coyote and thunder

High Sierra Wildflower Bloom, Part 1

June 18, 2013

IMG_0154[1]

It is hard to describe the harmonious delight that is the High Sierra Wildflower bloom. There is concert there. There is cooperation – every plant makes way for their neighbors in a wild urban (herban) scenario that does this California boy’s heart right. It only happens for a few weeks a year, and it is happening now. Get up there. These pictures are all taken at 7000′, 35 miles north of Lake Tahoe in the Truckee area. Above, Deer Brush Ceanothus Integerrimus and Showy Pentstemon Penstemon speciosus.

Timberline Phacelia Phacelia hastata

Goat’s Beard Tragopogon dubius

Giant Red Paintbrush Castilleja miniata and Sticy Cinquefoil Potentilla glandulosa

Valerian Valeriana californica

Rock Cress Arabis holboellii

Blue Elderberry Sambucus mexicana, foreground, just about to bloom

Above Donner Lake.

We at Juniper Ridge are going to turn this into some kind of perfume. Alpine Coyote mint Monardella odoratissima

fields, literally acres, of the most common big daisy, Woolly Mule’s Ears Wyethia mollis. Here are some better pictures below

Posted in Coyote and Thunder, Wilderness State | Comments Off

The old jail, Bridgeport, Calif.

June 15, 2013

mono_county_jail_plaque

The West is full of ghosts. “Wanna see some?” after a couple of whiskeys down at the Bridgeport Inn and under the fading light of a dazzling, late Spring, Sierra sunset, we find the old, Mono county jail. It is open, wide-open. Nobody around at all. A couple of bare light bulbs swing in the intermittent breeze that comes in through the glass-less windows of this five-cell facility. The metal, spring cots with their mattresses slowly turning into dust, tell the strangest, most haunting kind of story. The wall are covered in pencil graffiti and here are a few of the artistic gems. With a shutter, we leave the place after ten, harrowing minutes.

Posted in History of the World | Comments Off

Hiking across the Sun

June 10, 2013

The Oak woodlands between Cone Peak and Junipero Serra Peak, at the border of the Ventana Wilderness, is a true slice of Heaven, California-style.

We wildharvested some late-Spring, Wooly Bluecurl – a particularly fragrant, endemic flower. The bloom was going off; I got a few backpacks full.

The view from the top of Pimkolam, as the Salinan people once named the 6000′ peak. White people named it after the head of the California missionary program in the 18th century, Junipero Serra. This beautiful mountain is the highest in the coastal, Santa Lucia range.

Juniper Ridge’s Field Lab Van.

Hall in his natural habitat.

Posted in Wilderness State | Comments Off

Have Art. Never Die.

June 6, 2013

sketchbook highlights. May 2013.
more art over here: obikaufmann.com

Posted in Coyote and Thunder | Comments Off

Northern Grade – American Made Goods

June 3, 2013

At 111 Minna, this last Saturday, there was an amazing exhibit of makers from across the country. A collection of American craft, value and fashionable goods called Northern Grade. I work with and for Juniper Ridge – we were represented in a collaborative Dopp kit, having parterned with Winter Session for a Fathers’ Day offering. The Dopp Kit, available here at the Winter Session website, could very well be the perfect gift for dear old dad; it includes our Trail Crew Soap and our Backpacker’s Cologne, and is presented as either a Forest or a Desert collection.

The Fathers’ Day, Limited-edition Dopp Kit by Juniper Ridge & Winter Session. Peering into the bag – you see there is plenty of room for Dad’s other bathroom junk:

Here I am (obi@juniperridge.com), at right, with our friends from Colorado: Winter Session’s Roy & Tanya. Their amazing goods are entirely covetable – check out these amazing roll up pencil/tool cases.

Here are some of the other wonderful brands representing at Northern Grade. This show is indicative of the real, new, American economy: stuff made by hand, made here, beautiful designed, and elegant in both form and delivery. Sign me up. Sign me up for good.