Sustainable in Mendocino

This last year, I was lucky enough to get an invitation from my friend Teri to visit Mendocino. Starting my trip from LA, I picked up another friend in San Francisco and continued north to one of the most beautiful landscapes in California.

I had been to the area before, we went camping with the dog to the river a few years back, but we never strayed too far from our initial destination. On this trip, with my friend Lisa in the passenger seat, we ventured through some of the only true traces of fall that you can see in this golden state. Bright, almost fluorescent trees, dotted the highway the further north we went. By the time we were surrounded by the towering Redwoods, I felt I had been transported planets away from Los Angeles.

My time up in the hills of Humboldt was like sitting in heaven, quite literally. I'd wake up in the early morning to a thick blanket of clouds covering the valley floor below, and deep shades of blue in the sky above. At night when I'd stand out on the deck I could hear nothing, it was pure silence until the wind would happen to breeze through.

Although the house I stayed in was extremely self-reliant, depending on solar panels to harness energy and using local spring water, the serious lesson on treading lightly happened when we made a visit to another friends house down the hill. As we drove onto the property, it became clear this was not just a house, but a homestead. In a few simple words, it was a beautiful cross between Little House on the Prairie and a Native American dwelling and the charming man who owns it all is named Hardy. When we crossed the entrance gates to the main house, we actually stepped back in time at least 100 years.

Everything on the property was built by the owner himself, with some help from family and friends along the way. He makes wine from his own small vineyard, there's an orchard, a masterpiece of a glass greenhouse, a main house and a new guesthouse. There was no modern bathroom and no abundant use of electricity going on, although there are several solar panels on the property.

The living structures are made up mostly of rammed earth and clay and appear more like something that was formed, rather than 'built'. Every inch of the house was something that a museum could be made of. Each wood shelf, counter top, butcher block and table was exquisite and made by Hardy. When he showed us the greenhouse, it almost took my breath away, and it only took him 15 years to build it. It's made entirely out of individual glass panels and resembles a small cathedral more than a typical greenhouse. I could have spent hours in that little glass house with the perfect eggplant, tomatoes and beans.

As we stood talking to Hardy before we left, I munched on concord grapes that were hanging on vines from the porch. He was so humble, so peaceful and content with the life and home he'd built himself. Not to say his life has always been perfect, but it seems to be something he has chosen. The food he eats, the water he drinks and place where he rests his head have all come from his hands and his land. It's something I think many of us are trying to do, if only on a much smaller scale and sometimes in the middle of a big city. The growth has to start somewhere though, if not a hand-welded greenhouse, than a handful of seeds and a pot of soil on your patio will probably work.