California

Aiyana and I are in California right now. We've been here for two days and it will be just the two of us for almost a week. We are attending a Natural Horsemanship workshop in Corning, then heading to Santa Cruz for fun.

We'll be meeting Ed and Sena in Fresno, and we're all heading to Yosemite for a few days of camping, and from there, to Monterrey and San Francisco. Aiyana and I are flying back home from San Francisco, while Ed and Sena continue up the coast to Oregon and Washington state. Sena has arranged to meet Ken Balcom, who's famous for his work with wild orcas, and spend a little time learning from him in San Juan islands.

Being here in the Chico area, north of Sacramento, has been very interesting so far, in different ways. The natural horsemanship workshop is great. Aiyana is learning how to work with horses in a way that is non aggressive, but rather through building connection and understanding of each other. Even though I don't work with horses, I feel that this method applies to any animals including humans. It's all about how to build a trusting, respectful relationship.

The other interesting thing about being here has been the landscape. Everywhere you look are thousands of acres of orchards, but when you look closely, they are not idyllic at all, they're just huge monocultures. You can tell the land is being abused. The soil looks terrible, there is very little water in the landscape, and yet it is being pushed to produce water intensive crops that would never grow here naturally. The orchards are being irrigated to sustain the production, yet most of the river beds are completely dry. We all know that California has a water problem and when you see these places I'm talking about you understand just how serious this problem is.

So how foolish is it that California is the bread basket of the US, and not only that, but actually produces food for export as well?

As far as food, the good news is that there are some real, authentic Mexican restaurants here(and I like Mexican food), due to all the Mexican and other Latino farm workers that are here to be exploited and provide cheap labor in this agribusiness wasteland.

I know this sounds harsh, but it really bothers me to see the land raped like that for profit, and the people exploited to work it, and I feel I need to speak out about it.

On a very positive note though, the Airbnb we're staying at is really nice and the people very kind. The wife is involved in different forms of social activism, and the husband is an artist with paintings all over the house. I bonded very well with both of them on different topics, and Aiyana and I feel safe and relaxed at their house. The part of Chico  they live in is very nice and green, with lots of large trees.

Here are some pictures of the workshop and the Airbnb

This is what the landscape mostly looks like 
 This is at the Mexican restaurant we ate at. Quite a contrast with all those colors and lushness.