2021-10-06
The Morning's Blessings

THIS MORNING’S BLESSINGS

How did I get so lucky?

Honestly, it’s the question that I wake up to every morning here at Hacienda Dominguez & Chelenzo Farms.

This bless-ed Tuesday morning my lucky charms were manifested in another spectacular GIANT DOUBLE RAINBOW looming LARGE over Casa Domínguez. WOW, simply wow.

THEN, I discovered another treasure, when I came across an unfinished draft of Olivia Luz’s newest book: Explorer’s Guide in The Wild West! (Check out a sneak preview of the unpublished manuscript below).

These two treasures were on top of the feeling that I am blessed to be living atop the Mesa on Horny Toad Road. We have a group text, which is like our own private Facebook group, which is quite necessary now that Facebook is going down…(Yeah, right. The same was said about Amazon after Bezos rode his big phallus into space and paid homage to all us devoted plebeians who paid for his little joyride)…anyway, I digress…point is, I feel blessed to be part of this community both big and small, extending from the Mesa Group on HTR to The Bfast Club to the Santa Fe Community at large, with everything in between!

In the same ilk, we are blessed to welcome four new members to our burgeoning and lofty community including Peter, Doug and newly promised fiancées, my eldest son Enzo and Maddy. The latter will be living with us (sort of, explanation next paragraph) for at least the next year and as I told Milo and Enzo, my youngest and oldest sons, last night at dinner as we dined tiki-lit with the dim swath of the Milky Way shimmering above - I couldn’t be fricken happier.

So the fiancées are sort of living with us because 1. The Ron Burgundy, a beautiful 32’ Fleetwood RV, courtesy of Owen & Elizabeth (thank you), will serve as their base camp, 2. while they morph into shepherds and nomads while tending to the goats we’re getting soonish. That is, they will be living literally off the land, cultivating it with “native” treasures like saffron and Agave Americana, and likewise determining where and how and what kind of learning and experiential opportunities we should develop and offer that we are building here at our Mecca for land conservation, permaculture, health regeneration, sustainability, as well as archeological and geological and anthropological studies!

To continue my benediction, I’ve felt and believe that living in the country and evolving into a farmer has enhanced my (all our) ability to be ambidextrous. I’m constantly finding myself agilely handling two tasks at once as long as I try to remain unconscious of which hand I’m using, because the right hand not necessarily always the right hand to use and as a result I’ve enabled my left to strive to fulfill its fullest potential.

To pour blessing upon blessings, last night I ladled a fantastic soup I made out of two primary leftovers: Chelsea’s pumpkin, turnip and chicken soup, and my Tom Ka Gai Vietnamese chicken, coconut, curry and lime soup. I mixed the two together, adding another can of coconut cream, two scoops of different curry, minced leftover roasted jalapeños and onions, a lot more lime, and stripped roasted chicken. Everyone got a slice of toasted sourdough and their choice of fresh condiments including radish, mint, cilantro and basil.

As a bonus note to this good culinary tiding: I really like Trader Joe’s $6 Petit Reserve Sonoma County Cabernet Sauvignon - we will definitely be picking up more of that today.

And to continue speaking of food…I picked my first three eggs this morning. Until now, Mama, Milo and Olivia had been collecting them. The hens are producing about half a dozen a day now. Woohoo!

In addition to our blessed hens, we’ve just added seven new members to our animal farm, which Enzo & Maddy brought home from Albuquerque two days ago. First, their new dog, a beautiful female mut hound and Great Dane mix they’ve named “ Bone Digger.” And secondly six Muscovy ducks, to serve as companions to the other four ducks and 13 chickens.

OMG, speaking of two days ago, on Monday, albeit from quite afar, we celebrated my son Dominic’s 20th birthday. He just started his deferred first year at Princeton after serving as a certified EMT and then working on a conservancy project at Walker Lake in Nevada. He’s hit the ground running taking the lead part in a play which premiered this last weekend and has already been cast in another production. All the while, this guy has a full set of classes, including Spanish - Gracias a Dios - and has a part time job as a barista at the campus cafe. I couldn’t be prouder of this young man. I love him dearly and feel blessed to have him as one of my five Uber-talented, inquisitive and hard working children.

Finally (I’m forcing myself to end the list here), we were recently privileged and honored to be guests doubly-so this past Sunday, first for brunch at Mike and Amanda’s Quiet Farms, where we had some delicious quiche and an inspiring tour of their land. And then, practically within the same span of breath, we all went to SkyHeart that evening where we indulged in a vegetarian potluck hosted by Owen and Elizabeth. Along with meeting Paul and fellow San Jose native Kimberly, we delighted in our conversation around the dinner table and the campfire that ensued.

And that my friends is why I’m feeling BLESSED this morning. I am grateful and feel more so each and every morning, every day and every night. I hope by sharing these blessings with you that you too account for your own. It is a privilege to be alive, and if you make a conscious and conscientious effort to live well and appreciate and perceive life positively, it is nearly impossible not to feel as blessed as I do too.