Today was a day to meander back to my home town of St. Helena, CA. The photo to the left is where I was raised, a home in the vineyards, among the dirt clods, and grapevines. The soil here seems different from in Seattle, drier, lighter-colored, clumpier. Funny to be nostalgic about dirt, but there you have it, a small town girl raised on a ranch and dirt was a big part of the experience. You walk differently on freshly disked earth, carefully, tramping with higher steps, testing your balance, and it has a fresh, weedy, damp smell like nothing I’ve experienced in Washington.  Continue reading →