Uprooted, an eco/travel blog

Last December I was WWOOFing at Dandelion Farm in Northern California. The owners of Dandelion are artists and builders, and my adventures there had more to do with creativity than with farming…

My time at Dandelion Farm is coming to a close, but the work here keeps on going. In fact, a whole new phase of development is just getting started.

click to enlarge

For the past 30 years, Loren and Candace Stolley have developed their little slice of Northern California into a beautiful organic and sustainable farm. But, [...]

“Nobody works bronze like I do,” Candace Stolley says with a big smile. Since she’s emphatically not the type to brag, I know it’s got to be the truth.

Bindu Jewelry started in the 1960s as Candace’s brainchild. Bronze artisanry would become her medium for self-expression, and a viable way to support her creative lifestyle without [...]

These are the clothes I wore to work Saturday. It’s cold! Colder than usual; winter is suddenly here, and it’s Not Messing Around.
Before the cold snap, there was no precipitation, and water supplies were getting lower daily. The Stolleys just completed a huge earth-moving project, enlarging the lake so it could become a practically bottomless [...]

We’re installing an arbor to surround Faithful Fountain. I bet you never thought about how all that big art was installed, did you? Yeah, me too.

The arbor is made of rebar. It was built in the metal shop, which is down by the house. In order to move it up the hill to Dandelion Ballad, [...]

click to enlarge

Every time I think I know this place, I find some new wonder. Each door, each bend in each path, reveals some evidence of the vast amount of love and effort the Stolleys have poured into Dandelion Farm. But the most exciting surprise here is the art.

Apple juice is the best of all the juices. And apples are the best of all fruits. Right? Right.
So okay, say you’ve got a bunch of apples. How do you juice them?
Here’s how it’s done at Dandelion Farm (as demonstrated by Messr. Loren Stolley).
1. Put on rubber gloves! This is food preparation, after all.
2. Sort [...]

Garden Gate at Dandelion

So here I am at Dandelion Farm. And what a place to start. This place is much more than a farm: it’s a highly accomplished, self-sustaining retreat, filled with truly inspired artwork.
Loren and Candace Stolley run Dandelion… or it runs them… or maybe a little of both. They moved up to Lower [...]