Stepping out my front door in Goleta I pointed myself west and started walking knowing I would come upon a path that led to the beach. The chaparral around the sleepy, windswept dune beaches of Goleta are a maze of dirt paths – and single track for mtbs! So if you keep your eye on the sun they will lead, one way or another, to the shore. As the paved options gave way to the brush I came upon this:

Rather unassuming invitation into the dry grass right?

Wrong. Atop the hill I found paradise.

Food glorious food! Glorious people growing their own food!

Where baby Chinese eggplants come from

Someone is doing something right.
It turned out to be the community garden for the families living in grad student housing at UCSB

A nice place to stop and ponder

Fuzzy squashes

I don’t know what these are but they are fantastic. They look like plastic space flowers but they are very real!

Potential

Some are just getting started, thank you

While others are beautifully organized

Gorgeous in every respect

“If I hold very still you won’t see me plotting to thieve upon the lovely lettuces.”

Hiding in the cool of the Kale

Hallowe’en around the corner!

Sweet peas anyone?

Hummingbirds abound

A seat in the shade of the vines. There are little grapes in there too.

Soaking up the sun

It was hard for me to not steal these – boysenberries, my favorite all time fruit and impossible to find in stores because they are too fragile to ship very far.

Again, don’t know what it is besides pretty

Fried green tomatoes?
We too can do this – yes we can!

This is the dream and The Solution…

…To the problem (all in the same shot – look closely above)

The path home. Another day, another blessing.
It gives one hope.
I’ll go to the beach tomorrow.