The Ojai Valley, California (2013)

“When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.” -Wendell Berry, Sex, Economy, Freedom, and Community: Eight Essays

THE OJAI VALLEY FROM ABOVE

OJAI is an adopted home for me, since I wasn't raised here but my parents live here now. Even though I grew up further south, I feel connected to the land where Ojai lies, and I fully believe that connection comes from being surrounded by an area that is still largely earth. Ojai is a Chumash word for "moon" being that the area was once inhabited by the Chumash tribe, which you can read more about here. It has been greatly affected by the drought in California, which Obama just designated federal aid to, and in the past year in Ojai I've seen rivers run bone dry after being rerouted to local farm land.  Although it can be a depressing topic, it's a very important one that affects everyone, whether we like it or not.

I'll leave you with a look into the environment that's at stake in my own home town (known for orange groves and avocado trees). It is always giving back, whether in the form of food or just through a beautiful sunset.

CITRUS TREES, OAK & BRUSH:

   

  SUNSETS ON HIGHWAY 150:

“We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. 

We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. 

And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it.”

 -Wendell Berry The Long-Legged House