The Final Farm

Well, what excuse do I have for the lack of blogging except... I live in my car! I will summarize the past month in the next few blogs, provided you ask me for more detailed stories when I return to Maine in less than two weeks! (Look out Common Ground Fair, here I come!)

After El Vado Ark, we took a week-long vacation in Santa Fe. Our generous friends Kaylyn & Allison put us up for the whole week. They have the most adorable mutt, Sparrow. I love her. Our hostesses showed us the city in all its dog-park, taco-drive-through, flea-market, bar-hopping, shopping splendor. PLUS, we got to watch much of the beginning of the Olympic games, so we were often glued to that novelty called a television set.

We hadn't had enough of NM, and we were running out of money, so we decided to apply to another farm in the area. We ended up spending a week in Medanales, just north of Santa Fe, with two women who own & operate a ranch with a 100-year-old adobe house. Part of the building is a kiva, a room traditionally used in pueblos for ceremonial purposes. Gloria & Liz teach Toltec practices there. The women and their space were so peaceful and warm, I didn't want to leave!

On the mesa overlooking the ranch is the archaeological site called Leaf Water, which is believed to have been an irrigation site for pueblo-dwelling people around the mid 1200's. Here is a view of the ranch from the top of the mesa:
We also took some time to visit Abiquiu Lake, which was beautiful, and we all went to an Obama rally where Hillary spoke. Our time spent in Medanales was one of the highlights of country living on this trip.

Foragers & Scavengers

On our final full day at El Vado Ark, we took to the high mountains of southern Colorado. Arvo taught us how to recognize edible & non-edible mushrooms, and we went a-foraging. We picked a bountiful array of chanterelles, puff balls, corals, & boletes (aka porcini). We also took some wild Osha root, which is used for lung & throat ailments. Wild mushroom foraging is something I have always wanted to do; as you can see by the photos, I was not disappointed! I'm also looking forward to driving through Colorado on the return trip - I already love the aspen, mountains, views, and of course mushrooms there!


On the way back to the farm, we drove through La Puente, a tiny town with several creepy abandoned houses. We got lots of great pics, and can now recommend a good place to shoot a Mexican horror film to anyone who's interested. Oh, and we also saw two large male elk here, which were Mel's first wild elk, so that was exciting, too.

There is one very important resident of El Vado Ark I haven't yet given proper introduction: Raven, aka Carlos. She was hand-raised by Arvo himself and has her own door to enter the house. She is very beautiful, smart, destructive, & opportunistic. She makes dozens of different sounds and even talks with Arvo. But his description of her is best, since he knows her most intimately. You can read it (and more about the farm) on his website here. One of our first nights there, we dined with Raven. She was hesitant at first, but as you can see by the last photo, she warmed up enough to me to sit by my shoulder curiously as I cleaned mushrooms!

Jane Fonda's Toilet & Other Interesting Accomodations

Inside the Hermitory, our home for several days. Each night we slept here, we heard a family of coyote singing during the night. There were several pups trying their voices at howling for the first time. Magical!

Hermitory ceiling.

View of the arroyo from the Hermitory balcony.


Jane Fonda's former toilet, now usefully residing at El Vado Ark (with a new seat, so no bonus buns of steel residual energy).

In a Land Far, Far Away

New Mexico is brilliant! We passed through Santa Fe to pick up some groceries & then proceeded northward to our home for the next week, El Vado Ark. It is almost completely self-sustainable, built & run by one man, with solar & wind power, indoor greenhouses, gray water irrigation, rainwater catchment, bio-gas (from chicken waste) and even an outdoor adobe oven. We busied ourselves building a new trail, securing a fence, watering & tending plants, feeding chickens, monitoring the bio-diesel (aka chicken you-know-what), learning about alternative energy, and baking four loaves of no-knead bread in said adobe oven. (Now it seems that a future in baking may be in the works, too...)

It is beautiful, isolated country out here. Our host is demanding & particular, but generous, knowledgeable & proud to show off where he lives. His neighbors live in an earthship, a type of completely off-grid home that utilizes thermal/solar heating & cooling, solar & wind electricity, contained sewage treatment, building with recycled & natural materials, water harvesting and food production. We were able to visit this as well as view some other earthships in Taos, where the idea originated. It is a new goal of mine to build my own someday. When I enter one, the energy feels so positive, the residents so content. They are definitely happy homes.

Recycled wall material in an earthship.

Exterior of an earthship.

Three States I Can Live Without

No offense to anyone who actually lives in Arkansas, Oklahoma, or Texas, but man oh man I don't know how they do it.

Arkansas: After leaving Nashville, we camped out at Lake Dardanelle State Park. It was a pretty man-made lake & we had a nice campsite with water hookup, fire pit & charcoal grill. The tent-to-RV ratio was about 1:40, ours being the one and only tent. We were also graced by the presence of a large lovely nuclear smokestack on the lake. The cicadas were so noisy I couldn't sleep a wink! One man staying at the park asked us what we were doing here instead of vacationland Maine. I began to wonder the same myself...

Oklahoma: nothing to report.

Texas: After sighting the self-proclaimed "Largest Cross in the Western Hemisphere" (although I swear we saw a larger one in Arkansas), we stopped to camp at the "Grand Canyon of Texas." Lake Meredith National Recreation Area is honestly beautiful and, best of all, free! The view & sunset from our campsite over the man-made lake was gorgeous and peaceful. However, the mosquitoes will put Maine's whiny bugs to shame. There were SWARMS of them, humming so loud they prevented another night of much-needed sleep.

Desperately looking forward to putting down roots in northern New Mexico at a new farm tomorrow.

Nay-yush-full

(That's "Nashville" to you Yankees.) After a bittersweet farewell to our new friends & community at Claymont (our final day there, spent baking bread, was most rewarding), we hit the road for a long, beautiful & sunny drive to Music City. We were welcomed most graciously by our hosts & friends Karsten & Kate & their 6 cats (the alpha male, named Barbara Streisand, has quite a herd to manage). We did the tourist thing down Broadway & made sure to have our photos taken with every single Elvis statue. I have been inspired to become a drag king Elvis impersonator when I get home. I think there's a good demand for that in Maine.

We truly enjoyed the hospitality, food & relaxation of our Nashville experience. We went out clubbing on Saturday night & realized our priorities for "letting loose" are changing & adapting as we do. Living off the land truly is rewarding in its own right.

It all began here: a future career in the making.
I aspire someday to get my own Justin-brand boots to fill.

Stalactites, Stalagmites, and Bears...Oh My!

Justin visited me July 17-20 & we went camping & hiking in Shenandoah National Park. We saw our first wild black bears while on the trail & did the jump-up-and-down "we saw a bear" dance. There were also fearless (& probably quite stupid) deer all over the place, including at our campsite. We saw waterfalls; took a dip in a refreshing swimming-hole; & learned a lot about the people who lived & endured in the wilderness there & through the Civil War until the federal government kicked them out to create the park. Despite the 90+ degree weather, we hiked 20-25 miles in two days, enjoying the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains and each other's company.

On Sunday, though, it capped 100 degrees & we drove into the village of Luray for a break. We cooled off by touring the amazing Luray Caverns, the likes of which I have never seen! Spectacular limestone formations of every shade of brown, green & white go on seemingly endlessly. There's even a "stalacpipe organ" which functions by hitting various stalactites, thus reverberating the crystal within & playing a note. It was the most haunting version of "America the Beautiful" I have ever heard.

We then went to the movie theater & saw Batman: The Dark Knight. I highly recommend it, especially for Heath Ledger's outstanding performance. I pigged out on popcorn & sour gummy worms, since life on the farm doesn't allow for such splurges.