FIRE RANT TWO: In my first lifetime, as one of the first female cops in my region, family and friends were fascinated and thought I was something very special. I wasnt. I was just another pioneer. Like my Great Great Grandfather James Pursell. Who were my hero’s at that time? Who did I see every night stepping into harms way, up close and very personal, in blood and guts and every other fluid possible? #Firefighters – called ‘firemen’ back then.

And right now literally thousands of #firefighters are stepping into harm’s way risking their lives and the well-being of their families to protect other people’s home and structures BUILT IN INAPPROPRIATE SITES, inappropriate environments, buildings and structures with no #defensiblespace.

To those homeowners who did create defensible space: thank you, but it’s one of those community things. If your neighbors don’t do it their fuel loading feeds the #fires, makes it so hot that very little can stop it.

Planning departments, materials manufacturers, architects have all of the knowledge and technology to mitigate the damage. And any insurance company that issues a policy without inspecting or requiring proof of best practices mitigation – whether for fire or flood or earthquake or hurricane – should have their licenses suspended or revoked.

A disaster occurs only when human beings contribute or are victims. Otherwise these events are ‘naturally occurring wild fires.’

Somewhere in the very deep back of my mind I thought that I might return to California to die. It was mostly fantasy. I’ve always told people that I missed five things from CA: fresh salmon, redwood forests, museums and art galleries, ethnic restaurants and the isolated, remote beaches of the far north of the state. Having lost my own home there to similar fire event, having written emergency plans, I now feel the reality. As long as governments and corporations base their actions on greed and mediocrity, on working to maintain the status quo, living in most of California will be a severe risk of loss. California has for thousands of years, been a FIRE DRIVEN NATURAL ENVIRONMENT WITH AN ACTIVE UNDERLYING GEOLOGY. With the density of development and fluctuations in climatic extremes the present events will become the norm and everyone will learn how to face loss … including the bankruptcy of public agencies and major corporations on which people depend for recovery. Check your mutual funds for property/casualty insurance companies and public utilities and get the heck out … of high fire risk areas and those stocks. Adapt now.

Growth: for me, in plants, in diversification of offerings. The priority project for this year was to convert the potting shed to a small propagation greenhouse. And with the assistance of my good friend Donna this project is completed. Please join me in a little tour of the new shed with a new video on the Tara Farm and Nursery YouTube Channel. Being able to grow clones, seedlings and cuttings from plants that have been proven to thrive here in Central Wyoming is huge.  I also posted a short video update of the Fruit Garden. There will be pounds of elderberry, lots of raspberries and later this summer, grapes.

Please “Like” the videos if you find them interesting and Subscribe to the Channel for all future video updates. The next videos will each focus on one of the plants seen in the videos.

And if you live in the Casper Wyoming USA area and see plants that you would like to add to your garden please feel free to contact me with a message here, a Facebook Messenger contact, an email to tarafarmandnursery@gmail.com or text or call 307.262.8043

Having my morning coffee in the cool green of the gardens and nursery, seeing the lush growth and the green fruits, checking their health and the moisture ~ my favorite start to any day… creating a refuge in the wind … together.

It is very rare that a client or colleague asks about my background…who am I, what do I do, how have I done it? Why should you trust my recommendations or pay me for them without knowing the work I have put into being able to help you. Here is a brief – somewhat conventional – video resume. From here feel free to ask or challenge or trust. I want you to love belonging to the natural world just as I do. Muddy hands are a statement of purpose…and comfort.