We’re being robbed this weekend. Tonight while we sleep, an hour will be silently removed from our clocks, causing us to feel our way to work in the dark on Monday morning. When I first came across this striking work at Aimee June Winery in San Juan Bautista, it was on a label of Sangiovese I purchased and enjoyed. I thought the label showed a nest and eggs. After contacting the artist, student Ashley Peterson, she explained that with antique clock faces, an old handkerchief and black acrylic paint mixed with glue, the subject of the art work is time. As an ode to that missing hour that will bamboozle our upcoming week, here are some thoughts from Ashley about time. “If you take a closer look, some of the clock faces are upside down and some are right side up. Both the arrangement of the black paint and the clock faces are intentional to represent how time can feel. Sometimes time goes slowly, other times fast. Sometimes we have moments of deja vu where we feel like we are repeating an event. Time can also feel like the enemy, especially when you start to run out of it. To me, the numbers on the clock face are just that, numbers. If we destroyed every clock in existence, the way we measure time like “being on time” or “being late” would most likely end. Clocks structure our society and without them, it’s possible chaos would ensue. But whether we use a clock or the rise and fall of the sun, time cannot be destroyed. I painted a circle on the canvas to represent how time doesn’t have an end point. I wanted to visually represent time-the chaos and the structure it can cause-and how we use clocks to measure time and manipulate social behavior (for example: eating behaviors, defining bedtimes for kids and young adults, the appropriate time frame in which to respond to an e-mail or a phone call, “staying out late” is considered an adult behavior and therefore defines who is a child and who is an adult, “working late” or past the defined work day hours is a sign of a hard worker, and in general “being on time” is “good” and “being late” is “bad”).” Ashley is a member of the Aimee June winemaking family and her art work graces all of their wine labels.
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These happy California cows from the Gaviota Coast are Headin’Home. You can almost feel the crunch of the dry grass and the cool evening ocean breeze from Linda Mutti’s pastel illustration of this familiar scene on our Central Coast. Apparently there is a heat wave in parts of California this weekend. Since gloating is allowed on this blog, I’ll not hesitate to mention that the weather here was perfect. Again.
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AKA Artichoke Post #2. This is a photo I took in Lompoc on Thursday afternoon, standing and aiming the camera up into artichoke plants over 14′ high. Freaky!
Yesterday after work I drove toward the coast on Ocean Ave. in Lompoc and pulled off the road near these fields of stock flowers. What you are missing in this experience is the profound but pleasant fragrance! While other areas in the Central Coast build their festivities on strawberries, artichokes, garlic, avocados and wine; Lompoc annually celebrates it’s unique history in flower agriculture. It all began in 1909 when W.A. Burpee began Floradale Farms in Lompoc. According to the Burpee seed company: “The Floradale site was chosen because it was situated in an ideal valley, protected by a mountain range that runs from east to west (rather than the more usual north-to-south orientation). It has what might be called a European climate, cool but without great temperature fluctuations, and constantly humid rather than subject to heavy sporadic rains. Indeed, Lompoc remains one of the rare spots for outdoor flower seed production in the world.” This June begins Lompoc’s 62nd Annual Flower Festival. Would you like to see sweet pea, stock, larkspur, alyssum, delphinium and marigolds in their natural habitats? (And on parade floats too of course.) Head over to Lompoc next weekend!
Click to access LompocFlowerTourMap.pdf
http://www.lompocvalleyfestivals.com/
If you have ever driven from Buellton to San Jose on Hwy 101, you are well aware that the California Central Coast is very much about agriculture . Cold crop veggies like broccoli, cauliflower and those good ole leafy greens grow all year long in our moderate coastal climate. My husband Mike is long-time operations manager for Plantel Nurseries. By starting vegetable seeds in a nursery like Plantel, less water is used and more of the seeds develop into viable plants. Planting “transplants” offers farmers greater vegetable yield and a shorter growing season. This means more vegetables per acre per year. Are you up for some veggie appreciation? This Saturday the staff at Plantel invite you to a tour of their nursery on Telephone Road in Santa Maria. You may even be able to take home a transplant or two for your yard! See the notice below for details.
Plantel Open House Event
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Known as the top horse location in California, the Santa Ynez Valley is home to 52 different breeds of horses. You have heard of California happy cows? These are our carefree horses. Their yards are expansive, their barns are majestic, and the roses planted next to their freshly painted fences are now in full bloom. Strangers stopping to snap a photo is apparently an every-day occurrence. When these two lovelies saw my camera they immediately went into a “synchronized snacking” pose.
http://www.visitsyv.com/
California produces about 88% of our nation’s strawberries. These nutritious and delicious fruits are grown in sandy coastal soil under sunny days and foggy nights. The growing area extends from San Diego to Santa Cruz, with nearly 50% of California strawberry-growing acreage in the Watsonville/Salinas area. In my hometown of Santa Maria, our top crop is strawberries, and my favorite strawberry stand is Daren’s Berries on Betteravia Road.
California Strawberry Commission
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