Ojai Magazine Fall 2024 by Ojai Magazine

Living Large

STEVE HAMHOCK: HOUSE HOG

650 Tico Road

Sitting On Top of the World!! With majestic views in every direction, your friends will never want to leave this magni cent saddle ridge where the only interruptions to peace & harmony are the soaring birds against a colorful sky. The 2 + 2 home with clean lines of mid-century architecture re ect the vision of notable architect Darwin McCredie to highlight the natural beauty of the private 2.9 acre setting & its vistas! Dine al fresco on the terrace, chat reside in the outdoor living room, count laps in the in nity-edge pool, or just sit quietly enjoying the breeze. The joys of this rari ed property are endless! Two acres of avocado, 2 stalls & a fenced pasture. Low maintenance pro le of this sanctuary is as perfect for an Ojai-getaway as it would be for your everyday home.

$3,950,000

History unfolds as you enter the double mahogany doors to this refurbished vintage cabin; known in the early 40’s as the Topa Topa Hunting Lodge. Modern amenities & white oak oors complement the old-world details that include hand-hewn beams, natural stone replace & custom lead windows. Two other charming & fully appointed cabins in the same split log style will delight your guests, as will the oak-studded grounds with repit, tranquil natural pool, spa and a 20 X 40 garage with attached workshop and state-of-theart soundproof isolation recording booth. Exceptional location on private East End lane on .83 acres. Come experience the magic!!

$3,250,000

1641 Garst Lane

RANCHO ROYALE

21-Acre Equestrian Estate with Main House + 8 Rentals, 7 Horse Barns, 20 Covered Corrals, 4 Arenas, 2 Round Pens, Hay & Equipment Barns, Panel Walker, Entertainment Barn, Archery Range, Mountain Views & More RanchoRoyaleOjai.com | $8,199,000

IN ESCROW

RUNNING RIDGE RETREAT

Fully Remodeled Five Bedroom, Five Bathroom Mid-Century Modern with Spanish Colonial Inﬂuence with Brazilian Wood Floors, Pool & Spa, Two Primary Suites, Guest Quarters, Media Room, Amazing Views 276RunningRidgeTrail.com | $3,499,000

BURNHAM ROAD

Three-Bedroom Home on .25-Acre Lot with Large Family Room, Fireplace, Formal Dining, Country Kitchen, and RV Parking

Close to Lake Casitas, Downtown Oak View, and Ojai Valley Trail. $795,000

OAKCREST ROOST

5 Bedrooms, 3 Bathrooms with Recent Updates, Flexible Spaces, Large Loft, Breakfast Bar, Gas Fireplace, Skylights, Two-Car Garage, Solar Panels, Fruit Trees, Gated RV Parking

$1,425,000

BRYANT PLACE COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

Ojai Commercial Property with Parking Lot, Showroom, Workshop, Oﬃce, Breakroom or Storage Room, Two Bathrooms, and Great Location in Industrial Area Evolving into Hip Entertainment District 907BryantPlace.com | $1,785,000

UPPER OJAI LAND

Build your dream home on 1.25 acres in Upper Ojai with 20-25gpm well, water meter, Edison drop, and beautiful mountain views minutes from downtown Ojai. $697,500

ROYAL OAKS RANCH

5 Bedrooms, Upscale Finishes Throughout, Media Room, Wine Cellar, Tasting Room, Gym/Massage Room, Pool & Spa, Putting Green, Well, Six-Car Garage, Bocce Court, Views, and So Much More RoyalOaksRanchOjai.com.

FAIRWAY RAMBLER

Four-Bedroom, 2.5-Bathroom, Sprawling 1970s Ranch-Style Home on Large Lot in East End with Vaulted Ceilings, Two Fireplaces, Large Windows, Breakfast Bar, Large Closets, Sunroom, Two-Car Garage, Gated RV Parking, Swimming Pool & Hot Tub. $1,900,000

ROSE VALLEY LAND

Create an oﬀ-grid, country retreat on 40 acres with mountain views, trails, and a natural spring in Rose Valley in the Los Padres National Forest. $1,200,000

THE DAVIS GROUP

Nora Davis

805.207.6177

GOLDEN OAKS GLEN

3 Bedrooms, 2.5 Bathrooms, Spacious Primary Suite with Two Vanities, Media Room, Two Fireplaces, Walk-In Pantry, Two Laundry Rooms, Over-Sized Two-Car Garage, Swimming Pool & Spa, Patio Fireplace, Built-in Grill with Bar, Family Orchard, RV Hookup & Much More GoldenOaksGlen.com | $3,995,000

RIVERSIDE DRIVE

Two Bedroom, Two Bathroom Manufactured Home + Outbuildings on Flat, Usable, .81-Acre Horse Property Close to Lake Casitas and Oak View Shops & Restaurants. $799,000

nora@ojaivalleyestates.com

www.ojaivalleyestates.com

727 Ojai Avenue, Ojai CA 93023

DRE 01046067

IN ESCROW

1202 LOMA #102

Freshly Painted, Two-Bedroom Mobile Home with Three Sheds, Carport, Breakfast Bar, Enclosed Porch, and Walk-In Closet in Senior Park Minutes from the Ojai Valley Trail, Meiners Oaks, and Downtown Ojai. $177,000

1270 FOOTHILL ROAD

Located on one of Ojai’s most desirable streets, this wonderful family home with four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and a spacious open floor plan is just waiting for you! Featuring two large living areas, both with their own fireplace, vaulted ceilings, Travertine stone floors throughout and light filled rooms, there’s plenty of room for family and guests. The outdoor space is charming with meandering pebble pathways, lush landscape and mature trees. You will love splashing in the pool on warm summer days or soaking in the hot tub under the star-studded night’s sky.

417 MCANDREW ROAD

Welcome to this nearly 35 acre income producing ranch located in the prestigious East End of Ojai. Located on McNell Creek, the Topa Topa Mountains will offer you a perfect “Pink Moment” nearly every evening. This 1920’s farmhouse has four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a remodeled kitchen and bathrooms, and a massive original rock fireplace. There is a separate office/art studio and a separate two bedroom, one bathroom guest house. Plenty of room to park all your farm equipment in the oversized three car garage. This ranch produces Ojai Pixies, avocados, Cara Cara navel oranges, and a variety of other fruit trees, and has a high producing well along with Casitas ag water meter and Solar...living off the grid never looked so good!

464 31ST STREET, MANHATTAN BEACH

This one-of-a-kind custom-built Mediterranean home with four bedrooms and four and a half baths, was designed by renowned architect Louie Tomaro and is located at the end of a cul de sac in the sought-after Sand area of Manhattan Beach. As you enter, you are welcomed by the sweeping staircase leading you to the three floors. The open floor plan, light filled rooms, and open beamed ceilings you will feel the sense of peacefulness. The unique design offers everyone their own space, and don’t worry about the stairs! This home has an elevator.

EDITOR’S

COVER STORY:

Steve Hamhock: House Hog - 26

BIG ISSUES

Tending Sage - 36

Rewild Ojai - 44

CULTURE

The Casitas Pinstriper - 52

Ah … Fiddlesticks! - 60

ART

Ojai Art Center Turns 85 - 68

Ojai Family Photo - 81

CALENDER OF EVENTS - 76

Climate Friendly Eating - 90

SPIRIT

Church of the Wild - 97 LOOKING

The Pratt House - 106

She Shed Makers - 116

EDITOR’S NOTE: FALL 2024

It’s true that Ojai’s small-town, community-based life has shifted — change happens — the shift toward a second-home playground for the wealthy has been brought to us by the rise of the remote-work world, wealth disparity, and 30 years of no-growth policies. Still, a residency résumé has no inherent value since all “locals” are transplants and replants depending on how far back we count pedigree. What matters most is our attention — does Ojai have your full commitment?

The fallout from becoming the half-best place to live is a cultural one, and locals can be heard lamenting the loss of the old, friendlier, better-connected ways. However at street level, most villagers accept the things we cannot change, modeling good behavior as new neighbors bring in the dumpsters and dig into their part-time nesting. Pretending not to notice the predictable white and black paint choice, or the new towering hedge … we hope our new neighbors love us for who we are rather than as backdrop for a dreamed-up, made-for-magazine, walled-o , shaman-tested, designer-approved, ethicalsage-smudged, zero-landscaped, seasonal get-away. And looking at the bright side of half-empty neighborhoods … it’s quiet around here with nobody home.

Yet Ojai deserves to be more than mistress; she screams to bemuse. In order for the groovy small-town vibe to remain, Ojai wants all of you: your children for our schools, your time in service organizations and clubs, your attention to local government shenanigans, your subscription to our 133-year-old print newspaper, so you know what’s going on, for heaven’s sake. … Ojai needs every soul to build and rebuild our community, lest we be left hollowed out from part-time a ections.

For the day, the month, or your life, join us right here for the Fall issue. Ojai Magazine is your window into what’s going on — a feature-length way to meet our people and learn our story.

With affection,

Laura Rearwin Ward

Tori Behar, Mimi Walker

Georgia Schreiner

ADVERTISING

Dan Browne, director of sales

Ally Mills, Kim Klester

CONTACT

magazine@ojaivalleynews.com advertising@ojaivalleynews.com

ojaimag.com @ojaimag

Cover photo: Taken by Emma Parker Bowles, reimagined by Ojai Magazine

A bit of Ojai’s brick & mortar retail history

It all began in 1976 on a side street in a cottage that once housed the Krishnamurti book store. Barbara’s Nonsense, as it was called, ﬁlled the rooms with quilts, pillows, dolls, scents and soaps, a pot potpourri of whimsy.

Barbara’s Nonsense was followed in 1981 by Barbara Bowman’s two women’s clothing stores, followed by, Barbara‘s husband, Sol de la Torre Bueno‘s boutique, True West/ Alexander David for men and women’s apparel, followed by Ages One To Ten, for children’s clothing and lastly a shop within the Oaks Hotel, featuring exercise and casual wear.

The above photo shows all the remarkable women who had a tremendous part in making those businesses successful. They always looked beautiful, were wonderful ambassadors for Ojai and the clothing Barbara designed, locally manufactured by Gloria Jones exclusively for the Barbara Bowman shops.

Taffy Lowen went on to open her own boutique, Julie Rose, which is thriving today. Gloria Jones became the proprietor of her own store, Around The Corner, a gallery and home furnishings shop.

All of us blended our lives together, as our children went to school, graduated and had children of their own. Our reunion came together to celebrate those lives, then and now.

We are currently creating fashion as our boutique evolves around lifestyle clothing that concentrates on comfort and authenticity of material content. Shirting from Japanese cottons, linens, ﬂannels, to cashmere and wool. Drop by for a visit, we guarantee you good conversation, unique fashion and shared knowledge of Ojai.

Barbara or Sol will be there to greet you, show you their own collection of jewelry, handbags and clothing. If you miss them, Ladye Eugenia Stewart will happily help you to explore their unique offerings. BARBARA

Left to right; Kathleen Nolan, Gayle Jeffery, Ingrid Boulting, Ladye Stewart, Kati Johnson, Taffy Lowen, Gloria Jones, Ginger Cochran, Julie McManus, Sharlee Carper, Donna Sunday, seated from left Barbara Bowman, Sol de la Torre Bueno, Susan Freeman

“I had no plans on getting a pig, let

Living

Photo: Olive Parker Bowles

alone a pig that sleeps in the house.”

Pigs are very melodramatic animals. Talk about overreacting. If I ﬂick some water at my pet pig, Steve Hamhock the Pig of Great Beauty and Joy, when I am washing the dishes, because he is harassing me by aggressively nudging my shins with his surprisingly strong snout (a daily occurrence), he will run away screaming as though I have sprayed him with battery acid.

I say run away, but it is more of a waddling, wiggling trundle, because weighing in at 180 pounds, it is all he can manage within the conﬁnes of a kitchen. That is not to say he can’t reach higher speeds if he wants to — domestic pigs can run as fast as 11 mph — but Steve breaks into a canter only if he is running toward food or away from someone he hates, like his trotter trimmer.

Before I go any further, yes, Steve is an indoor/outdoor pig. It is not as weird or gross as it sounds. For a start, pigs themselves don’t actually smell. They are hygienic animals and enjoy being clean. It is the slurry of pig manure that smells if they are cooped up in a pigsty. Steve has never pooped or peed in the house; pigs’ intelligence makes them highly trainable, and his offerings are much easier to deal with than doggie-doo. Pig poop also makes a wonderfully effective fertilizer for your garden.

Large

I had no plans on getting a pig, let alone a pig that sleeps in the house — or more speciﬁcally, in my shoe closet, where he likes to make a nest by dragging things out of the laundry basket and arranging them to his liking. However, the previous owners of my home had challenges with him, so Steve (the name I gave him) had been relegated to a 10-12-foot outdoor enclosure, and without going into too much detail, had not been treated very kindly. Hence, his aggression. His hooves were overgrown, and his tusks were growing into his face. And I don’t know the politically correct way to say this, but he was “fat blind,” which is when rolls of fat cover their eyes.

Story by EMMA PARKER BOWLES

Animal control had been called to take him away, but I know what can happen to pigs at the animal shelter, and it is nothing good. So I decided to keep him. Even though I was scared of him, because he was aggressive and used to charge at me and try to bite me. Pigs’ teeth can bite through bone, which is why there were such effective dead-body disposal units for the Maﬁa; something I like to remind people if they make lame bacon jokes. What is no joke, though, is 180 pounds of pig barreling toward you at speed. It is like being charged by a small hippo.

You know who wasn’t scared? Dr. Peregrine “Peri” Wolff, a local wildlife and exotic animal vet I am completely obsessed with. Weight issues aside, Hell itself would have frozen over before I had managed to maneuver Steve into the back of my truck to take him to see her, but luckily, Dr. Wolff does house calls with her awesome assistant. You would follow these two women into battle, and they fearlessly took control of the situation. Pigs often

don’t do well with anesthesia, but Dr. Wolff has her own special concoction. And a snout-shaped oxygen mask.

With Steve’s hooves and teeth taken care of, and some upgraded accommodations, it was time to work on his bad attitude. Luckily, I had one of those wonderful kismet moments when I randomly confided in an elderly gentleman on a park bench that my pig hated me. I explained what was going on, and he told me, word for word, “Well, that is because Steve thinks that you are his bitch.” Which is the last thing I expected to hear from such a refined senior citizen’s mouth, but whilst the delivery was harsh, the sentiment was true. He went on to explain that pigs are herd animals and Steve had appointed himself the leader of my herd. I was his underling, and he had no respect for me because I allowed him to boss me around. He also didn’t trust me due to his history of abuse. So I needed to be a firm but fair leader and earn his trust and respect, which would take time. First, I couldn’t run away or dive for cover the next

time he charged at me. I had to literally stand my ground. Make myself as big and noisy and intimidating as possible, much like in a bear-attack situation.

However, after practicing in the mirror, I realized that apart from looking like a lunatic, this seemed more of a reactive defensive strategy. I needed to be on the offensive and fire myself up beforehand so I wouldn’t back down. So as a rugby fan, I took my inspiration from my favorite team (sorry, England!), the New Zealand All Blacks, and their powerful pre-match tradition called the haka. If you are not familiar with the haka, it is a traditional Maori war dance and a ferocious display of strength that aims to intimidate the enemy and prepare warriors emotionally for battle. It involves stomping the ground, rhythmic slaps on the body, and raw guttural sounds. If this didn’t intimidate Steve and stop him from smelling my fear, then nothing would. My dogs were terrified of me when I was rehearsing and fled to all corners of the house, so I had high hopes.

Photo: Olive Parker Bowles

Much to the delight of my new neighbors, when Steve started his (quite frankly terrifying) pre-charging routine — chomping, grinding his teeth, salivating, and pawing the ground — I had already assumed the position. Legs in a semi-squat position, torso tilted forward arms up in the “don’t shoot me” position, and my palms ﬂat (as though I was about to do “jazz hands”). And as soon as he charged, instead of running for my life, I started my own version of the haka — beating my chest, grunting and growling, and stamping my feet. I even threw in a spur-of-the-moment ﬂourish: windmilling my arms really fast. All while thinking, “I am top hog. I am not Steve’s bitch. I am a warrior GRRRR AAAAHH.” And then — hallelujah — Steve stopped in his tracks and stood very still, which is what pigs do when they are thinking. I doubt he was thinking, “Who is this fearsome warrior?” Because I looked more like a demented bronchial baboon dancing on hot sand. I like to think he sensed the shift in my energy and no longer smelt my fear. Or maybe he just didn’t want to deal with this level of crazy because he thought better of it, and with some harrumphing grunts, he trundled off in the opposite direction. He has never charged at me since.

After that, we started becoming friends. I learned the MTP (move the pig) technique.

I learned about forking, which is nothing to be alarmed about — it is simply the act of using a fork to run down their back or anywhere on their body. Their mohawk goes up, and they go down and ﬂop over sideways into a sort of trance. Then, one day I just ﬂung open the gate to his enclosure with gay abandon and he became a free-range pig, along with the chickens. He started following me around whenever I was outside pottering about, or gardening, and although he was extremely unhelpful and would dig up whatever I had just planted, I knew he started to like me. So much so that one day he decided he would like to come inside the house like the dogs and stuck his giant head through the doggie door and screeched at me.

Now, pigs are very vocal animals. Female pigs even sing to their piglets when they are nursing. Steve makes a wide range of sounds, including oinks, grunts, barks, whines, and screams, to express his emotions like fear, excitement, or hunger. And he is ALWAYS hungry and on a diet. But oooo-eeee can he get loud. The scream of a frightened pig can measure 115 decibels, higher than the takeoff noise of a jet engine (113 decibels), and the sound he makes when he is demanding something isn’t much less relaxing. When he would poke his fat face through the doggie door and scream at

me, I had to start shutting the door panel so he couldn’t get in. Or at least I thought he couldn’t get in, because one day I heard a loud cracking sound and he burst through the door panel like Jack Nicholson in The Shining. “Heeeeere’sssssssssss Steven!”

And that was that. Steve became an indoor/outdoor pig.

But what really took my relationship with Steve to the next level was when my soul-dog died, suddenly and unexpectedly and in my arms. Apart from my daughter, Flash-Baby was the love of my life. To quote W.H. Auden’s poem “Funeral Blues”:

He was my North, my South, my East and West, My working week and my Sunday rest, My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song; I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

Except I wasn’t wrong. Even when they die, we don’t stop loving them. And we know that loving a pet comes at a terrible price. That profound love turns into grief. For “grief is love with no place to go.”

Grief is so feral, isn’t it? The kind when you are on all fours, wailing and snotty and dribbling. I have other dogs, of course, because I have a senior dog rescue and sanctuary — Mogwai’s Place — so grieving the loss of canine companions is par for the course. But this loss hit me like a sledgehammer. On the ﬁrst night, after crying myself to sleep, I woke up at about 2 a.m. and instinctively reached for Flash-Baby’s long chunky body, then silently screamed into the night when I realized, of course, that he wasn’t there. Then I heard some loud, manly snoring, which was confusing, because I don’t have a man. I sat up and stared blindly into the darkness, trying to work out who it was and where it was coming from, until I peered down the side of the bed, and there was Steve, lying next to me. There was something so comforting about it, and I fell back to sleep scratching his giant hairy body. In the following days, if he found me on the ﬂoor in the fetal position, he would nudge me with his snout until I got up again.

Pigs are very emotional and complex animals; much like elephants, it has been proven that they grieve the loss of a herd member. They understand grief and are not frightened by it. The thought of what they go through at the slaughterhouse, hearing the

Steve Hamhock and Flash-Baby on the porch. Photo: Emma Parker Bowles

FUN-HOUSE PIG FACTS

Pigs have a very good memory and hold grudges. They learn and remember things quickly, like where you keep food.

Pigs can be very picky eaters.

Pigs snuggle close to one another and prefer to sleep nose to nose. They dream, much as humans do.

Soldier pigs have gone to war. They have served as mine sni ers in battleﬁelds.

Pigs are brave.

One pig named Priscilla saved a boy from drowning. She is in the Texas Animal Hall of Fame.

A mini pig is not a speciﬁc breed of pig — it refers to any pig that has been selectively bred to be smaller in size. Most are Vietnamese pot-bellied, Kune Kune, or Juliana, or a mixture. There is no such thing as a “micro pig” or a “teacup pig” — unscrupulous breeders sell 1- 2-week-old piglets they advertise as “teacup pigs” and charge $750 to $3,500.

Pigs have approximately 15,000 taste buds, which is more than any other mammal, including humans.

A rescue pig is the best breed of pig!

terriﬁed screams of their herd-members, is almost too much to bear. Steve on an instinctual level knew I was in deep pain. He slept by my side for the next three nights. I have shared my bed with some pigs before, but not of the porcine variety. But I would take sharing my bedroom with my pig over a man, any day.

I am not the only one — George Clooney reportedly got rid of TWO girlfriends who objected to sharing the bed with his beloved pig, Max. Stupidly, they both gave him an ultimatum, and Max won. Steve would sleep in my bed if he could, but it is already chockablock with dogs, so he sleeps in my shoe closet, which is where I moved him when the snoring got too much. Still, he wanted to be close to me. I like to climb right in there with him at the end of the day for a comforting cuddle.

In the weeks and months after Flash-Baby died, Steve made me smile again. Pigs are just so entertaining. They are always up to mischief; it is like having an extremely rude toddler. “NO Steve,” or “Steven stop it,” or “Ow, Steve, that really hurts,” are frequently shouted in my house. Which, by the way, you have to pig-proof because they are highly intelligent animals and can open fridges, empty trash cans, and run off with everything and anything in their mouths.

Chasing a pig around my yard in my underwear is not something I thought I would ever do. Neither is rugby-tackling said pig or removing shoes and other household items from his jaw. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve had to stumble out of the shower, dripping wet with shampoo in my eyes, due to a loud crashing sound coming from the kitchen. Or eat cookies, chips, and chocolate in my bathroom so I can enjoy them in peace. Steve could hear the rustle of a cookie wrapper being opened in Oxnard.

Needless to say, I am completely charmed by Steve and his antics; he has me wrapped around his little trotter. Even the sound of his chomping, slurping, and munching food I ﬁnd delightful. And he is devoted to me. He hears my car coming down the hill and greets me at the gate, his stringy tail wagging like a dog’s. He now gives me “hot puffs,” when they breathe out through their mouth and huff —the pig equivalent of kisses. I give him hot puffs, too, and lots and lots of human kisses. Because he is my King Pig. My Hairy Potato. My Pig-o-potamus. I love him with everything I have. Love me, love my pig. That’s just the way it is around here.

Below: Steve gets a pedacure at home from a local trotter trimmer. Photo Emma Parker Bowles

307 E. ALISO STREET | OJAI, CA

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An old world gem meets a modern jewel

This unique property features four abodes on a single village lot. It includes a historic Spanish Colonial Revival Adobe duplex with two 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom units and a 2023-built duplex ADU with two 1-bedroom, 1-bathroom units.

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Live the spiritual history of Ojai

Krishnamurti, Annie Besant, and George Bernard Shaw all graced the halls of Ojai's famous Acacia Mansion. And now, you can, too.

The palatial two-story Spanish Revival home is a stunning blend of both formal and exotic architecture designed by John Roine and built in 1929. Lovingly restored by the current owners, the home is a Ventura County Landmark and eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and the considerable tax savings oﬀered by the Mills Act.

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Tending Sage

photos and story by KIMBERLY RIVERS

Elena Rios at home with her front yard white sage

“For native people here, the plant is our ancestor, a relative. We are in a reciprocal relationship,” said Rose Ramirez. “We know that for thousands of years the plants have taken care of us.” Ramirez, who lives in Temecula, is the sister of the late Ventura County Supervisor Carmen Ramirez. In July she came to Ojai’s Taft Gardens & Nature Preserve for a screening of Saging the World, a documentary she produced and directed.

The ﬁlm provides a glimpse into the issue of poaching wild white sage in order to feed the global smudging trend that simmered in the 1990s, then exploded as internet shopping became normalized and massive sellers like Amazon could move products from one side of the Earth to the other. The explosion of internet commerce paired with portrayals of sage smudging in ﬁlm and television spurred the demand for smudge bundles of white sage.

Rios said she realized how much the presence of the plant had decreased on the hillsides: “If we don’t awaken our communities to what’s going on … this plant could very easily literally become extinct because it only grows from southern Central California to Northern Baja California in the whole world. Sage has become commodiﬁed. … Like when people don’t have a connection to the watershed that they live in, then they tend to not think so much about how they use water in their home.”

Shops across the Ojai Valley sell bundles of white sage in various sizes. Many are bundled with other plants and wrapped with yarn. But labels are vague as to where the sage is sourced, and use “sustainable” to describe how it was sourced, which requires no veriﬁcation.

Poaching is just one threat to the plant. Habitat loss is another, because every area being developed from San Luis

plant“in full conﬁdence of the positive relationship between the plant and the person who harvested the plant. We take care of the plant. We talk to it, ask its permission — give an o ering. When we take it, it’s with a full sense of everything being right — a positivity about this plant.”

People living on the land tended stands of the plant and built relationships with it over many years and generations.

Frequently when poached, entire hillsides of wild white sage would be yanked out, roots and all. The plants would be pulled out with chains attached to pickup trucks.

Poaching often took place in June, prior to ﬂowering, preventing the seeds from germinating and the plant from propagating. By taking the plants before they went to seed, poachers would be cutting o future generations of the plant. “When you are buying poached sage, or any poached plant, at a trade shop or a crystal shop

‘If we don’t awaken our communities to what’s going on, this plant could very easily literally become extinct.’

— Elena Rios, certiﬁed nature and forest therapy guide and cultural specialist with the Chumash

Elena Rios, who lives in the Ojai Valley, as a certified nature and forest-therapy guide leads walks into the Taft Gardens open space preserve. She has also spent her life working on fire lines, early on with interagency Hotshot crews, and today with the Chumash Fire Department, Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, as a Cultural Specialist supporting fixed-wing fire and aviation operations.

“Since I have spent my whole life working in the hills and mountains of Southern California, I remember where I used to see sage and I began noticing it wasn’t there anymore,” Rios said. Seeing Saging the World “sort of helped connect the dots to what I was witnessing.” She helped bring the ﬁlm to Taft to educate the community in the Ojai Valley about the issue. She realized “it’s going to take a grassroots e ort to mobilize change.”

Obispo to Baja is the plant’s limited native habitat range.

White sage, a member of the mint family, is native only in the area from San Luis Obispo County in the north, to Baja, Mexico, in the south. The entire Ojai Valley is habitat for white sage. Two other sage varieties also grow in the valley, purple sage and black sage.

White sage is distinguished from the other varieties by its broader leaves that have a white or grayish fuzz. The plant sends up large stalks that will produce small white ﬂowers and later seeds, both attracting bees and birds.

For thousands of years the Indigenous people who shared land with white sage evolved with the plant, learning to tend and use it for its antibacterial, antimicrobial, and antifungal properties.

Ramirez said Indigenous tribes used the

… you’re probably getting the negative relationship from that plant being yanked out,” said Ramirez.

When sage is poached, she said, “it’s all about taking and selling, gathering hundreds of pounds of the plant and stu ng it into du el bags.” She said the plant left in the bags will “sweat” because it hasn’t been properly dried. “Now it likely has mold and mildew, on top of being abused and mistreated.” The sage is often shipped far away and bundled to be sold around the world, including Ojai.

Then, with that negative energy, the bundle is burnt to “smudge” or “clean the energy of a space.”

Chumash Elder and Ojai Valley resident Julie Tumamait-Stenslie said Chumash people here didn’t actually burn the plant, but instead would lay out the leaves, make tea, or put a leaf in water.

Fire Department, Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians

“We burn a di erent plant, but I’m not going to tell you what that is,” said Tumamait-Stenslie. She encourages non-Indigenous people with an interest in burning a plant for medicinal or spiritual reasons to ﬁnd out what plants were used by their own ancestors. She also said it is important to move away from purchasing “grandmother sage.”

Ramirez said for decades she and others have been asking “non-native people not to imitate native ceremony. Don’t use white sage as a way to get rid of evil spirits, ghosts, or use while sitting and chanting.” She said the requests have seemed to “fall on deaf ears. There has been an explosion in demand all over the world. But they are picking and choosing” parts of Indigenous culture they want.

By buying a bundle of white sage without any knowledge or caring how the plant got to be in their hands, that person is ignoring why Indigenous people used white sage in the ﬁrst place.

WHAT SHOULD THE PUBLIC DO?

“We should all ask where it’s coming from,” said Ramirez, “and take more responsibility as consumers.”

In the alternative, and even better, don’t buy it at all. Items that provide medicine, or are used in spiritual, religious practices should be given, and not sold, according to many Indigenous protocols.

Instead, Ramirez and Tumamait-Stenslie encourage the planting of white sage in home gardens. That way the grower can tend the plant, come into relationship with it and the land, then harvest and beneﬁt from the plant.

LOCALLY GROWN

“My mom bought this land in 1986. I was 10,” said Deva Temple, a resident of Matilija Canyon. She now carries the vision of her mother, Cynthia Temple, who is su ering from the late stages of Alzheimer’s. Deva said her mother is a descendant of an Iroquois speaking tribe, “but we don’t know which one,” through a “great-grandmother ﬁve generations back, (but) we don’t know that much about her.” Cynthia worked as director of the Matilija Environmental Science Area for 23 years. “She came into contact with a lot of the local Indigenous population, and not just Chumash, but also intertribal

groups,” Deva said. “Those are really the ones who taught her about the sage, what it was, how to tend it, and not to sell it.”

Deva and her husband, Shawn Goddard, tend to about 50 or 60 white sage plants that over the years they’ve had to protect because people would come onto the land and take them. A decade or so ago there was more traffic in the canyon because people were coming to the hot springs and more hikers were on the trail to the waterfalls. Today, they have a fence.

“We also had people who were our friends and wanted to make deals, rent this part of the land, commodify it,” Deva said. “When we told them ‘no’ we’ve received really poor responses up to and including death threats. So it can be really contentious.”

To maintain the proper fire clearance in an area vulnerable to wildfire, part of tending the plant is removing the dead wood and removing other fire fuel, like grasses, from around the sage plants.

They try to let as many plants as possible “set seed,” which usually happens by July 1. Fire clearance is required by June 1. Deva said they “top the plants we have to and leave the others to set seed.”

Deva leads workshops on how to tend the plants and the protocol for harvesting so people can learn to be in relation to it.

“It’s very similar to roses,” Deva said. “You can trim it to produce either more ﬂowers … or to get more leaves,” Deva said.

Deva views the issue of sage poaching in the historical context of Indigenous religious practices of the Lakota tribes.

“Since the ’60s there’s been a huge interest in Indigenous spirituality,” she said. “In 1978 the American Indian Religious Freedom Act was passed. Up until then, it was illegal to have sweat lodges, sun dances. You could go to prison for being caught with a sacred bundle. These people suffered dearly for their ability to practice their religion. And they wanted to share it with the world out of a sense of believing that it could help.”

But they did not anticipate the commodiﬁcation “of the ceremonies themselves.” In

2003, Chief Arvol Looking Horse “issued a statement asking non-natives if they would surrender their bundles,” and no longer participate in ceremonies.

“I personally don’t have an opinion about non-natives using sage for spiritual purposes,” said Deva. “What bothers me is when I’m driving home and I see people gathering sage and I see the plant on the side of the road picked just totally clean.”

RESTORATION

Twelve young white sage plants were planted in November 2023 in the open space area at Taft Gardens as part of a restoration e ort. Now about 2 feet tall, they look very healthy.

This winter, Rios said, 150 very small sage plant plugs will be planted as part of the ongoing restoration e ort.

The best time to plant is in the fall or winter when the plants will “accept the rains and spread their roots.”

Rios also encourages people to ﬁnd locally propagated white sage plants at local nurseries and grow them at their homes.

“Think of all the other beings that something is happening to as a result of it happening to the white sage,” she said. “Something that happens to one thing in nature happens to another.” Think about it as a community, ’cause we live right in the middle of white sage territory; I think that we also need to get the word out into other places in the world about the ramiﬁcations of taking it out of the wild and the ramiﬁcation of buying it without really knowing, with evidence, where white sage has been sourced.”

She said planting white sage in its native habitat “is a way to deepen your relationship to where you live and to land and place.”

SAGING THE WORLD

The 20-minute documentary is available on the California Native Plant Society website at www.cnps.org/ conservation/white-sage

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by PERRY VAN HOUTEN

Rewild

Native hummingbirds love native hummingbird sage.

Photo by Lizzy Brewer Chouinard

Ojai

Jim Logan and Karen Sama’s garden in Mira Monte buzzes with hummingbirds and several species of native bees.

On Birdsong Ranch near Casitas Springs, owner Lizzy Brewer Chouinard has counted approximately 120 species of native birds, including nearly every species of local raptor.

In Meiners Oaks, Brian Segee and Rachel Kondor’s yard bustles with songbirds, including phoebes, thrashers, and ﬂycatchers.

All three Ojai properties have been planted with native plants, and all have been certiﬁed through Ojai Valley Land Conservancy’s Rewild Ojai program. Rewild Ojai, a new initiative launched in fall 2023, helps bring native plants to local homes and gardens by simplifying

the process of planting a native garden, providing starter kits designed for speciﬁc garden conditions and a gardencertiﬁcation program.

“We’ve done restoration for many years on our preserves, but if we start to look at the valley as a whole, we really want to expand that restoration throughout our yards and throughout our valley,” says Tania Parker, deputy director with the nonproﬁt land trust. “To bring restoration into private lands and native plants into our landscaping is the next extension of our work.”

Native plant gardens restore fragmented habitats by connecting private lands with surrounding wild landscapes, enhancing local ecology and biodiversity, according to Parker. “People rewilding their homes help

Rachel Kondor and Brian Segee stand among purple sage and Matilija poppies in their Meiners Oaks Rewild Ojai location. Photo by Perry Van Houten

give this habitat connectivity through the valley for all of our pollinators and insects and wildlife to have homes, so that they’re able to thrive throughout our valley, not just in the surrounding hills,” she says.

“There’s so much going on. So much life and diversity,” says Logan, who began replanting with natives in 2020. Previously, the approximately 1,000-square-foot front yard was all lawn. Today, more than 50 species of native plants grow and thrive there, including ﬁve varieties of sage. “All the sages smell like California,” he says, “which I really, really love.”

Since rewilding their yard, Logan and Sama have learned which plants are going to do well. “The key for us in planting was staying local,” he says. Avid hikers, they took notes on plants they liked on the trail, “because we knew they were going to do OK here.”

The Land Conservancy’s native plant sales were also a huge help. “They were just a real bonanza, because OVLC takes great care of just local plants and pretty much everything we’ve gotten from them has blossomed and done really well,” Logan says.

Rewild Ojai does exactly what it was designed to do, according to Logan. “One of the things that’s been really remarkable is the number of pollinators we have,” he says. At one time, five native bee species have been identified on the garden’s flowers. “The insect apocalypse is real, so we should do anything we can to keep these populations healthy.”

Creature comforts on the Highland Drive property include rocks and old logs that provide habitat for two or three species of lizard and a native toad. “We’ve created this little habitat for them, and we need other people to create their habitats so we’ve got corridors for these animals,” he says.

Ojai is home to approximately 200 bird species, 64 bee species, and 168 moth and butterﬂy species, all of which need native plants to survive. Rewild Ojai celebrates the crucial role of native plants in the local ecosystem.

The valley’s native plants have grown and evolved here for thousands of years, “with all the bugs, all the animals, all the birds, and created an ecosystem that is mutually beneﬁcial for one another,” says Sophie McLean, a native plant specialist who

manages OVLC’s native plant nursery. This relationship is something imported plants lack. “Native plants are so important because they belong here,” she says. “I collect from our local plant populations on our lands, and then I grow and propagate them within the nursery. That supports all of our conservation projects.”

In 2023, the nursery produced 8,000 plants for contract orders, restoration, and plant sales, with a 32% increase in plant diversity. Last year, OVLC grew 62 different species in the native plant nursery.

Built in the early 2000s to support restoration at the Ojai Meadows Preserve, the nursery plans to expand and hold native plant sales once a month during planting season, which is early fall to late winter, when native plants grow deep root systems to get ready for hot summer months.

On April 27, the Land Conservancy held its inaugural Rewild Ojai Native Garden Tour. The tour of 11 certiﬁed gardens drew more than 700 people seeking inspiration on incorporating native plants in their outdoor spaces.

The tour stopped at Annie Nyborg’s nativeplant garden on Pleasant Avenue, where purple, black, and white sage, California buckwheat, California fuchsia, and deer grass grow. “The challenge I had was learning what was native and what was not, and then sourcing the plants,” she says. “So OVLC has been absolutely critical in both the education component, and also supplying the plants themselves. That’s been hugely helpful to make this a possibility.”

Segee and Kondor began planting natives on their 1-acre property on La Luna Avenue in 2016. They started in one corner of the yard, a former orange orchard, and planted “pioneer” plants that improve the soil and provide shade for the more sensitive native plants. More than half the plants are native to Ojai and most were sourced from OVLC’s nursery.

Native plants use less water, but it’s important to plant species native to Ojai. “There’s been so much emphasis on xeriscaping, on the water end of things,” says Segee. “It’s important to use less water, but a lot of those plants are from Africa, from South America. Our local wildlife aren’t adapted to them and can’t beneﬁt

Top: Ojai Valley Land Conservancy’s Tania Parker, left, and Birdsong Ranch owner Lizzy Brewer Chouinard with native coyote brush planted on the property. Photo by Perry Van Houten

Above left: Rewild Ojai plants ready to be planted in a local native plant garden. Photo by Nathan Wickstrum

Above Right: Ojai Valley Land Conservancy’s Sophie McLean at work in the native plant nursery. Photo by Perry Van Houten

Right: Jim Logan and a stand of wooly bluecurls in his Rewild Ojai native plant garden in Mira Monte. Photo by Perry Van Houten

from them. Natives provide for the insects, birds, and other wildlife that actually live in the Ojai Valley.”

After the coyote brush and elderberry went in, Segee and Kondor filled in with smaller flowering plants such as monkey flower, Matilija poppy, an assortment of sages, buckwheats, and ceanothus. “It’s become such an ecosystem. You can see how things interact and go together both aesthetically and from an ecosystem perspective,” says Kondor.

Start with one “room” of your yard, Kondor advises. “Pick a corner of your property, pick a fence line, and just start there. Get your feet wet by starting with one area and use your creative juices to create your plant palette,” she says.

Along with creating habit and saving water, plants native to Ojai also support local biodiversity. While your plants provide plenty of food, the bees, birds, and butterﬂies will

keep the ecosystem in balance.

The Land Conservancy would like to see Rewild Ojai go from garden-size to landscape-size. A blossoming illustration is Birdsong Ranch, a 170-acre property along Santa Road. “Our garden is a little bit different,” says owner Chouinard. “It’s not a residential garden, so this is more of a project and study space geared toward habitat gardening that’s focused on birds and ornithology. Everything we do here is with birds in mind.”

The ranch began its transformation in 2021, with the removal of non-native, noxious, and ﬁre-prone weeds such as yellow star-thistle. Heritage oaks were kept, and additional oaks, walnut, cottonwoods, and sycamore trees were planted, along with more than 60 other native species.

The planting of natives on the property has led to a proliferation in the number and variety of critters, according to Chouinard. “Not only the number of birds, but butterﬂies, bees, ﬂies. Everything has increased so much. It’s actually remarkable,” she says. “We’ve had almost every species of expected raptor here including California condor, peregrine falcon, and golden eagle.”

Creating habitat in your garden will connect you to surrounding wild spaces and increase the chance of survival for local fauna. “Wildlife and biodiversity really respond strongly to connectivity,” says Chouinard, “so the more people we can get to plant native, even if on a tiny scale, will make a huge difference.”

The Rewild Ojai Native Garden Tour will be an annual event, according to Parker. “We do a lot of events here at OVLC and a lot of them are quite successful, but I think that the staff and everyone who attended would agree that this one was so special because it’s so on-mission and does so much good,” she says. “It’s one of the best events we’ve ever hosted and I really look forward to future years to see it develop and grow.”

OVLC’s native plant starter kits are sold for $150 and include 10 1-gallon plants, native seeds, and a small Rewild Ojai sign to display in your garden. You’ll also receive a special quarterly garden newsletter with tips on how to rewild your yard.

For more information on Rewild Ojai, visit ovlc.org/rewild-ojai.

Pinstriper

A ﬁne line: The road to perfection of an Ojai pinstriper

In the more than 20 years since my daughter was born in Ojai, I have made hundreds of trips on Highway 33 between Ojai and Ventura. Not long into that time frame, I noticed a sandwich board by the driveway of a property in the heart of Casitas Springs. It said, “Henry Segura, Pinstriping.”

This is a moment that could invoke a quotation on a rubber stamp I own: “I always wanted to be a procrastinator, but I never got around to it.” Seeing this sign at the side of the road, I thought I’d like to contact this man.

Finally, about a year ago, I called the number off the sign, and got a hold of Henry Segura. He was very friendly, and amenable to having me photograph him at work. Unfortunately, Henry and his wife, Carole, had been in a bad automobile accident, and were recovering from their injuries.

We got together some months later. The day I visited, Henry was working on a boat, on which he had previously painted long, straight, multicolored pinstripes. On

this day, he was acceding to the owner’s request to add some gold leaf to the highly decorated boat. Like pinstriping, applying gold leaf is a rareﬁed technique. I’d witnessed the technique many years ago, but it was still fun to watch him apply this form of adornment.

Then we just started chatting. Henry is an engaging man and storyteller. My ears pricked up early in the conversation when Henry asked me if I were familiar with Von Dutch. Emphatically yes. Von Dutch was the professional name of Kenny Howard, a legendary pinstriper and craftsman, as well as a fascinating, eccentric, and sometimes difficult man. Howard was such a dominant ﬁgure in automotive circles when I was a young man, the entire genre of pinstriping came to be referred to simply as Von Dutch.

THE STUDENT

When Henry was 8 years old, his older brother had a black hot rod roadster. An acquaintance of Von Dutch, his brother

Story and photos by TOM MOORE

Above: Kenny Howard, aka Von Dutch

Photo: Wikimedia CC. Mike Salisbury

took the car to him for pinstriping. Henry was dazzled when he saw his brother’s newly adorned ride. He wanted to meet the master who had created these brilliant designs on the car.

Some time later, his brother went to another car shop in the vicinity of Von Dutch’s shop and took Henry to see Von Dutch. After watching in silence as Von Dutch plied his trade, Henry told him how much he loved his work, and how deeply he would like to learn this craft. Von Dutch did not respond too warmly to this suggestion, and told Henry the ﬁrst thing he needed to do was draw a long, straight pinstripe. He called Henry closer, took a piece of scrap metal, and swiftly drew a series of smooth, straight lines on it. The encounter left Henry with a mission to pursue his education as a pinstriper.

He took his task seriously, spending hours and hours, beginning with that ﬁrst assignment: learning to produce the long, thin pinstripes that are an essential component of the art. He then applied the same level of dedication to learning other aspects of the skill, and produced the brilliant designs that had come to be called, simply, “Von Dutch.” Henry’s dad did some work dismantling junk cars, and these wrecks provided a vast canvas for Henry to develop his skills.

He initially found steady work at local body shops. He also worked at car shows, ranging as far aﬁeld as Oklahoma, Oregon, and Utah, including Speed Week at the Bonneville Salt Flats. Henry said the heat at Bonneville was so intense that he had difficulty keeping his paint from drying up as it sat on his palette. He addressed the problem by using kerosene to maintain his paint’s ﬂuidity.

Henry later served in the military for three years. Following his discharge, he accepted an invitation from an older brother to learn the trade of working in concrete. In 1969, leaving the jobsite one day, Henry noticed a white pickup truck with a bug deﬂector on one of its wheels, with the message “Von Dutch is Alive” written on it. To his amazement, Henry recognized Howard at the wheel of the truck.

Von Dutch did not recognize Henry, who was only 8 when they ﬁrst met. Henry described his older brother’s car and asked

Howard if he remembered working on it. This piqued Von Dutch’s memory, and he recalled meeting the 8-year-old Henry. He asked Henry if he had learned to stripe, and was assured he had put in the long hours to do just that. Von Dutch asked Henry to create a design on a piece of metal he provided, and said, “You’re good.” Simple words, but a major thrill in Henry’s life. He got to work with Von Dutch on a car, another big moment.

Henry encountered Von Dutch again when he moved to Santa Paula and opened a shop there, the same city where Von Dutch lived and worked. Once, Henry came into his shop to see Von Dutch drawing on an envelope. He was drawing a postage stamp, rendered with the same precision for which he was so well-known. Indeed, he succeeded in posting mail with his hand-drawn stamps 11 or 12 times, before the post office put a stop to it.

On another occasion, Henry visited Von Dutch at home, which included a swimming pool he had installed for his daughters. Henry noticed a neighbor raising a lot of noise and dust with his motorcycle. A little later the neighbor walked his motor-

cycle over to them, and got right into the pool. He then sat on the edge of the pool, without removing his boots. Von Dutch introduced the stranger as his friend Steve McQueen, who also lived in Santa Paula. McQueen had a well-known hangar at the Santa Paula Airport where he kept his numerous cars and motorcycles. Around this same time, Henry was also introduced to Robert Blake, a child star from The Little Rascals, lead actor in Baretta, and famously later acquitted in the murder of his wife.

THE NEXT MASTER PINSTRIPER

I recently had the opportunity to watch Henry work on a somewhat unusual canvas — a diesel tractor that’s used to haul semi trailers. It was a beauty, belonging to a company in Santa Paula. When you see these big rigs on the road, you’re struck by the immense length of the trailers. The tractors themselves are impressive; I think this machine was about 30 feet long. Henry, who had done some work on this truck previously, spent a couple of hours adding several pinstripes to the ones he had already created. A seemingly elementary task turned out to be much more

challenging, as he carefully measured, marked, and taped guides for the lines. Just drawing the lines along the tape, you might say — but no. Painting right along the tape would result in the paint bleeding under the tape. Instead, he meticulously painted his line just 1/16th of an inch from the tape. Henry, at 81, still has a steady hand in painting these ﬁne lines.

After Henry completed this painstaking work, he said he was going to paint a small design around the driver’s side door

handle. Suddenly, no more measuring, marking, and taping. He just pulled out his brush and started painting the design that sprang right from his mind. In 15 minutes, there it was, just beautiful, magic. I must confess that this was what I had been looking forward to. It didn’t disappoint, particularly after I’d come to appreciate the surprisingly challenging process of straight pinstriping.

Henry’s task the following day was replicating all the work he had done that day on

the other side of the tractor. The challenge was to produce a symmetrical ﬁnished piece, photographing and meticulously matching all the parts.

I was delighted at a second opportunity to watch the master at work.

And the second day was just as good as I hoped it would be. Each design Henry paints is an original, and never repairs or repeats one he has previously drawn. Henry Segura is the student who became the master, his pinstriper dream 50 years on.

Photos: Henry Sagura’s Facebook page

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story

and photos by

DEVORAH CUTLER

“Ah..

Old-Time Fiddlers creates a third space for young and old, amateurs and professionals to become an extended family.

For as long as there have been humans, we’ve been banging rocks together and attaching strings to metal tubs to fashion tunes. The role of music is often solo healing contemplation — yet its power, just as often, is in a shared language, bringing unexpected people together to ﬁnd harmony.

Not all of us are “blessed,” or lucky enough, to be born into a harmonic, loving family. But in different ways, especially if we’re clear about what we need to ﬂourish, we ﬁnd our way to our people. Shakespeare, rumored to have played the lute, knew the importance of true friends, and had Hamlet declare: “Grapple them unto thy soul with hoops of steel.”

Such is the history of the California State Old-Time Fiddlers’ Association, founded to promote fellowship through old-time music. The Ventura County branch, CSOTFA, District 8 (affectionately referred to as “Fiddlers”). The homespun group is composed of tight-knit professionals and emerging musicians who “jam” their favorite tunes, practice their craft, and even learn from each other.

years ago, I have to say that, like Ray’s personality, there’s a certain humility to the vibe. All ages sign up to perform one to three songs at open microphones or choose to jam on the patio “en plein air.”

With souped-up or acoustic accordions, autoharp, harmonicas, ﬁddles, guitars, banjos, mandolin, ukulele, stand-up bass,

want to electrify. And when someone is sick or gets engaged, there is an outpouring of love in cards and gifts. It’s a family you want to belong to.

Every second and fourth Sunday of the month, all sorts of instruments are unloaded from pickup trucks, vans, motorcycles, RVs, bicycles, and car trunks for the semimonthly Fiddlers shindig, currently residing at Oak View’s Community Center from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Recently added are line-dancing classes before the meetup, contributing to a country flavor. A donation jug gets some action, and other jugs are filled with home-pressed pomegranate juice or lemonade. Twice a year Fiddlers hosts holiday events with tasty feasts at a reasonable cost for members and nonmembers. As part of a nonprofit association, members volunteer to perform gigs at hospitals, and assisted-living facilities from Ojai to Camarillo. A recent fundraiser focused on Ventura County Adult and Pediatric Cancer.

Ray Magee, current vice president and former president of the group, and a ﬁsh farmer and private music coach, says he “joined in 1995. Met some guys that played with Bob Wills (known as the “King of Country Swing”), and many, many more very talented musicians. Very friendly folks.” Ray stayed partly because he liked the “family feel, and what an education!”

After joining Fiddlers a little over two

steel guitar, etc., people trade off for a solo moment that reminds one of the fairness of a Quaker meeting.

Yes, and everyone who wants to sing, sings! All find old and new harmonies among friends. Die-hard cowboy swing enthusiasts find space on the floor to dance the two-step, waltzing with their beloved, or folks find new partners of any gender to sashay to the upbeat sounds. Leave it to Ray and our MC, guitarist-singer Jim (and helpers), to set up amps for those who

Music conjures both sweet and tough times, but especially brings up the freedom we felt as young, carefree kids. We recall the songs we heard when we got our ﬁrst kiss, or a ﬂashback to the high school cheer song after a sports win. We blew wind through a grass blade, held tight between our thumbs, to create a cool horn; and we sang about “bottles of beer on the wall” in cars across America.

No matter how off-key or offbeat you may think you are, belonging to Fiddlers

SoCal folk-musicians gather at “Old-Time Social;” Topanga Banjo & Fiddle Contest, Calabasas.

ﬁddlesticks!”

Phil Salazar in his Ventura Studio

proves that everyone has a musical bone in their body.

At Fiddlers, bring an out-of-tune antique instrument (even if it is yourself), and we will “ﬁddle-ﬁgure it out!”

One member, rusty in his craft, found a discarded collection of harmonicas in an alley. “Wow, truly it all came back like I never left playing,” he says. “Everyone is just so welcoming and nonjudgmental!”

Singer Rachel Lee Rose Hunt, founder of BeLovEd Ojai, loves the spirit of Fiddlers, and brings her kids to swing, line dance, and snack on free treats.

Fiddlers ﬁll a gap for retirees, the semi-retired, veterans, and working stiffs and their families looking to unstiffen through music — or even try something new.

Marilyn Flynn, Fiddlers’ recording secretary, a lifelong closet songwriter, joined the group about 10 years ago along with her guitarist husband, John. She’s been studying piano and the autoharp, and has teamed up with Ray to practice and perform. She is often paired with rotating vocalists, including yours truly, to work on cowboy swing harmonies. Along the way, Marilyn surprised even herself, writing songs that are ironic, profound, and funny, like one that is an anthem for Oak View, juxtaposing discrepancies of small-town life.

The longest member of Fiddlers — since 1972 — is Phil Salazar, a Ventura-based, world-traveled performer and virtuoso ﬁddler with teaching mastery on all string instruments. Phil’s performance wisdom and deadpan humor keep us on our toes.

It’s easy to see how he dazzles with his bluegrass grass humor on the stages of Disneyland or Vegas. Phils says he was classically trained on the violin

starting at age 5, “but in my mid-teens I heard the ﬁddle and left the violin world behind.” His brothers and sister all play in national symphonies, and Phil’s dad played locally for the Ventura County Symphony. Phil has never met a song he did not like,” he says: “I like every note, so I like every song.”

Sounding good isn’t cheap, but joining Fiddlers is. The group stays aﬂoat with donations, and it costs one Andrew Jackson annually and a couple Washingtons for your spouse or kids as membership dues. The cost is truly worth it because you not only get to hear some amazing musicians, but also might get inspired seeing young and old making musical magic together. With more than 110 members in Fiddlers for District 8, many musician members stand out. However, the youngest ﬁddler, at age 11, and the oldest harmonica player, at age 97, have especially captured the Fiddlers’ hearts.

Katie Hamilton, 11, comes all the way from Sunland with her mom, Anne, to spend the afternoon jamming and learning from some of Ventura County’s old-time music professionals. She is poised and shy, but conﬁdent, and

her smile and love for her instrument light up the room. Her second-best instrument is the ukulele, and she’s just starting to learn mandolin.

When asked about how she decided on cowboy music as her passion, Katie says: “Well, I just always liked music, especially violin music, before I was born. I remember that wonderful instance when I heard a Bob Wills record. I found out that type of music is called cowboy swing... And I don’t know why, but that was the music that stood out to me most. I think I just fell in love with Bob Wills!”

Katie’s mom says she got a ﬁddle at age 4, and at age 6 she practiced by playing to horses in a ﬁeld.

Katie enjoys the afternoon jamming on her ﬁddle — “a circa 1920s German-made violin, with a Fiddlerman carbon ﬁber bow.” Her mom says that outside of playing at Fiddlers, Katie is homeschooled and practices daily for at least an hour and goes to violin lessons once a week. Katie does not yet see herself growing up into a particular profession, but “I don’t think I’m

ever going to quit playing,” she says. Right now, she is happy learning and growing.

I visited with Fiddlers’ eldest musician, Elaine Cleveland Keller, now in her late 90s, in her Ventura office. Sitting in a comfortable chair with a cold Coke nearby, she puts an ampliﬁcation device into her ear and leans in to be questioned. A skylight in her office sprays light on her stylish lavender shirt, which is sprinkled with Jackson Pollock-type splotches and realistic painted eagles as part of the fabric. A small brass eagle hangs from a delicate chain around her neck. Before I can inquire about her connection to eagles, she bursts into song, “To know, know, know him is to love, love, love him — Richard was music...”

Elaine explains that she is referring to her recently deceased husband who, like her, loved ﬂying and shared this office with her for many years.

A Cherokee-identiﬁed Oklahoman turned Ventura resident, Elaine, originally from Monroe, Oklahoma, joined Fiddlers about a year ago and turned 97 in February, which Fiddlers celebrated with cards, music, and a corsage from her good friend,

Neill Robinson, a member whose instrument is his lovely singing voice.

With the bright, determined eyes of someone who has lived with purpose, she adds, “I come here to my office every day.” Elaine, who served as the ﬁrst female commander of the USA Power Squadron at age 28, is proud of her immigrant Scottish and French heritage. Being part Cherokee, she is aware of judgment toward Native Americans, but says she never understood or felt that for her family. Her great-grandfather was related to Chief Joseph, who led the Nez Pearce along Washington State’s coast. When her mom married a full Cherokee, it added to her DNA pride. “I walked the red path,” she says. “And that is the wind beneath my wings.”

Elaine, after mastering the harmonica and guitar by age 13, then became infatuated with the piano.

Always committed to being of service, Elaine found a way she could lift up others’ spirits, especially with music or education. When she joined a local Thursday night singing group, her friend Neill suggested to Elaine and Elaine’s cousin that they might

beneﬁt from coming to a group called “Fiddlers.” Her niece loves the anonymity of being in the audience. Elaine, ever since her ﬁrst moment at Fiddlers, has been joining in and wailing on her harmonica. She especially appreciates the opportunity to engage with all ages. “Sometimes all you have to do is smile and that kindness radiates outward,” she says. She continues to entertain audiences with her harmonica and is inspiringly optimistic about her continued journey with music and its ongoing role in her life: “Music heals all our deepest fears in our hearts.”

As Tommy Reuben, Oxnard resident and harmonica dabbler, muses: “A 97-yearold harmonica player; wow, I hope to be that one day!” Another harp player asks, “Does Elaine use tongue blocking, octaves, pucker or ﬂutter tongue?” Elaine winks, saying: “Tell him I use them all! I ﬁrst learned from my uncle following him around to gigs and family events; then I studied with a Hawaiian teacher and got a lot of tricks from him.”

She chuckles as she recalls that growing up, “trying to net me was like trying to net a butterﬂy. Or catch an eagle ﬂying just out of reach.” If her family wondered where she was, she was always up in the tallest tree ... imagining the music in the wind. She also recalls the day the American golden eagle became her talisman animal. To this day she feels the eagles’ “medicine in her heart.” And music is medicine, she often says.

At a recent Fiddlers gathering, Elaine has everyone singing the song “Jambalaya,” in which she gets a rocking solo. She misses her mom and two sisters — Wanda and Margaret — but also feels blessed to have family who inspired her to learn how to play the piano, guitar, and harmonica, and to sing. She asserts that music is therapy. One of her favorite songs is “How Great Thou Art,” and when her husband passed away, she found great comfort in the song “Send Me the Pillow You Dream On.”

Elaine joyfully says of Fiddlers: “Every county needs a ﬁddler’s group! They are my family!”

Phil agrees. “We all have different families,” he muses. “The family that is Fiddlers. The family that are my students, and my family of fans of different bands.”

Left: On the ﬁddle, Katie Hamilton, 11, at Fiddlers Oak View Recreation Cente

Left: Some of us also play in the Ukele group at Ojai Library

Above left: Ray Magee checks out a student’s six steel string guitar banjo

Above right: Elaine Cleveland Keller, 97, demonstrates her beloved mouth harp

This 3900sqft commercial building is in the heart of downtown Ojai. Fully remodeled in 2017, it includes 10 offices, lobby, conference room, kitchen, and 3 bathrooms. The light-ﬁlled interior has high ceilings and accents include tile, wood ﬂoors, glass walls, and exposed beams. Outside has ample onsite parking, a courtyard and a back yard. This unique building offers many possibilities: a large office, a business collective, a doctor’s office, a spa, a retail space, or a gallery. There is nothing else like this available anywhere in Ojai.

Offered at $3,650,000

Cheers OJAI ART CENTER

Lee Ann Manley and Jessi May Stevenson in The Miser, Frosine and Mariane. 2019

“Since then, I have attended various events and participated in some of the classes, such as the Music Together program for my two children when they were toddlers. Ten years ago, I started participating in the theater with a production of Carousel, which I choreographed alongside Beverly Sharpe. Since then, I have been involved in several shows on the production side as well as on the performing side.”

“The Art Center is important to Ojai because it gives the community an opportunity to participate in all areas of the arts,” said Herb Hemming, Ojai Art Center’s president. “You can be onstage, you can work backstage, you can take art lessons, you can listen to authors, you can come dance. There really is something for everyone. I believe that’s why people love the Art Center.”

“I got involved in the production of Greater Tuna in 2007 (directed by Laura Rearwin Ward),” Hemming said. I discovered that the box office was not working the way it should be. I took that on and handled it at all the shows for the next 11 years. I went to theater branch meetings, became chair for four years, and now I’m still treasurer.”

Teri Mettala had an even longer multitasking journey at the Art Center, she said: “I was hired in the early ’80s as a part-time secretary. After a couple of years the Art Center’s finances were running low so my position was eliminated. At the time I was also going to school and eventually became a drug/alcohol counselor. The director position had been filled and refilled several

times. One summer a board member asked me if I would ﬁll in during the current director’s vacation. I did and from there was hired as the director. Been here ever since — probably about 43 years.”

For Trustee Anna Kotula, Ojai Art Center Theater is the junction through which both her personal and professional family has extended. “I met my husband in the courtyard of the Art Center in 1999 at a concert for Rain Perry’s album release,” she said.

Kotula continued: “Ojai Art Center Theater has profoundly enriched my life and sense of community in Ojai. Participating in OACT has allowed me to connect deeply with fellow artists and community members, creating lasting friendships and a strong sense of belonging. The Art Center has also provided a wonderful platform for my children to engage in the arts from a young age, fostering their growth and love for the community.”

Musical Theater maven Tracey Williams Sutton is OACT’s artistic director, appointed in 2021; she ﬁrst dove into directing productions at OACT with 2007’s Kiss Me, Kate.

Above: Norman Kirk at the Thursday Life Drawing Workshop.

Buddy Wilds and Vivien Latham in Blithe Spirit, directed by Frank Malle, 2008.

Laura Ring, Doug Friedlander, and Laura Rearwin Ward perform in Lady of Larkspur Lotion by Tennessee Williams, 2006.

Indian Classical Dance & Music Residency, 2024.

From left: Harsha Bharathi, Vivek Ramanan, Yamini Kalluri, Rohith Jayaraman, Kiran and Visveshwar Nagarajan. Photo: Brian Nager

to ‘keep up,’ but we don’t have the money to improve ourselves in a dramatic way. I am hoping that Capital Gifts will allow us to create visions for shows that we have never been able to achieve!”

About giving, Mettala said: “Thanks to Helen Kauppi (who passed away in 1996), Joan Raymund and Ruth Hemming, we have a ‘nest egg’ to draw from if we need. During the pandemic we were able to pay bills, make payroll and remain solvent. That would not have been the case in my early days.”

Dr. Butler’s inﬂuence here also perdures to this day, Mettala noted: “When Charles Butler started the Art Center in 1939, there

were bylaws set up as guidelines to run the organization. Those bylaws are still used. What Dr. Butler put in motion still works — the doors have never closed.”

As president, Hemming is heartened “watching the dedication of the branch chairs and the volunteers. The willingness to help … it is really the volunteers that handle all the events. The theater branch alone had over 200 volunteers last year, onstage, backstage, box office, etc.”

For Mettala, the work is always worth it.

“I get goosebumps when I see plays, concerts, dances, etc., that take place here and are so very good,” she said. “I am thrilled when I can

stand back and see the success of The Great Art Theft, Art in the Park, the Blues Fest — all events that take hours of meetings and planning and are enjoyed by many.

“Eighty-ﬁve years. Kinda miraculous. I think Ojai is so very fortunate to have a place like the Art Center. I have seen young children take classes, participate as kids and come back with their kids.”

On that note, Hemming summed up his hopes for Ojai Art Center’s future: “I think the future is with the youth. We need to emphasize programs for the youth. We do a youth production each year and have had acting classes for the youth. We have increased our social media considerably in an effort to get younger people into the theater. We are focusing on doing plays that better attract younger people. I think that is how we keep going for another 85 years.”

Ojai Art Center will officially mark its 85th year of operation with a special evening gala on Nov. 9; Kotula said “guests can look forward to a lively ‘community party’ atmosphere.” To learn more, visit ojaiartcenter.org or call 805-646-0117.

“Ojai Art Center is committed to providing an a ordable space for teachers who conduct classes such as dance, art, acting, and photography, as well as hosting special events. The Art Center also o ers a special rate for nonproﬁts,” said Anna Kotula. Class rental fees range from $15/hour to $25/hour. For more information, call 805-646-0117 or visit ojaiartcenter.org/rentals.

Dancing at Lughnasa, from left to right: Vivien Latham, Morgan Bozarth, Tracey Williams Sutton, Suzanne Tobin, and Theresa Secor. 2015

Cecil Sutton as Harpagon in The Miser. 2019

SEPTEMBER

canvas and paper

Paintings: Ivon Hitchens

Through Sept. 15

311 N. Montgomery St. open: Thursday – Sunday

noon – 5 p.m. free admission canvasandpaper.org

Angel Olsen: Songs from the Archive

Sept. 11, 6 p.m.

Libbey Bowl

210 S. Signal St.

Tickets: www.axs.com or call 888-645-5006

The Temptations

Sept. 12, 7 p.m.

Libbey Bowl

210 S. Signal St.

Tickets: www.axs.com or call 888-645-5006

Judy Collins

Sept. 13, 7 p.m.

Libbey Bowl

210 S. Signal St.

Tickets: www.axs.com or call 888-645-5006

Information Society & Strangelove: The Depeche Mode Experience

Sept. 14, 6 p.m.

Libbey Bowl

210 S. Signal St.,

Tickets: www.axs.com or call 888-645-5006

Ojai Film Society Presents Screening of “Wizard of Oz”

Sept. 20, 7:30 p.m.

Libbey Bowl

210 S. Signal St. Free tickets: ojaiﬁlmsociety.org

canvas and paper Paintings: Georges Braque, André Derain and Jacob van Hulsdonck

Sept. 26 – Dec. 1

311 N. Montgomery St. open: Thursday – Sunday noon – 5 p.m. free admission canvasandpaper.org

“The Crucible” Sept. 27- Oct. 20

Ojai Art Center Theater 113 S. Montgomery St. Tickets: ojaiact.org or call 805-640-8797

Dave Mason’s Traffic Jam

Sept. 28, 7 p.m.

Ojai Film Society Free Screening of “Maya and the Wave”

Sept. 27, 7:30 p.m.

Libbey Bowl

210 S. Signal St. Free tickets: ojaiﬁlmsociety.org

Dave Mason’s Traffic Jam

Sept. 28, 7 p.m.

Libbey Bowl

210 S. Signal St.

Tickets: www.axs.com or call 888-645-5006

OCTOBER

Wild Child – A Live Recreation of a ’60s Doors Concert

Oct. 4, 7 p.m.

Libbey Bowl

210 S. Signal St.

Tickets: www.axs.com or call 888-645-5006

Poncho Sanchez & Ozomatli

Oct. 5, 7 p.m.

Libbey Bowl

210 S. Signal St.

Tickets: www.axs.com or call 888-645-5006

Chamber On The Mountain Presents Diana Tash, MezzoSoprano with Armen Guzelimian, Pianist

Beatrice Wood Center For the Arts

October 6, 3 p.m.

8585 Ojai-Santa Paula Rd. 805-646-3381 www.beatricewood.com

Ojai Film Society Presents Screening of “In the Heights”

Oct. 11, 7:30 p.m.

Libbey Bowl

210 S. Signal St. Free tickets: ojaiﬁlmsociety.org

Ojai Studio Artists Fall Open Studios Tour

Oct. 12-14, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Ojai Valley Museum & various studios www.ojaistudioartists.org

Pink Floyd Tribute by Which One’s Pink Oct. 12, 7 p.m.

Libbey Bowl, 210 S. Signal St. Tickets: www.axs.com or call 888-645-5006

The Betty Bryant Trio Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts Oct. 13, 3 p.m.

8585 Ojai-Santa Paula Rd. 805-646-3381 www.beatricewood.com

Phil Collins & Genesis Tribute by In The Air Tonight Oct. 18, 7 p.m.

Libbey Bowl

210 S. Signal St. Tickets: www.axs.com or call 888-645-5006

Ojai Day – Free Festival Oct. 19, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Libbey Park

210 S. Signal St. downtown Ojai www.ojaiday.com

Ojai Storytelling Festival Oct. 24-27

Various showtimes and venues Visit ojaistoryfest.org for tickets and schedule

Ojai Film Festival Oct. 31-Nov. 4

Ojai Art Center & other venues 805-640-1947 info@ojaiﬁlmfestival www.ojaiﬁlmfestival.com

NOVEMBER

Christopher Goodpasture, Pianist Nov. 10, 3 p.m. Beatrice Wood Center For the Arts 8585 Ojai-Santa Paula Rd. 805-646-3381 www.beatricewood.com

Holiday Home Tour & Marketplace Nov. 16-17

Various homes & Libbey Park www.OjaiFestival.org 805 646 -2053

NOV. 16 & 17, 2024

10am-4pm

A Holiday Tradition Returns

Celebrate the festive season with a tour of exceptional Ojai homes and enjoy shopping at the Holiday Marketplace!

Presented by the Ojai Festival Women’s Committee as a benefit for the Ojai Festival and its BRAVO music education programs in the public schools.

For tickets and information, visit OjaiFestival.org or call 805-646-2053

Family Ojai The

Photographer

Lou Mora captures keepsake moments in the lives of Ojai families

Ifell in love with Ojai during a visit when my son was 2. I observed the peaceful pace, the beauty of the valley, the kindness of the people, and knew immediately that this is where I wanted to raise my son. I instantly felt passionate about the community and made it a goal to give back in some way. In this valley I have experienced a spiritual growth and gained a deeper connection to Ojai and nature, and with it, a desire to create work that is gratifying and brings people together. I have found comfort and connection with the families in my community through my work as a photographer.

I thrive when I am surrounded by — and a witness to — love and support, observing the messy beauty of everyday life through my lens in the comfort of their homes and favorite places.

That was the catalyst to bring this new body of work into fruition, a collection of images of families, present and focused on the connection that is shared in everyday moments in and out of the home.

This is “The Family Ojai,” a new photography project aimed at capturing spontaneous moments, often overlooked in the business of everyday life, and turning those into keepsake memories.

My objective is to create honest, authentic, and intimate images that tell the story of a family. I achieve this by getting to know people in their space, be it their home or a favorite spot of their choosing. Before I even pick up my camera, we spend a little time together, letting our guard down, sharing ideas, chatting and collaborating. I find we always gravitate toward common interests, often focused on the kids. That’s a great place to start — the kids. Watching them take the lead, asking them questions, letting them show me what inspires them. It’s a fluid and natural process, filled with childlike joy, laughter, and some occasional tears, all caught in a beautiful light.

Bit by bit, I was approached by more families who had seen the images or heard about the project via word of mouth. Knowing that the income range can vary

here in the valley, I set up a donation process where people sometimes purchase an extra package or donate money toward a session for a neighbor who may not have the means to invest in the luxury of family photos. This provides more accessibility to all and gave folks in Ojai an opportunity to give back and share something meaningful with each other. In this peaceful place, the need to stay grounded and connected is intrinsically “Ojai,” and the desire for memory-keeping and storytelling prevails. “The Family Ojai” aims to combine community, family love, and the preservation of beautiful moments.

Lying in the lap of the Topa Topa Mountains, Ojai is a magical place with ethereal light and storybook streets.

Children play freely, and their parents bask in intimacy with friends and neighbors, enjoying the camaraderie and community that makes Ojai feel like home.

Taking a bite out of climate change

The devastating effects of climate change on our planet are in full view. And your everyday food choices can signiﬁcantly lighten your carbon footprint, which can collectively help us meet our global climate goals.

From record-breaking temperatures and droughts to ﬂoods and landslides, we’ve seen the foreshadowing of climate disasters in our very own community. Scientists point out that these drastic weather patterns around the world are brought about by the impacts of climate change. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), we must stay within 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels to avoid the disastrous and irreversible impacts of climate change, stressing the urgent need to address solutions now if we are going to meet these targets.

Over the past couple of decades, it’s become increasingly clear that what we choose to eat every day is one of the most signiﬁcant opportunities we can have as individuals over our lifetimes to reduce our environmental impact. Our diets make big contributions to deforestation, pollution, water use, and greenhouse gas emissions (or carbon), many of which impact climate change. In fact, one-fourth to one-third of globalgreenhouse emissions come from our food systems. Recent research reveals that if we keep a “business as usual” model — essentially keep doing what we’ve been doing — we will exceed the IPCC climate budget by year 2100 just from food alone! And that’s not even factoring in other big contributors, such as energy and transportation.

WHAT DIET CHANGES MAKE THE BIGGEST CARBON CUTS?

Climate change researcher Hannah Ritchie, Ph.D., deputy editor and science outreach lead at Our World in Data, asked: What changes in our diet make the biggestglobal impact on reducing carbon footprint? She identiﬁed three top areas in a recent analysis:

• A plant-rich diet could reduce globalgreenhouse gas emissions by 48%.

• Eating a healthy number of calories could reduce them by 30%.

• Cutting food waste in half could reduce them by 27%.

If all three of these diet strategies were partially adopted, in addition to higher yields from farms and lower-emission farming practices, we could reduce our greenhousegas emissions from food production by 63%, which would keep us in line with the IPCC climate goals. It’s virtually impossible to meet the IPCC climate goals without making vastly different changes in our diet patterns — we can’t do it with changes in energy and transportation alone. So, what can you do with your own fork?

Three Climate- Friendly Eating Strategies EAT A MORE PLANT-BASED DIET

The act of signiﬁcantly reducing animal proteins (in particular, beef, lamb, and dairy) creates the greatest carbon-cutting effect from diet. You don’t have to go all in! Just cutting your meat intake in half goes a long way toward meeting our planetary-

PALMER

goals, as well as health goals. Try including more meals during the week focused on beans, lentils, grains, and soy foods, and if you eat meat, enjoy it as a “seasoning” for plant-based dishes like pasta, grain bowls, and stir-fries, rather than as a large hunk at the center of the plate.

BALANCE HEALTHY CALORIES

Over consuming foods in the form of excess calories not only contributes to health problems, but also increases our carbon footprint. The more food we produce, and thus eat, the more greenhouse gas emissions we create. This is especially a concern when we consider the land, water, and input it takes to produce low-nutrient foods, such as sugary drinks and snacks, which negatively impact human health. Keep in mind that not eating enough food because of food insecurity is a big problem for planetary health, too. Focusing on eating in balance with your body’s needs is harmonious for people and the planet.

CUT FOOD WASTE

The amount of food we waste on a global level is responsible for three times more green house gas than the entire category of aviation. In the U.S., we waste 30% to 40% of our perfectly edible, nutritious food supply, which mainly happens at the consumer level — in our homes and eating establishments. Watch out for the big offenders: serving more food than you can eat, throwing away leftovers, and letting foods spoil before they are used.

Recipes and photos by SHARON

Try these climate-friendly recipes to inspire healthy eating, for both you and the planet.

Three Sisters Chili

This climate-friendly vegetarian chili is inspired by the story of “the Three Sisters,” the Native American agricultural tradition of planting beans, squash, and corn together. This chili also includes other common Indigenous seasonings. Serves 10

Ingredients

1 pound red beans (i.e., kidney, small red, cranberry), dried

7 cups water

1 vegetable bouillon cube

1 small acorn squash, peeled, cubed (about 2 ¼ cups)

1 medium onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

3 stalks celery, diced

1 bell pepper, diced

3 bay leaves

1 teaspoon juniper berries (available at spice shops or online), ground using mortar and pestle

2 teaspoons ground sage

½ to 1 teaspoon crushed red chili pepper (according to taste preference)

1 teaspoon dried tarragon

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup tomato sauce

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

2 tablespoons fresh mint, chopped

Salt (optional)

Instructions:

Soak beans overnight in water.

Drain and place beans in a large pot.

Add 7 cups of fresh water, vegetable bouillon cube, squash, onion,garlic, celery, pepper, bay leaves, juniper berries, sage, chili pepper, tarragon, and corn. Stir well, cover, and bring to a boil. Simmer over medium-low for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Replace water lost to evaporation as needed.

Add tomato sauce and tomato paste. Cook for an additional 15-30 minutes, until thickened and beans are tender. Adjust moisture with additional water as needed — should make a thick, stew-like consistency.

Add fresh mint and stir well. Remove bay leaves. Season with salt, if desired. Garnish with fresh mint or tarragon, if desired.

Nutrition Information per Serving: Calories 216, Sugar 9g, Sodium 233 mg, Fat 1g, Saturated Fat 0g, Carbohydrates 43g, Fiber 9g, Protein 12g

Whole Beet Berry Smoothie

Trim food waste and pack in the nutrition with this deep red, healthy smoothie,

made out of the whole beet plant, from root to leaves, along with berries. Serves 2

Ingredients

1 fresh medium beet root with greens

1 cup berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, or strawberries), fresh or frozen, unsweetened

2 cups plant-based milk, plain, unsweetened (i.e., soy, oat, almond)

2 tablespoons ﬂax seeds, ground 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (optional)

Instructions:

Remove beet greens from beet root and coarsely chop the greens. Add greens to the container of a blender.

Scrub beet root with a vegetable brush and quarter (do not peel). Add to the blender container.

Add berries to the blender container.

Add plant-based milk, ﬂax seeds, and maple syrup to blender container. Process on high until very smooth (about 2-3 minutes).

Pour into 2 glasses and enjoy! Makes 2 (2 cups each) smoothies.

Nutrition Information per Serving: Calories 196, Sugar 12g, Sodium 174 mg, Fat 9g, Saturated Fat 1g, Carbohydrates 21g, Fiber 6g, Protein 10g

Church of the Wild

They realized they were part of a radical, cultural shift in traditions, perhaps initiated by the Earth calling out for a reformation.

After breaking bread together, Eric Anglada stacked wood in a ﬁre pit while a small group circled around him on benches and camp chairs. His wife, Brenna CussenAnglada, opened the ceremony with song, leading paperless as participants quickly learned the rhythmic tune. With smoke wafting up into the balmy, late evening air, 17 adults and four children ﬂowed through introductions, prayer, ritual, and more singing, followed by wandering in silence with a chance to share.

Eric, co-founder and resident of St. Isidore Catholic Worker Farm, led the Summer Solstice Wild Church gathering at Sinsinawa Mound Center in a small, grassy area encompassed by forest and St. Clara Cemetery. Tranquil energy ﬁlled the space adjacent to the ﬁnal resting place of Dominican nuns who’d once called the 450 acres of Wisconsin land home.

As a lay leader, Eric began leading outdoor opportunities for communal worship on the retreat center’s Ho-Chunk/Meskwaki land in 2016, offering the opportunity for environmental stewardship, contemplative ritual, and spiritual ecology he called “Praying with the Seasons.”

“A Franciscan sister who participated suggested doing them together on the solstices and equinoxes,” he said. “Someone else who attended told me we were doing the same thing as the Wild Church. I learned there was a whole network doing community and ritual, honoring the seasons of the year on the land.”

Eric reached out to Victoria Loorz, founder of Ojai Church of the Wild and the Wild Church Network, and discovered the group was searching for the right place to hold their inaugural gathering. Their intention was to bring together leaders of the emergent movement who’d been connecting online for support and idea-sharing.

“I let her know we’d love to be part of it,” Eric said. “I was perhaps the only one offering it out of a retreat center at that time. I liked the phrase ‘Wild Church.” My wife says it’s neither wild nor a church, but it’s a catchy phrase that gets people intrigued.”

In June 2019, the Wild Church Network came together at Sinsinawa Mound Center.

by ERIN LABELLE

“Out of that gathering, one participant shared they were doing celebrations on the cross quarters. Ever since then, we’ve been doing eight celebrations a year,” said Eric, noting the cross quarter days mark the midpoint between solstices and equinoxes.

VICTORIA LOORZ

Victoria Loorz is a Wild Church pastor and eco-spiritual director, as well as the co-founder of several organizations focused on the integration of nature and spirituality. After 20 years as an indoor pastor, she stepped outside to launch the ﬁrst Church of the Wild in Ojai, then co-founded the ecumenical Wild Church Network, followed by Seminary of the Wild, which offers a yearlong Eco-Ministry Certiﬁcate program.

“You know it’s an emergence when you meet others doing the same thing,” Victoria said. “Everyone arrives at the same point at the same time. It’s both an affirmation and a realization. When this happened, I knew I just needed to do my part, because others were on board.”

She had just ﬁnished a Zoom keynote presentation for the Wild Church Network retreat in Canada. Caring for her mother in Virginia made it necessary to connect virtually this year.

Reﬂecting on the question of how it feels to have birthed a movement, she replied: “I’m just doing what I do. And I’m rarely aware of that sense of leading a movement. Sometimes it hits me, and I take a moment to be grateful. But then it’s just back to doing what I feel called to do: support people as they step into their own

Victoria Loorz and Chumash Elder Julie Tumamait-Stenslie joined forces to steward Ojai Church of the Wild. Photo: Church of the Wild

roles of transforming an old worldview of disconnection into a new one of reconnection, while restoring relationship with our alive and sacred world.”

When her calling became too loud to ignore, Victoria was living in Oak View, California. She’d used her imagination to midwife her idea into reality, inviting others to join at gatherings that organically unfolded into Ojai Church of the Wild.

During the few years prior, Victoria served as associate pastor at Ojai Community Church, where her vision frequently showed up in sermons, but she never realized it was anything beyond a dream.

“Every time I preached, it would be about this because I was wrestling with it at that

time,” she said, revisiting the transformative period of her life. “After my last sermon, people said they wanted to join that church. A friend pulled me aside and told me I just needed to own this. People came and we started meeting under an oak tree on land that had been cherished and cared for by the Chumash people. Ojai has so many places to meet in nature.

“When I told people to go listen to a rock for 20 minutes, their initial response was, ‘Are you kidding me,’ but everyone came back wanting more time. It was very intuitive, and I made it up as we went along. Then I started meeting pastors doing the same thing, who all felt they were crazy, so we decided to meet online.”

They met virtually each month beginning in 2016, and by the end of that year, the group launched the Wild Church Network website and directory. It took no time to realize they shared radical, foundational values and practices, as well as a similar vision. By 2019, when the group gathered in Sinsinawa, they realized they were part of a radical, cultural shift in traditions, perhaps initiated by the Earth herself calling out for a reformation.

Anyone who’s read Church of the Wild, Victoria’s book published in 2021, knows of her special relationship with deer. “I thought, I can’t call it that, so I came up with Church of the Wild,” she said. “I think keeping the word church in there

A group gathers in a circle during a sunrise Spring Equinox celebration led by Chumash Elder Julie Tumamait-Stenslie at the Carpinteria Bluffs.

Photo: Church of the Wild

helps people bridge. It’s a bridge within a certain tradition. It’s been fascinating to ﬁnd people way outside the Christ tradition are drawn to it.”

Since becoming an author, Victoria hasn’t had the pushback she anticipated, believing the reason to be the emergent quality of Wild Church. “Some say it’s too Christian, or not enough, but it turns out there’s a ton of us on that edge,” she explained. “What people tell me most about my book is that I’m articulating what they already know. It doesn’t take a lot for people to remember. This is not anything new.

“Our ﬁrst meeting was on the Krishnamurti land behind the school by a live oak tree that goes all the way to ground, and then we found a place near horses, south of the Arbolada, that was more accessible. It got completely burned from the Thomas Fire, but the tree we met beneath survived. It was a fascinating season. Every week people would bring bones of the burned creatures to the altar.”

Having left California when everyone evacuated, Victoria returned before Ash Wednesday and felt the need to offer a service in the ashes, in honor of the creatures who lost their lives. She invited a Lutheran pastor and Chumash Elder Julie

Tumamait-Stenslie to join her, and Julie brought a Shinto priest friend. “I did a Holy Saturday service, because everyone else focuses on Ash Wednesday and Easter,” Victoria reﬂected. “

“We only have agency in the grief in between. We don’t know how to grieve and hold the space in between.

“Ojai is a thin place where we can hear past all the distractions. I needed to be whittled down enough to hear it. The stuff is a barrier from the wholeness of who you are. We dread it, but you still have to grieve and allow it to work us.”

The small gathering “by the white rock off Highway 33” was the beginning of the collaboration between Victoria and Julie, weaving the past into the present, and connecting Ojai Church of the Wild more deeply to the land.

“After that, Julie started coming every week,” Victoria said. “I would give her space, because I’m not going to do the four directions when she’s there. It was a very organic, beautiful gift. I asked her to take it over when I moved to Washington. She needed something more spiritually grounding, and she offered the connection to the land and the people who came before us. She’s a living link to Chumash history.”

JULIE TUMAMAIT-STENSLIE

“Victoria called me, and we met at Farmer and the Cook,” Julie said. “She’d been a

Eric Anglada, center left, and his wife, Brenna Cussen-Anglada, center, socialize with participants after the 2024 Summer Solstice Wild Church potluck and ceremony at Sinsinawa Mound Center in Wisconsin

Photo: Church of the Wild

Victoria offers an invitation for Ojai Church of the Wild members during a gathering at their beloved oak tree near the Oso Trailhead. Photo: Tim Nafziger

pastor in the valley, and she was leaving because she needed to be near family. She asked me to take over Church of the Wild, because it didn’t feel right bringing people together on Native land. It was a step in honoring the ancestors and the Native Americans. Remembering people out of respect, as she was trying to restructure her journey with her family.”

The group slowed down during the pandemic but has returned to gathering for two hours again on the ﬁrst Sunday of every month. The location varies between places like Harmon Canyon, Bates Beach, Matilija Hot Springs, the Topa Institute, the river off Oso Road, and Camp Comfort. “I’m very spontaneous,” Julie said. “I want to leave space for Spirit to call us to a speciﬁc location. It’s very important, because if you’re listening, you can hear it.”

Julie feels it’s especially important now to create space to pause for a moment and feel joy.

“Covid created a lot of fear, and people don’t know what direction they can go,” she said. “We need compassion. People are scrambling to ﬁnd a place and a way to make a living. Sometimes it will be a small group and we will sit and talk. People appreciate being with like-minded

people and sharing spirituality, but also not being forced to see Spirit like others, or judged for the way they do. We don’t want organized religion, but we can have community and solidarity.”

After leading spring equinox gatherings at Carpinteria Bluffs for over 25 years, Julie’s enjoying coming together more frequently, carrying her ancestral legacy forward with people of other spiritual traditions.

“We weren’t allowed to go out and have ceremonies until the post-mission period,” Julie said. “Even in the ’20s and ’30s, we were engaging in secret because of prejudice and alienation, even from family members. We’re matriarchal here in this valley. We embrace the feminine, Mother Earth and Father Sky.”

She views Church of the Wild as an opportunity to get out into nature without intentions, while wandering, listening, and just being with the ocean, river, creek, or mountaintop. According to Julie, Indigenous teaching tells us Spirit, energy, and healing are out there waiting for us.

“Why do people go inside churches to pray? When we sit in nature, it always calls to us.”

Julie hopes Ojai Church of the Wild will continue to grow: “My hope for myself is to become more organized in my actions and be more committed to holding space on that day, because our inner circle keeps growing and giving peace of mind.”

VICTORIA LOORZ

During her years at indoor churches, Victoria noticed every preacher had one sermon they kept repeating. Hers is the Paschal Mystery, or the suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ.

“Death is the way new life emerges, historically with humans and geologically,” Victoria explained. “The emptying allows us to receive. It’s so uncomfortable, we want to escape. We need to remember how to be present in the unknowing, and the land can teach us that. When I started this Wild Church stuff, it was a response to the recognition of what was missing in church, but now I see this is what’s missing everywhere.”

The Wild Church Network has reached the point where it can stand on its own, and Victoria is stepping back to carve out more time for writing. Life has taught her that when an organization or movement is based around one persona, people look to them, creating distance and disconnection. “I’m intentional. I am not the guru,” she said. “I refuse to be. Even when I was a pastor, I wouldn’t preach every week for this reason.”

Church of the Wild facilitators and participants often create a temporary altar, inviting beauty, tradition and nature into the ceremony.

Photo: Church of the Wild

A Church of the wild ceremony takes place beneath the canopy of the oak. Photo: Church of the Wild

“We really enjoyed our stay. e beds were super comfy, linens were fresh, no dog smell for a place allowing pets. Lots of sun coming thru windows, bright and airy. Loved the cute kitchen, cooked most of our meals, co ee on the porch, breakfast outside, plenty of room the little pups to run around the yard! Amazing heat and water pressure too! Met the neighbor behind us, she recommended a farmers market, everything close by:) We did not want to leave!”

“Beautiful, newly remodeled house - rustic chic, just like the pics. Had everything we needed and beds were super comfy. Probably even better in warm weather when you could enjoy the lovely side cards and outside dining, but very comfy and cozy in the winter too. Well located about halfway between Ojai and Santa Paula with easy access to both. We had a great stay and recommend!” SUNFLOWER COTTAGE. hartmanncottages.com

by GRANT PHILLIPS

Ojai’s

How Casa Barranca set the standard for style, community, and the art-focused ethos of the Ojai Valley.

photos courtesy BILL MOSES

Home

CHARLES M. PRATT (1855-1935) was an influential American oil industrialist and philanthrapist.

As the son of Charles Pratt, founder of Pratt Oil Company, he played a pivotal role in the family business, later integrated into Standard Oil.

A key figure in education and social causes, he funded Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, enhancing vocational and technical education. Pratt’s legacy endures through his contributions to industry and education. Photo: WikiMedia CC

Whether you’re walking through downtown on a Sunday morning or peeking out the car window while passing through, the echoes of Ojai’s past call out from landmarks we sometimes take for granted: the Pergola, the Playhouse, the Arcade, the Bell Tower. Some whisper a name: Libbey Park, The Thacher School, Nordho Cemetery. Their stories are sometimes forgotten, or pushed to the back of our minds to make room for this week’s City Council drama, the housing crisis, the water lawsuit, or which school to send our kids to.

But when we take a second to pause and reﬂect on the legacy of the individuals who built (and in some cases, rebuilt) the foundations of Ojai, we get a glimpse of what it was like back then — when the identity of

this town was taking shape and any direction seemed possible. Luckily for us, and those who visit, a few people had a vision for Ojai driven by preservation of and coexistence with nature, an emphasis on arts and community, and the pursuit of spiritual and creative freedom. A driving force behind those ideals was Charles M. Pratt, and his ultimate work uniting them together was his home: The Pratt House, or Casa Barranca. But the estate could very well be referred to as Ojai’s Home.

The Charles M. Pratt House and estate sits on 13 acres in the foothills above Ojai, surrounded by Sulphur Mountain, the Nordho Ridge, and the Topatopa mountain range. The 4,400-square-foot main house structure is a two-story, timber-frame, Craftsman-style bungalow that was commissioned by Pratt and built by the iconic architecture duo Charles and Henry Greene. It could be argued (and is so in the National Register of Historic Places) that the Pratt House boasts more of the team’s iconic signatures than their Gamble House in Pasadena, making it the most representative work in their style. This is, in part, due to the extensive freedom they were given during design, along with the unique rural setting.

While the story of the home can be traced through Europe, Japan, the Chicago World’s Fair, and Brooklyn, its ﬁnished version is

uniquely Ojai, serving as a meeting ground for nonproﬁts, a guest retreat for writers and artists, and a hosting house for celebrities, civic leaders, and even television crews. The story of the Pratt House continues under its current owner, Ojai resident Bill Moses, who shares much in common with his predecessor. Both are from New York, community-focused philanthropists, innovative thinkers, and thoughtful stewards of the space. Although Moses has added to the estate and handled renovations since he ﬁrst purchased the property in July 1994, his hospitality and ethos is just a continuation of Pratt’s original philosophy and vision for the home.

Following in the footsteps of his father, Charles M. Pratt entered the oil business in 1879 at age 24, and for the next 32 years, worked in various positions at Standard Oil. With plans to build a winter home for his family, Pratt purchased ﬁve parcels of land totaling just over 51 acres on Foothill Road from the Ojai Improvement Company in April 1908.

He paid a single $10 coin for the property, which not only showed his investment and involvement in the Ojai Improvement Company, but also the desire of its majority owner, Edward Libbey, to cultivate a group of inﬂuential neighbors.

“They helped Libbey create the park, they provided the land for the Arts Center — it was quite a group,” said local historian Craig Walker of the Ojai Improvement Company.

The group also built the Foothills Hotel, which hosted business leaders from back East and other travelers visiting Ojai.

The hotel was designed by Santa Barbara architect Samuel Ilsley, who also designed some of Ojai’s ﬁrst Craftsman buildings, Walker said, as well as the Boyd Club, now at Sarzotti Park, and the Nordho drinking Fountain. “He also developed that part of Foothill around that hotel … Foothill Estates or Foothill Park, and subdivided it, and these people started building their wonderful homes there, one of those being Charles Pratt.”

In spring of 1908, Charles and Henry Greene began working on designs for the home. Unlike with previous projects, Pratt had unlimited resources and a naturalistic location that allowed Greene and Greene to focus on their main philosophy: creating an open relationship between house and landscape.

chose a place for their home that had no neighbors or conditions governing its development and the design. If the Blacker and Gamble houses represented the high art of suburban domestic architecture of the period, the Pratt House signiﬁes their rural counterpart, according to the National Register.

Unlike the site of the Blacker and Gamble houses designed by the Greenes, the Pratts

“Greene and Greene called some of their homes the ultimate bungalows because they took it to a very high level of craftsmanship and artistic beauty,” Walker said. “It was this e ort to go back to making things by hand, so it a ected a lot of di erent things, not only for artwork, but also things like stained glass, furniture, the homes themselves; they all had this language that was of the Craftsman style.”

An inspiration for this approach emerged from the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, which was attended by both Edward Libbey and the Greenes.

“A lot of the roots for what was going on in Ojai at the turn of the century came out of the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893,” Walker said,noting Libbey’s glass business had a pavilion there, the ﬁrst mission revival building was displayed, and a Japanese Shinto temple was reconstructed, inspiring many architects and designers.

Charles and Henry Greene began work on designs for the Pratt House early in 1908.

Photo: WikiMedia CC

“The Greenes … saw that Japanese temple, and nobody had seen that kind of thing before; it just overwhelmed them,” Walker said. “They decided to incorporate a lot of the Japanese style into their architecture; the whole indoor-outdoor e ect, being part of nature, that was something they got after experiencing that temple.”

They incorporated the style into the design and construction of the Pratt House, which features Japanese-inﬂuenced joinery throughout, favoring durability without the use of excessive nails or screws. Other Japanese inﬂuences include the beautifully recessed steel strapping, reminiscent of Japanese temple architecture, and the merging of indoor with outdoor, whether the sleeping porch overlooking the Ojai Valley, or the woody look and stone incorporated into the home’s structural integrity. The home’s durability and design has lasted, with much of the redwood used from the 20th century still looking pristine over 100 years later.

But at the forefront of the design was the

Arts and Crafts aesthetic of handmade integrity and artistic expression that still resonates with the Ojai Valley, and inspires current owner Moses.

“That handcrafted attention to detail is really, I think, what makes Ojai special,” Moses said. “Ojai also has been crafted to be what it is due to a lot of attention to detail, of how the city has planned out the design and the utility, keeping chain businesses out of the city; there’s been such a diligence toward holding integrity with authenticity.”

Moses has also built on Pratt’s legacy of hosting by making Casa Barranca a sanctuary and residence for many visitors to the valley.

“When I would initially bring family members and guests in, they would spend some time there on the land, and I think it really elicited such an important connection between art and architecture and the land, and it all just naturally ﬂowed,” he said. “When folks say, ‘Oh, this is an amazing place,’ I look at them and say, ‘I’m just a steward, I’m just passing through. I didn’t build it, I didn’t design it; the

only thing I’m doing is living in it, caring for it, and opening it for people to enjoy in any way I can that would be appropriate.’”

To accommodate guests, Moses has added several structures and spaces over his 30 years of stewardship, including another 4,000-square-foot Greene and Greene-inspired home on another parcel, a yoga recreation room designed in the Craftsman style, a guesthouse used mainly as a writer’s cottage, an artist’s studio for visiting painters and visual artists, and a pool house, along with a restoration of the original Carriage house.

“I invite guests, business friends, various civic and environmental leaders, to host, to share, and to think and collaborate,” Moses said. “I invite guests, business friends, various civic and environmental leaders, to host, to share, and to think and collaborate,” Moses said.

“These guests have ranged from local nonproﬁts and organizations like the Ojai Foundation, the Ojai Music Festival and the Ojai Library, which was also designed by Pratt. When the library celebrated its 100 year

anniversary, they held a special gala at the Pratt House as a symbolic moment uniting Charles Pratt, Greene and Greene and the library together, merging the past and future of the property and Pratt’s contributions to Ojai. Guests have also included celebrity visits by Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, as well as the cast and crew of the Ojaibased television series Brothers & Sisters, starring Sally Field.

“They came up and shot at Casa Barranca and talked about how this was the real place in Ojai that had some relevance to their show,” Moses said. “Everybody wanted to know, what would be the place in Ojai that would be most represented by Brothers & Sisters, and the cast came up and did a big piece that ended up being on their whole bow collection set. That was pretty cool.”

Other television credits include This Old House, a series on A&E Network, and one for PBS, but outside of its televised fame, the home has served as a launchpad for local businesses and organizations.

“I really used it as an incubator for developing some of the businesses that were locally originated and fostered here,” Moses said. This includes Casa Barranca Winery, Kevita, the sparkling probiotic drink; Flying Embers, a beverage company started by Moses after the Thomas Fire; and the Ojai Fire Safe Council, which Moses also co-founded.

“As an entrepreneur, it’s really enabled me to recharge and rejuvenate and put forth the kind of energy and resources required to build companies,” Moses said. “But I think at the root of it all, what the space really provides is a solace and a calmness, where the 100-year-old oak trees envelop the property and the home. When you sit under these beautiful majestic oaks and ponderosa pines and deodars, with the home kind of moving straight into the land, it’s just nurturing, it’s grounding, it’s very giving.”

But it all circles back to this running theme in Ojai throughout the years: a respectful coexistence of people and nature.

“Ultimately, whatever one’s spiritual pursuit is, nature is oftentimes the common denomina-

tor, and for me, being in a home that’s made of all handcrafted wood that is set in and amongst the oaks and the rocks on top of Stewart Canyon, where for several months, the waterfalls from up on the Nordho Ridge ﬂow all the way below the house, it all just ﬂows,” Moses said. “It’s been such a privilege to live there and experience the best of both nature and Ojai.”

Below: Current owner Bill Moses

“Built like a shrine on sacred ground”

– ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST

National Historic Landmark Home Celebrates 115 Year Anniversary

2024 marks the 115th anniversary of the Pratt House, one of the seminal homes designed and built by the renowned architectural ﬁrm Greene & Greene, completed in 1909. A celebrated jewel of the Ojai community, often referred to as Casa Baranca the Pratt House is a stunning example of early 20th-century Craftsman architecture.

Commissioned by Charles M. Pratt, the house showcases handcrafted stonework, natural materials, and a design that harmonizes with the landscape. Its simplicity, functionality, and craftsmanship reﬂect the Arts & Crafts movement’s ideals, thus making the Pratt House one of the City of Ojai’s greatest cultural and architectural treasures.

For decades, men have retreated to the proverbial “man cave,” a space — usually inside a home — where the guy, and maybe his friends, can do stereotypical male stuff like watch sports on TV and play video games. But why should men have all the solo fun and relaxation? Women, too, deserve a special space to unwind, whether to be creative, practice wellness, or do other activities that help them relax without distractions. One trend that addresses this need for a female solo retreat is the “she shed,” the equivalent of a man cave, but outdoors and with less technology.

A Place to Grow, a design and construction company in Ventura owned by married couple Mary Seo and Christian Stolp, has hopped on the trend by building she sheds eco friendly and affordable, for women— and men too if they want one.

“Our sheds are made from reclaimed materials, which gives a second life to what was once trash,” Seo says. “And the tiny modular spaces we design turn old fence boards, vintage doors, and windows into functional art.”

Seo also feels a creative calling to help women ﬁnd solace with a she shed that reﬂects their interests and addresses their needs.

“So many people, including super busy moms, try to juggle so much in life,” Seo says. “It’s so nice to help them have a dedicated place as a sanctuary, and it’s equally nice when we can include old pieces of stained glass and old doors in a space.”

She sheds are as unique as those who design them.

“I get to play in my happy place!” customer Darlene Vincent of Atascadero says, grinning widely as she stands in front of her garden shed, where she starts seeds, then becomes one with the earth as she gardens.

Vincent says designing such a backyard retreat might sound daunting, but A Place to Grow made the building process simple.

Seo has experience as a software engineer for Walt Disney Company, and Stolp runs Ventura Van Builds, which transforms cargo and other vans into living spaces.

“Christian has worked in a number of different trades, including framing, drywall,

electric, concrete, and more, and we have a shared love of building and designing sanctuaries,” Seo says.

The A Place to Grow team loves to repurpose elements found in old buildings and homes. For example, they installed doors from a century-old structure in Hollister Ranch in rural Santa Barbara County. In keeping with their mission to upcycle existing materials, Mary and Christian have collected hundreds of doors and windows from homes in Ojai, and they store them at a facility in Ojai.

“The Santa Barbara Ritz-Carlton underwent an expansive remodel and we were delighted that they gave us their old doors,” Seo says. “We’ve sourced lumber, fence posts, and wood from old redwood houses that we can use as siding. We construct from scratch, and in doing so, we consider functionality as well as building in an environmentally friendly way.”

A Place to Grow employs a collaborative building process, with on-site initial consultations and opportunities to help choose materials, size, colors, and design layout.

The team discusses details such as lighting— skylights or perfectly placed windows. “A lot of clients have great views and we create spaces that maximize those attributes,” Seo says.

Sometimes clients incorporate legacy objects from an old family home into the design.

“The sheds are built in our shop and then we put them on a trailer to transport them to the client’s property,” Seo says. The installation takes one to two days.

Customer Sharon Kelley’s she shed included reclaimed lumber, glass French doors, and a rooster weather vane on top of the galvanized, insulated roof.

The ﬁnished product was a garden shed ﬁt for Kelley’s biodynamic farming, positioned amid hundreds of oak trees surrounded by vineyards. It showcases elements of the

She Perfect little sanctuaries

past, giving the space a nostalgic aura, while also being practical and pragmatic.

“We’ve built more than 300 sheds,” Seo says. “Each one is unique: One client might want a shabby chic look while another desires a modern or industrial style. It’s fun to see people’s personalities shine through their designs.”

For more information, visit aplacetogrowventura.com

Shed

by BARBARA BURKE

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