Occidental Oriented by Gino Gaffney - June 2018

Howdy ya’ll. I was working today at a beautiful west county property that has gardens galore, a large pond and horses roaming through a gorgeous pasture. A young man driving a big flatbed truck came to deliver hay and animal feed and he was wearing cowboy boot and hat, and naturally when I greeted him, howdy was the first thing that came out of my mouth. My Mom is from Texas originally, so I was raised with ya’ll being part of my vocabulary, interestingly not too much else of her regional dialect had made it through the years she had already been living in California. Anyway, I’m still apparently in the howdy kinda mood. I love that my beloved west county still has cowboys (and girls), rednecks, hippies, rastas, stoners, winos, and the like. It keeps things interesting you know.

Anyhoo, it’s the night before I leave for my big bike ride and I’m trying to make my deadline. I’ve been up since 5:30 and worked a long day mixing 29 bags of concrete (amongst other tasks) to build a large-shade structure at the afore-mentioned little slice of Sonoma County heaven. I’m excited about the ride, a little nervous (the massive amount of exercise, the 100 plus new people I will be hanging out with for almost a week, the not so comfortable bike seat that will be my closest companion the whole time), and currently just plain exhausted.

My fund-raising is an ongoing success. I made my deadline to raise $3,000—just barely. I am currently sitting at $3,300 and would love to make it to or beyond my original goal of $3,900. You can still donate to my causes by going to www.climateride.org and looking up my page under my name, Gino Gaffney. One of the groups I am raising funds for is theNature Conservancy.

I don’t currently have a lot of background info to give you on the organization, but I do know that they are doing some great things locally that got me excited to help support their efforts. They strive to protect wild lands and provide public access to them, free of charge. The connection I have to them is that they are the owner of the Jenner Headlands Preserve property that is about to be opened to the public in the next few months.

I have been out there twice in the last few years as part of guided tours, which up till now was the only way you could access the property. Wow, what a gem! It’s approximately 5,600 acres of spectacular scenery—coastal grassland, diverse woodland, several watersheds, etc. The view looking down the coast from the top of the first set of hills up from Hwy 1 is a must see.

They are finishing work on the parking lot, restrooms, picnic area, etc., that are a couple of miles north of the town of Jenner and will provide the access point to the property in general.

On the Occidental specific side of things, you know what June means right? The eagerly anticipated return of the Friday night farmers-market!And with the 1st of the month falling on a Friday we don’t have long to wait. I am so excited for the return of the social scene, Lata’s samosas and lassi’s, Phyliss’s flowers, Raymond’s baked goodsand many other favorites. I love seeing all the vendors and their wares, the sun shining and the streets of my home-town full of happy people.

A gentle reminder to folks that dogs aren’t allowed at the market. I know we like bending rules in the West County but please abide by this one as it could get the market in big trouble if you don’t. As much as I’d love to bring my dog down to socialize I would much rather leave her at home than risk losing our precious market.

There’s lots going on at the Arts Center as usual, check out their website for details occidentalcenterforthearts.org.

Please shop locally and on that note I hear that there’s efforts afoot to re-form an Occidental Chamber of Commerce, more to follow.

Congratulations to the new graduates of Salmon Creek!

On to new adventures for one and all.