wanted to bake a cake as a thank-you to Desi and Rubin’s house for hosting me for nearly a month now.  I like to bake vegan, and my favorite cake is German Chocolate, so I found the following excellent recipe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vegan German Chocolate Cake
recipe courtesy of Morrow Cookbooks/HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS

Cake
3½ cups all- purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups soy milk

1½ cups unsweetened cocoa powder(we recommend Hershey’s)

1 cup canola oil

3 cups real maple syrup

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Coconut- Pecan Frosting
½ cup soy milk

¼ cup cornstarch

1 pinch kosher salt

2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar

1½ cups coconut milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3 cups sweetened shredded coconut

1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

Vegan Chocolate Ganache
½ cup soy milk

8 ounces unsweetened chocolate

¼ cup real maple syrup

Instructions:

1. To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350°f. Have ready two 8- inch round nonstick cake pans.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. Heat the soy milk in a small saucepan to slightly bubbling, and then add the cocoa powder. Remove from the heat and whisk well.

4. In a medium bowl, combine the oil, maple syrup, vinegar, and vanilla. Whisk well. Pour in the soy milk–cocoa mixture, and whisk until smooth.

5. Using a mixer or by hand, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until the batter is smooth.

6. Pour the batter evenly into the two cake pans, and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean. Set the cake aside to cool thoroughly.

7. To make the coconut- pecan frosting, whisk the soy milk, cornstarch, and salt together in a small bowl.

8. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the brown sugar in the coconut milk. Cook, whisking, until the mixture comes to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 minutes, or until slightly thickened.

9. With the mixture on the stove still over low heat, pour in the soy milk mixture and stir continuously until the mixture is very thick and smooth. Remove from the heat and beat in the vanilla, coconut, and pecans. Cool before using.

10. To make the chocolate ganache, combine all the ingredients in a saucepan over low heat, and stir continuously until the glaze is smooth. Remove from the heat, stir for another 2 minutes, and then cool to room temperature.

11. To build the cake, place 1 cake layer on a cake plate or stand, and spread a layer of the coconut- pecan frosting over the top (but not the sides). Place the second layer on top of the first, and spread a very hearty layer of the frosting over the top. Using an offset spatula, ice the sides of the cake with a thick layer of ganache. Then warm about ¼ cup of the ganache in a small saucepan, or in a micro wave oven, and drizzle it across the top of the cake (or use a pastry bag to pipe it).

It came out superbly, though not exactly as the recipe describes!  We didn’t have 8 in. cake pans, but we did have two 8 in. pie pans, which are not as deep as cake pans and also have slanted sides (the sides on cake pans go straight up so that you can stack the layers and they’ll fit together!)  I poured a good amount of batter into the two pie pans, but still had quite a bit left in the mixing bowl.  The only other round bakable dish I could find was a large cast iron!  So the cake ended up being three layers, and they were slightly different sizes.  But covered in frosting no one can tell (nor do they care!)

Also, the “ganache” (chocolate drizzle) didn’t become thin enough to drizzle, so I served it on the side.  Delicious.

-Rachel

 

So Max and his friend Alex went biking one day and came back with a road-killed grey fox in a plastic bag.  Who knew those natural history museum skills would come in handy on the road!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ve been putting off writing this post, because I knew it would be difficult.  Our stay at Monan’s Rill, which is located 12 miles northeast of the city of Santa Rosa, was one of the most memorable in our year+ of traveling.  It’s not easy to explain why.  It was partly the land: the sheer ruggedness, breath-taking beauty, and marked isolation of the Rill’s 400 acres created the feeling of being in true wilderness, while also surrounded by a close-knit human community of about 20 adults and several children.  Monan’s Rill (named after a line in Sir Walter Scott’s poem The Lady of the Lake) was founded by several Quaker couples in the 1970s.   At the time the land was purchased, it was completely wild; the founders built the roads, the buildings, and the water system (fed by a natural spring).  None of the original founders still live at the Rill, but the longest standing members have lived there for close to 40 years.  There is very little turn-over: most people who join Monan’s Rill intend to stay for the long haul, raise their children there, retire there, pass on there.  This is part of what made Monan’s Rill feel so special to me: the long history of weddings, childbirths, deaths, the traditions and place-names everyone knows but whose origins no one can remember.  The cycle of life is tangible there, among people who have become family to each other despite their diverse backgrounds.

Despite the community’s isolation (the steep dirt roads aren’t very bike-friendly!), many residents are activists in the Santa Rosa area and beyond.  Santa Rosa isn’t huge (pop. 168,000) but from what we heard, the Occupy Movement has taken a strong hold there.  We went with a couple community members to one Occupy event during our visit, a presentation by Abraham Entin, founder of the North Bay Affiliate of Move to Amend-the Coalition to end Corporate Personhood (watch the whole presentation here — we’re probably in it!)

Monan’s Rill is home to teachers, artists, Burners (one of their awesome BM projects), musicians, parents, retirees… one member is the Executive Director of the non-profit organization Rites of Passage which guides youth and adults on wilderness vision quests, another has traveled to several countries in the Middle East as a peacekeeper and citizen diplomat and is a member of the European-American Collaborative Challenging Whiteness, an anti-racist research group.

The community has a large organic garden, an orchard, and facilities for large farm animals though no one’s taken up that project yet.  There is a relatively new community building where twice monthly all-community potlucks and meetings are held; as often happens, a community meeting took place during our visit and we were invited to attend part of it.  It would be an understatement to say that Monan’s Rill treats group process like an art.  I’ll let the posters on the walls prove the point:

As with most communities which use consensus-based decision-making, the roles of facilitator and note-taker rotate.  Stack was taken publicly on a white board so that everyone could see their place in line.

Monan’s Rill has a number of committees which address issues such as membership and finances; one of the committees had a meeting using the fishbowl format, where non-committee members sat in an outer circle around them and listened.  The committee’s inner circle included an extra chair so that non-committee members could take turns jumping in if they had input for the committee.

We went on a long hike around the land with community members who picked edible mushrooms and told us the stories and traditions of the Rill.  I pulled out my flute and played violin duets and energetic folk music with some of the resident musicians.  We helped in the garden pulling up tomato plants and talking with long-time residents about how the community started out as a place to follow the Quaker value of simple living, but that it has since veered from that path.  I woke at 5:50 AM one morning to join several community members on a chilly hike to watch the full lunar eclipse.  We attended an intimate membership meeting, and discussed the other communities we’ve visited and what we look for in a community.

At the moment none of Monan’s Rill’s members are in their 20s, and multiple people told us emphatically that they don’t want the Rill to turn into a “retirement community”; they want to attract younger generations, and are interested in coming up with creative ways to do this.  They asked us for an honest opinion of the community, and we did our best to provide this.  It was the first time a community visit really felt like a reciprocal experience: the community was generous enough to host us and teach us about their lives, but we were able to give something meaningful back, telling them about what we look for in community and providing some recruitment ideas and suggestions for their new website.

The Rill is interested in having work-traders/WWOOFers and renters, to provide younger, more transient people with the opportunity to be a part of the community.  The membership meeting we attended addressed questions such as, Would a renter have equal say in consensus decision making (if not, which topics would they have equal say in)?  How could we maintain a non-hierarchical community when certain members are contributing so much less monetarily and can’t commit to living at the Rill long-term?  Would renters go through the same application process as long-term buy-in residents?  Is it better to have a casual, flexible work-trade program where the work-trader makes most of the decisions about their work, or a more structured program where long-term community members decide what work needs to be done?

Our visit to Monan’s Rill went by too quickly, though it felt like we’d spent much more than three days there.  I felt like we’d been given an in-depth, personal look into this community, which is rare for such a short visit.  As much as I enjoy the energy and passion in houses packed with 20-somethings, it’s those houses that have too many visitors for residents to take much notice of the next hippie bus that’s stopping by.  Monan’s Rill is peaceful, homey, isolated in the way that is most comfortable for me (ie. not too far from civilization, but far enough that there are cougars and bobcats), and I was appreciative of the political activism it attracts.  It is my honest hope that Max and I will visit again someday, hopefully for a much longer amount of time.

-Rachel

Hospice Thrift Store: tiny wood box perfect for modpodging, stained glass kitties, galoshes, vinyl records (Elton John, Rickie Lee, Allman Brothers, Stevie Wonder, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell), sushi mat, AC drill, play dough

Marmot Outdoor Gear: 12 zippers, fabric scraps

Alvarado Street Bakery: 2 sprouted multi-grain loaves, 1 flax seed loaf

Trader Joe’s (4 stores total): 4 chocolate chip cookies, pine cat litter (for the wood stove), plain yogurt, chicken fried rice, 2 tins of coffee, walnuts, Mirepoix mix (celery, carrots, onion), sunflower seeds, jasmine rice, pastrami, grapes, baby carrots, brie log, bag of apples, snow peas, grape tomatoes, smoked sockeye salmon, Pound Plus dark chocolate, sun dried tomato pesto, beef tamales, Lavender Salt Scrub, pinenuts, powdered sugar, avocado, mini milk chocolate peanut butter cups, strawberries, chocolate orange, 5 dark chocolate bars, salty creamy PB, Cotswold Double Gloucester with onions and chives (that’s fancy cheese), 5 flower bouquets, 2 potted plants, Prosciutto, 2 jars sweet pickle relish, 3 sticks butter, 4 big apples, 5 bags lemons, mac and cheese, chicken-less stuffed cutlet, turkey bacon, bag sweet potatoes, almond snowmen cookies, 12 pints coconut oil, 7 jars curry simmer sauce

As we mentioned in a previous post, we recently got tickets (one each) for sleeping in our vehicle in Arcata.  $155 each.  We called the phone number on the ticket immediately, and were told that our information wouldn’t be uploaded into their computer system for at least two weeks — we’d have to stay in Arcata and try again.  Two weeks passed, and we called back.  We scheduled a date to appear in court, hoping to have the fine reduced.

We appeared at the Superior Court in Eureka yesterday, and the clerk (who was friendly, at least) informed us that we’d be able to meet with a court-appointed attorney before seeing a judge.  Upon entering the courtroom, however, the judge told everyone (about 10 people with different infractions) that we did not have the right to a court-appointed attorney, and that we each had two, and only two, choices: 1) plead guilty and pay the fine in full, or 2) plead not guilty and schedule another court appearance in a month or so.  We were, needless to say, really ready to leave Humboldt County, so we pled guilty and were charged $155 each.

Oddly, when we spoke with the judge, he told us that the fine for “camping in a vehicle- first offense” was no more than $50.  Why are we being charged $155, then?  Court fees.  What court fees?  Well the friendly clerk broke it down for us, and because I’m pissed, I’m going to type it all out for you:

$4.00  Surcharge

$1.76  County general fund

$3.92  DNA Add’l (?)

$3.92  St Crt Facility

$3.92  EMS Add’l

$1.96  DNA Add’l

$1.96  DNA Funding

$5.88  SB1732 Penalties

$13.72  State Penalty Fund

$5.88  County Penalty Assessment

$3.92  Courthouse Construction Fund

$5.88  Criminal Justice Facilities Fund

$3.92  Emergency Med Services

$17.84  Arcata General Fund

$1.52  State Automation Fund

$40.00  Court Security

$35.00 Criminal Infraction (the actual fine for sleeping in a vehicle)

I was last on the judge’s list, so by the time I was done speaking with him (which took about 30 seconds), the room had totally cleared out.  As I joined Max and we walked toward the doors, the judge leaned over his desk and said cheerily to his staff, “Well, that went well!”  Yeah, in about 10 minutes those jerks made several thousand dollars.

In case you are curious, we have never had this problem before.  Ollie was parked on a busy public street on Capitol Hill in Seattle for two weeks, and cops never bothered us; our only night-time callers in that spot were two drunk neighbors who thought Max and I were the coooolest people they’d ever met — they cooked up a whole dinner in their apartment across the street and delivered it to the bus, where we ate with them and drank wine and exchanged gifts and stories.

-Rachel