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June 9, 2009
Finally coming up for some air as we catch up on things here around the urban homestead.
You know, it’s been the gloomiest June on record since 1983. The grey gloom is not only stunting the summer growth of the garden but also it’s making us a bit gloomy as well! However, the gloom didn’t follow us south however in fact we all came back with a little suntan!
Last Friday afternoon we headed 2 hours south to attend Cottonwood Creek Film Festival in Encinitas, CA. That evening was the VIP party (partly held in a beautiful yurt!) where HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION was awarded the Robert T. Nanninga Award for excellence. Our family was honored to receive this award - thank you!
They had tablefuls of local fruits, cheeses and the local chef was whipping up some tasty mushroom hors d’oeuvres (they were soooo good!)
We met up with some really great folks - organizer of the local Surfrider chapter, the guy who started the Pasadena Weekly and many more. The food was great and everyone had a great time.
A special thanks to all those who made our trip possible and for the wonderful hospitality of Carris, Tess, Theresa, Liz and John — and many, many more!
Saturday morning, we headed across the street from where we were staying to the lovely Cottonwood Creek Park for a Freedom Gardens swap n meet. (Check out more photos from Saturday’s picnic)
Since we were there a little early, we (and a FG volunteer) took the time to walk to Moonlight Beach and sit there for a spell and enjoy the scenery. It was nice to catch a bit of R&R before the start of a busy day. Nothing beats the calming effect of the ocean and it was an absolutely gorgeous day - sunshine, cool breeze - perfect! Too bad didn’t bring our swim suits!
Thanks for the wonderful homemade dishes everyone bought! It was really wonderful to finally meet you all and chat about the benefits of growing our own food. What did we bring to the potluck? Homemade rose petal lemonade, lemon duck egg pound cake, guacamole (made from bartered cados) and homemade kimchi with crackers.
That afternoon HOMEGROWN REVOLUTION screened at the Encinitas public library to a full house (approx 150). After the film showing of HGR and Fresh, there was a brief Q&A session with our family that was filmed for their local TV station.
Here’s a few blogger reviews
http://onedollardietproject.wordpress.com
http://themway.blogspot.com/2009/06/california-blogger-meetup-4.html — it was certainly a treat for us to meet Mrs & Mr Beany!
and here at http://make-a-greenplan.blogspot.com/ (our wonderful hostess!)
For dinner we and our volunteers were cordially invited to dinner at a longtime reader and supporter’s house. We enjoyed a relaxing and wonderful dinner - a special and warm thank you, Kate, for opening up your home and for your wonderful hospitality. We dined on stuffed grape leaves, tasty cucumber dip, avocados from Farmer S and our contributions was homemade lemon duck egg pound cake and homemade kimchi and crackers. Everyone enjoyed our visit immensely.
Actually, we were only planning on stay one full day; but the people putting on the Sunday environmental festival were so enthusiastic of the response to HGR that they invited us to stay another day (Sunday) and participate in their local environmental fair and encore screening! Thanks to John for making all the arrangements.
So Sunday we spent another lovely day at Cottonwood Creek, meeting some of the locals who are involved in their community.
Heading back home Sunday afternoon, we took a little detour for a field trip to see one of the local Freedom Gardeners Farm. We got the “$15 tour” and picked and munched on some delicious (fragrant) plums, apricots and loganberries (yum!)
Though we could have stayed longer, daylight was fading so we had to head back home and was unable to bring home some of the gorgeous cabbage to make sauerkraut that we’d arranged a barter for - next time! The farm was very peaceful so before we left I made sure to do a headcount to make sure nobody was tempted to stay behind. 
View more of the farm field trip
PS A note on the barefeet. For the weekend I only brought flip flops/sandals with me. Such footware isn’t very ideal for trampsing around a farm so I just went barefoot ( just like I do here around the urban homestead). I grew up wandering the 10 acres of our Florida homestead barefoot, so the terrain didn’t bother me at all – except for patches of cut down thistles with their hairy stickers which was slightly uncomfortable.
PPS another big THANK YOU KATE! Love ya !
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Topics: Community, Posts by Anais | Tags: cottonwood creek film festival, homegrow, homegrown, homegrown revolution
June 9th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Great pictures. Hey, Anais, I wish my feet were as strong as yours. I walk on little pebbles and can’t handle walking barefoot too long. Either too hot concrete or to rocky. Me have baby feet. I need to toughen my feet up I guess.
tj
June 9th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Wow, Encinitas! I grew up there and spent quite a bit of time at Moonlight beach. I live in Texas now but mention of that beach brought back some great memories! Thanks!