Occidental Oriented By Gino Gaffney - May 2020

Hello everyone, we are now over a month into “shelter in place” orders and I hope you are all still doing OK.

I find that my life isn’t much different in many ways and yet quite changed in many others. I am doing just fine with it, finding that when one is in a great place to begin with sheltering in it really ain’t that bad. Please take what I say with some very large grains of salt in recognition that I do not have any kids at home to potentially drive me crazy, nor have I lost my job to leave me with too much time and not enough places to go. I hope ya’ll are managing as best you can, one day at a time safe in the knowledge that this too shall pass.

I haven’t been to Santa Rosa in over a month and that has not been missed. I definitely have felt the loss of the start to the baseball season, and the transition into playoff basketball. I have been spending more time than normal in my garden, which I love. I went into Sebastopol Hardware yesterday and I swear they were almost sold out of seeds, pretty crazy. I look forward to sharing the gardens abundance with all my friends and neighbors later in the year when we start producing all the wonderful fruits and veggies our extra time and energy has brought into the world.

Hopefully by then we will be able to share space to partake in the abundance together around the dinner table or maybe even a picnic or outdoor concert (Peacetown -CANCELED for the entire season!) or sporting event (Giants or A’s – El Mo Football game).

Speaking of outdoor pursuits and food the Occidental Community Farmers Market is getting set to start up on May 15th and will continue every Friday from 4pm to dusk. When I first heard about the early start I got quite excited (and still am). Unfortunately it does come with the trade-off that the market will end a few weeks early on October 9th. I’m not sure of the reasoning behind this decision and will report further when I have more information.

I have been to the Sebastopol market recently and imagine it will be set up somewhat similarly. Until rules are relaxed or lifted the market will consist of farmers, plant vendors and prepared foods. No arts & crafts, no tabling from community organizations and no catering type fresh foods. This will allow for more space between booths to accommodate for social distancing of both vendors and attendees.

At the Sebastopol market it has been another of the kinda same, kinda different things of our current world. Normal and nice to be outside, buying fresh and local. Strange and weird to try to adhere to the board game style tape lines on the ground to keep us spaced out and playing the people watching games of who’s got the most interesting mask, and do I know them?

When the Occidental Center For The Arts is able to open up again we will have to check out the positive developments towards the new lobby for the performance center. They have recently had doors installed and sheetrock & painting done - bringing this new era for the OCA ever closer to reality.

Check out their website for information on the May 16th Arts in Our Hearts Virtual Variety Show with special LIVE from HOME performamces. Clever creative people! Check out the online figure drawing course being provided. www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org

There was exciting news for us Occidentalites (and beyond) in the April 8th edition of the Press Democrat in case you didnlt catch it. LandPaths was able to secure a $2.4 million dollar state grant towards the purchase of 373 acres of land adjoining their recently acquired Ocean Song Preserve. They have until the end of the year to come up with an additional $1.5 million to complete the purchase. This will create the opportunity for a parkland connection long dreamed of, linking Willow Creek State Park to Ocean Song to Pomo Canyon and Shell Beach. Yay! www.landpaths.org

(December Gazette: LandPaths Purchases Ocean Song in Western Sonoma County: https://www.sonomacountygazette.com/sonoma-county-news/landpaths-purchases-ocean-song )