Up Coming Events
Painting Workshops
Paint, Earth and Visual Exploration
Wild Heart Teachers Training
May 16 – 20
Final Passages
Sold Out
May 22 – 25
Northern Arizona University
Still some openings
May 22 – 23
SpyRock School
Still some openings
May 24 – 27
Memorial Day Weekend
CDS family gathering
Almost sold out
May 30th – June 2nd
Guild of Guides
Sold Out
June 2 – 9th
Bay NVC
Leadership Training
Almost sold out
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The Circle of Life is Bitter Sweet
This month has been a challenge for our four legged friends. Our beloved Willy, the billy, was healing well from his broken leg. Three weeks in and one day he stopped eating and seemed to be in a lot of pain. The pain meds did nothing, so we headed off to the vet and in route, he let out one last baa and died in my arms. Our best guess, a blood clod that landed in the heart ;-( Then we were struck with the cat food recall, too late. (Natura Pet Products, a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble Co. had salmonella contamination) Sunny the mother kitty of Luna, the super friendly grey kitty that lives by Grandma’s cottage and Jimmy’s kitty Sierra, both older, died suddenly, with no warning. We thought we were doing the right thing by buying only US made, healthy ingredient foods. A sad month indeed.
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Open House and BBQ for 150+
Thanks for Joining us
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Tid Bits
Dipping Sauce for your Bread
A yummy and healthier alternative to butter for your bread is Olive oil, baslamic vinegar and herbs(we use garlic, rosemary and oregano) A wonderful dipping sauce for your bread.
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Spring Has Sprung
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The Ranch is a-bloom with spring flowers, both wild and domestic, and just in time for our open house and BBQ we hosted on the 28th of last month. We served up the first of the season’s BBQ’s We opened all of the rooms for people to tour and see the many upgrades we have made over the years, most recently, are the new 100% cotton quilts in many of the rooms. We enjoyed celebrating with 150+ of you at the first of our centennial parties. The next big one is in July with a family reunion and old time guest’s weekend. We’ll keep you posted and look forward to seeing you sometime this year.
Much Love and Gratitude
Suzanne & John |
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Changing With the Times
While the resort started on the homestead property in the canyon in 1913, two years later the “mountain home” in Calistoga seemed to be a viable business so Grandma and Grandpa sold their Richmond home and purchased the neighboring Franz ranch, where the lodge is now. As the Ranch grew, it soon outgrew the dining room of the Franz farmhouse. A new building was erected nearby — the building that later became the “Kids’ Bar” and is now known as the “Meditation Chapel”. This soon became the domain of Uncle Gus, Grandma’s brother. With all of the German guests, the building soon looked and sounded like a Munich beer hall with singing and drinking into the night. There was a “one armed bandit” — a slot machine. This was illegal, but then so was the beer and wine served during prohibition!
This building has reflected the changing of the Ranch clientele. At first it served as Gus’ beer hall for the single German working men who made up most of the early guests. As the Ranch became more family oriented, the beer hall became the “Kids’ Bar” with soda, candy, ping pong and pinball machines. Now with the arrival of spiritual groups, the Kids’ Bar has morphed into a meditation chapel. As this goes to print, the carpet has been covered, easels erected, and it is an art studio! The Ranch has lasted 100 years by changing with the times.
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The Fields are alive with the sounds of buzzing.
As we continue the weeding process in our garden beds, we are happy to see ladybugs and many other flying insects that wintered over in the ‘untidy’ mess we left for them. We are not the gardeners that strip everything to get that clean, prim and proper look. Rather we leave it all there for the good bugs to hang out in throughout the winter. The benefit, we got some pepper plants from a nursery that unbeknownst to us, came with aphids. Within hours of being planted, the lady bugs were on them enjoying the tasty treat, no more aphids and no need for chemical sprays, not that we would ever use chemicals anyway. But glad to know our intentional ‘lazy’ ways of leaving a lot of plants out
in the garden, had a good result. We topped all of our garden beds (pictured) with the pond scum we took off the lake last year. A great mulch
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Early Fire Season
The calendar says “May”, but the weather says “September.” The first of May began with hot dry north winds, of the type we normally experience in the Fall. With the winds came wildfires. Already in May we have experience three fires close enough to cause some concern – and give the crew practice on our fire drills. We are better prepared now than in 1964, the last big fire to burn the Ranch. The pool that Dad built above the cabins is still there, and still connected to our fire hydrants. It was by using this water that we were able to save the cabins in ’64. In addition, we have the lake, and reserve water storage on top of each ridge surrounding the Ranch. We have cleared defensible space around the cabins and lodge, and have purchased “old ’96″, a 1500 gallon water tender with its pumps and hoses, from the local volunteer fire department to serve as a portable fire hydrant. We have installed additional hydrants around the property, and equipped them with hoses and nozzles. We have a propane powered generator large enough to run the well and pressure pump in the event of loss of power. We have a portable gasoline powered pump that can be used in either pool or the lake. We are prepared, but hope never to use our preparations.
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