Susan Preston book Launch at Barndiva Healdsburg: Take a Bow

The gift of perspective with age

We don’t talk enough about the upsides of old age, which is a great shame. While we go on and on about getting as much as we can from every minute of our lives, devote books and podcasts and practices on how to ‘hold the moment,’ when it comes to aging, too often fear replaces reverence for the lives we can still live as we age. The truth is that all of life, not just youth and middle age, is a blink and you miss it experience. And unlike those other phases of our time on this planet, getting old brings with it the potential of illuminating perspectives, especially if you have been paying attention. Another huge plus- there is a palpable relief in allowing yourself to finally let go of the insatiable need to fill your life with things, and diversions, all that ‘stuff’ you come to realize with age - thanks again to that hard won perspective - do not in themselves bring resonant joy or happiness.

The obsession to deny our aging minds and bodies their agency ignores the fact that our mental and physical health can be fragile at any stage of life- none of us really knows what’s coming. Resilience is the skill set we should be focused on, not clinging onto being young, which is monetized non-stop starting from an age when we are in fact still biologically young! Learning to accept the inevitability of age with intelligence, with grace, is what could be driving more of us to live meaningful lives… before and certainly after we get there.

Towards the end of our lives there is great relief to be found in sitting back on your heels, and basking in the glow of your life’s accomplishments.

It helps, of course, to have accomplishments you can be proud of - even better if they are acknowledged by the tribe.

Gathering Healdsburg’s Artists, Farmers & Makers

On Sunday Sept 14, a very special tribe gathered in Barndiva to celebrate the publication of “In Ghost Time, The Art and Stories of Susan Preston, her remarkable compendium filled with joy and mischievous humor that could only have come out of a long and glorious life, lived with intent. Much has been written about Lou and Susan Preston over the years, their farming life in Dry Creek Valley where they raised glorious vegetables, fruits, nuts, animals, made olive oil, bread, organic wines, all while supporting the growth of a Sonoma County regenerative food shed. Less known is that for all those years, quite a bit before, and while raising a family, Susan Preston never stopped writing and painting, accumulating a remarkable body of work that is now gathered between the pages of this new book. ‘In Ghost Time’ is a record of a life lived fully, infused with kindness, wit, few regrets, no apologies. It is also a heroic endeavor, as the making of the book was the lifeline she used to pull herself out of a very difficult couple of years when her health, indeed her life, was precarious. That she has come out the other side with this magnificent accomplishment was cause for celebration.

Celebrate she did, with her family and a very special community —a veritable who’s who of artists, farmers, and visionaries who have helped make Healdsburg the celebrated destination it is today. Legacy leaders mingled with those still shaping the town’s creative spirit: Bonnie Z of Dragonfly Farm and Floral; Carrie Brown, founder of Jimtown; Cindy Daniels and Doug Lipton, founders of the acclaimed gathering place The Shed; Yael Bernier of Bernier Farms; Dawnelise Rosen, formerly of Scopa and Campo Fina and now executive director of FARMpreneurs; Manok Cohen of Gallery 205; Carol Vena-Monte of the 428 Collective; Laura Parker of Laura Parker Studio, (who exhibited at Barndiva’s opening alongside Susan); Jessica Martin of Jessica Martin Art and the 428 Collective; Barbara von Wollner of BVW Art; Colleen McGlynn and Ridgley Evers of DaVero Farms & Winery; Marci Ellison of Art Farm; Ray Dagischer of Country Industrial; Suzanne & Chris Blum (Blum Box Art); Christina Hobbs of the 428 Collective; Kirsten Petrie of Yarn Paper Print Studio; Marcia Brauer of Preston Family Farm; and of course Francesca Preston, poet, and Maggie Preston of Maggie Preston Studio, Susan’s beloved daughters.

Susan floated through her opening on Sunday with self assured grace, signing books until it was time for a mesmerizing reading to the group assembled beneath the Mulberry Trees in our garden. On this sunny, perfect summer afternoon, in the heart of a splendid community we all helped foster, there was profound admiration for this singular woman. For her art, her honesty, and her resilient spirit.

Working on this book with Susan for the past two years I’ve taken away a great many lessons- not least that old age can be a season of abundance. Would that we all lived lives as fully as she has, with purpose and rootedness. To have an abiding passion for something so fully that when we look back we feel the quiet satisfaction of having become who we were meant to be.

Buy the book! You can find it on Susan’s page @PrestonFarmandWinery.com.

The joys to be found in a No Crap Christmas

Conversations Worth Having was thrilled when the founders of Healdsburg’s beloved Artisan Collective, Kim Dow and Karin Tredrea offered us the opportunity to team tag their December Makers Market traditionally held on Moore Lane. Throughout our CWH speakers series, and especially as a result of our mind-blowing collaboration with Zem Joaquin and Near Future Summit, we have learned a great deal around what it’s going to take to live more lightly on the ground through design. But it’s quite another thing to put that knowledge into practice, especially with a heavy lift like Christmas. Which is why the offer to participate in a market that supports local makers who already walking the walk means so much to us.

Quite simply, the focus of our Makers Market will be to support circular economies with cradle to cradle products made locally in ways that respect sourcing and equity. On Dec. 8 we will fill the Barn AND the Studio with beautiful, hand-crafted objects large and small… there will be edible delights, clothing, art, textiles, jewelry, ceramics - ingenious and useful things to fill your stockings or slip beneath the tree. There will be delicious things to top up your Holiday Larder, and for those loved ones you always struggle with finding a gift for we’ll have perfect Pay It Forward special opportunities that will keep on giving throughout the year.

We’re counting on you, and a great swathe of the Healdsburg and Sonoma community to show up and shop local. Catch a quick bite at our pop up Lunchonette, sip a cocktail, mocktail, share a glass of wine - spend some time with us on Dec. 8th. There will be plenty of time to head over to Moore Lane, or start there… we’re all in this together!

An incredible range of local talent will be with us on Sunday Dec. 8, many of whom have helped build our sustainable community in Healdsburg, along with a few rising talents who are just starting out.

MAKERS INCLUDE: Susan and Lou Preston of Preston Farms; Duskie Estes of Black Pig; Dawnelise Rosen with Pay It Forward FARMpreneurs along with her Daughter Serafina Rosen who will be selling the Campo Fino Sugo Sauce; Anne Loarie with her exquisite resin Jewlery; Maya Eshom with fashion designed and made in Healdsburg; Amber McInnis with the inaugural outing of Pillow Lips, ‘gorgeous scrap’ throw pillows; the Mendo Grass family; the Cequin Coffee family; Seth Minor, whose single wire faces have been sold at Barndiva for over 15 years; the Yoga On Center founders (another great pay it forward); Scott Beattie with special Cocktail Class gifts; Sipsong founder Tara Jasper, with her very special Sipsong Gin Tea; Candice Koseba, founder of the Sonoma Bee Company with a full range of must have candles and soaps for the Holidays; Longer Table Farm with a gloriously colored range of their farm grown pepper products and a few pepper wreaths (get here early before they disappear); The Farm Studio folks with 100% naturally dyed hemp and linen napkins using locally foraged plants and kitchen scraps (talk about cradle to cradle); Local Architect Alan Cohen with his delightful driftwood sculptures, and Barndiva’s Geoffrey Hales who will be heavily discounting coveted pieces from his Antique ‘before we knew’ Card Collection, which always have pride of place hanging in Studio Barndiva.

Apple Girl Designs Rosalie Pochan will be doing live portraits at the market! Snag a sitting then go shop and we will come find you when she’s ready for your portrait.

Jordy and Zuzu Morgan will be grilling up succulent plates of food in the garden, which they will serve with their own kimchi, while they last…

We will have a limited number of tables in the Studio to enjoy the food and libation with Scott Beattie behind the bar, and Barndiva Wine Director Emily Carlson pouring some surprises from the cellar BTG.

When we say Sunday’s Makers Market is going to be a family affair, we aren’t kidding.

As the penultimate experience of our Conversations Worth Having year, with a huge shout out to Near Future Summit Zem Joaquin, who has been a muse and teacher around what Cradle to Cradle can mean for our future , these are gifts you will be proud to give, and meaningful to receive. That’s was Christmas and Channukah should be all about!

Come and support a Cradle to Cradle Christmas and C2C Channukah.

Come support a truly sustainably Healdsburg community of talent. Come and say hi!

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A quick word about Studio Barndiva Holiday Decorations this year:

Christmas and Channukah are celebrations of joy, or should be. We don’t know why it’s taken us so long to figure out that we have both the power and the responsibility to evolve our traditions so they change with us as we continue to define what gives life meaning in all its seasons and iterations. There is clearly no joy to be found in the mountains of crap destined to end up in the oceans or landfill from gifting, not to mention all those wonderful sparkling plastic derived decorations that have come to be emblematic of the season. So this year we’re going a different direction, embracing a cradle to cradle approach to Holiday decorations as well as our gifting. We don’t want to waste this #chancetochange.

No ground rules, but a friendly challange: haul out all the old heirloom decorations to your hearts content, up-cycle those glittery past Xmas plastic impulse buys, just but don’t rush out to buy anything new to decorate the tree or the house if you can help it. You might be surprised with what you come up with…

When we threw this challenge to our farm manager Misha Vega we had just finished planting garlic and were standing by the garden gate idly kicking fallen chestnuts around on the ground. We Love chestnuts, but hate the husks - every fall its a nightmare trying to avoid getting a sharp prick from the shells you have to break open in order to get to the nuts. “These are a cool shape,” Misha noted. And they were, come to think of it. The next thing we knew our AGM’s sweetheart Caitlin was spray painting them in hues of gold and silver, hanging them alongside Persimmon leaves that now shimmer and glow from the Antler Chanderlier in the Studio. Caitlin also made three enormous orgamami Stars- some people are so talented when you think to ask! Once we got going it was hard to stop. Misha and I wove dried flowers into fallen branch wreathes - there are now five twinkling in the Studio. A fig branch ‘chandelier’ is now host to a paper maché whale family, precious family ornaments we’ve collected over the years. This week we will harvest a perfect 12’ conifer that’s growing too close to the wood pile for the staff party - and except for recycled electric fairy lights find a way to decorate it with truly biodegradable materials. Best part is we will do it together.

What we’re learning as we go is that you can honor a concept like The Ellen McArthur Foundations #chancetochange at the same time you expand what best reflects how you want to feel around and, crucially, after the holidays. If you aren’t in the crafting mood, patronize a shop that supports fair trade decorations which more often than not are made from up-cycling materials. Get the kids you know involved - they are natural crafters and can always use a little spending money this time of year. There are so many beautiful way of changing up how we approach gifting and decorating for the Holiday Season. Ours is still a work in progress, but the biggest surprise is how much pleasure we’re getting coming up with random ideas that honor the natural landscape around us instead of contributing to its demise. Stay tuned, or better yet come in and raise a glass with us over the Holidays and see for yourself how this all turns out!