Most villages in the Bassar region of Togo, West Africa, still had a blacksmith when Ene and I lived there briefly about 20 years ago. Our friend, Innocent (above) was Le Forgeron de Guerrin-Kouka, the market town where we lived. Although iron smelting had been in steady decline since Colonial times, it was still practiced […]
Category Archives: bioregion/vernacular
The Week in Bloom
Wild Cherry (Prunus avium) Since I was a teenager I’ve always ridden nimble, road racing bikes and my attention has been on speed and navigating the road to avoid flats. Inspired by our rural environs and the Rivendell ethos, I’ve recently swapped out my racing machines in favor of a sturdier, Surly Long Haul Trucker, […]
Fools Parade and The Blessing of the Fleet
Occidental Fools Parade, Occidental, CA Two contrasting annual traditions merge seamlessly with the season in West Sonoma County. The Occidental Fools Parade continues to grow exponentially since its inception six years ago. Everyone is invited to participate, and people of all ages bring instruments and march in elaborate costume around Occidental’s tiny square. The event […]
Anni Rapinoja
Trained as a botanist, Anni Rapinoja lives on a remote island off the coast of Finland, where she makes beautiful, functional objects from seasonally foraged, natural materials like pussy willow, used to make the shoes and purse pictured above. Rapinoja considers her work as an extension of her environmental activism, drawing us closer to nature […]
Estero Americano Floods
I rode my bike to scout the Estero Americano over the weekend, the body of water dividing Western Marin and Sonoma counties. Almost exactly a year ago I made my first post on this weblog after a paddle on the Estero to explore the availability of sea grasses like bulrush for a furniture-making experiment. I’ve […]
The Week in Bloom
Lilac (Syringa vulgaris) The Sap Moon of March and a stretch of sunny days have conspired to launch a timely Spring, with more plants budding, blooming and leafing than I was able to count, beginning just after the Vernal Equinox. Here are several from on and around our property at about 700′ elevation, Latitude: 38.40222
Longitude: […]
Elm
My favorite woods have three letter names- elm, oak, ash and fir. These names have been so repeated over the centuries, they have been polished smooth like river stones- extra syllables or letters are superfluous to their meaning. The trees themselves are thought to have magical origins, with deep roots in the collective consciousness, and […]