my second day in reno toni took me to see Lost City Farm, which she started with lindsey in 2013. toni and i learned much of what we know about growing food from the same internship at Green String Farm. it was cool to see how she is applying the method on this previously vacant acre. this happened to be the day of an Art Town event hosted by the farm. many people who had never seen the farm, some who didn't even know about it before, came by to check it out.
i did a short composting demonstration when i deposited the small bucket of food scraps from toni's house. afterwards i gave the bins a nice makeover, watering them thoroughly, shaping them evenly into the bin, piling the leaves stored in one bin on top of the one i had just deposited in, and placing leaves of straw from one bale to keep heat and moisture in the piles. one bin had a little finished compost in it with a lot of coarse woody material mixed in. toni told me they don't sift it, which i dug. no need to when applying it as a top dressing in row crops!
later on in the day i took my first shopping trip to the Great Basin Food Coop! a couple friends of mine were part of the founding group a few years ago and still work there. the beautiful building with mural around the front door and demonstration vegetable gardens wrapping around really impressed and pleased me. i talked to the first employee i saw and it turned out he was aware of Lost City Farm. i told him they could really use more hands and he said he would be interested in coming out to volunteer. toni tells me that not many of the 215 folks on their volunteer mailing list ever show up to help. its a shame because the base for something really amazing to happen is already established there.
after the visit to the coop i meandered down to the river. following my intuition and senses, i came to a stage in the park where people were gathered watching Sierra Nevada Master Works Chorale. it was a very patriotic and spiritual performance and i got really into it, singing along and resonating with the meaning. i stood with my bike next to this huge pine tree, the sun shining on my face. when i looked around me i connected and smiled with others in the audience. it was a great feeling of togetherness that i had missed on the night of the 4th when i stayed in by myself. one woman came up to me to tell me she had gotten a nice picture of me. it was a sweet expression of the spirit of connection that she would do that and let me know about it. she was appreciating the beauty all around her. after sending me that first image she decided to share these others too, which might give you a better idea of what i was seeing too.
thanks cindy!
i continued to ride the bike and headed towards the sunset. it felt so good to ride the bicycle around on nice roads without my gear weighing me down! i wanted to get out to the hills for a better view, but they were too far. i found a place on the edge of town where there was an open field that allowed a nice view of the sky. i ate a banana there and took a moment to be with the beauty in stillness. on the way back to toni's i harvested some sage that was growing by the road so i could make smudge bundles.
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