Celebrate mom with Occidental’s Mother Garden

Greetings everyone! May I offer you a virtual embrace through the words I put to paper this month. I appreciate all of you who take the time to read this column, it shows you care about this town, this wonderful resource of a paper we can all share, heck even little old me. Whomever you are, you inspire me to continue writing and finding things to write about.

I have been reminded recently of the power of embrace. With the numbers of fully vaccinated folks around me continuing to rise (I get #2 next week) the act of hugging has started to return after a year (feels like 5) long absence. It sure feels good to hug someone, sharing common space and energy that no form of elbow bump, toe tap or other Covid era greeting can replicate.

I have also been thinking lately about my (and our collective) need to embrace the challenges that life confronts us with. Quite often I think our tendencies are to run from challenge, or to push it away. Yet a challenge that is embraced and overcome can become a great source for learning, for satisfaction and ultimately for positively evolving ourselves and our species.

I just finished reading a great book - “When We Rise by West County” by resident Cleve Jones (available at the Sonoma County Library) sharing many stories of his life in the movement to achieve LGBTQ equal rights. Cleve became an activist at an early age (see him portrayed in the move Milk) and a big theme I was able to take from his experiences was his ability to accept the challenges thrown at him (and there were many) and keep pushing forward. There were setbacks on the way but ultimately there were many momentous victories as well.

Local updates

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Why you ask? Because the Occidental Community Farmers Market returns on May 14th of course! I am so excited to see the return of our wonderful vendors, and partake in the bounty they share with us. I know I’ve already talked about hugging and now seeing but I will of course remind everyone that you need to be seen with a mask on and that in general we need to maintain social distancing – no group hugs quite yet.

The Mother Garden Nursery at OAEC has opened for the season. Check them out Saturday and Sunday from 10 – 5 for all your plant needs. I have always loved browsing their selections as they have many things you will have never heard of before, alongside proven favorites.

When you are done there, stop by Occidental Hardware for all your other garden needs, they are well stocked these days with just about anything you can think of. This would be a great time to put in that drip system you’ve been thinking about for years so you can start saving every precious drop of water possible.

Speaking of water, that directly relates to sewer and the myriad issues around that side of our local world. There has been a feasibility study commissioned to look into installing a pipeline from Occidental to Graton to send our sewage to their plant. Let’s hope they can figure out a way to make that happen because that seems like the best long term solution I have heard of. In the meantime there is a proposal to truck our waste to Graton rather than the current hauling to Windsor. As expected Graton residents living close to the proposed transfer station have raised a stink and are trying to put the poo poo on this proposal. While I can understand anyone’s reluctance to having sewage trucks unloading nearby I would urge these NIMBY folks to look at the bigger picture. The trucks are already driving through Graton everyday, and every load dropped there will save 20 miles (roundtrip) from the current routing to Windsor. I’m not sure how much fuel, time, pollution will be saved in this new scenario but I’m willing to bet it’s a LOT. If you know anyone who lives in this affected area, please ask them to think big and embrace the collective good. Hopefully it will only have to go on for a short time until a pipeline can be completed.

I know most all of our Occidental residents have their own septic systems and will not be affected by these proposals. However, all of our local businesses are and the ongoing sewer issues have been a huge burden to them and the continued success of their businesses.

As well, in these times of drought prudent use of our water resources is imperative be it at a business or home, in a garden or a bathroom. Every time you let the yellow mellow that is 1.6 gallons of water that doesn’t have to get pumped out of the ground and into your pipes. Save it any way you can please.