Our first visitor

We felt a bit lonesome here at the SLI putting out invites to everyone and anyone to come visit, but no one has taken us up on it. I don't know why anyone would pass up a vacation to the wine country. Somehow I enticed my friend Marykay to take the plunge and she brought along Kevin. I couldn't convince them to stay in the tiny house, maybe because Kevin is well over 6 feet tall and probably would not have fit in the loft but I think it is more that Marykay has gotten soft in her old age!!!

We picked them up in SF and had a perfect evening in the city enjoying a seafood dinner and some great live music. After a leisurely morning and an irish coffee at the famous Buena Vista, we made the trek up north. Before arriving at the SLI we had to make a stop at the Rodney Strong Winery in Healdsburg-a solar powered organic winery. We picked up a few bottles for our party that evening.

Marykay and Kevin were going to be introduced to our intentional community and the permaculture way of life. But first we had to drop them off at the only hotel in town. A cute old 49er's style hotel next to the Hopland brewery which was the first micro brewpub in California. That evening we had a going away party for our site manager Sarah so many people from the community attended. We made pizzas in our earth oven and shared an all organic meal with Marykay and Kevin. The tequila shots included-made from organic agave plants!!

We let them sleep in the next morning and they walked over to a 5 star breakfast. We made omelets on the solar cooker with fresh eggs from our chickens and vegetables picked from our garden. I sent Marykay and Kevin off with Roby to pick fresh strawberries and mulberries from the site trees to mix with our yogurt and granola. With the eggs I cooked some potatoes, onions and garlic also from the garden. I finished it off with some of my homemade solar cooked bread and yerba mate tea. Anyone hungry?? It was a delicious meal if I do say so myself. All fresh, organic and cooked by the sun! I know I sound like a broken record but this is the best way to eat. Maybe sublimely I will get more of you to Go Organic. I am not sure if any of us were able to get up from the table but we managed to get our act together.

Another round of wine tasting. Mendocino County is one of the first areas to fully embrace organic wines and several have gone biodynamic. We took them to Jeriko which is owned by one of the Fetzer boys ( Fetzer is a big winery but the family sold the family farm and the boys have their own winery now}. They purchased a bottle of the Biodynamic Cabernet and loved the Port. (We sent them a bottle in a sustainable care package we mailed home to them.) From Jeriko we hit the Stryker winery on the way to Calistoga where they were going to meet some other friends from Fort Collins. We enjoyed the evening with them and then ventured back to the SLI.

Our invite is open to anyone to come experience and enjoy!