West Marin Commons is dedicated to the practice of community in West Marin, in order to sustain and enrich our social and natural environment. We seek to establish, preserve, and enhance both common spaces and the life that occurs in them; and to create social infrastructure for resource sharing, conservation, and learning.
www.westmarincommons.org
westmarincommons@svn.net
PO Box 127
Point Reyes Station, California 94956
Economy of Sharing - click here (Discussion Groups + A Ride Board) to find out more about and sign up for West Marin Commons ride share, materials and resource sharing, food system sharing, etc
Upcoming Events
A Winter Barn Dance
Saturday, December 5, 2009
at Toby's Feed Barn in Point Reyes Station
Musicians: Ingrid Noyes and Friends
Caller: Erik Hoffman
General Admission $15; ages 12-18 $5; kids under 12 free
Homemade Soup, Hot Apple Cider, and other goodies on sale
A PHOTO BOOTH: Come take your holiday photo. Take home a print for $5.
Dancers at the August Barn Dance at Toby's Feed Barn
Illuminating Landscape: Inquiries into Land, History, and Culture
West Marin Commons Fall 2009 Speaker Series
Lillian Vallee - Author/Writer/Poet
December 13, 2009
2pm at the Dance Palace Community Center
Judith Larner Lowry- Author/Native Plant Restorationist
To be scheduled in 2010
Upcoming in the series:
Sunday, December 13, 2pm
Please note the time change - 2pm
writer/restorationist Lillian Vallee
presents
Singing Back the River, Singing Back the Lake
Reviving Nature and Culture in the Central Valley
What role does imagination play in the restoration of land and culture?
Lillian
Vallee helps extend our sense of place from the coast inland to the
Central Valley. Poet, writer, translator, teacher at Modesto Junior
College, Vallee is a restorationist who pays tribute to the natural and
cultural heritage of the Central Valley in all her activities. Join us
for her inspired description of the
nature-based cultural renaissance taking place there.
Sunday, December 13, 2pm
Dance Palace Church Space
Point Reyes Station
wheelchair accessible; plenty of parking
directions: www.dancepalace.org
PLEASE NOTE THE TIME CHANGE TO 2pm
****************************************************************
November 1 through December 6
A related photo show at Gallery Route One in Point Reyes Station:
Gwendolyn Meyer’s photographs: Engineered! A Landscape
Kings County, California - radically altered for farming on a massive, industrial scale.
Coming Back to Life: A Weekend with Joanna Macyand The Work that Reconnects
December 5 and 6, 2009
Commonweal Center in Bolinas
For more information, contact Ken Otter at kenoca@mac.com
PAST EVENTS
A commons, a community gathering place– free and open to all – is something not to take for granted.With this in mind, I’d like to acknowledge the generosity of Marshall Livingston who has made the land next to the Livery Stable available to the community as a picnic area and welcome patch of green.
Over the last couple of years, with Marshall’s support, West Marin Commons has created a native garden there, and has presented a natural dyes workshop.This past Saturday we organized a Low Carbon Faire in coordination with the 350.org Climate Change Action event and Transition West Marin. After Marshall gave us the okay, the response was enthusiastic. Rebecca Burgess tended natural dye vats – which displayed beautiful plant colors - next to the toyon, yerba buena, and other native plants in the garden. Michael Bock fielded questions about his electric bicycle explorations. Rufus Blunk and Mark Butler shared their apple pressing experience (and strong cranking arms).
The Latino Photo Project’s homemade organic tacos with hand-made tortillas were a taste – literally -- of tradition and simplicity. Liz Scatena of Straus Creamery donated delicious ice cream, graciously served by Rosalie Rybka. Paul Fenn of Local Power highlighted new threats to locally produced power and Community Choice. All these demonstrations enriched a larger day of music, presenters, and an Art Rogers photo.
In addition, a car-free commons extended into Third Street for the day. Thanks to Madeline Hope for her efforts to secure a county permit for the street closure (and to the county for providing the permit.)This is something a lot of people have asked for, for a long time.
In the evening, many danced at the Tomales Town Hall at a Barn Dance organized by the Fly by Night Events Committee in cooperation with West Marin Commons. It felt like we’d been warmly invited into the Tomales living room.
Saturday, October 24, was a day of public statement that carbon emissions must be reduced. Without a place to gather, and without the convivial exchange and happenings that result, the statement here would not have been the same.
Elizabeth Barnet, Co-Director, West Marin Commons
Photos by Michael Keefe.
View more photos of the day by Michael Keefe here.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Low Carbon Faire and 350.org Teach-in
Livery Stable Native Garden in Point Reyes Station
noon until 4pm
Natural Dye Demonstration, Electric Bikes demonstration and display, Community apple pressing, solar ovens, Straus ice cream
Music, Speakers
Walk, Bicycle, Ride, Share
Imagine a low-carbon future by participating in one now
followed by
A Barn Dance
Saturday, October 24, 7pm
in Tomales at Tomales Town Hall
THE GMO CRISIS: POLITICS AND PROPHECY
An Evening with Traditional Mayan Elders,
Tata Tomas and Tata Cecilio
Tuesday, October 20th, Point Reyes Station at the
COMMON SPACES
Livery Stable Native Restoration Garden
next to Tomales Bay Foods in Point Reyes Station hosted a Natural and
Native Plant Community Dye Day on Monday, August 10, 2009. See Dye Day flyer.
Native Restoration Garden design by Judith Lowry of Larner Seeds (www.larnerseeds.org), author of The Landscaping Ideas of Jays and Gardening with a Wild Heart. Wood features by local artist Rufus Blunk. Plants
from local gardeners and nurseries. Thanks to support early on from
Permaculture Marin and West Marin Commons volunteers!
Mesa Road Pathway behind Toby's and across from Toby's Community Playground
Please email westmarincommons@svn.net for volunteer work times. We invite your participation.
Barn Dance Hub - Click to see photos and flyers from our barn dances, including the recent August 8 dance.
These Barn Dances are lots of fun! Thanks for coming out!
NEW PROJECT: Learn about and practice cultivation of native plants in your own garden and in the the public garden at the Livery Stable in Point Reyes. Join a discussion group to share the knowledge.
Speaker Series - Illuminating Landscape: Inquiries in to Land, History, and Culture
Click here: Tending the Wild Collaborative: A West Marin Commons Ethnobiology Project
Past Events
WATER STEWARDSHIP AND THE TOMALES BAY WATERSHED
Over 200 people turned out for this event, co-sponsored by West Marin Commons with Gallery Route One, West Marin School PTSA, and Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN), which took place on February 20, 2009 at West Marin School Gym in Point Reyes Station to highlight the watershed and stewardship.
Water Stewardship2008 Events
- Livery Stable Restoration Work
Sharing and Cooperation: Share Rides and Errands, Share Stuff, Participate in the Local Food System Initiative, and more
- West Marin Share
- West Marin Parent's Network
- West Marin Soapbox
- Food Systems Initiative
- Over The Hill Gang
- West Marin Commons Wiki Site
Gratitude:
West Marin Commons is grateful for support provided by a grant from the Marin Community Foundation (www.marincf.org).