San Francisco, North then Nevada City

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The next morning (the 26th) I got up and started heading north with the idea of checking out oyster places in Tomales Bay. Crossed the golden gate bridge, pretty interesting foggy coastland in the morning, the environment looked rather similar to the first farm I visited in socal between escondido and temecula. Temp may be a bit cooler but not by too much, which is a bit surprising since the difference is roughly 475 miles north.

Found a place selling oysters, bought a few - more expensive than I was expecting so I took it easy on that, chatted with the guy and left - headed east towards Petaluma then I made arrangements with the next farm as to time I'd show up in Nevada City.

First, I headed to Sacramento and looked for interesting places to eat, came across Maalouf's Taste of Lebanon (via a quick GPS search of food- international). It was perhaps deceivingly very good (being small and in a strip mall, only 1 or 2 other tables occupied), seemed to all be made from scratch and as soon as I ordered something I only waited about 3 minutes for it to come out, then the main course came out before I was done with that. I got a piece of kibbee and the soujok houmos+sides of course. Hefty amount of food for a good price, I recommend it. Thus I might as well advertise for them:
http://maaloufs.com/

After that, onwards north east to an area near Nevada City. I got there in the evening and got to a creek near the place - impassable without a 4WD vehicle, then hiked up the hill to meet Star, the owner of the land there.
Ended up staying about 3 days, it was definitely an interesting experience, something any city dweller would have to be very open to acclimatization in order to appreciate - very..I think self described 'primitive', the only electricity was a few lightbulbs and an electric outlet or two in the main housing structure. One building seemed to be the inside of an old RV - that's where I stayed. There were two yurts on the land and a schoolbus.
The main focus of this place is pretty much acorn processing - using a native, easily accessible food source for some protein and a decent amount of fat. It requires leeching though in order to not be toxic to the kidneys (basically means soaking and rinsing for a while in water). Other than that hides are occasionally tanned as animals are available (not killed, available - roadkill collection..apparently makes for better hides as there are no bullet holes) and manzanita berries gathered from the many trees of that type around whenever the berries are in season - not sure when exactly but not this season. Wood from the same type of tree is very hot burning and used for firewood. Makes for quick cooking if used to fuel a wood burning stove as used at this place, though you have to quickly add more.

The environment there was very peaceful and clean. As I didn't stay long and didn't learn or share all that can be there, I may revisit for a bit longer.
I decided to take off on the 29th and head back to Sacramento to spend some time with my friend Matt for a couple days before the Buckeye Gathering.

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Photos

Golden Gate
First glance of the Golden Gate Bridge