Mendocino Valley

The past week has been nuts. We've met a number of wild people living in incredible places doing all sorts of inspiring things. Until I have a bit more time to write it up reports that will highlight our time in the Ojai Valley, San Francisco where I got acupuncture for the first time, and Hopland (land of the Solar Living Institute), I will focus on just today which on its own is reason enough to feel major inspiration.

Today was diverse. We went to a guy named Steve Hackeroth's home in Mendocino Valley, just south of Fort Bragg where we are staying one more night before we head up to Medford, Oregon.

It's hard to accurately describe the magic of Steve's home. Here is a place that is so considered, one can only marvel at the ingenuity; how he has paid attention to nature in order to make, what I consider to be, a perfect home. Steve and his family live completely on solar power but it hardly stops there. All the buildings have been made with reclaimed or trees felled from the land. Steve powers all the family cars (an rav4ev and a prius) on solar generated electric, the home is heated as well with passive solar - a result of smart planning, and a super garden that has given birth everything from blueberries to plums to cherries and even bananas. The hand dug well (twenty feet down) is pumped by wind power and solar powered pumps and tastes so pure you don't want to stop drinking it. The view is extraordinary and just down the hill and down the road a bit is some of the most magical treeline I have ever seen and a number of beaches that exude power. The rock face of the mountains jutting out to the see made us think of Newfoundland but the huge trees in the forest were all Cali.

Steve is hovering around sixty years old, tall and handsome. An architect by trade but also a furniture builder, electric vehicle innovator, solar power educator, editor of Mother Earth, husband, father, grandfather and beach volleyball enthusiast. His demeanour is very mellow, his aura chill and his passion for the environment dead on. Here is someone who has dedicated his life to making a difference by living clean.

It's hard not to be completely seduced by his message because he doesn't really even have to say a word - all one has to do is to see how and where he lives. But when Steve opens his mouth, the words fall out with mellow conviction about his reasoning to eradicate the burning of fossil fuels from his life - a lifelong ambition that he seems to have very close to achieving. Don't look down for energy he suggests, look up to the sun because it's all there. It is very clear that Steve is not lacking for comfort - he is the perfect example of a man who hasn't given up anything for the satisfaction of living green.

We arrived and left late. We got the full tour to understand the holistic nature of Steve's approach. It is intense. It is very smart and inspiring. He managed to explain to me how a solar panel is made - that took awhile but I finally got it. He helped us install a solar panel on the roof of our bus so now while we drive around, we can harness energy and store it in some batteries.

The bus right now is a different story altogether. It has been hard from smooth sailing on that front but that takes us back to the incredible time we had in the Ojai Valley with Joel and Rebecca, prior to breaking down in Cayucos and meeting Dale, Brit and Jason then making it to SF where I got to hang with my pal Chi-hui and and and and and and.... but all that will have to be written about another day.

I know that what I've written about Steve Hackeroth only gives a taste but given the lack of time I have these days to do much, that's all I can say for now.

Also my ability to post pictures is limited. My new digital camera broke down under the searing heat of the Ojai Valley. I'll have to borrow pics from the others and post them

By the way, our sound man, John, with his consistently amazing wit has come up with a great name for our show: The Green Goes. What do you think?