Desert Light

The light was amazing this evening before sunset up at the Atomic Ranch.

Birthday party for the property owner. All of his friends and their dogs in from LA. Spirits, food, good people.

We watched a huge dust storm off in the distance across the whole valley. The biggest we've seen around here. We were relieved it wasn't smoke from a wild fire.

As the afternoon hours faded the winds picked up and it grew colder. But the light was amazing.

Boulder Gardens (Garth's place), Pipes Canyon, CA

Some of you may know Garth, or have heard of him. He is pretty famous in these parts. In many ways he is responsible for my husband being out here in the desert. Garth has been in the area for a long time, building and living in a very special world. His place is often referred to as Boulder Gardens. People seek it out. People find it. All are welcome. Some come for a visit and end up staying. You will always meet interesting folks there.

Garth has a lot of kindred spirits working alongside him to keep the place running and growing and sustaining the vision. It takes a lot of work to manage a large area of land...to care for it, to care for the animals and the gardens that are part of the dream. While many folks volunteer service, funds are still needed from time to time. So there is a fundraiser going on right now, to raise funds to fix a well and for some other equipment.

Some folks have put together a nice Boulder Gardens Fundraiser website  - to make it really easy to learn more and to give if you can. Any amount is appreciated. And if you donate, you get gifts! A postcard, a map, a calendar...or you can have a boulder named for you! I've copied some information below, but click on that link to go straight to the site. Watch the video. Make a donation if you can. Plan a visit to the place! It is worth the trip.

Here's a photo I took from up on part of Garth's land last weekend - looking out across Pipe's Canyon. What you see here across the canyon is beautiful Black Lava Butte (and our house is at the end of that dirt road just next to the Butte!).

Here is info from the website:

Please help preserve this desert sanctuary!

We are calling on support of the comunity that Garth has graciously accepted into his home, as well as a global community interested in supporting alternative systems of living.

Boulder Gardens is a thriving example of living harmoniously with the natural environment. It is also a sanctuary and retreat for all forms of spiritual seekers, healers, and travellers. It is an incredible inspiration to all who visit. Please help preserve this sactuary for future generations.

What We Need:

We are hoping to raise $6000 to help Garth continue his vision and create a platform that will ensure the future of Boulder Gardens.

These expenses will include fixing a broken well and solar pump that distributes water across the land, and expenses assosiated with the founding of a non-profit organization who's mission will be to promote Garth's vision of Boulder Gardens for future generations.

Fixing the well will cost $3000. Including repairing the existing pipe, adding to new solar panels and an inverter, and installation.

The remaining funds will be used for expenses assosiated with the founding of the non-profit, including application and preparation fees and professional help with the founding of the land trust.
We are also actively looking for advice from a lawyer dealing in the area of non-profit land trusts. Please feel free to share any contact you may have.

About Boulder Gardens:

Boulder Gardens is an invitation, not only to sponsor Nature, but to also enjoy, reflect, meditate, and take justifiable pride in the results. The efforts of many committed and invested individuals who have seen the ongoing efforts to create a wonderful, peaceful, and bountiful setting here in our high desert.
In the 1980's Garth Bowles acquired 640 acres with the intention of cultivating a desert sanctuary and retreat, embodying the harmonic co-existence between man and the natural world.

After 30 years of meticulous planning and permaculture techniques, Garth has worked tirelessly to see his vision through. If the idea of Permaculture is about maximizing useful connections and components to create a synergy between natural ecology and human systems, then Gods Way Love is a thriving example.
Fruit trees, grains, flowers, ponds, enjoyed by frogs, fish, birds and humans are being nurtured as this wonderful sacred garden amongst the boulders is being created with care and good hard work!

Garth's generous spirit and humble graciousness welcomes anyone passing through with opens arms and warm smiles, which has created a powerful web of people who have been influenced and inspired by Garth.
You may picnic, visit, enjoy drum circles at the full moons, and contribute in many ways to this little corner of paradise.

We are committed to create an aura of natural beauty within which we hope to build a "complete" populated village based in "sustainable agricultural practice": continue the creation of our meditation center, and continue the transformation of what would some would misidentify as wasteland or desert or just plain desolate place. Existing and ongoing cultivation efforts are an obvious indication of the wonderful potential of the high desert soils to be modified, enriched and bolstered into fertility, bounty and abundance by sustainable, agriculture, plantings, aquaculture and husbandry.

Sincere Thanks, and hope for a brighter future. 

Again, here is the website: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/296224

Fireplace Rock Wall + Recycled Old Wood

One of my favorite things in the house we are building is the fireplace in the great room, which will sit into a rock wall.

The fireplace will have a wrap around hearth using large rocks. This will flow into a lower rock platform to the right of the fireplace for the wood stove. The whole wall, 16 feet high, will be embedded with smaller rocks. Best of all? All of the rock will come from our land - hand picked. That is what makes it feel so special. And a lot of work.

My husband estimates we will need approximately 1,500 rocks to do the fire place wall. That, my friends, is a lot of rocks. Oh, and we are doing one part of the outside house walls in rock and that may take about 3,000 rocks. I can't think about that one yet. Let's just get the inside fire place wall done first.

We have a lot of rocks on our 40 acres of land, but most of them are giant boulders. However there are spots of smaller rocks suitable for putting into a wall and hearth. Over the past two days I've managed to gather close to 80 of the smaller kinds of rocks we need. I have the day off tomorrow and my goal is to try to surpass 10% of the 1,500 we need...so if I can get it up to 150 rocks, I will be satisfied.

I can't handle the large ones we will need for the hearth. I can barely handle the smaller ones. It is not easy taking the the wheel barrow out on a zig zag path across our land, avoiding all the plants. It is even harder bringing it back weighted down with many pounds of rocks. Sometimes the wheel gets stuck in sunken sand. I have to stop and rest a lot. I am realizing just how out of shape my back muscles have become. But it is fun.

I've made up my own rules. Not too many rocks from any one area. If the earth won't give up the rock easily on the first try, then it stays - not because I can't work harder to get it out, but just because I feel the earth wants it to stay. Some rocks have lichen (apparently a good thing and a sign of good air quality) and I don't want to take those away. I feel they should stay outside and continue to sustain that life. I've pulled up a few rocks and discovered ant homes underneath - those stay too. There are plenty of rocks to go around. There is no need to be greedy. Oh, and last, but not least, I thank the desert for giving me the beautiful rocks I take. I am grateful we have this beautiful land and grateful for every inch of it and all of its beauty.

Below is a photo of some of the rocks I found, all laid out on a table so we can get a better look at the size, color and shape. Paul took the photo from the roof deck of the house. I located more and created a few piles of them further away from the house that I need to pick up tomorrow via wheel barrow.

The other very cool aspect of this fireplace that I love so much is that we are using old wood we found at a salvage yard in LA (thank you E & K!). It came from a turn of the century (1900s) old mansion that was torn down. We already knew we wanted to use parts of it to create the fire place mantle, but our very talented uncle, who has overseen the construction of this house with my husband, came up with a design to use some of the other wood for the whole rock wall. I've shot a few photos below. It may be difficult to fully envision at this stage, but it is going to be incredible.

Starting the collection of rocks from our land that we will use to build a stone fireplace wall in the house.

A small sample of the diversity of rocks on the land. These smaller ones will make up the wall. Larger ones will make up the hearth.

You can start to see what it will look like. The wood needs to be stripped and finished. There will be more wood in here and then the entire wall will be rock. When we found the old wood, we knew we wanted to make those columns into our mantle. 

The stone wall will wrap around to the left of the fireplace as will the hearth.

The narrow area to the right of the fireplace will be used to store firewood. There will be a stone hearth wrapped all around the bottom. The wood stove will sit to the right of the fireplace on more stone. The entire wall will be covered in rocks. Ignore that light colored wood above the fireplace -  that won't be there - it will all be the darker old wood.

Starting to strip the old varnish off the gorgeous old wood. This wood is well over 100 years old as the house was build turn of the century. Its hard to find this kind of old growth type wood any more. We are very happy to recycle it in our home.