Song of the Ancients

   Winter is here. The oaks are still lagging behind losing their leaves. The nights frosty and cold are doused with the milky way; bristling with silver starlight. Relentlessly blue daytime skies.The trees are thirsty after a warm dry summer.

  Please help keep the oaks and the wildlife healthy by keeping to the speed limit on our dirt roads. Vehicle speed needs to stay below 10 miles per hour on dirt roads or dust from the roads hurt animals and plants alike. Higher speeds kill wild animals with limited understanding of autos and trucks.

A FEW WORDS ABOUT WINTER CAMPING

 I have done a lot of hiking and camping in the winter in California. If you are going to camp in the winter it is always good to be prepared for rain and cold. Even if there is none in the forecast. Nothing can beat curled up and warm in a tent with the flaps open, the sound of rain clattering around you and the scent of fresh washed winter air; or puff balls of snow falling fast; silencing the world around you. The key here of course is; you are warm and dry.

  What you should have:

-2 sets of rain gear. When one gets wet you change into the second set while the first drips dry

- Plenty of tarps, string, and lots of bungees-if car camping you can also bring a EZ up; it will keep your dining area dry.

-make sure your tent is good quality and waterproof

-plenty of towels to clean yourself and surfaces

-your rain gear bag or box should include muckboots or some such warm comfortable waterproof footwear and lots of warm socks, long underwear, umbrellas, firelighters and firestarters (when you buy firewood from us in rainy weather we include 2 small squares of firestarters with the firewood and if you forget your firelighter we will sell you a firelighter for $5.00). Don't forget a book, a light to read by, or cards or games to play.

-You should develop your own checklist for rain and cold as your needs could be very different.This will make camping in the winter not just comfortable but a fun adventure and a feeling of comfort and joy that will revisit over a lifetime.

Winter done well is unbeatable!

   In this time of upheaval and uncertainty; we are here to provide refuge and regeneration. A place for mind and body to heal. Pitch your tent or park your camper amid the ancient Blue Oaks of California. Shake the dust off your work worn spirit. Let the celebration begin.  A time to lie in hammocks with cool drinks and books to wander comfortably through the oaks to let the quiet music of the oak savanna drift through your cooling mind. The weather will be your guide to places outside your norm. In the cool of the morning and evening, let the games begin. Bring your games; corn hole, table tennis, cards, rummicub, etc. As the sun starts to dip the earth cools and energizes turns the mind and body outward to activity then as the milky way opens above, it brings a whole new perspective. We have crayons, watercolors, brushes, and paper for children of all ages to use to draw and paint under the oaks. Ask! if we forget to offer. Please clean the supplies so others can use them after you. Don't worry about breakages or using it all up. The supplies are here to be used.

DAY/NIGHT TEMPERATURES

  Dress for cool to sort of warm (highs in the 50s and low 60s) during the day and for cold temperatures ( 30s to 40s) at night. Winter is here. Always be ready for rain and cold; even where none exists.

FOR THESE SPECIAL TIMES.

1. We ask that you abide by social distancing, hand washing, and all other guidelines set by the government and CDC for controlling the spread of COVID-19

2. Please check the flush toilet section to brush up for your toilet etiquette, especially in regards to COVID-19

3. Bring your own towels and hand towels. If you forget hand towels, you can grab some paper towels from the bathroom.

3.A. If you forget ANYTHING ask us. We may have something for you.

4. We provide hot showers and hot handwashing set up.

5. Most of all! Take advantage of this place; go for walks, sit in the sunshine, play games, read, have fun and relax.    

   A place to breathe to hear yourself breathe. It's time to take time.  Hold close the sound of crickets and frogs as night moves in. A place to regenerate your soul and revive your spirit. On clear nights when the air is still and calm you may hear the sounds of singing under the oaks. Lend your voice to the Song of the Ancients. Let Coyote sing you to sleep.

  Choices of open meadows, rings of sacred oaks, hilltops wrapped in moonlight and skies carpeted by the milky way. This is what you want it to be or let it be. You can spend the day in San Juan Bautista at the Mission and Shops or breakfast or lunch at Flapjacks in Tres Pinos, Monterey at the Aquarium, walk on the beach at Moss Landing, hike at Pinnacles, Fremont Peak, Griswold Mountains, or Panoche Hills. Then back home to sit in a quiet world under the stars. You can also...do nothing. Read a book doze in the shade drift off in a hammock or walk and discover the land and discover yourself.

  What we provide is: outdoor hot shower, flush toilet, water from a faucet, fire pit and grill to cook on at each campsite, and the spirit of the ancients, the blue oak savanna. Our hens lay or don't lay at their will they charge (not laying enough right now) for their eggs. Free range raw goats milk for animal consumption only not for humans $4/qt, firewood for $10/bundle, fire lighters $5, fire starters -first two free in the winter then $0.50/each. Our firewood is sustainably harvested from downed trees and branches. We sell it for a neighbor. No healthy live trees are harmed in order to produce firewood. No native trees are felled in order to plant fast growing hardwood for fire or anything else!

  It is important to note; although we are in a convenient location for many different places, we are in the mountains. What may look close or just a few minutes away on a map will probably be closer for a condor moving through the air than a car. Take into account we are approximately nineteen miles south east of Paicines on Panoche road. Then, when the map tells you we are eleven miles from Pinnacles and you get here and realize we are more like forty miles from Pinnacles because you are not a Condor or a Raven and you have to travel by road, you won't be disappointed.

  wildfarmers is a project of Stork Peterkin International Foundation (spif), a 501c3 public charity. Check us out at wildfarmers dot org.  We are dedicated to the conservation and restoration of habitat and the re unification of people and wilderness. We accomplish our mission through events such as our Wild Lands and Working Lands of San Benito County, Walk on the Wild Side, wildflower discovery walk in the spring, Native Plant Seed Vault - seed gathering workshop, and other fun and educational events. Song of the Ancients (our camping program) is one of the many ways we have deployed to bring people back in touch with nature. Donations are tax deductible and all go towards the restoration and conservation of the land. Our current large project is the Pond Project, Restoring Wetland Habitat which is funded by a matching grant from Natural Resources Conservation Services, a division of USDA and US Fish and Wildlife Services and Private Donations from people such as yourself.

  Cup the moon in your hands and drink in the essence of the Universe . Revitalize.