Point Reyes Weekend

You Mon Tsang August 25th, 2009

Want to be inspired by other people’s sand sculptures and sand castles?  Better yet, want to give it a try yourself?

Every year on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, the National Park Service hosts at Drake Beach a Sand Sculpture Contest.  It is really fun.  If you want to give it a go, I would advise that you bring tools to (1) move sand, (2) move water and (3) finely tune sand.

Facts for 2009:

• Event occurs on Sunday, Sept 6, 2009.
• Anyone can enter.
• Prizes awarded in each of several age and group catagories.
• Free to participants and spectators.
• Registration begins at 9:00 am at the Ken Patrick Visitor Center.
• Judging begins at 12:00 pm.
• Prizes awarded at 3:30 pm.

Categories include: Children (14 and under), Families, Adult Individuals, and Adult Groups. Three prizes will be awarded in each of those categories, along with prizes for the sculpture with the most recycled plastic included.

Photos of past winners at the National Park Service web site:

• Beach , Kids , Summer
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You Mon Tsang August 21st, 2009

Beat the dog days by heading out to Point Reyes.  The tule elk are in action, bugling, fighting and forming their harems.  The Point Reyes Farmers Market has beautiful food and produce.  Last weekend, Chef Belov from FISH in Sausalito made fish ceviche and spoke passionately and clearly about the challenges of procuring fish and food sustainably.

As a bonus this weekend, celebrate 100 years of the worldwide hostelling movement at the Point Reyes Hostel. They’re hosting a BYO picnic in the heart of Point Reyes National Seashore on Sunday, August 23, 11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.  They’ll have complimentary Lagunitas beer, organic lemonade, and It’s It ice cream sandwiches. You bring something to throw on the grill or whip up in the hostel’s fully equipped kitchen. Festivities also include prize giveaways and live music by “siren folk metal quartet” Pink Sabbath.

For more information, visit: http://norcalhostels.org/reyes/news/p,3434/

• Farmers Market , Summer , Tule Elk
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You Mon Tsang August 7th, 2009

The 2009 Box Show at Gallery Route One in Point Reyes Station starts today. This is the 11th year of the popular show; this year it features 150 artists making art out of the same simple pine box (14 in wide, 7 in high and 5 in deep). Take a stop on your way back from a hike or beach.

• Art
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You Mon Tsang July 28th, 2009

What’s happening in the park in mid-summer 2009.

The first rumblings of the tule elk rut or breeding season – harems are being formed around bull elk; the male bugling sounds are being heard out at Tomales Point. The rut begins in early August and continues through the fall. Volunteers staff the trail on weekends to provide a closer look and answer questions.

Summer Berry time – the first ripe blackberries are appearing along roads and trails – both the native ‘Cutleaf’ and the exotic Himalaya berry! Scarlet Thimbleberries are ripening along the Bear Valley Trail and hairy Salmonberries along the lower Bayview Trail. Huckleberries appearing throughout Tomales Bay State Park though no reports from Old Pine Trail yet!

These are highlights from the National Park Service Park Wavelengths newsletter.

Photo by Jerry Ting

• Summer , Tule Elk
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You Mon Tsang July 20th, 2009

Head out to Far West Fest this Saturday, July 25th!  This day, voted Best Music Festival in Marin, benefits Community Radio KWMR and the Love Field Open Space — both beloved West Marin institutions.

The Far West, in its fifth year, expects 2,000 attendees in 2009. It is a green event with 100% recycling/ zero-waste, carbon offset options, and no plastic packaging on site. Food vendors are local purveyors of organic, sustainable offerings including oysters, fresh produce, grass fed meats, and baked goods.

The festival hosts two stages, offering a lineup of blues, country, rock, folk, experimental, bluegrass and world music, internationally touring acts and local favorites.  This year’s festival features Lyrics Born, Sean Hayes, Albino, Red Meat, The Green String Farm Band with Arann Harris, Chris Haugen and The Far West Fest All Stars, The Honey Dewdrops, Susan Z, Tim Cain and The Mushrooms!

In addition to two music stages, the Far West Fest offers a supervised Kidz Zone that features interactive activities, healthful snacks, and kid-centric live music and storytellers. Clowns, jugglers, and other circus acts dot the landscape throughout the day. Dozens of regional arts and crafts vendors line the periphery, and a “Localization Zone, sponsored by “Think Local First” offers area nonprofits an opportunity to interface and share their mission with the community.

The details:
July 25th: The 3rd Annual Far West Fest at Love Field
11171 Sir Francis Drake Boulevard- 1st Driveway on the left when you turn off Hwy 1.

Gates: 10:30am
Music: 11am-7:30pm

Pricing:
Kids under 10 = free!
Youth (10-18) = $10
Adults Advance = $25
Adults at Gate = $30

Check out music and images on the Festival’s MySpace page.

Images courtesy of RKado

• Local Scene , Music
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You Mon Tsang July 20th, 2009

Sharing West Marin experiences through Point Reyes Weekend is a real pleasure. But I really enjoy reading a good writer’s first trip through the area. Jonathan Levitt recounts his first trip to Point Reyes and West Marin in the Boston Globe.

Traveling around the country, asking people about their favorite places, and about their most beautiful places, I heard again and again about the rolling ranchland and wild beaches of west Marin County. Here, the almost 70,000 acres of windswept wildness at Point Reyes National Seashore coexist with cattle ranches, dairy farms, and small organic market gardens. It makes for a balance that attracts tourists content to enjoy the seashore, hike in the hills, and eat good food. Chain stores and rowdy revelers are nowhere in sight.

Read the whole article…

• Ode
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You Mon Tsang July 8th, 2009

Market Talk is a series of interviews with the farmers and vendors of the Point Reyes Farmers Market.

The Wild Blue Farm stand at the Point Reyes Farmers Market is impossibly colorful with the produce looking much too good to eat.  Throughout the season, Wild Blue will offer everything from edible flowers to pumpkins to raspberries to tomatillos to lavender to beets and more. If you get to the market early, you will be treated a beautiful display of bounty. But hurry, Wild Blue sells their produce quickly.

Here’s our quick chat with Margie McDonald, who runs the farm with her husband Jack Corwin.

* Tell us about Wild Blue Farm
Wild Blue Farm is about 10 acres and we farm about 4. We bought the farm 10 years ago. There was only one very old apple tree here. Its about 75 years old and is an heirloom called Grimes Golden, the original Johnny Apple-seed apple.

* From your farm, what are the market-goers’ favorites?
The market customers love the raspberries, they are surreal.  They also love the beautiful 4 color carrots; purple, red, yellow and orange.  We also have beautiful, delicious and unusual winter squash. I love the strange looking ones.

* What are your best-kept secrets?
The best kept secret is the small seckel pear that we grow. When we bring it to market it only lasts a minute or two. People who know of this pear buy bags of it and the rest of our customers don’t even get to see it. We have planed a few more trees to meet the demand.

* What do you buy at the Point Reyes Farmers Market?
At the market I love to buy Peter Worsley’s heirloom tomatoes and fresh honey from Beekind.

Wild Blue Farm and Marin Organic are holding a tour of the farm on Sunday, July 26, 2009. See the Point Reyes calendar for more info.

• Farmers Market , Market Talk
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You Mon Tsang July 6th, 2009

Here are some photos of the Independence Day fun in Point Reyes, Bolinas, Inverness and the surrounding area.

The Inverness Fourth of July foot races are for all ages. (Photo by Rob Lawson)

The reading of the Declaration of Independence for the Inverness locals.

The Point Reyes Farmers Market was lush with local produce (Photo by Galen Leeds)

Grilled Cheese Decadence at the GBD stall at the Farmers Market.

Bolinas Fourth of July parade marches to its own tune (video by Swerbo.com)

If it’s the Fourth, then we can expect the annual Bolinas-Stinson Beach Tug of War.  The MarinIJ reported that the Bolinas men and the Stinson Beach women emerged victors in 2009. Thanks to Bill and June at swerbo.com for this terrific video.

Even the local creatures got into the spirit with their play!  (Photo by Rob Lawson)

The Sunday turned out to be a bit overcast, but that made for a peaceful paddle on Tomales Bay. (Photo by Rob Lawson)

• Summer
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You Mon Tsang July 1st, 2009

For the last few years, there has been a pretty good controversy about the oyster farm located at Drakes Estero. The lease for the farm expires in a few years and battle lines have been drawn about the renewal of such a lease. Scott Shafer of KQED’s Forum moderated a lively debate among these guests:

• Dianne Feinstein, U.S. senator
• Dr. Corey Goodman, elected member of the National Academy of Sciences currently teaching anatomy and biochemistry at UCSF
• Gordon Bennett, parks chairman with the Sierra Club’s Marin Group
• Huey Johnson, president of the Resource Renewal Institute and former California secretary of resources
• Kevin Lunny, farmer at Drakes Bay Family Farms
• Tess Elliott, editor of The Point Reyes Light

Give a listen:

• Wildlife
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You Mon Tsang June 24th, 2009

Get out here this first full summer weekend.  The weather is predicted to be very nice and the wonderful Point Reyes Farmers Market opens (get there by 10a for an opening toast to the season).

While you are enjoying the long days, keep an eye out for jellies washed up on the beaches; they are susceptible to temperature changes in the upper layers of water. The park folks say “Tomales Bay State park rangers have been finding dinner plate sized – ice tea colored “Lions Mane ” jellies on their beaches, these may have tentacles that sting and cause an allergic reaction. Clear moon jellies with white crescents do not have stinging tentacles. Usually, by the time they are on the beaches, the tentacles have been eaten away.”

Photo thanks to Richard James.

• Farmers Market
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