The Hotel Bauer

Chris and Pearl Among the Vines (Photo Courtesy of Lily)

Every year, there seems to be one month where our home turns into The Hotel Bauer (which is slightly different than Camp Bauer), and September was such a month. It started off with a trip home to see Chris' family, followed immediately by a series of hosting: friends, family friends, friends-of-friends, plus a visit from Micah and Sharon who were in town from Denver, finishing up with a visit from our most frequent visitor, the lovely Miss Pia.

And in between these visits from friends old and new, we:

* Welcomed new Berkeley-ites Blair (who just moved from Davis, CA), and Dustin (who moved from Germany).

* Took another edibles walk with Feral Kevin, this time in Lafayette, which commenced at the Community Center and ended at his school’s garden, where he manages an after-school program teaching kids how to farm. We are very excited to take his daylong mushroom foray in Northern California later this year.

* Helped Sascha revamp his website to include acupuncture, moxa and herb photos, with help from Dustin, Ciana and Krista.

* Planted and landscaped the front yard making the house appear lived-in and well-loved (it had been unattended for years prior to our moving here).

* Visited Jason’s uncle and aunt’s vineyard, Pasterick, in Sonoma during crush season, where we got to see the harvesting and crushing of grapes for the new vintage. We also walked through the magical forest, ate a lovely picnic and played a few friendly rounds of Petanque. We’re very excited to visit the Gerry and Diane again, as they have a lovely vineyard and are the most wonderful hosts.

Now, as summer turns quickly to fall, we have started to make plans for our next round of planting. We are thinking of planting lettuce and a bunch of underground vegetables, roots, bulbs and tubers, such as potatoes, beets, yams, and garlic. Suggestions, as always, are welcome.

With October well underway, we're excited to go apple picking and having many children ring our doorbell for treats on Halloween. Happy "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" season, everyone!