Posted on April 22, 2016
Road Trip 3.0 (4.21.16) We have left the Valley of the Moon…the wonderful Moon House where we’ve lived for the past week…. This is a final shot and reminder of the Moon House. It’s actually a large hand worked copper disk (more of Bryan Tedrick’s work) on the front stucco wall of the house with lights behind. We’ll miss the Moon House and the Valley of the Moon. It was a beautiful experience.
Posted on April 22, 2016
Road Trip 3.0 (4.20.16) Jack London, a prolific novelist, journalist and social activist, was perhaps the most successful American writer in the early 20th Century. London, who died at age 40, was a pioneer in the emerging world of commercial magazine fiction. He published 43 books before his death in 1916 and 7 additional works were published by his wife Charmian after his death. He was one of the first fiction writers of his era to gain worldwide fame and fortune from his writing. Wednesday we visited Jack London State Historic Park (Beauty Ranch) in Glen Ellen. The park setting exemplifies the stunning terrain in the Valley of the Moon. And, what we were able to learn about London, from the various exhibits and the park historian, provided a glimpse into a remarkable and complex life. Most of us know London as a swashbuckling adventurer…writer of passionate stories of challenge and survival. But, according to our guide, London employed his writing talents to fund his principle desire to create an almost utopian place where the finest crops and animals could be raised in sustainable abundance. Jack London’s Beauty Ranch is the legacy of London’s passion for the land. The Cottage, the Winery Ruin, the Silos, Barns and Pig Palace are remnants of Jack and Charmian London’s life on the ranch. “In 1905 London bought the first of several ranches on Sonoma Mountain in Glen Ellen, California. Using proceeds from his prolific writing career London acquired adjoining parcels over several years and expanded his ranch, also known as the Ranch of Good Intentions. By 1913 London owned 1400 acres on the slopes of the mountain and by 1916 employed nearly fifty workers building, farming, and tending prize livestock. Self-taught and inventive, London sought to improve farming methods using common sense, research, and concepts gleaned from travel. The Ranch stands as a testament to his ingenuity and foreshadowing of organic and biodynamic methods popular today. ‘I am rebuilding worn-out hillside lands that were worked out and destroyed by our wasteful California pioneer farmers. I believe the soil is our one indestructible asset, and by green manures, nitrogen-gathering cover crops, animal manure, rotation of crops, proper tillage and draining, I am getting results which the Chinese have demonstrated for forty centuries.’ Jack London 1915.”
Jack London House of Happy Walls Museum
The Museum was built by Charmian London and Eliza Shepard, Jack London’s step sister, after London’s death in 1916. The House of Happy Walls was designed to be a museum as well as Charmian’s home.
The Wolf House
“Jack London wrote so many books about wolves and dogs that his friend George Sterling gave him the nickname ‘The Wolf’. So when Jack started to build his dream house in 1911, it was only fitting that people would call it the ‘Wolf House’. Jack and Charmian never got to live in their home because one hot summer night in August 1913, spontaneous combustion started a fire in the house. Nobody was living near the house so the fire was quite advanced before anyone became aware of it. The Londons were sleeping in the Cottage about a half mile away and were awakened by a farm worker who saw the red glow in the sky. They got on their horses and rode to their beloved dream house. By the time they got there, the house was completely engulfed in flames and beyond saving. Although Jack vowed to rebuild the house, he did not live long enough to rebuild. Today, we have a beautiful ruin. ‘All I wanted was a quiet place in the country to write and loaf in, and get out of nature that something which we all need, only the most of us don’t know it. This is to be no summerresidence proposition, but a home all the year round. I am anchoring good and solid, and anchoring for keeps.’ Jack London 1913”
The Cottage
“The Cottage was London’s principal home on the Beauty Ranch. This wood-framed cottage was purchased by London in 1911 along with the Kohler and Frohling winery buildings. It was enlarged after 1911 until it included some 3,000 square feet of living space. Here he wrote many of his later stories and novels.”
The Winery Ruin
“The main Kohler and Frohling winery building was heavily damaged in the 1906 earthquake. London used the foundation and part of the upper story that could be salvaged and built an upper story wooden building which was used as a carriage house, living quarters for ranch hands, rooms for his many guests and an office where his sister, Eliza Shepard, could manage the ranch. A fire destroyed the upper levels in 1965.� Jack London was a bold, adventurous, complex and driven visionary who grew up as an impoverished illegitimate child that struggled mightily to make his way. He died at age 40 in 1916 after a battle with kidney failure brought on by Mercury poisoning. (He used Mercury paste to treat Yaws, a tropical disease that affects the skin bone and
cartilage.) From the treatment, Mercury entered his blood stream and ultimately destroyed his kidneys. London lived large and on his own terms. Against his doctor’s advice he consumed a diet very high in protein, had a lighted cigarette with him all the time he was awake and was known to drink alcohol abundantly. Jack London lived by a credo that was predictive of his life and ultimately his death… “I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dryrot. I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet. The function of man is to live, not to exist. I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them. I shall use my time.” …JACK LONDON’S CREDO Posted on April 20, 2016
Road Trip 3.0 (4.19.16) We left our “village” on Saturday for a short trip to Sonoma. Sonoma’s a pleasant small town, population about 11,000. It’s clearly oriented to visitors…the perimeter surrounding the plaza is lined with restaurants (about every 30 ft.), jewelry and whatnot shops, a few small galleries and clothing shops. We enjoyed visiting Mission San Francisco Solano in the center of town and learning about the colonization of California.
Prior to European exploration and occupation there were about 500 distinct Indian tribes and groups living in the various climates and geographic regions of California. With the Spanish occupation, which began in 1769, European invasive plant species and non-native diseases were introduced resulting in high rates of mortality in the native population. The native population declined from 200,000 in the early 19th century to approximately 15,000 at the end of the century primarily because of occupation and colonization.
The 21 Missions that were established in California was a tool used by the Spanish to colonize new territory. “The instructions to Father Serra from the Spanish government were to establish Spanish control of the land by teaching Catholicism to the Indians.” (Social Studies Fact Cards – California Mission Life) Ostensibly, the Missions could serve to protect and educate the Indians. In reality, the Indians, through the Mission/Colonization process, became a source of cheap/free labor to exploit and develop the vast resources in California. Colonization took control of Indian land holdings with very little reverting back to Indian ownership over time. Today there are 109 Federally Recognized Tribes in California with 95 Federal reservations and about 40 Indian groups seeking to gain Federal recognition.
Yesterday I was invited to visit Bryan Tedrick’s studio to see his next creation for Burning Man. The Wild Boar he’s creating will be a similar scale to Coyote, which you saw in an earlier blog post. The following photos show his rustic studio and the sequence of moving the Boar’s head from the studio deck to a holding spot so work could commence on the rest of the beast.
Two characteristics of nature are strikingly beautiful in the Valley of the Moon wine country. First, sensuous rolling hills and second coastal oak woodlands. The vineyards that blend with this native landscape only add to the spectacular beauty.
Speaking of vineyards, we have visited a few and tasted some really good wine. Early on our wine travels we saw a guy that said he was going to visit them all and drink his fill. Later down the road we saw him again‌way past his limit.
(This is actually another of Bryan Tedrick’s amazing sculptures)
Here are some of the vineyards we visited.
And obviously we’ve learned you can’t live on vino alone. We had an exceptional dinner at the Glen Ellen Star Cafe last night…amazing wood roasted cauliflower, brick roasted chicken and steak with house made potato chips.
Today’s lunch was really special. We had lunch at Cafe Citti in Kenwood. Cafe Citti was featured on the television show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. It is a diner and renowned for fresh, house made Italian Trattoria style dishes with little flare but lots of flavor.
Posted on April 17, 2016
Road Trip 3.0 (4.16.16) We’re here in the Sonoma Valley which, according to Jack London, who had a ranch here, the Native American word Sonoma means “valley of the moon.” He used it for his book of the same name. For the next week, then, we are in the village of Glen Ellen in the Valley of the Moon….here’s Glen Ellen as portrayed on the side of a local building.
It’s a village, really, about 784 people. No stop lights. Friendly people. A little village market that makes Whole Foods look like a 7-Eleven. Some great restaurants. And, the “Moon House” our home for the next week and an experience worth the trip. The Moon House is owned and managed by Terry Roberts and Bryan Tedrick. Originally it was a rental property that they decided needed a major upgrade. Bryan, who is a sculptor, turned it into a seven year project of creativity, invention and excellent craftsmanship. It’s amazing. Before I show you the house. I need to clarify “sculptor” when referring to Bryan. I did sculpture in wood and light metal…Bryan, however, works in metal on an architectural scale I’ve never seen before. Terry said he’s been a participant at “Burning Man” for the past 10 or 11 years. He made this steel seven-ton, 23-foot-high for Burning Man in 2013. (See more of his work at: bryantedrick.com)
So let’s look at the house: Front entrance living room area.
Kitchen.
Back door and space under mezzanine.
Mezzanine. Door opening leads to balcony.
View from Mezzanine.
Patio in back of house.
Back entrance from patio.
The moon in the Moon House.
Well this is where we’re living…let the adventure continue…
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