journal creature

Emerald Tokyo Artwork Hollywood, CA

2010-02-05T13:31:00.003-05:00

And she comes out of nowhere with this ... this artwork titled VEGAN PRINCESS. The title alone owns my heart, but more so, the dedication and understanding the artist, Emerald Tokyo, has for my ideals. Emerald Tokyo cares to capture more than simply her subjects' look, but that thing that makes them unique in the world as well. She looks for the person in the human. And when she sent me this, I felt like she had been paying attention. I can see through her art that she understands something about me that I wish everyone whom met me walked away understanding.

Emerald Tokyo is a comic artist, graphic design student and officially the "colorist with the most potential" in my book. She can use Photoshop to do things that water, sunshine, oil and spandex do in real life. Color, by the way, is one of my favorite things in the world - I am quite stimulated by color! And now that I have been paying such close attention to comic art, I know that color is the magick spell whispered over the sleeping beauty of line drawings, waking them from their rest to live a potent life. Emerald Angel is a female artist whom enjoys drawing female heroines - something else I appreciate. I hope to see Emerald Tokyo's talent utilized everywhere in the coming years. Thank you, from the VEGAN PRINCESS!

Organic, Biodynamic and Sustainable Wines Part 4 EcoHearth Column

2010-02-02T14:08:00.001-05:00

The �sustainable� wine certification is vital in the larger picture of what eco-conscious winemaking is all about. Yet this certification is by far the least organized internationally�and the most intangible to the wine aficionado. Read more...

Best of EcoHearth 2009 Hollywood, CA

2010-01-28T23:43:00.003-05:00

I began writing for EcoHearth online magazine one year ago. It's my first professional writing gig and it's really important to me. My column is called Clean and Green Everyday and I like to think of it as a "badass green lifestyle guide" but the official description, per the magazine, goes something like this:

"Writer and raw-vegan celebrity, Tonya Kay promotes health and urban environmentalism while navigating Hollywood's film and television industry. Her focus here is on real things that real people can do to make a difference in their everyday lives and their world."

The entire online magazine is filled with high quality, thought provoking, social, environmental, science and travel writings. I am just one of the writers. I alway encourage my readers to leave comments, mostly so I know they are reading and we can discuss in further detail their ideas and questions, but also because I hope the publisher of EcoHearth notices that my pieces are valuable to his audience - I want to continue pro writing in my future!

So imagine my delight when I saw the results of EcoHearth's Best Pieces of 2009, where "writers, editors and readers nominated the most useful, beautifully written and inspiring (EcoHearth) pieces of 2009". Out of 46 pieces, 6 were authored by me! Thank you so much for leaving your comments and asking questions. I enjoy writing for this conscious magazine and hope to continue sharing the healthy, green vibes.

Have a read over all the nominated pieces. The following 6 pieces of mine were voted Best of 2009 - feel free to read them again, pass them along and don't forget to comment - it still matters!

Green DIY

Running Your Car on Waste Vegetable Oil PART 1: Converting Your Car

Build A Solar Powered Food Dehydrator: Easy Instructions

Green Living Tips

Natural Home Hygiene: Cleaning Your House Without Harming the Environment

My Body Is A Self Cleaning Organism: Natural Body Cleansing Tips

Social Connections

Christmas Is Trying To Kill Me

The Greenest Consumer is the Non-Consumer

Joseph Phelps Vineyards Napa Valley, CA

2010-01-27T21:07:00.007-05:00

Joseph Phelp's Insignia and Esribe dictated the wine zeitgeist on my Hollywood farm town girl palate long before I began educating myself about California's certified wines. Back then I was in it for the road trips and the wine education. I was just learning what my tastes were and like most people, didn't know that there is a difference between certified WINES and certified VINEYARDS. But when I happened upon Joseph Phelps Vineyards http://jpvwines.com I knew right away that I had found something special and I asked right away if they perchance grew organically on the estate. The pourer assured me with pride that Joseph Phelps practically introduced biodynamics to the Napa Valley. And of course, I was delighted. The next visit, a year later, I learned that Joe Phelps and his son, Bill Phelps, had just opened a biodynamically grown Chardonay and Pinot Noir vineyard in Freestone - closer to the Pacific on the Sonoma Coast where those cool weather grapes really thrive. I tasted there as soon as the tasting room was open and although the farm house tasting room was a more country than warranted, I was again stunned by the wines. Over the years, Phelps wines have not changed much. But why change the magick formula? This wine is stunning and no matter how often I visit, I still want another pour.

Joseph Phelps vineyards indeed helped define the terrior potential of Napa Valley wines in the 1970's and pioneered the popularization of Napa Valley as a precious, international wine growing region of note. Reintroducing Syrrah in 1974 and rich Rhone varietals including also Viognier and Chateauneuf-du-Pape. 90% of Phelps wines are estate-grown and that my friend, assures the discerning eco conisouier that the growing practices the vineyard practices are actually in the wine being sipped. But although Joseph Phelps Vineyards might have launched the wine making reputation of the area, it's difficult to say if they've done the same for growing practices. Joseph Phelps Vineyards isn't certified organic OR biodynamic. Not wine and not vineyard. Although I have been assured that he was of the first natural growers in the region and touts on the website having been in biodynamic transition since 2001, I know that like organics, the certification only takes 3 years. So what gives? Why is Freestone, the 100% biodynamic vineyard from conception in 2007 not certified yet? I can't help but think back to the conventional pourer with the loud opine - he: "certification does not mean anything - how one grows means everything". And myself: "I wish to communicate through a certification process so I don't have to monitor the farm's practices personally myself." Was he right in saying certification is a marketing technique or was I right to want some standard of assurance when it comes to the things that are important to me.

Because Joseph Phelps Vineyards visibly recycles, utilizes compostable-plastic single-serving ware when guest events require and diverted from the landfill over 600lbs of shrink wrap used in transport in 2009, I do know that the vineyard is up to green things. Joseph Phelps Vineyards installed solar panels in the Innisfree production building and retrofitted the company's lighting to be more energy efficient. The landscaping is composed mainly of drought resistant, native plants. And I brought my binoculars to Joseph Phelps grandiose tasting room specifically because the wild life is so abundant, it's obvious the birds and insects are pleased with his farming methods. Again, to Joseph Phelps credit, this vineyards touts one certification rarer than even biodynamic or organic: the Fish Friendly Farming Certification. Properties that are managed to restore fish and wildlife habitat and improve water quality voluntary apply and in my opinion, the Fish Friendly Farming Certification is one standard I'd like to see more farmers dedicating themselves to. Water and wildlife. Through my binoculars it was obvious that that certification was real: a mile away - crystal clear - a tiny compost heap, a miniature chicken coupe, dozens of far-off teeny fruit trees and so many birds between here and there that it was distracting to my wine tasting. So many birds singing and rows and rows of wine grape vines so happy to live where they do, being valued as they are, raised obviously with attention to health and simplicity. In some rare cases, this is all the certification that is needed. A blessing bestowed upon those who go to visit the vineyards of the wines they adore. I can not recommend any experience higher.

http://jpvwines.com
http://demeter-usa.org
http://fishfreindlyfarming.org

Organic, Biodynamic and Sustainable Wines Part 3 EcoHearth Column

2010-01-26T18:30:00.002-05:00

Another label the green consumer can look for when choosing a wine is the vineyard�s biodynamic certification. Worldwide, there are more than 450 certified biodynamic wine producers and, from my experience, that number is rapidly growing. Read more...

New Wine Language Napa Valley, CA

2010-01-23T14:32:00.003-05:00

Why do we want to see our products certified organic? Why do we honorably pay more for organically farmed textiles and sustainably manufactured products? What do these certifications really mean?

In Napa Valley, CA - one of the world's most regaled and breathtaking viticulture regions in the world - there is controversy. I was invited via direct Twitter for a complimentary tasting at a conventional vineyard in Napa Valley my previous visit and I accepted. My pourer was friendly and shared the opinion of many small, succeeding wineries when he proclaimed loudly, so the entire room could hear, that "all those certifications mean nothing about growing practices and are just marketing strategy for the already well-to-do wineries". Being the diplomat that I am, I considered his opinion while remembering that the source was the pourer at a vineyard that had never attempted a certification of any kind.

It is true: in themselves, these social, environmental and spiritual certifications mean nothing. The certification is nothing more than a language of communication between like minds. We hear this word biodynamic more often these days and with clearer definition because there are so many minds with the need to communicate the concept that words are developed as are certifications. The practice of biodynamic farming is a living concept in action. The biodynamic certification itself though, it is true, is nothing more than a piece of paper, yet represents a standard in communication if all parties speak the same language. Without the standard, interested like minds would have to monitor each vineyard claiming to grow naturally to confirm what the certification reveals. The certification means nothing, but it means everything in terms of communication.

In my previous visit to Napa Valley, I visited four conventional wineries and four certified in some area. Yes, that certification effectively brought the appropriate "market" to the tasting room. If you prefer to call humans a market. I call them people and the appropriate people visited the tasting rooms of certified vineyards. I noticed that conventional tasting rooms generally hosted tasters with less social/environmental consciousness and often less wine knowledge too, while the rooms certified in some way welcomed tasters familiar with the sensual exploration of wine as well as current environmental and social affairs. Is this "coincidence" in demographic marketing or is this human?

What I have learned is that the "exorbitant cost" of certifying one's farm organic it due to the expense of ripping out irrigation systems and replanting mature vines. Many vines become more valuable and with more fruit character as they mature and it would be blasphemy to tear them up. These are a few reasons some uncertified, but naturally farmed vineyards might not certify as well as the reason some sneaky conventional vineyards twist the wording and insult the certification process to gain more eco-recognition than they deserve. Although according to Buck Bartolucci, owner and wine maker of certified organic Madonna Vineyards of Carneros Valley, CA, it is the transition that is expensive, not the certification process and not the growing practices. His vineyards have always been farmed organically and he relates how inexpensive maintaining organically grown vines actually is - one doesn't purchase pesticides, one uses nature to feed the land, and the vines are heartier and resilient within their habitat. Buck suggests that when one already grows organically, certification is not expensive at all.

Jim Balent's Tarot scores '09 Project Fanboy Awards Hollywood, CA

2010-01-20T05:32:00.005-05:00

Jim Balent and I collaborated on a tribute issue in his long-running comic book series, Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose. And here he is cleaning up in the 2009 Project Fanboy Awards emailing me to let me know that I, as his starring character in issue #59 "Medusa's Stare", was a part of that.

The Project Fanboy Awards are reader awards. Fanfolk everywhere get to vote and sometimes the winners are funded comic publishers like Marvel or DC and other times the publishers are independent love laborers. Out of all the comics people are reading, still, Jim Balent's Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose took 6 of 22 categories in the 2009 Project Fanboy Awards - a favorite in the indie world as well as the comic world at large both.

This is reader pleasure if I ever saw it:

Best Artist: Jim Balent
Best Indie Artist: Jim Balent
Best Indie Comic: Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose
Best Indie Hero: Tarot
Best Indie Villain: Raven Hex (of Tarot)
Best Graphic Novel of 2009: Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose #7

And still, the artist, Jim, emails me and says thank you. That's heart. That's community. That's a man on his path sharing radiance with others who can reflect his shining so brightly. Congratulations to Jim, Tarot and all of Broadsword Comics on this sexually open, female-led, pagan-centric comic - only an idea in the hip pocket nine years ago, now an understandable and unanimous reader epic. Dreams manifest.

Organic, Biodynamic and Sustainable Wines Part 2 EcoHearth Column

2010-01-19T11:53:00.002-05:00

Currently, there are three ecologically important certifications vintners can achieve: organic, biodynamic and sustainable. We are all familiar with the organic certification standards for produce and prepared foods regulated by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), in accordance with the Organic Food and Production Act (OFPA), with standards set by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB), administered by the National Organic Program (NOP)�oh, my. Read more ...

Sean Tiffany Pin Up Artist Hollywood, CA

2010-01-16T16:50:00.002-05:00

I became infatuated with his art initially. There is a genuine child-like innocence to even the most aggressive characters drawn from his hand. Living with curiosity in a world of promised wonderment, these child/adults are defined by harsh angles, but simplified by rounded corners. I am infatuated with Sean Tiffany's art.

Sean Tiffany is a children's book illustrator with 50 published books to this resume. He's a commercial graphic designer and he authors and illustrates (and musically performs) his own comic book series titled Oil Can Drive. Our comic book connection is probably why we ever came into contact at all. I had just appeared as an original cast member of Stan Lee's Who Wants to Be a Superhero and Sean had just appeared in my world. Over the years we've shared visual art with one another and developed an artistically supportive relationship that I value deeply.

He plays music, he writes comics, he illustrates children's books - and all at a high artistic level. But the avenue of Sean Tiffany's creative expression that I have enjoyed sharing the most are his pin ups. There is something about the way Sean captures the posturing of the actual female form, the sparkle in the eye and in mine, you see here, the most amazing attention to dread lock detail I have seen. Those are my locks. Sean Tiffany choosing to draw me pin up style is an honor. And the wonderful things he said about me don't hurt, either.

Even in a pin up drawn of me, I can see the man in the art. I see the childlike wonderment with which he must see his world. And art should be, if anything, an intimate expression of the artist. When I say I like this art or that art, I would like to think that I am indirectly saying I like something about that artist, the person, too, as in the case of Sean Tiffany.

Organic, Biodynamic and Sustainable Wines Part 1 EcoHearth Column

2010-01-12T12:16:00.005-05:00

As a raw vegan I am commonly first asked, �What can you eat?� To which I reply, �Anything I want,� reminding people that this is a choice, not a disease. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I choose to eat living fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Taking it a step further, I also choose to eat those living foods in season, organically grown and locally harvested. But I can eat anything I want. It's all a choice.

The second question I am asked is, �Isn't eating that way difficult?� To which I reply that eating processed, dead foods is a lot like hitting myself on the thumb with a hammer. Is it hard not to hit myself with a hammer after I know what's causing the pain? No. In the same way, it's very easy to eat living, local, organic, in-season food. It's my pleasure.

The third most popular interrogative demand I am implored with as a raw vegan is the inevitable, �Do you drink alcohol?� And with a fervent cry I respond, �Wine is fermented, not distilled and that means yes, yes, I do drink alcohol.� At that point the questioner decides that I am in their eyes �normal enough� and that they, too, may consider eating more raw food themselves� as long as they �get to� drink alcohol, of course. Read more ...

Robert Sinskey Biodynamic Vineyards Napa Valley, CA

2010-01-09T03:44:00.002-05:00

My favorite wine is always the one I am drinking. Yes, that's pretty much how passionate about wine - about life - I am. My favorite friend is the one I am walking with. My favorite gig is the one I am working. My favorite food is the one I am eating. I love with blind intensity, make no mistake.

For years, my favorite Napa Valley vintner was Joseph Phelps, who still remains at the ceiling of greats, where exceptionals rise to the top, equally extraordinary in their respective fields, no longer comparable to another. But this year, my sipping sites shifted to the integrity and character of Robert Sinskey's vineyards.

I choose my favorite wines by flavor, as any enthusiast should. After all, I am the only one who knows what I like. I first experience the visual, scent and flavor profile of a wine and then I learn about the vineyards, the wine maker, the business ethics. And yes, once in a while, there are vintners with such integrity and heart that the wine actually tastes even better having learned about them. Robert Sinskey wine's please on all levels.

Robert Sinskey says"Conventional farming is about conquering nature. Organic and biodynamic farming is about striking a deal with nature - taking the time to get to know what the land wants and what the rhythms of nature are, instead of opposing our will on nature". Certified as organic farmers since 1991, the Carneros vineyards are also certified biodynamic, which is a very serious undertaking for any farmer to uphold. The Robert Sinskey philosophy on natural farming methods is based on their experience of being able to raise healthier and more flavorful wine grapes, which I raise a glass in cheer to.

When I began wine tasting I was excited about grapes. I would say "I like Reisling" or "I like Pinot Noir". After I learned how many different ways a grape varietal can be produced, depending on region and vintner, I began having a taste for specific vineyards. Now I would say "I like Chateau St. Jean" or "I like Palamina". Now my tastes are honing in on vintages and growing practices. But what I learned from paying attention to vintners was what turned me on about a specific vineyard's wines was tasting a character or note across the board for that vineyard. LIke the wine maker her/himself has such taste that I get it in each varietal, each vintage they bottle. Robert Sinskey's wines character is defined with a rush of immediate welcoming and then a whirlwind of secret memories from a life never lived, ending in one fond dream to clearly focus on. And that's how I feel about the wine.

The tasting room, with it's magnificently high ceilings, is cool and underheated (like Napa and good wine both should be!). Bring your sweater. The pourer impressed me and knew what a vegan was, helping me pair our tastings with olives and almonds, rather than the suggested cheeses and fancy sausages (contradiction in terms). Outdoors one will see biodynamic food gardens growing right up next to the building and a gigantic wall of solar panels providing 75% of the winery's energy needs. The wine of note this season is certainly the 2006 Cab Franc. Rich and royal in color and well structured - I would like to see more Cab Frac on tasting lists from Napa. I really like this grape! Round and never aggressive, somehow the 2006 is still filled with specificity. I'm tasting an outstandingly distinct Napa wine and it just gets better when I learn how much care is put into the soil, the working conditions and energy sources. Robert Sinskey brings brave varietals to Napa Valley and at this point in my single sited intensity, it seems I could favor these welcomingly mysterious wines for years with a childlike "oh, my goodness" after every sip.

Now Is The Future EcoHearth Column

2010-01-05T10:54:00.003-05:00

I get to celebrate the new year twice each year.

What I love about living in the United States is the diversity. Of course, I am always pushing for more open-mindedness, but that will likely be my eternal quest. Still, everywhere around me I value the wide variety of religious beliefs, racial profiles, sexual orientations and personal convictions. The downside to extreme diversity is that sometimes I have no clue as to what holiday to celebrate� if one views that as a downside. I choose to think of it as a cultural gift. After all, every year I get to celebrate the turn of the year twice. Read more ...

Farmtown Wine Enthusiast Napa Valley, CA

2010-01-02T02:09:00.006-05:00

There is absolutely no reason I should have a taste for wine. My father never touched a drink growing up (thank you, dad!) and my little momma, with absolutely no tolerance built up, would get thoroughly wasted off of two glasses of home-made margaritas twice/year, and do adorably silly things like leave her passenger door open and walk away, giggle like a little girl and a get a head ache from what I figured was not the cheap liquor, but the cheap liquor and onslaught of refined sugar combined in those unnaturally green alcoholic frosties.

My home town was a farm town and let's just say that alcohol was the "devil's libation" - at least socially in public. No alcohol sales permitted on Sundays or election days, only 3 liquor licenses available in city limits, and an economic profile that favored Pabst Blue Ribbon rather than Chateau St. Jean. Surely there were folk in my town that drove to Ann Arbor or Kalamazoo to pick up something of the fermented, rather than distilled sort, but I didn't know them. When children say they "don't like fruit and vegetables", most often you'll notice they've only been offered Dole bananas, red delicious apples and canned green beans - I don't like those, either! So, too, has CABW (Cheap Ass Box Wine) inspired a premature prognosis of all wine to many a small-town pallet.

Lucky me, a professional performer, I landed a gig in the cast of STOMP. Only three women out of 1,000 auditionees were hired and after a rigorous training in NYC, two of us were sent to perform in San Francisco. As a professional performer, I would have probably never moved to San Francisco on my own - the population size and the proximity to Los Angeles combined did not allow for the opportunities I desired in my performance career. But I was blessed with a theatre contract to work under while I lived and loved that city - the progressive thought, the political empowerment, the geographic beauty, the luscious climate and the people, the people, the people.

Unless a casino is their venue, most thespians will confirm that Mondays are "dark days" across the United States. No stage lights, no house lights, no work lights - no shows - theaters are literally dark on Mondays and that means we get the day off! In San Francisco, I was the only STOMP cast transplant with a car so I organized little getaways for my best friends and I to take when we could. On one roadtrip, we drove north-east into Napa one dark day and being of age, stopped off on a whim at a rustic cottage-like building with a sign out front that read "wine tasting". The tasting was free. I didn't know enough about wine to tell you if it was "good" or not. All I knew was that I had just driven through 60 miles of pure geographical paradise, spent 20 minutes in a stunning piece of architecture, listened to a woman talk about plants, vines and fruit while she poured tasty sips apparently related to them, and had an silly fun time with my cast mates spending the day together, sharing that experience together. We STOMPers returned to Napa/Sonoma every dark day for the rest of our 8 month contract. We learned that people wanted to trade things for tickets to see our show - we got a private wine tasting class where the woman educated us on how we might enjoy our wines to the fullest and most importantly to my male friend, know how to order wine at a fancy restaurant and feel like we've impressed our date. I traded tickets for a bottle of Artesa's Gewurztraminer one day (in 2008 Artesa discontinued Gewurzt and replaced it with a late harvest Muscat desert wine instead, by the way). What began as a haphazard dark day road trip turned into one of my favorite mini (or mega) getaways.

This my friends, is the story of how a farm town girl becomes a wine enthusiast. Lucky me; in Napa and Sonoma Valleys, where some of the most renowned wines on earth are produced. And to this day, you will not find one bottle of wine purchased off a store or warehouse's shelves in my collection. Because to me, the wine is so much more than flavor. It is the color of the vines surrounding the estate in early November. It is the architectural design of the tasting room welcoming my visit. It is the personality and passion of the pourer, it is the shape of the wine glass, it is the poetic words your best friend uses to describe the scent, and it is the sitting still long enough to appreciate the experience that one notices mist hanging heavy over the rolling hills and the infinite, distinct voices of birds who, too, seem to adore grape vines.

No wine on a store shelf provides this experience for me. So to select my wine, I go taste my wine. And friends, there are wine grapes now grown in all 50 states. You do not have to be in the famous Napa Valley to discover a wine that suites your pallet. I have tasted in New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Encinadas (Mexico) and in the great southern California valleys, too. Every grape yields different wine, every region, every block, every vintner, every vintage - and only you know if you like the combination of those things or not. A passion for wine is a passion for process. Wine tasting is not judged on how much you agree with the experts on what wine is a masterpiece - wine tasting is wholly about the level of depth in which you enjoy the experience. This is not Pabst Blue Ribbon guzzling here. This is a challenge to find your own sensuality receptors and explore them. If you taste the wine, you know wine.

Fermentalist Napa Valley, CA

2009-12-30T04:10:00.005-05:00

When in an art museum, standing close to a painting allows one to see brush strokes and details, but to get the "big picture" one has to step away from the art. Stand back and take a look from a bit further away.

I was stepping back from my raw vegan diet recently so that I could take in the bigger picture. Instead of focusing on if the sprout jar is too moist, I had a look at my diet from a distance and realized I eat almost exclusively greens, flax, avocado and ... fermented foods. I'd say 50% of my diet has been of the probiotic sort for months now. These sort of things happen naturally - I change dramatically throughout the year in appetite and food choice according to the seasons and my body's needs. So it's been months of home-fermented kefir, kombucha and nut cheese. Its been occasional miso, kim chee and aquatic sea grass seed (wild "rice"). And last but not least, it's been wine.

Ode to the decomposing grapes! This avid fermentalist loves the activity in a 1/2 glass of vino and this environmentalist relishes the progressive mind and fast action of California's wine production, rather than food production. In only 7 years or so I've watched Napa Valley go from conventional to certified organic this, biodynamic that, sustainable this and wow - the solar panels are more populous here than I've ever seen one locale boast - EVER - before. It's popular. It's working. It's sustainable. It's health promoting. It's a sensual, entheogenic experience based in fermented grapes. Ode to the decomposing grape!

This week I celebrate the blue moon full moon and turning of the Gregorian calendar year in Napa Valley, CA. Focusing my libation-sipping interactions on certified biodynamic and organically farmed wines, it's it not difficult at all anymore. Yesteryear I had to research before I arrived. And ask questions once I had tasted. "Do you fine with egg whites?" "What states are allowed to add sugar?" "What's the difference between the 'made with organic grapes' label and the 'certified organic' wine label?" Now I know: no, most wines do not use egg whites in fining anymore and whites often do not require fining, California has a law against adding sugars or any sort - natural or refined - during any part of the process (though some vintners still will to 'save' a bad year), and the difference between the mentioned labels is, unlike food, wine's organic certification inspects not only what percentage of the final product was made from organically grown fruit, but also how the wine was processed, transported and stored. Strict standards. Anyone who says folk are getting certified to boost public relations hasn't gone through the certification process themselves. Organic certification is strict and biodynamic is even more so, encompassing spiritual practices and a wholistic view that is commonly left to raw vegans and natural hygienists on a personal level. Imagine transitioning an entire business!

My opinion is that most wine is bad. Did I just say that? That's not what I meant, but it sort of is. If you just jump in your veggie-fueled car and hit the Silverado Trail in Napa Valley, 20% of your random stops that day will provide a pallet to your distinct liking. The other 80% you will call "bad" (even though someone else may think it top quality). So in the old days, journalist folk announced holy high that organic wine sucked, but that's because out of 400 wineries in Napa Valley, they could only find 4 certified organic vintners and one of those two tasted like burnt fruit water and the other was just 'okay'. But in two short days, I've visited 5 certified organic or biodynamic vineyards and 3 conventional and far and wide, the certified vineyards yielded the better wine. And my top favorite of all Napa Valley wine happens to be a certified organic, biodynamic and sustainable farm; Robert Sinskey.

Welcome to wine country. More wines on the way :-)

Tonite's Magickal Bedtime Tea Hollywood, CA

2009-12-24T02:59:00.003-05:00

1/2t Pau d'arco powder
1/2t vanilla powder
1t chicory root
1t maca powder
dash cinnamon
1/2T local honey
8oz warm water

Christmas is Trying To Kill Me EcoHearth Column

2009-12-22T18:13:00.003-05:00

Whoa, what has happened to my world in the last three weeks? Just when I thought Los Angeles traffic couldn't get more ridiculous, parking structures more cumbersome, or drivers grumpier and less safe, the holiday season began.

I'm driving to an audition, which is a usual part of my day, and suddenly there are three cars in front of me making dangerously bad moves and screaming out their windows about who is 'right'�like children... like jerks. I wonder if they even realize how miserable their holiday cheer has become? Read more ...

A Team Hollywood, CA

2009-12-18T04:03:00.002-05:00

Where's my team? Where's my team of wild women? With sweet soft calloused feet and shiny strong dirty nails. And legs that don't wear pants cause they got to get out, can't be tied down, won't be hidden, but bust out and rip out and spread out to take the whole bed.

Where are the women on my team - the ladies with smarts and just the right way to communicate it. Make everyone feel respected and important. Make me realize how important I always was. That's how my team communicates.

Cause everybody loves a bad ass chick. Who has skill and has humor and who has passion. I know I do. I want more of those women surround me. All around me are the wild women of the wonder world. Twinkle twinkle little star.

A sky full of stars and I revere them because I have something to learn from them. Surely, too, I can teach.

Does All This Environmentalism Really Matter Anyway? EcoHearth Online

2009-12-15T13:58:00.005-05:00

There it is�right there! And even more over here. In fact, kale is all around. So, why can't I eat it for a salad today?

Catering on the set of this television show has oodles of kale�underneath the turkey slices, garnishing the deviled eggs, and floating wearily amidst melting ice under the serving bowls that hold� the iceberg salad option. Is my world set up to work against me? Read more ...

Pas De Chat Hollywood, CA

2009-12-12T03:05:00.002-05:00

Pas de chat. Step of the cat. Light on the feet, in the air more than on the ground.

In the air more than on the ground. Suspended for an inhale or forever, whichever lasts longer. I push off the ground and force Earth away. The exhilaration of being free from the weight - from the wait. Free from how heavy it can be. Free from the attraction obsession we have with something solid.

Get away from me, Earth. I've too much off you all the time, just holding me up, just being there underneath me, just holding very still.

You've been too hard to land on for a while. It hurts to hit my head coming down. And I can't guarantee I won't be upside down or out of control. If there's one painful thing I've had to learn over the years, it is that you can't guarantee you won't be upside down or out of control. Hard lessons; these. Such a hard ground to land on.

Too long, to avoid the landing, I've not taken off. I've not pushed the Earth, the stable, the secure away. I've stayed grounded to avoid the variable of injury. And bless you, Earth, for giving me something to depend on, but please, let me go, let me fly, let me be free from yesterday's aging gravity. When I step like the cat. Pas de chat.

Cost of Organics Part 4: Personal Health EcoHearth Column

2009-12-08T12:59:00.001-05:00

So my mom says to me that she's got an "underachieve thyroid" and, although she doesn't want to go on medications, she doesn't see any way around it. What causes an underachieve thyroid, I ask? Mom, being the smarty pants she is, had already researched this enigmatic ailment and was disheartened to find very little information on its causes. But, she says, it is somehow linked to chemical exposure and sensitivity. Read more ...

Something to Do. Something to Love. Solvang, CA

2009-12-04T03:57:00.002-05:00

There's something about a fire in the fire place, a Lover sleeping at your feet, the silence of the moment after with both a glass of pure water and a glass of Syrah within reach.

I feel thoroughly alone in the quietude. At the fire place I end up thinking things and appreciating things. Both lead me to remember my grandmother's passage many years ago. I really did not want her to go. Having never spent a night without in bed, my grandfather became depressed. We cousins were afraid we were going to loose another grandparent too soon. This time of a broken heart.

Grampy was strong, though, and life wanted to continue living through him, thank goodness. I remember the day my father said to me about grampy, "he's happy as long as he's got something to do."

Something to do. Retired, grampy does keep himself busy. Goes about our farm town like the most popular kid in school - knows everyone at the at the county fair. Is liked by everyone at the grocers. Finishes every sentence with a chuckle. This is my grampy and he does, really does, have something to do almost all the time.

The key to life: something to do and something to love. And a good sense of humor. Blessed be.

Something to do, something to love, and a good sense of humor. I have a lot to learn from my grampy. I wonder if I will ever be like he. The man who confided in me, "You know what, Tonya? The longer I am alive, the more I realize that deep down everyone has a good heart." I want to come to that truth after seven decades of living.

I imagine I feel like my grampy would feel gazing over the frost-bronzed grape vines now. On the side of the mountain, rows of amber, red, and autumn gold. Rows of biodynamic vines, two months bare, now falling into a narcissistic hibernation. Would grampy feel this way, too, in love with this chilly sunset?

My career is and always has been one of unpredictability. Let's face it - no one becomes a performing artist for stability (ah, I am on the right path). Playing dress up, dancing down the sidewalks, behaving make-believe - this is my art/this is my job. And it seems, even to me, that I'm just playing and not working most of the time.

Still, it's like some strange performer karma that when a girl decides to take a short overnite ren de vouis, the one thing she can depend on is getting called back. So when the phone rang an hour and a half into the drive up 101N, I was prepared to flip the veggie oil burning car right back around, canceling my romantic overnite getaway and head back home. Instead, my manager surprises me with, "They want to book you!" Which required only a squeal of excitement instead of a u-turn. Can I say how very grateful I am, Universe, for allowing me to take this trip to wine country AND book work for when I return?

If there is one thing I know how to do, it's how to be grateful when what I asked for happens.

So I get to explore the valleys for a day. Feel the hand of a Lover on my waist. See the fire commit to a brilliantly brief life in the wood stove; something to do, something to love - a good sense of humor.

Something to do, something to love. A good sense of humor.

Cost of Organics Part 3: Subsidies EcoHearth Column

2009-12-01T12:59:00.006-05:00

I personally don't mind paying more for higher-quality products�especially when they involve my food or other things that directly affect my quality of life. Production standards of organic farming may raise the price of organic produce, but they also increase its nutritional quality, flavor profile, color intensity and, as any raw foodist will tell you, life force. For this reason, it is my humble opinion that an extra 10 cents per pound is well worth the investment.

Still, it troubles me that this cost difference exists. I want my organic produce and I want it to be affordable! We�ve seen how farming location and production costs affect price, but they are not the only things factored into our fruit's price per pound. There�s also basic economics at play. Read more ...

Lowering the Cost of Organics Part 2: PRODUCTION COST EcoHearth

2009-11-27T13:22:00.004-05:00

So you wanna do what's right for your own and the planet's health, but the higher cost of organically farmed produce has you hesitating? Last week we discussed how location affects the price of organic produce. This week, let's consider the production costs that affect the price and why, despite the price, it is actually a better value. Read more ...

The Girl Who Kissed Death Hollywood, CA

2009-11-24T19:56:00.009-05:00

My Saturn is in Leo in the House of Death. To all you heavenward gazing astrological spiritual psychologists, that explains it all. It certainly explains it all to me. I feel silly and somewhat necked telling dirty little secrets like that. But there it is: Saturn in Leo in the House of Death. I mean, who wouldn't guess that now that it's known?

So I was sprawled across the bench with some free time. Free enough time to have a paint brush in my fingers brushing the white base of a calavera onto on old iPod box. Painting laughing skeleton heads on absurd, every day objects and wondering to myself, "Self, is there such a thing as a healthy obsession with Death?" Because I seem to have what I call one. Saturn. Leo. Finalities. I wonder why I worked so hard to get free time to paint skulls and wonder about Death. Next time I'm just skipping the work hard part and going straight to the angled, flat edged collected hair or synthetic tipped long handle brush.

Like a phat bus tour of Europe. For all the traveling I've done, I've never been to Europe. And no, I consider England of the British Isles, not Europe. But I guess everyone uses the single currency, which is super progressive. I'd like to see that happen for the world just to see how everyone speaking a cleaner version of the same first language of currency (global first language) would shift things. Probably potentially prettier than what we're so busy protecting here now. Let it go.

Immediate, unforseable, unimaginable, unconjurable, epigenius.

And now I am sitting on the armless couch, low to the ground with cushions, not pillows. And the snake was using me as leverage. She twisted around my boots and I opened the mail - a small, special delivery envelope that had three bagged, boarded comics with a note to be sure to not sell one of them: very special. And I thought, wow, this feels like a gift.

I opened the issue I've been holding the numbers for. Love the numbers 59. 5 + 9 = 14 and that's just one more than 13, which is kind of like 2 and we all know what two really is. It's all really 1. Zeros and ones.

Shame on us. Unless we enjoy it. It is our duty to enjoy every last bit of life by all means, generating experiential gratitude. Gratitude as an action as well as a state. Gratitude is our duty and birth right. Gratitude and humility is what I experienced reading the very first page; Jim Balent, a man's manifestation force.

It opens the comic. It sees the colors and feels like I am looking into the pendulum, like staring at the finger instead of the moon. I'm looking really close into my own life, being pulled into the comic book like I am the character 'me', which of course I am. I'm pretty sure now this book is not make believe. I'm pretty sure I am doing everything Tonya Kay is doing in the comic - with the fire in the desert, and the familiar for cuddling. With the hand shake and the intensity of the clear, healthy eyes ringed by black eye liner. There was such heroism in my fight and agility in my movement. Skilled. I am skilled and take hits and the injury I endure is the heavy part of life. Energy of life in general can be pretty heavy to a woman like myself sometimes. I feel that heavy energy like I was born carrying it. Carrying heavy energy, so I have strong legs and ass. And there I am, getting into whip fights with someone who is as good as I. She's good and she really has her way with my skin - bleeding skin. I won't say how good it felt to feel a reptile tongue on my boot and jump, oh! My gosh, I had the snake making me the steady - she was going up my skirt! This is my pet snake, for real here, and I am holding her while reading the comic. And I looked back into the comic and think you will know why this paragraph matters if you read the comic and read this again.

I get to live this. Jim Balent, man's manifestation force, co-created my world. I did the other part.

Who am I anyway?

I'm the girl who kissed Death. Read the comic, reread this paragraph, and respond.

Give Me More Hollywood, CA

2009-11-20T03:49:00.003-05:00

There's only one of us here and that's me. I'm here alone still and again. Taking all that time to myself. To watch myself be myself left all alone. Do I really want to see this?

Just me and myself locked up in this gigantic city. Look at me going out with the vampires, drinking absinthe with ghosts. There I go riding wicked witch of the west coast style down sidewalks and alleys to the theatre, to my best friends'. I'm totally obvious inviting the party over if teacher plants call for circle. I'm entertaining myself making my home a shrine to plants and all their cycles. So this is what I do with my alone time alas?

I catch up on everything - projects, promises, work and travel. I catch up on sleep. I drink my diet because preparing food is such an arduous delay in my day. I develop my magickal practice and end up making a lot of magick. And I feel guilty because I'm consumed by only one thing - none of the things that I see or do - but the only one thing that would put the life in this pomegranate seed, to burst, to bleed with lust attention and life. Only one thing, and that thing does not exist. Am I horrible for wanting more? Am I spoiled because I want more?

It's the only way I know I am alive. The Want makes my eyes open in the morning. The heart wants the beating. The Want is the life.

And it is not myself, pain and sorrow, that I am lusting after. It is the one of us whom is not here that makes me the ungrateful, urgent, obsessed woman I am. Oh, to steal the fuel from fire - the fire only searches for more fuel. Devour and transform until there is nothing recognizable left. Or suffocate trying.

Oh, Love, come to satisfy me. I will always want more. There is never too much. Give me more.