Half Moon Bay March 2012

M a r C h 2 0 1 2

H A L F M O O N B A Y R e v I e W M A g A z I N e

T h e h o M e & G a r D e N I s s u e

Keeping Ken Kesey’s spirit alive in La Honda new generation of farmers Repurposing in Montara home

Half Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon Bay

Devil’s slide, Montara

eT h e h o M e & G a r D e N I s s u eeT h e h o M e & G a r D e N I s s u ee

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MoRe tHAn Meets tHe eye

�few weeks ago Joe Altwer came into our office — which is not uncommon since he works with us distributing the paper — and said that heard we were featuring artwork of Coastside scenes on the cover of the

magazine this year. I said, “Why? Do you know of some painters?” And then, luckily, I caught myself and added, “Are you an artist yourself?” Indeed he is, and a mighty fine one at that. It just made me pause. Joe, by all accounts, is one of the most soft-spoken people you’ll ever meet. Yet behind that quiet façade is a heap of solid talent in a field not necessarily populated by 20-somethings. Turns out he has been studying landscape and figurative painting in Florence for the past 6 years (and sharpening his street-style skateboarding skills at the same time). Distributing newspapers for the Review by day and walking in the footsteps of impressionists at the same time. Kind of makes you wonder: Who else is walking around in a utilitarian hat only to don a much more creative one in a free moment? ¶ our writer Mark noack profiles one such former Coastsider in this month’s magazine. When Mark Noack pitched his idea of writing a story about Ken Kesey’s old house in La Honda, it made me remember a story my Mom once told about her early days as a nurse in the Bay Area in the late 1950s. She worked in a mental health ward and, at least on one occassion, was asked by an orderly who worked with her if she would take a read of a story he was trying to write. She obliged but didn’t think much of it at the time. Although heavily stylized, the story, she says, was based heavily on events and the staff at work. Turns out, of course, that this story would soon be published. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” first came out 50 years ago and remains one of the most celebrated works in American literature. And, yes, my mom says their boss was pretty strict — but not quite Nurse Ratched strict. ¶ Please check out the story of Bill Johnston's Montara home filled with repurposed materials. First and foremost, the unique designs are just plain cool — a blend of industrial and natural wood. Urban hip meets homey charm. What’s more, all that scrap is serving another purpose by not adding to the pile at Ox Mountain. I’m jealous of all that creativity. Hats off to Joe and Ken and Bill, and all those honing hidden talents. thanks for reading. Let me know what you think.

—Bill Murray, [email protected]

Publisher Bill Murray editor Clay Lambert Writers Lily Bixler, Mark noack,

stacy trevenon CoPY editor Julie Gerth PhotograPher Charles Russo design Bill Murray, Mark Restani business offiCe Barbara Anderson CirCulation sonia Myers advertising sales Linda Pettengill,

Louise strutner, susan Verlander, Barbara Dinnsen

find us 714 Kelly Avenue, Half Moon Bay, CA, 94019, (650) 726-4424, www.hmbreview.com

half Moon baY is published the first week of every month and inserted in the Half Moon Bay Review. the entire contents of the magazine are also available online at hmbreview.com. ©2012, Half Moon Bay Review

Half Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon Bay

PuBLisHeR’s noteon tHe CoVeR


devil’s slide, Joe Altweroil on PAnel, 9x12, 2011

from the Artist “After travelling between italy and Moss Beach for the last 6 years, i often forget about what a beautiful place we live in. i’m always driving, focused on the road, or caught up in daily tasks. But once you stop and take a look around, it is truly an amazing place. the cliff at Devil’s slide, for example, tells a story with its rocky remains poking out from the water reminding us of what once was.”www.josephaltwer.blogspot.com www.grenninggallery.comView more of Joe’s work at Caffe Lucca, 8465 Cabrillo Hwy., Montara

Joe Altwer

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4 � H a l f M o o n B a y � M A R C H 2 0 1 2

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contentscontentscontentsM A R C H 2 0 1 2

PreViewLittle League opening Day, Blue Blanket improv, sports Hall of Fame, Mel Mello Day, Beer and Cheese tastingPage 7

Hail to tHe cHefone of our most delicious coastal treats need not be plain Page 33

on scenetake a look at a sampling of the Chamber of Commerce Members who attended the awards dinner in JanuaryPage 35

retHinKinG HoMe recyclinGMontara man transforms discards into beautiful, functional designs.Page 8

KeePinG Kesey’s sPirit aliVeArtist groups drawn to scenic spots to draw inspiration for paintingsPage 16

yoUnG croP of farMers new generation drawn to agriculture despite challenges Page 26

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PreViewPreViewPreView Mar.2012tHinGs to do


iMPRoV FoR LAuGHs At oDD FeLLows HALLMarch 10 Join Blue Blanket Improv for high-energy belly laughs at 7 p.m. at the Ocean view Odd Fellows Lodge at 526 Main St. in Half Moon Bay. The audience gets to be part of the show by tossing out suggestions and ideas for this local improv troupe to act out and build on. Refresh-ments available.

BeeR AnD CHeese FoR tHe tAstinGMarch 22 The sixth annual Artisan Cheese Festival takes place later this month in Petaluma. But, if you don’t want to go that far, you can enjoy a sampling of beers paired with an equally eclectic range of cheeses at the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company. The local brewery and restaurant, located at 390 Capistrano Road in Princeton, is starting off with a month of related events in honor of the festival, which takes place March 23-25. All month there will be a tasting menu of four Northern California cheeses paired with house-made beers by Brewmaster Kirk Hillyard. Some of the names will be familiar: Harley Farms Fromage Blanc and Chevre from Pescadero. Also scheduled is an Ar-tisan Beer and Cheese Dinner on Thursday, March 22. It begins with a 6 p.m. reception followed by dinner at 7 p.m. It will highlight cheese in each course and will be paired with several of Hillyard’s brews.

MARCH 10TH

PLAy BALL!The sound of boys and girls playing baseball echoes in full voice with opening Day ceremonies for the Half Moon Bay Little League. About 300 Coastside children have signed up to play in a season that runs till June. The fi rst games, taking place at Smith Field, start at 8:30 a.m., with opening ceremonies at 11 a.m. Admission to games and the ceremony is free. For information, contact [email protected].

sALute tHe sPoRts HALL oF FAMeMarch 24 The fi rst Half Moon Bay High School Sports Hall of Fame dinner takes place at the Oceano Hotel & Spa. Cocktails will be served at 5:30 p.m., followed by dinner. The 12-person class includes Brad Walters, Silas Moore, Fausto villegas, Laura Terada, Karen villa, Craig Brans-trom, Tony Ackerman, Jim emery, John Pepper, Becky Schmidt-Hollenshead and coaches Jack Coolidge and Luis Mintegui. Contact [email protected].

it’s MAGiCMarch 24 To bring together the Coastside community and local nonprofi ts, plus a little fund-raising, the Rotary Club of Half Moon Bay Foundation presents “The Magic of the Coastside.” Appetizers at 5:30 p.m. and a cracked crab and artichoke dinner at 7 p.m. will be topped off with a show by magician Jay Alexander. Tickets are $50 at the Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce and visitors’ Bureau, Alifano Technologies or Weller/O’Brien Insurance. www.hmbrotary.org.

sALute CoAstsiDeRs wHo MAKe tHinGs GRowMarch 30 The 43rd annual Mel Mello Farm Day luncheon blends a delicious lunch, prepared by Coastsiders involved with the agricultural community, with honoring local individuals for sound practices, dedication, and contributions to the industry and the community. Farmer of the Year, Dolores Mullin “Like a Rock” and glenn Ashcraft Chamber Community Service are the awards. Tickets are $25/advance and $30/at the door; call 726-8380.


8 � H a l f M o o n B a y � M A R C H 2 0 1 2

“ill Johnston’s eyes twinkle as he ges-tures impatiently. “Come on, I’ll show you,” he says. “This is just too cool.”

In his garage shop, the criminal defense lawyer points to a tall, dark brown case that looks like an old steam-er trunk from the 1920s. He found it at Stanford University’s surplus sales

department, haggled the $250 price tag to $100, put it into his orange Honda element and went back to court.

“The next day, two lawyers asked why I had a coffin in my truck,” he said. “It’ll be a conversa-tion piece.”

A stroll through the Montara home Johnston shares with wife Ayn can unleash hours of such conversations. “I’ve always been somebody who likes to repurpose things,” he said. “I'm always entertained by the creative use of materials.”

He hired Half Moon Bay architect ed Love to help him build his new home and crisscrossed the Bay Area to find retail bargains, homeowners in transition and deconstruction sales.

“Fortunately, I have friends with trucks,” he said.

After slicing their initial $800,000 build-ing budget in half, the Johnstons repurposed their former home into a rental unit, and in

ReTHINKINg HOMe ReCYCLINg

“FoRtunAteLy, i HAVe FRienDs witH tRuCKs.”— BiLL JoHnston,

MontARA HoMeowneR

CoAstsiDeR HAs unusuAL

tAKe on BuiLDinG

FRoM sCRAtCH

By stacy trevenonPhotos by Charles Russo

�above: in the Johnston kitchen, much of the cabinetry came from a Gunn High school remodel and is placed under counter-tops that were once school blackboards. right: Bill Johnston relaxes in his living room beneath a ceiling of salvaged two-by-eights and within sight of his “eclectic” stair unit.

DweLLinGs



ReTHINKINg HOMe ReCYCLINg


1 0 � H a l f M o o n B a y � M A R C H 2 0 1 2

Counterclockwise from above: straight ahead is the thermador gas range and blackboard countertops from home and school remodels, the huge din-ing table made of manufactured wood and the restructured stair unit. A peek through the stair supports offers the same view from the other side. the clawfoot tub in the bathroom off the kitchen came from a remodel of the Za-balla House that brought the inn up to ADA standards.

“i tHinK tHe ContRAst Between sMootH-

FinisHeDeLeMents

AnD tHose MoRe RAw, is

inteRestinG.”


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M A R C H 2 0 1 2 � H a l f M o o n B a y � 1 3

2011 moved into a 3,800-square-foot new home. It’s a museum of sorts, filled with found objects.☞Layers of plywood and aluminum

over double-paned glass, with four-inch peep holes for the couple’s three “mutts,” make a tall front door from the Alan Steele metal salvage yard in Redwood City.☞The entry’s marble tiles from Twice

as Nice lead past stairs made from two units that Johnston cut apart and took to Princeton Welding to refashion. “I fell in love with the sculptural aspect. It’s rather eclectic.” ☞There is the 200-pound quartz and

granite boulder chosen by Ayn Johnston. A friend backed his pickup into a gold Country creek to collect it.☞Two majestic, 9-by-12-foot mahog-

any doors were purchased from a friend after haggling the price down to $1,000 from $3,000. They open into his home office.☞The 3-by-9-foot dining table that

seats eight (maybe recalling Johnston’s childhood with 11 siblings) is made of “par-allel strand laminate” manufactured wood.☞Johnston “can look around (the

kitchen) and see only two items that are new, retail: Ikea shelves and two Lowe’s pendant lights. The countertops were slate blackboards from Bay Area schools and “destined for the Dumpster” and the six-burner Thermador gas range and double ovens respectively came from Hillsbor-ough and Atherton home remodels.☞Three thousand linear feet of

salvaged two-by-eights make the ground-floor ceiling.☞Upstairs are bedroom doors from

San Jose’s Notre Dame High retrofit, salvaged bath vanities and Brazilian cherry floors from a salvage yard.☞Trim from salvaged first-growth red-

wood lends a Craftsman touch that pulls elements together.

It’s utilitarian, yet aesthetic. “I think the contrast between smooth-finished ele-ments and those more raw, is interesting,” he said.

The house has been green-rated, he said, for reasons like extra-thick insulated walls, energy-efficient appliances and forced-air heating.

It’s also therapeutic.“This is the antithesis” to the legal

work, he said. “It’s very hands-on. I can sit down with tools to manipulate something quite beautiful. (Law) is external and helps someone, but it isn’t something to hold.

Clockwise from top: Bill Johnston proudly stands by a recent acquisition, a harp case he found at stanford university’s surplus sales department. A collection of stuffed animals is set up under the ceiling of salvaged two-by-eights in the master bedroom. An outdoor shower, strategically placed behind a big eucalyptus tree for privacy, offers refreshment after a dip in the hot tub as well as a spot to wash the dogs.


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visiting psychic entering Terry Adams’ cabin on the outskirts of La Honda was immediately struck as if by a bolt of lightning.

“It was like he hit a wall. He said, ‘Oh my god, there are heavy vibes in this place,’” Adams recalled. “It was like he was picking up confl ict vibes of some sort of astral battleground.”

The place sure looked like a war zone when Adams fi rst saw it. Bullet rounds and whiskey bottles littered the fl oor along with two doors stolen from a police car.

It was 1997, and Adams was think-ing about purchasing the hovel off La Honda Road, fully aware that it came with a poltergeist.

The spirit’s name is Ken Kesey, the larger-than-life author who, dur-ing the 1960s, made the cottage in the redwoods an artists’ enclave for his commune of drug-driven Merry Pranksters.

A fan of Kesey’s writing since his student days, Adams wanted to preserve the author’s old La Honda house, a location he described as the “Shroud of Turin” for the psychedelic culture.

“Taking ownership of this house

BY MarK NoaCKPhoTos BY Charles russo

KeePinG Kesey’s

sPiRit ALiVe

“taking ownership of this house gave me an opportunity to restore a relic of that movement

going way back to the ’60s. (this house) seemed like a direct path for my life.”— teRRy ADAMs, LA HonDA ResiDent

DweLLinGs

Author Ken Kesey was a polarizing fi gure and many in La Honda recall the problems that followed in his wake.COURTeSY TeRRY ADAMS



LA HonDA MAn CARRies on

MeRRy PRAnKsteR MAntRA

an old piano, apparently painted by Ken Kesey, still has a place in his former la honda home, now owned by terry adams.


gave me a opportunity to restore a relic of that movement going way back to the ’60s,” he said. “(This house) seemed like a direct path for my life.”

In the 1960s, Kesey was a human totem of the psychedelic movement, and years of parties, squatters and revelry left his pad in a decrepit mess. The walls were peppered with mold, soot and holes. One edge of the house was supported by a coff ee tin fi lled with concrete.

The psychic who picked up on astral vibes was actually touring the house for his day job, assessing the building to see if Adams could qualify for a $199,000 bank loan. The bank ultimately re-jected the loan.

Thanks to the help of a mutual friend, Adams later hammered out a personal deal to pay Kesey directly for the house, a place he hadn’t called home for decades. The two met for the fi rst time when they closed the deal. Their only other meeting was a 1999 reunion party at the cabin organized by a British fi lm crew to send off Kesey on a late-life bus trip to fi nd Merlin the wizard.

Kesey died in 2001, but by acquiring the cabin, Adams hoped to keep alive some of the Prank-ster magic — that come-one, come-all spirit of revolution and fraternity. In taking over the home, Adams discovered he had also inherited Kesey’s left-overs, including souvenir-hungry fans, squatters and some resentful locals.

Soon after buying the house, van-

dals tore out some of the collages painted on the walls. A drunken relative of one Merry Prankster visited and demanded Adams let him take a decorated wallboard as a souvenir.

In February 1998, the La Honda Creek fl ooded, sending two feet of water inside the house. The fl ood washed out the foot-bridge, knocked over two walls and left about a foot of silt on the fl oor. One week later, someone looted the house, stealing Adams’ electronics, a motorcycle and thousands of dollars in tools.

His reserve of goodwill bottoming out, Adams found himself posting a “Keep the Fuck Out!” sign outside the cabin as a kind of anti-welcome mat to the world.

KeseY’s legaCY

�esey has been and remains a controversial fi gure for La Honda, the town that became his “hill-country ver-sailles” in Tom Wolfe’s book, “The electric Kool-Aid

Acid Test.”“The citizens of La Honda and others would

start wondering … what are the ninnies do-ing?” Wolfe wrote. “What do these kids come from, broken homes or what? Sometimes it was social — Are these kids alienated? Is our society getting rotten at the core?”

Back in the early ’60s, Kesey and his crew began rhapsodizing about LSD, the hallucino-genic drug that was then legal and being tested by the U.S. government on civilians. When the troupe migrated to La Honda in 1963, they wel-comed seemingly any artist, youth or transient to join their bacchanalia.

One of those followers was Redwood City native Roy Sebern, who remembers driving out to La Honda in the Chevy sedan that doubled as his bed. Kesey’s one-bedroom home became his home,

the MerrY PranKstersThe Merry Pranksters take their place

alongside the Black Panthers and the Chicago Seven as iconic groups that will be forever associated with the 1960s. The Pranksters re-volved around Kesey and were known for their epic trips aboard a bus they dubbed “Furthur.” They didn’t shy from the drugs of the day and included beat mascot Neal Cassady and the grateful Dead among their loose confedera-tion. The Merry Pranksters were said to have introduced the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang

to LSD, and to have caused problems in La Honda and elsewhere.

to LSD, and to have caused problems in La Honda and elsewhere.



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the CuCKoo’s nestKesey was known as

a real-life version of the supercharged McMur-phy character from his book, “one Flew over

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he said. He built his own little shanty off the cabin with some repurposed wood and windows.

“It was a party there all the time,” he said. “There was a kind of friendliness in the group and Kesey in particular; it encouraged a person to become whole in his personality and knowledge of himself.”

Kesey’s welcoming attitude and status as a folk celebrity made him a magnet for both positive and negative energies. The town, up until then a sum-mertime retreat for San Franciscans, found itself suddenly the West Coast’s ground zero for the burgeoning ’60s counterculture and its backlash.

Some residents and locals still pin the blame on Kesey for turning their town into a rough-and-tum-ble destination for drug addicts and biker gangs.

“Kesey brought problem after problem to La Honda,” said lifelong local resident Dan Caughey. “I don’t know why people celebrate him. Ninety-nine percent of them weren’t here at the time, and they think that the guy who wrote, ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ must be a great guy.”

A San Mateo County Sheriff ’s deputy for more than 33 years, Caughey remembers the period as a nonstop series of calls stemming from the Merry Pranksters’ misadventures. Sheriff ’s deputies and federal narcotics officials regularly kept the cabin under surveillance.

More than anything else, Caughey blamed Kesey for ruining La Honda Days, the town’s family pa-rade and fundraiser for the local volunteer firefight-ers. Kesey was welcoming the Hell’s Angels motor-cycle gang to parties at his cabin, and La Honda had become the bikers’ new favorite destination.

For the 1970 La Honda Days, about 75 bikers essentially took over the town, flooding the town’s three bars and blocking off the western highway entrance. Caughey, his partner, and two reserve patrolmen were the only law enforcement for the town, and they saw the town parade devolve into a riot.

One biker knocked over an elderly woman and ran over her with his motorcycle, Caughey said. He received a possible rape call from venturi’s bar, where an intoxicated woman had her clothes and jewelry torn off. The bar was packed with biker thugs, he said, and all the deputies went in together to pull out the woman. One of the bikers yanked away an officer’s baton, Caughey remembers.

Sheriff ’s deputies ended up hiding with the victims at La Honda elementary School while they waited for a rescue helicopter to land.

“It was the first and last time that we had to hide out and wait for help,” he said. “Now I know that Kesey didn’t say, ‘go wreck the town.’ It wasn’t like he was leading them, but he did invite them.”

After the mess, deputies and local firefighters decided to cancel the parade for good.

Other La Honda residents recall Kesey in a bet-ter light.

The former Boots and Saddles lodge owner Mack McCarty used to point customers to his barroom wall to admire a poem that was a gift from Kesey.

Marcy Steiner, who grew up on nearby Skyline Boulevard during the ’60s, thought Kesey and his entourage brought a light-hearted festivity to town, which may have riled up some of the older folks. She later opened the Merry Prankster Café in La

once owned by author and Merry Prankster Ken Kesey, the La Honda property along Highway 84 was the sight of numerous coun-terculture parties, including those made famous in tom wolfe’s book, “the electric Kool-Aid Acid test.”



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Honda, which closed down in 2003. Lifelong resident Pam McReynolds re-

membered Kesey sitting with his wife, Faye, like all the other parents to see their children perform in the La Honda elementary School annual Christmas play.

“He was dressed pretty much like everyone else, except he had these bright red, sparkly shoes,” she said.

KeePer of the flaMe

�aving now lived in the house for more than a decade, Adams has come to become a sort of curator

for Kesey and the Prankster years. He knew Kesey could be a divisive figure, pointing out that even some former friends became alien-ated from him over the years.

“He was charismatic and fascinating, but he had this big ego,” he said. “At times he wasn’t too easy to get along with.”

When Adams first came to La Honda, he felt a cold shoulder from some La Honda residents. But any resentment has now van-ished, Adams says, pointing out that he has become closely woven into the fabric of the

community. A true blue-collar man, he works as Public Works manager for the local water utility. He is also a prolific writer, producing poetry and essays along with co-hosting the monthly literature meetings in town. Many have opened up about their own dalliances with Kesey’s troupe.

“It’s amazing the number of people around town who tell me, ‘Yeah, I got laid there,” he chuckled.

Adams came to admire Kesey during a stranger-than-fiction period in his own life. During the vietnam War years, he served in the U.S. Air Force Strategic Air Command Headquarters, a job that he says gave him access to the targeting instructions of the U.S. nuclear warhead arsenal. Troubled by serving as “postmaster for World War III,” he severed his ties with the military as a conscientious objector in 1972. That decision was due in no small part to Kesey’s mantra of compassion and human truth, he said.

Now 68 years old, Adams freely admits taking LSD as a “wonderful awakening experi-ence” for him in the 1970s, and he said Kesey’s role in the counterculture is still something he admires.

After the water damage and thefts, Adams spent several months meticulously repairing the cabin, raising the home by five feet to prevent another flood. Most of the original psychedelic décor is gone. He put up a rain-bow flag and Christmas lights, but the home today more resembles a cozy lodge than an artist’s retreat. An old friend donated Kesey’s old upright piano, decorated in a kaleidoscope of colors.

Today Adams welcomes most visitors to his house, such as student field trips from Pes-cadero High School and the occasional tourist or journalist.

For the first few years, Adams tried to revive the zany, creative mega-parties that Kesey preferred. He had “three or four” huge shindigs, but he remembers the loud music and crowd being a true endurance test.

“If I was 40 years younger, I’m sure I’d be doing outrageous things,” he said. “At least there’s always a good feeling here, and I can’t help but feeling that it’s due to the house.”

restoring Ken Kesey’s old la honda house and keeping the spirit of the Merry Pranksters alive has been an obsession of current owner terry adams.



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�he Pilarcitos Alternative School ap-pears a dingy temporary building in some ways. Traditionally, the school on Kelly Avenue, just west of High-

way 1 in Half Moon Bay, has lacked some of the murals, plantings and other improvements that make area schools so inviting.

“It looked lonely,” said Pilarcitos junior Juan Moreno. He said the school had no color. But he knew how to change that.

With paint-stained hands revealing his love for art class, Moreno plants onions and green tomatoes at home for his mom. This fall, Moreno suggested to teacher Ian Licata that they reseed grass in front of the school.

That idea was the impetus behind a partner-ship between Pilarcitos and the HeAL Proj-ect, long known for helping Cabrillo Unified School District educators plant a love of gar-dening and good food in young minds. Licata got in touch with HeAL and learned that, due to ongoing improvements at nearby Cunha Intermediate School that have rendered the field temporarily out of bounds, HeAL was looking for another school to participate in the program.

The idea grew from there. Now, several months later, HeAL and Pilarcitos students meet every Thursday morning to work in the garden.

“(The gardening class) brings the kids a sense of pride and ownership in the school,” Licata said. He explained that sprucing up the school’s façade helps the students feel that, “the school is theirs,” not just an institution.

On a recent Thursday morning, three or four students were weeding scraggily grass bordering the walkway and transplanting deco-rative grasses along the path.

“How long do you think it will take to get this high?” one student asked using a hand shovel to indicate a height about three feet above the small grassy mount he’d just planted. Renie Figone-Hacker, an AmeriCorps service member who works with HeAL on the school garden project, said it depends on the rain.

Licata said Pilarcitos plans to expand the gardening program to incorporate nutrition classes. Students hope to build a greenhouse and plant fruit trees on campus this spring.

— Lily Bixler

A GARDen GRows At PiLARCitos

GARDeninG

Pilarcitos High school junior Juan Moreno, Jr. waters one of the many trees recently planted during the school’s new gardening program.


2 6 � H a l f M o o n B a y � M A R C H 2 0 1 22 6 � H a l f M o o n B a y � M A R C H 2 0 1 2

�een on farming but having little experience, — Brian Coltrin wanted to stake a living in agriculture even though he knew at the outset he was signing up for hard work and little pay.

It was 2008, and he was just getting ready to leave a sustainable agriculture apprenticeship at the University of California, Santa Cruz. His classmates split off to diff erent careers: some looking to join urban farm nonprofi ts, others launching public-school gardens.

Coltrin wanted to be more of a typical son of the soil, producing the best fruits and veggies possible and selling them at a fair price.

Coltrin looks at it as a small step toward saving the world. A for-mer tutor for troubled children, he envisioned a sustainable-practice farm with visiting packs of students getting their hands dirty in the fi elds.

“Wouldn’t it be cool if we could get more kids connected to the land?” he said. “I’m drawn to that goal of social entrepreneurship, giving people healthy food and getting groups out on the farm.”

Coltrin and his friend Miranda Roberts had a lucky break when their classmate Paul Richardson asked if they wanted to join him in launching a new farm on a few acres of his parents’ property in Pescadero. Better yet, they now had a tractor and other expensive equipment they could borrow.

The new partners recall being high on excitement, going a little overboard as they bought more than 40 diff erent kinds of seeds for the maiden crop of Fat Cabbage Farm.

It sure seemed like a winning recipe.Fast-forward four years to February 2012, and Coltrin is now

packing up his equipment at the farm. After three years of trying to make it happen, the rigors of farm

life have been too much to bear, so he’s decided to take off for pro-verbial greener pastures. In this case, that means a white-collar job working for the California Certifi ed Organic Farmers association.

Now 36 years old, he remains upbeat about the future of sustain-able agriculture, even though he’s no longer a producer. He insists

younG CRoP oF

GRow into FieLD�ARMeRs

new GeneRAtion DRAwn to

AGRiCuLtuRe DesPite

CHALLenGes

LiVinG�

BY MarK NoaCKPhoTos BY Charlse russo



MusiC

Maggi aaronson, co-owner of fat Cabbage farms in Pescadero,

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and the food they eat.



he’s still gung-ho about farming, but nonstop weeks rising at 6 a.m., sleeping in a trailer and eating noth-ing but his homegrown veggies have colored his green aspirations.

There were aspects he definitely enjoyed, like interacting with farm-ers market customers up in San Francisco. But, in short, he’s too tired and poor to keep at it.

“It was a lot of sacrifice,” he said. “I saw the trajectory for my farm, and it could have doubled in revenues … but it was killing me in terms of physical labor.”

He is hardly alone. Starting and sustaining a farm is notoriously difficult. The stakes are high, but farmers agree on the importance of growing a new crop of trained farm-ers. The average California farmer is 55 years old, according to a 2008 University of California, Davis, study.

veteran farmers say interest among millennials has never been higher, but the new generation of farmers faces a bevy of challenges.

�peaking before a predomi-nantly young audience at the ecoFarm conference last

month in Monterey, Auburn rancher Dan Macon shared a chart showing the usual pattern he sees in startup farms. The first year is a euphoric rush, he said, but then the fantasy hits the ground pretty hard.

“By the second year, a new farmer is saying ‘Wow, this is a lot of work,’” Macon said. “By year six, they’re saying, ‘geez, I’m working 80 hours a week, and I’m barely making minimum wage!’”

Being a farmer is a schizophrenic business. It requires a combination of horticulturalist, entrepreneur, engineer, salesman and scientist. Macon pointed out that many of those skills were once passed infor-mally to him through his family, but many new farmers don’t come from that background.

even for a small-scale farmer, the workload is a huge burden, rushing from toiling in the fields, to main-taining equipment, to harvesting crops, to zipping off on the week-ends to a farmers market.

The initial shock of farming rang true for 34-year-old Roberts, who is still holding the line at Fat Cabbage

amy ridout is production manager at Pie ranch. she is preparing the soil to plant new apple trees.



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Miranda Roberts, co-owner of Fat Cabbage Farms in Pescadero, weeds among the rows of her broccoli crop. Roberts says it takes time to learn the business aspects of farming, including managing payroll and staying informed on statewide farming politics.

Farm with a new partner. She emphasizes that she had more financial security and family support than her former partners, so she was cush-ioned for the rough early patches. The first year, 2009, Fat Cabbage Farm made just $7,000 to split between the partners. By 2011, that had blossomed to $37,000 — still not much, but at least revenues were go-ing in the right direction, she explained.

�oberts indicated it also took time to learn the untaught tricks of the trade, like how to manage a payroll and stay informed on state farming policy. On a more brass tacks level, she

learned that the Japanese green Komatsuna may grow beautifully on the coast, but that doesn’t mean shoppers at the Belmont farmers mar-ket will buy it. The sweet-scented snow peas, on the other hand, draw customers “like moths to a light bulb.”

New and veteran farmers agree a reliable local agriculture network is the best way to help each other out. For two years, San Mateo County sustainable farms have traded off hosting workshops on everything from cattle ranching to fertilizer. A number of statewide efforts have also taken shape to nurture new farmers, including the Farmlink non-profit located in Santa Cruz.

Debbie Harris, a 29-year-old farmhand at Pie Ranch, would like to someday launch her own farm, but she would first need a couple acres to make it happen. For San Mateo County in particular, land remains

the biggest stumbling block for many young farmers. The Peninsula is among the highest-priced areas for real estate in the world, so buying land is out of the question. For now, she’s taking a wait-and-see ap-proach.

“I’ve thought about it forever,” she said. “These things are intimidat-ing … but I know I’m not going to be sending kids to college by being a farmer.”

Land can be one tough cookie, explained Anthony Chang, a farm financing expert with Farmlink. government loans through the Farm Service Agency are available, but they can be complicated to obtain. grants are rare, but some small agriculture operations have found suc-cess through online lending clubs or “slow money” groups that want to support organic farming.

Despite the toil of farm life, Roberts confides that the experience is worth the trouble.

“I couldn’t imagine doing anything else,” she said. “There’s ups and downs, but I still love what I’m doing.”



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Hail to tHe cHefHail to tHe cHefHail to tHe cHef

join indo you have a question for the chef ? Contact José Luis ugalde or Liam Durkee, Café Gibraltar 560-9039{

�pring is upon us! the beautiful weather this winter may have lulled us into believing that it was already here, but fresh spring produce is the true mark of its arrival. the recipe we have chosen celebrates the verdant abundance

of spring, with amazing baby vegetables that can be found here in our local farmers markets. the artichokes, fi ngerling potatoes and baby carrots that we utilize for this recipe come from tunitas Creek Ranch. Aaron Dinwiddie is an organic farmer who treats his vegetables like precious gems. i have never seen a farmer more lovingly tend his garden than Aaron. His vegetables are gorgeous and he can be found at the Farmer’s Market in Half Moon Bay. He grows his beautiful vegetables in a nirvana-like setting south of Half Moon Bay. this recipe is vegan vegetarian and can be gluten free by replacing the fl our with corn starch. For those of you with no interest in vegetarian cuisine, trust me, this is a worthwhile dish for anyone, omnivores as well as vegetarians. its freshness celebrates the coming of spring!

— Liam Durkee, Café Gibraltar

Beyond BoilinG AnGinARes A LA PoLitA 10 ea medium artichokes, remove choke & outer leaves 2 ea lemons 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 6 ea scallions, white and green areas, chopped 12 ea small white boiling onions 1/2 lb baby carrorts 3/4 lb small fi ngerling potatoes, cut in half 2 tblsp fl our or corn starch 1 cup water 1 ea small fennel bulb, sliced to taste salt and pepper 2 tblsp fresh dill

ABout tHe CHeF

one oF ouR Most DeLiCious CoAstAL tReAts neeD not Be PLAin

Cut artichokes in half then remove choke and outer leaves. Rub each heart with a lemon cut in half. After each heart is rubbed, add to a bowl with water and lemon juice to prevent oxidation.

In a lightly oiled wide sauce pan, place scallions about the pan, top with onions, carrots, potatoes, fennel and artichoke hearts.

Dissolve the fl our with the water and remaing lemon juice. Pour the water mixture and the olive oil over the vegetables so they are barely covered. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle one tsp. of the dill atop mixture. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until vegetables are tender, about one hour.

There should be a little liquid left; remove to a serving platter and serve at room temperature garnished with

the remaining dill.

M A R C H 2 0 1 2 � H a l f M o o n B a y

gluten free by replacing the fl our with corn starch. For those of you with no interest in vegetarian cuisine, trust me, this is a worthwhile dish for anyone, omnivores as well as vegetarians. its freshness celebrates the coming of spring!

— Liam Durkee, Café GibraltarABout tHe CHeF

There should be a little liquid left; remove to a serving platter and serve at room temperature garnished with

the remaining dill.

José Luis ugalde is chef and owner of Café Gibraltar in el Granada.



Senior CoastsidersThrift Store

A great place to shop, donate, volunteer.

Housewares, Garden Accessories and a Great Group of People!

Mondays, Thursday-Saturday 10-4pm, Sunday 12-4All proceeds support programs for seniors.

515 Kelly Ave. • Half Moon Bay • 726-6543

coastsideGUID

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EVENT CALENDAR. P10 TRAILS. P43 BEACHES. P13 DINING. P27

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SAN MATEO COUNTY COASTSIDE

SPRING/SUMMER 2010

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THE COASTSIDE IS KNOWN FOR BEACHES AND BOATS,

REDWOODS AND RESTAURANTS, BUT IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN FALL & WINTER 2011

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Dining • Hotels • Calendar • Beaches • Trails • Maps and More!

New section on Pacifi ca and Coastside demographics!

Distributed all year long, all over town.

Space resevations started in February and are going fast.

Please contactthe Review ASAPto inquire on availability.

Space is limited.



Cheryl sinclair and Casey sample Kris Mason, Bill Gillespie and Dana Dahl tony DeCasare and Mark Andermahr

nano and Becky Kavaliku

Julie and Paul shenkman Heidi Kuiper and Allan Alifano

Charise McHugh and Kelly Morlock

Christine Mendonca and Melissa Rey

tHe CHAMBeR AwARDs its MeMBeRs �he Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce and Visitors’ Bureau recognized some of the area’s most dedicated and successful

business leaders with its fourth annual awards dinner on Jan. 25 at the oceano Hotel and spa. Mark Andermahr of the Half Moon Bay Bakery took the Mayor’s Award, insurance agent Heidi Kuiper was named the volunteer of the year, and longtime City

Councilwoman naomi Patride took home an award for civic achievement. Andre Franco and Rocky Law were honored for a lifetime’s good work, Bryan Jones was given the longevity award, nano’s yogurt shack was recognized among new businesses, Paul and Julie shenkman of sam’s Chowder House were noted as the year’s innovative business and Jude and Julie Damasco were named to the business hall of fame.

Mike Alifano and Cortney Alifano

on sceneon sceneon scene

Jesse warshauer and Cameron Palmer

join indo you have an event coming up? Make sure to bring a camera and get at least 10 shots of the attendees! then, give us a call at 726-4424 or drop on by.{



CASEY’SCAFÉ

Homemade soups, salads, sandwiches, and entreesGluten free menu items • Soups and Chowders availableBreakfast all day • Dog-friendly patio • Wine & beer list 328 Main St. #101, Half Moon Bay • 650-560-4880

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HOMESTYLE MEXICAN FOOD

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ON THE COASTSIDE, WE ARE SURROUNDED WITH DELICIOUS DINING OPTIONS!



tim Dubois and Chris Hammerstrom Matt and sandra Ryan, and sarah Bunkin Val Dubois and Katy Jaeger

nina Greeley and Doug nolan

Amy and Patrick wooliever Patrick Murphy, Ken and Jill Vandroff

Dave and Lisa Gilmour

Geno Padua and Gary Jaeger

tHe stARLiGHt soiRee sHines At oCeAno�he Ball Room at the oceano Hotel and spa was the venue for the recently held starlight soiree on January 25. the Cabrillo

education Foundation fundraiser drew more than 300 supporters together to enjoy drinks, appetizers, a silent and live auction followed by some spirited dancing. the foundation reported that over $103,000 was raised that evening with $86,000 going

to the endowment fund and another $17,000 to be divided up between local schools for immediate use. Photos by Bill Murray.

Bruce and Diana Purucker

on sceneon sceneon scene

Liz Murphy and Gay Buckland-Murray

join indo you have an event coming up? Make sure to bring a camera and get at least 10 shots of the attendees! then, give us a call at 726-4424 or drop on by.{

DINING OUT



Ara Croce, C.R.S.Ara Croce, C.R.S.Ara Croce, C.R.S.Ara Croce, C.R.S.Ara Croce, C.R.S.Ara Croce, C.R.S.

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down to eartHdown to eartHdown to eartH

join indo you have a question for the pros? Contact Jennifer segale, wildflower Farms, 726-5883 and Carla Lazzarini, earth’s Laughter, (650) 996-5168. {

�y garden is full of birds most of the year. They nest in the tall hedge that grows along my fence line. I get to watch the parents fly in and out of the hedge,

for weeks, with nest-making material in their beaks, and then a little later I get the privilege of watching the fledglings flutter out of the hedges to land on the ground or a low branch as they learn to fly.

During and after nesting season, they can also be found in the bird bath, for my viewing pleasure, of course! The hierarchy of birdie bathing is quite fascinating — who gets bumped, who never has to wait, etc. Watching my bird friends is one of my favorite things to do in my garden. I’m not the type of bird watcher who knows the names of them all (or even most), but my nosiness can compete with the best of them.

So I thought. Recently I was lucky enough to

have a tour of the secret garden of a couple that put me to shame. (The couple, that is, not the garden…) Their garden is straight out of a fairy tale; there is a darling summer house, lawn-mowing bunnies, badger burrows and, the birds! There are countless types of birds, doing countless types of birdie things. The aspect that made this all so amazing is that it’s all observed and recorded by several “Critter Cams.”

They are little cameras, some with night vision, that spy on all these goings on! The camera in the blue bird’s nesting box was my favorite. It was like I was inside the tiny box with the mama bird, sitting on her nest. These guys made me look like the amateur that I am. How was I going to live without this when I returned home?

Luckily I didn’t have to, and neither do you. Cornell University’s Ornithology Department has a project called Nest Cams and any-one can let their birdie voyeurism have free rein. go to nestcams.org. I dare you to watch just one!

— Carla Lazzarini

KeeP An eye on tHe BiRDs


BILL MU

RR

AY



wAtCH tHe RiVeR

FLow

i’m not really sure why nature scenes like this became such a popular choice as screen savers over the years. Perhaps these types of images speak to some zen-like sensibility deeply encoded within our DNA. Or perhaps they’re indicative of humanity’s longing to

leave the modern industrial world for a sort of prehistoric natural existence. Or, more likely, people just think that long exposures of flowing water are really pretty. Whatever the case, you can make your own idyllic stream screen saver with a bit of manual photographic know-how. To begin with, set your camera to full depth-of-field (Ansel Adams preferred f/64), at the lowest film speed (also known as ISO), and on a tripod for the longest exposure possible. More importantly, find a time of day conducive to soft light (early mornings and twilight) without patchy spots of bright sun. From there, release the shutter and just sit back and let the water flow. You’ll have a keeper ... for a saver. (nov. 3, 2011, Pilarcitos Reservoir, nikon D90.) Charles russo

PHotoGRAPHy



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