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When I first starting making perfume from fallen redwoods and rescuing from wood piles,  I began with the bark- possibly one of the most fragrant giving parts of the tree. When I moved on to distilling heart and sapwood I realized what an insult to the woods it would be to call that alone a redwood smell.  We are so used to looking at one thing, like a redwood, and considering it alone. Isolated. This is redwood smell. But the redwoods are a universe. Not just from trees to tree. The mosses, the berries, the dirt,

Can we go home again? I moved a lot when I was a kid so the term home is a pretty abstract term when it comes to childhood. There is one town we lived in that seemed perfect.Small old town Main st with a gazebo in the town square, flowers for miles, citrus trees and stone fruit sparkling in the heat, and most of all a kind of kindness wherever you went. I used to gather flowers from peoples yards (perhaps the word steal is more appropriate) as is pictured here in the first picture on “Peach st”. But what...

“Bad food is made without pride, by cooks who have no pride, and no love. Bad food is made by chefs who are indifferent, or who are trying to be everything to everybody, who are trying to please everyone … Bad food is fake food … food that shows fear and lack of confidence in people’s ability to discern or to make decisions about their lives. Food that’s too safe, too pasteurized, too healthy – it’s bad! There should be some risk, like unpasteurized cheese. Food is about rot, and decay, and fermentation…. as much as it is also about...

Sometimes the power of sense memory can stop you in your tracks. My sister and I had gone to get a thali at Samosa House as a Sunday treat. While waiting we walked around the store browsing and smelling as we went. Towers of dhoop, cooking food with turmeric and curry surrounded us like an embrace after what was a trying week. Just as we walked up to another shelf full of goodies my sister stopped in her tracks. I heard her say “I think I’m going to cry” but didn’t know she meant it literally until I looked over...