Hills

Afternoon sun lifts the smell of the sea to the heights of the hills

Do the cows know that their sage scrub hollow lies next to a vast ocean? 

The land tumbles in furrows and folds, shivers, rushing to the sea, still

Long nights are a small price to pay for the rains of winter 

Intermittent mists with winds whipping on hilltops glowing green

Dripping down damp fern forests and cove cascades

Chanterelles chant at the pasture’s shaded edge

Steinbeck’s fairytale alive in oak woodlands, in the hoots of quails and coos of the owl

What could be more perfect than a muddy field of cowpies? 

These days I have much to do, and less to say about it. I’ve soured a bit on sharing, as social media tends to bring out performative, inauthentic, and false depictions of life, and it seems like a slippery slope. In addition, one of my deeply held beliefs is “show, don’t tell”: the most capable, interesting, and wise people that I have come across don’t need to inform you what they are, badger you with what they know, or speak in overly authoritative tones. Expertise should be evident, passion should be patent. In this spirit, I generally prefer to “do”, rather than talk about what I am doing. At the same time, many important people in my life are not in my daily, in-person life, so I owe it to them to share a bit. I could tell you about many things – the abundant chanterelles that I’ve been eating with just about every meal, the four days we were without electricity, the flakiness of my sourdough spelt puff pastry, my growing list of side hustles. And I will, in the form of “a week in the life”. 

Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays are groundwater modeling days, when I do my fully-remote work on the computer at home, let my body rest, and keep an eye on the fermenting of loaves and the simmering of bone broths. Raf does routine caretaker work on Mondays, and I try to prepare an interesting vegetarian dinner (today it will be mushroom and bean pies). On Tuesday, Vida Verde’s weekly program begins, and Raf becomes fully immersed until Thursday afternoon. Tuesdays tend to be very quiet and long workdays, often with an afternoon run up the hill across the road and a meditative evening. 

Wednesdays are for Vida Verde – I work a full day doing farm, trail, and other maintenance work, in exchange for my monthly rent. My favorite project is a self-directed trail maintenance campaign, primarily involving the construction of simple steps made of rebar and 2 x 12’s on steep parts of a trail across the creek from Vida Verde. It’s a fairly involved project, as all the materials must be carried across the creek and hauled ~½ mile up to the steepest trail sections. It is an especially enjoyable task: the first step installation spot is a lush hollow with moss, ferns, and a waterfall. I eat avocados and unsweetened chocolate, sip on water, and steadily chip away at the cutting, digging, and hammering of steps into the steep switchbacks, often in drizzling rain. The trail itself leads up to a grassy hilltop, one of the highest in the area, with views of Pomponio Creek valley to the south, San Gregorio creek valley to the north, the Santa Cruz mountains to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. 

In late January following an atmospheric river storm, a major bank collapse occurred and took out ~30 feet of trail. The collapse occurred at a seepage face where the saturated slope drops ~20 feet to the creek channel, likely due to the combined effects of high water pressure in the bank and the erosive action of the creek at the base of the slope. Last week, I cut a detour around the collapsed section, mainly trimming woody shrubs and chopping down thorny wild blackberries with a machete, an activity that will probably have to be repeated every year as the bank continues to erode. All this intense and solitary physical activity in the damp woods feels infinitely better than any gym workout. I consistently go home on Wednesdays in a serene state, overwhelmed with gratitude at the opportunity to do this work in such a beautiful landscape and climate.

On Thursday, Vida Verde’s program wraps up and Raf comes home in the afternoon, ready to relax. Fridays are for TomKat, a regenerative cattle ranch in Pescadero where I recently started working. I initially reached out to them because I wanted to get more acquainted with cattle ranches in the area. I spend all this time exploring open rangeland and figured it might be fun to mix in some odd jobs – repairing fences, moving cattle, that type of thing. I initially proposed a work trade in exchange for some beef, to which they responded enthusiastically, and then decided it would be easier to just put me on their payroll (at a decent hourly rate I must say). 

I am starting in the garden – rebuilding ten raised beds that are arranged in a radial sun ray design – and will steadily get mixed into odd jobs on the rest of the ranch. As an added bonus, I can take all the redwood from the previous beds and use it at Vida Verde for more trail steps! It feels like one big perk: at the end of every shift I take home a ton of free produce from the garden and 15%-off beef from the ranch freezer. I have been taking home grocery bags of kale that I blanch and freeze for the months ahead. Yesterday, I braised beef shanks in the crockpot on low in a sauce of mirepoix, apple cider vinegar, and chicken bone broth. I ate them with a pile of roasted potatoes, honestly one of the most incredible beef dishes I have ever had. Today I am making spicy beef noodle soup with a cross-rib roast, spicy red chili peppers, three heads of garlic, and beef bone broth. The key is to keep is simple. 

Saturdays are for sports: mountain bike rides on the ridge trail near Skyline Boulevard and the Cowell-Purisima trail along the coast south of Half Moon Bay, runs up the hill across the road. This last trail is my weekly go-to spot: the trail climbs ~1000 feet to a saddle, and then follows the rangeland ridgeline to a series of rolling hilltops with 360-degree views of this hilly coastal paradise. It is especially magical during misty rain. At the edge of the pastures where the oak woodlands begin, I have found abundant chanterelles. The first round petered out about two weeks ago, but in the 2-3 weeks prior, I was taking home a backpack full of mushrooms every time I ran the trail. I also contacted the facilities manager at the event space across the creek and got permission to forage over there. I expect we’ll see at least one more round next time the rain pauses and the sun comes out. I spend lots of my time processing chanterelles: washing them, pulling them apart, sauteeing the pieces over high heat, separating out the water for broth, and then browning the pieces in butter or tallow. The mushrooms and their tasty juice add earthy umami flavor to all sorts of dishes: chanterelle wellingtons with sourdough spelt puff pastry, tomato sauces, pastas, noodle soups, just about everything. 

Sometimes we go into town on Saturdays: this past weekend, we went to Mensho Tokyo in San Francisco as a belated celebration of Raf’s birthday. Very unique, flavorful, and creamy ramen, but overall too expensive and trendy, with small portion sizes. One of my 2024 goals is to visit ten Chinese restaurants throughout the Bay Area that I have selected based on a thorough review of menus, prices ($ and $$ only), and ratings (> 4 stars).  In recent years, I have learned that Taiwanese (sometimes called Szechuan) spicy beef noodle soup is far and above the best Asian noodle soup out there. Don’t give me no ramen, don’t give me no pho, don’t give me no hot-and-sour, just give me that spicy beef noodle soup! 

Sundays tend to be more of the same: outdoor exercise and recreation, food projects, hot tub sessions. Four days of no electricity following a major wind and rain storm definitely put a damper on the fun: I commuted to Half Moon Bay to work at the library, bought ice to keep the fridge food cold in a cooler, juiced up the chest freezer with a generator once a day, and boiled water to do dishes (the hot water also went out with the power). We were very relieved when the power finally returned! Thankfully this week's storm has left power infrastructure intact (so far). 

Overall, life is too good to be true these days, all my side hustles and hobbies feeding raw materials into one another, creating a patchwork of variable and engaging work. I’ve always thought exclusive specialization is contrary to human nature, that we are happiest when engaged in a wide variety of tasks, mental and physical. I’m not tired, in need of a break, vacation, or change of scenery – instead, I just want to continue to do what I do every week again and again. Nothing gold can stay, but I’ll sure enjoy it while it lasts.