half moon bay march 2013

Half Moon Bayt h e h a l f m o o n b a y r e v i e w m a g a z i n e

a place for everything

taking center stage

el granada hobbyists bring order to their art

interior decorator explains the craft of staging a home.

potrero nuevo farm turns to nonprofit business model.

cropssharing the

page 8

page 32

page 22

m a r c h 2 0 1 3 h o m e a n d g a r d e n i s s u e

Q&a

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M A R C H 2 0 1 3 � H a l f M o o n B a y � 1

everything in its place

publisherBill Murray

editor Clay Lambert

writers Sara Hayden Mark Noack

Stacy TrevenonMark FoyerSonia Myers

copy editor Julie Gerth

photographerCharles Russo

design Bill Murray, Mark Restani

business officeBarbara Anderson

circulationSonia Myers

advertising sales

Linda Pettengill Louise Strutner

Susan Verlander Barbara Dinnsen

find us

714 Kelly Avenue Half Moon Bay, CA, 94019

(650) 726-4424 www.hmbreview.com

half moon bay is published the first week of

every month and inserted in the Half Moon Bay Review. The entire contents of the

magazine are also available online at hmbreview.com.

©2013, Half Moon Bay Review

Half Moon BayHalf Moon BayHalf Moon Bayh a l f m o o n b a y r e v i e w m a g a z i n e

w hen we remodeled our home about seven years ago, we were required to put in a covered parking area for two cars. i still have never figured out why, in order to add 300 square feet of living area for my family, we needed to add 400 square feet of

living space for our cars. and since the home for the cars had to go in the back of our proper-ty, we were required to pave over hundreds of square feet of vegetation so that we could drive these pampered automobiles into their accommoda-tions. i am still bitter about this, but that’s not the point.

while we were forced to put in the detached garage, we have yet to drive a car into it. Sorry, San mateo County. i know the intent was to get our cars off our perfectly good driveway, but i just couldn’t see mucking up this $40,ooo structure to protect my $6,000 truck.

instead, i vowed to make it our “creative space.” a spot dedicated to woodworking, artwork, music. a place to make science fair projects and egyptian tombs for fifth-grade social studies. it also doubles nicely as a surfboard locker, holiday ban-quet hall and pingpong arena.

but keeping it clean enough and organized enough to do those things takes an enormous amount of effort. entropy is an extremely powerful force in my life. and i’ve seen enough garages to know that i’m not alone. garages are just a magnet for clutter.

This is why the story Sara hayden has written in this month’s magazine about andrew and Terri Carol is so amazing. They are both skilled crafts people making some pretty unique stuff, one with legos, the other with beads. yet somehow they are able to organize thousands upon thousands of individual pieces. Some people go on a cleaning frenzy before we come to take photos. my guess is that the Carols’ house is always like that. a place for everything and everything in its place.

maybe one day i’ll put our cars in our garage. it sure would prevent me from making so many messes in it. but to do that, i’d have to drive on our gravel “driveway” which is now used as a bullpen for pitching, a bocce ball court and zen garden. That’ll never happen.

— Bill Murray, publisher

publisher’s note

Our garage is used for everything — except parking cars.

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contentscontentscontentsm a r C h 2 0 1 3

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messy hobbies, organized space el granada couple prevent crafts from creating clutter.

home tips: new paint is a quick, dramatic change. but what color?

preview noteworthy events coming in march

planting for goodsouth coast farm changes business model to help nonprofits.

graceful plant carea love for gardening turns into custom business.

22

your home is center stagea well-staged home can shorten sales time and increase offers.

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Mar.2013tHings to do

h a l f m o o n b a y r e v i e w m a g a z i n e

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23

spring into spring at elkus ranchfirst preschoolers, then families with older siblings, can enjoy the explosion of springtime on the coastside at spring preschool days (march 14 and 22) and family day (march 23) from 10 a.m.to 2 p.m. all three days, at elkus ranch, south of half moon bay. it all begins with spring preschool days on march 14 and 22. at this twice-annual event, elkus staff set up the ranch for preschoolers. the children take part in self-guided tours of the ranch, where they can visit with the chickens, goats, sheep and donkeys, and then visit the gardens to plant a seed or seedling or participate in other gardening activities, dependent on the weather. there are plenty of hands-on activities too. children can try card-ing wool from the ranch’s sheep and use it to make a woolly souvenir artwork to take home. ranch staff will be stationed at various points around the facility to answer questions or help the young visitors with the ranch’s animals. family day, on march 23, is an extension of preschool days with older siblings in mind. bring picnic lunches. reservations are required for both events. 712-3151.

15

hats off to members come to the coastal arts league gallery and museum from 6 to 7 p.m. for a recep-tion for the cal members’ show, when cal artists display their diverse skills in two- and three-dimensional art. the mem-bers’ show will run through march 31 at the gallery at 300 main st. in half moon bay. 726-6335.

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women in historythe half moon bay branch of the american association of university women is team-ing up with the half moon bay historical society for a joint program on “coastside women in history” from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the community united methodist church at 777 miramontes st. in half moon bay. it’s free, and the public is welcome. www.hmb-aauw.org. 726-4416.

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Mar.2013tHings to do

7 14

splash into the seasonthe half moon bay high school swim team starts its peninsula athletic league ocean division season with home meets. the march 7 match is against capuchino high, and the following match is against woodside high. there will be an admission charge to the matches. both start at 4 p.m. 712-7200.

march 2013

21

wine, cheese and networkingcoastside business profes-sionals are invited to meet over appetizers and vintages at network at night, pre-sented by the half moon bay coastside camber of com-merce and visitors’ bureau from 5 to 6:30 p.m. today. there’s plenty of opportu-nity to network at this event, which typically takes place monthly. there’s a nominal charge for wine, but otherwise it’s free. 726-8380.

23

it’s magicthe rotary club of half moon bay presents the second “magic of the coastside,” a celebration of the coastside with a surf-and-turf dinner, a performance by professional hypnotist steve bayner, and a salute to selflessness with the club’s “service above self” awarded to a coastsider who exemplifies volunteer service to the coastside, all starting at 5 p.m. at the i.d.e.s. hall at 735 main st. in half moon bay. tickets are $50. www.hmbrotary.org.


organizationthe art of

el granada couple

passionate about hobbies — and keeping

things shipshape

Andrew Carol shows off a segment of his Lego-built Babbage engine in his home office in Half Moon Bay. A computer programmer at Apple, Carol builds mechanical machines with Legos as a hobby.

ask andrew Carol about the gre-cian eclipse calendar or babbage engine standing in the office of his el granada home. Standing just a few feet tall and just a few feet wide, he constructed each of the complex devices with hundreds — possibly thousands — of individual parts. lego pieces, to be exact.

with lego projects this extensive, someone, namely his wife, might have nightmares about waking up in the middle of the night and treading on knobby, plastic blocks. instead, when asked whether her husband puts away his toys, Terri Carol looks bemused.

That’s because she has a closet (actu-ally a garage) full of toys herself. a handful of machines, dozens of tools and hundreds of rods of colored glass support her passion for mak-ing beads.

Their hobbies sound like the makings of a mess, but through their 15 years of marriage, they’ve developed a finely tuned organiz-ing system that keeps their 1,400-square-foot home spotless.

The house fits together exactly as it should. everything has a purpose and place. each crevice maximizes utility.

The secret?“we like ikea. ikea has been a great

resource for us,” said Terri. Their own

organizationa

By Sara HaydenPhotos by Charles Russo

HOMe LiFe

1 0 � H a l f M o o n B a y � F e B R U A R Y 2 0 1 3

creative use of space has been even more so, leaving plenty of room for work, play and life.

The garage attached to the house was built to accommodate two cars, but Terri has repurposed it for her glass bead business, half moon beads. The car lives outside in the driveway because, “This,” said Terri, “is my world.”

beyond boxes filled with Terri’s grand-mother’s afghans, Christmas decorations, ladders and other standard garage fare, it looks like it could be the corner office of a

creative company’s artistic director. Colorful ribbons loop around spools, and cute boxes hold decorations for her paper crafts, in which Terri said she merely “dabbles.”

a propane tank underneath her prim white desk and a power saw on the side whisper that she’s also up to more heavy-duty work. on the right day, her music playlist screams inspiration, her stereo only blast-ing songs with lyrics that speak about fire or flames.

with a silver pipe that looks like a robot’s arm reaching overhead into her workspace to provide ventilation and with torch in hand,

Terri melds glass strings and rods into minute works of art that become ornamental beads for jewelry, kitchen utensils and office supplies.

“when i get a new box of glass in the mail, it’s like opening a new box of crayons,” gushed Terri. glass rods take up more space than the average Crayola, so she stores them in pieces of sawed up PvC pipes. Spice jars are filled with vibrant glass dusts neatly labeled as “brown rust,” “cherry quartz,” “round Czech” and “turquoise capris.”

Completed projects are displayed in special cases to show off their twinkle.

rubbermaid boxes with lids keep Terri’s operation mobile and can be readily loaded in the car when she attends craft shows.

a custom-made door separates her work from home. The door has been split in half so that the top and bottom can open indepen-dently. when the top half is open, it helps keep the temperature of the garage down for when her kiln is running. Through there, one can peer into what’s happening in the house’s front hallway.

great care is taken at the front door, where keys have come to rest on appropriate hooks and a bowl contains miscellaneous items for daily tasks. across from it is a miniature atrium — an incidental relic of a house addition — that has been neatly packed with potted green plants.

Just past that is a tidy home of-fice where there’s an imac com-

puter resting on a spotless desk and a walt Disney quote on a plaque that tellingly reads, “if you can dream it, you can do it.”

“we call this the den, and we put all of andrew’s lego pieces here,” said Terri. and by pieces, she means masterpieces.

built into the wall are shelves occupied by an elaborate lego haunted mansion, andrew’s hand-cranked machines and even a lego model of main Street under siege by various disasters, including a businessman who has burst into flames. it appears to be the result of a lego U.f.o. striking him with a laser.

Andrew and Terri Carol in the kitchen of their Half Moon

Bay home. More than just a culinary space, the granite island in

their kitchen is an ideal workspace for their many hobbies.

Terri Carol works on some new glass beads in her home studio in Half Moon Bay. Terri makes all her jewelry and other crafts for her business, Half Moon Beads, in this garage workspace in her home.

“it’s like the aliens-attacking-the-town kind of vibe,” explained andrew. The apple soft-ware engineer said he has been playing with legos since he was 5 years old.

There’s also a little jar of plastic lego pel-lets that get melted down and molded into blocks. “(The legoland employees) took a shining to us,” said andrew. “They don’t nor-mally give these to guests at legoland.”

but what of the blocks that andrew hasn’t yet fashioned into some marvelous creation? Those are stashed elsewhere.

andrew moves out of the den. he bypasses an expansive living room that doubles as a gallery. it has been equipped with shelves that glint off of glass art pieces that Terri has col-lected from other artists. he also passes the kitchen, which has a shiny granite island that offers space for both banquet cooking and lego crafting.

at the end of a hall is a white door that looks as though it opens into a closet. in fact, it does, but it also functions as a workshop

Small glass flowers are among the many jewelry pieces made by Terri Carol.

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on occasion. equipped with folding tables, a workbench on wheels and electric fans for air circulation, andrew can set up shop whenever he feels inspired to do so.

The 8-by-10-foot room is packed with nine pine book-cases with adjustable shelves. They’re lined with plastic containers that have dividers to separate tens of thousands of lego gears and blocks by size and color. appropriately, the Carols purchased these from the Container Store.

“They’re a dream when it comes to organizing different pieces,” said andrew.

Scanning the shelves, it quickly becomes evident that they’re not andrew’s only interest.

“This is where my garage stuff would’ve been,” said an-drew. “i have my telescope and other gizmos that would’ve been (there).”

books by Tom Clancy and isaac asimov, as well as com-puter magazines from the 1970s and 1980s stand side by side with the legos. andrew said that he has a collection of about 2,000 books and can’t bear to part with many, but he does basic spring-cleaning to keep things under control.

“if i have a paper version, i thin it out because i can put thousands of books on my iPad.”

There’s even room for the family cat. “She’s probably

behind one of these bookshelves,” said andrew. when not skulking around, she has prime real estate in one of the cor-ners, where she lives in a little igloo-shaped house.

“if you’re not organized in your hobby … it breaks the spell when you need that one thing and can’t find it, and that creative moment is gone,” said andrew.

Andrew Carol works at home in his kitchen on a new Lego creation.

“if you’re not organized in your hobby … it breaks the spell when you need that one thing and can’t find it, and that creative moment is gone.”

— andrew carol

deep, velvety green carpets the ground beneath Kris beckman’s feet. She’s armed with a pair of clippers, her face shielded by a hat that’s faded from countless hours spent in the sun. Tendrils curl overhead, jungle-like, and the air hangs full of the fragrance of fresh herbs.

beckman modestly said, almost apologizing, that the Tunitas Creek ranch grounds she’s tended for the past 13 years, as head gardener, are nothing much to look at now. but, come april and may, she says the ranch will be a sea of color.

however, even amidst the dull, gray shadows and monochromatic greens, senses other than sight tell you that the garden is very much alive. Though she plans to move away from the charming cottage — concealed under veils of tropical Datura flowers, bushels of chamomile and peppermint geranium

plants — to build a life closer to town in Cañada Cove, the garden will continue to grow.

“being from Cape Cod, i felt the need to be near the ocean,” said beckman, who first made her Cali-fornia debut in Palo alto in 1985. “it’s in my Dna or something.”

as the earth awakens for spring, beckman hopes that her custom garden and floral arrangement business, nature’s grace, will bloom anew.

nature’s grace was originally founded in 1997 when beckman moved to half moon bay, but her gardening roots go back to when she was growing up on the east Coast.

other high school classmates found summer jobs at the local restaurant. at 15, beckman went to a flower and vegetable garden business and asked about work. The boss said that beckman was “just a girl,” and that girls couldn’t do the work because it was too hard. beckman insisted that she was capable and convinced the boss to hire her.

“She never hired anyone but girls after that — no

grow?how does her business

beckman transplants custom flower business

By Sara HaydenPhotos by Charles Russo

a

BUSiNeSS


grow?Half Moon Bay resident Kris Beckman, owner of

Nature’s Grace, pictured on Tunitas Creek Ranch at the end

of her tenure as the site’s gardener.

“i plant them, i maintain them,

i take care of them so they flourish.”


offense to the boys,” said beckman, who went on to work for the business for the next five summers.

Since then, beckman has left a mark with her green thumb wherever she’s been.

Shortly after her move to the Coastside, her flowers and gardens caught the atten-tion of a Tunitas Creek homeowner who admired her work so much that beckman was hired full time.

a few loyal clients continued to seek the beautiful arrangements of nature’s grace throughout that time, but beckman said she is now prepared to move from the ranch and start up her business again in full force.

“it was my intent to go to my clients’ homes and do their arrangements any way they want in accordance with their décor, their color and using their own vases,” said beckman. “i plant them, i maintain them, i take care of them so they flourish … a lot of people love to have flowers in their home, and they just don’t have time, so that’s what i’m here for.”

if there’s a painting or other artwork with interesting textures and style, beckman, who previously studied at an art institute in brooklyn, highlights that with her floral pal-

ette. She also prioritizes resourcefulness. in addition to using plants from local growers, she incorporates whatever grows naturally in a client’s yard.

She also sometimes plants herb gardens featuring elements such as spearmint, lemon balm and lemon verbena, so clients can brew their own fresh teas.

“for me, it’s not just about how beautiful it is,” said beckman. “if i’m walking by a flower, i’ll stop short if i catch the fragrance of a violet or a rose, and it will bring me to the present. i think that’s important these days, because we’re so strapped for time. it’s that adage, ‘Stop and smell the roses.’ i think that’s what that means. we get so har-ried and sometimes forget.”

reach Kris beckman at nature’s grace by calling (650) 712-8889, or via email at [email protected].

if i’m walking by a

flower, i’ll stop short if

i catch the fragrance of

a violet or a rose, and

it will bring me to the

present.

Kris Beckman, of Nature’s Grace, clips withered hydrangea blooms while working on a client’s yard in Half Moon Bay in February.

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License # 0C17330








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Because a handshakestill means more

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sonia myers: how did you get started in staging houses?

alicia weisbarth: i have been in the field since i was 8 years old. i went along with my Dad to his first listing. i have been around it my whole life. when i was 10, i went into my friend’s parents’ house and moved everything around and deco-rated their home.

sm: and the mom was ok with that?aw: oh, yeah.

sm: it sounds like you were born with a genuine interest and talent for decorating homes?

aw: i did go to school for interior design and architecture at the academy of art College in San francisco. but before that i went to Spain for a month, and there i was really fascinated by the architecture. after that trip i decided to study interior design and architecture.

sm: did studying interior design teach you new things or simply en-hance what you already knew?

aw: i didn’t really learn that much more. i did learn a lot in the city by going to different hotels and what not. it’s more

stagecenterhelping your

home take

a licia weisbarth discovered her talent for staging homes at age 8, by tagging along with her father, a real estate agent on

the Coastside. They would visit various listings, and ideas would soon begin swirl-ing in her head. weisbarth, 34, and a moss beach resident, has been running her home-staging business, Divine Designs, since 2000. at the moment, she is the only stager on the Coastside.

The business of staging homes emerged 15 years ago with the boom in the real estate market. most people, with the support of their realtor, would attempt to make their home more appealing with basic fixes in and around the house. it was later discovered that, with the help of a professional with an interior design back-ground, a home would sell more quickly and for more money.

weisbarth has staged more than 1,000 homes and vacation rentals, and her work was even featured on the hgTv’s show “house hunters.” with the help of her husband and his crew of movers, weis-barth is able to transform an otherwise cluttered and drab space into a sanctuary that potential homebuyers will want to purchase.

Coastside home

‘stager’ makes

sure homes

have plenty of

inside appeal

}

By Sonia Myers

ReAL eSTATe

Alicia Weisbarth with some of the tools of her trade.


just doing it. it’s art.

sm: it seems one has to have an eye for decoration?

aw: i know a lot about color, color scale, design and what the homes need. for ex-ample, if it’s old and really dated with gold fixtures everywhere, i’m going to bring in silver accents to make it look contemporary. i know what to do in every situation. i have been doing this for so long. i have staged over 1,000 homes.

sm: that’s incredible! are most people eager to have their homes staged when they are in the process of selling?

aw: it’s hard to convince people. i have to guide them. it’s hard for them to have other people in their home. it’s not personal, i just want to sell their home quickly. it can be diffi-cult for people to see their stuff moved. i have had people cry (and have) panic attacks. i have seen it all. it’s hard for them to put away their personal belongings and pictures they’ve had forever. it is just temporary, just to help them move and sell their home quickly and get top dollar.

sm: if the ultimate goal is to sell the house quickly, how do you get the house to that point?

aw: it’s like when you walk into a hotel and see things clean and organized. you want to depersonalize the home. you want the person to feel comfortable. i want people to walk in and say, ‘i can picture myself living here.’

sm: how do you create an organized and comfortable space?

aw: it’s really the placement of furniture and the colors you use. you really don’t want anything too busy or fussy.

sm: do the seasons of the year play into staging a house?

aw: not really. it’s more about the style of the home. when i drive up to a home i’m already noticing the surroundings: is it near the ocean? The mountains? i ask myself what style am i going to go with and then i design accordingly. The minute the owner opens their door i immediately know exactly what i’m going to do.

sm: when you are off the clock and walk into a friend’s house, do you assess the room?

aw: Constantly. every place i go. i help my friends all the time and i love doing it.

sm: how do you acquire all the furni-ture you need?

aw: i started by going to garage sales and refinishing the furniture. now, i own brand-new furniture. i own enough to stage 30 houses at one time.

sm: where do you keep it all?aw: i have a huge warehouse. i have tons

of embellishments, bedding, prints, and mir-

you want to

depersonal-ize the home.

you want the person

to feel comfortable.

i want people to

walk in and say,

‘i can picture myself living

here.’

M A R C H 2 0 1 3 � H a l f M o o n B a y � 2 5

rors. lots of couches and lots of beds.

sm: how do you manage all the fur-niture and accessories?

aw: i get tired of the stuff quickly, so i have to sell it and get new stuff a lot. it’s like with clothes and the seasons, after six months a piece kind of gets boring. furni-ture styles come and go quickly. we have a lot of garage sales.

sm: do you ever dip into your supply for your own home?

aw: i keep them separate because i don’t want my house to be cluttered.

sm: how do you think you are dif-ferent from other stagers?

aw: i think i listen to my clients and re-ally understand the space, color, design and scale. Scale is really important.

sm: describe scale for me?aw: People need oversized items. over-

sized just looks better. for example, large prints add drama. you never want things to look dwarfed in a home. you want it to look different than the average home.

sm: generally, do people use small-er pieces?

aw: Small everything. i think people are

afraid to go big.

sm: what are some common mis-takes people make when staging their own home?

aw: The biggest mistake is putting all their furniture against the walls. it looks dormish. i think it looks nice when you pull things off the wall. it’s really about the energy and flow of a room. you want potential buyers to walk around and look through the windows and feel how large the room is.

sm: does feng shui play a role?Definitely. you can feel when a room

doesn’t fit.

Coastside decorator Alicia Weisbarth uses colorful pillows to accent the bedroom décor of a home in Moss Beach.

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Coastside County Water District(650) 726-4405






























BAWSCA’s landscape education program is designed to introduce homeowners, commercial property managers, and landscape service providers, to the concepts of sustainable and water efficient landscaping and irrigation.

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sm: are you more percep-tive? or are most people — at least at the sub-con-scious level — feeling that energy as well?

aw: we can all feel it. you can walk into a restaurant with bright red walls and it just doesn’t feel right and people aren’t relaxed.

sm: have websites like pinterest.com or houzz.com and the hgtv network, handing out free advice and professional tips, had an af-fect on your business?

aw: a lot of those shows al-low people to think they can do it themselves, but it does take an artistic eye and experience. having said that, people can do a lot of basics by themselves.

sm: do you have any ad-vice for homeowners trying to make better use of their own space?

aw: i would say de-clutter. People will live in a house for 30 years and they won’t realize they have a bunch of different prints on their walls. you just don’t see it after a while.

sm: what about the char-

acter people bring into their own homes?

aw: my advice is to choose one area. Use the same color frames and make a lot of dif-ferent prints look like one art piece.

sm: what interesting things do you observe in most people’s homes?

aw: a lot of people have the same exact furniture. it’s pretty interesting to see. i’ll see the same exact room in people’s homes.

sm: is most of your work done in half moon bay?

aw: i would say about 90 percent. i’ve staged from San francisco to San Jose.

sm: does staging a home really make a home sell quicker?

aw: it definitely works. for example, my Dad had two list-ings: same exact house, brand-new construction. we staged one and it sold right away, and the other one didn’t. So we brought all the furniture to that house and it sold very quickly after. a lot of people can’t envi-sion a home without furniture. often times, more furniture can make a room appear much larger.

sm: why should people spend money on staging their house?

aw: Staging a home is worth the $2,000 or $3,000 to sell your home quickly to make $50,000 to $100,000 more. you want to sell it quickly and try to get as much money as you can and move on to your new home.

sm: all in all, it seems people are looking for a relaxing and comfortable place to live. why do we create chaos when what we truly want is organization?

aw: People may think they can’t have that. we spend so much money on our homes it should be a sanctuary.

alicia’s husband, mark weisbarth, who was eating his breakfast alongside our conversation, chimed in, “not everyone is a decorator or even thinks like that. you can’t ex-pect to live like a staged house. it’s for show.”

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painting is one of the least expen-sive, quickest and easiest ways to immediately transform the look

of a room. with a change of color, any space can immediately take on a new personality. Choosing the perfect color for a room is key.

There’s no right or wrong color, it’s simply about homeowners finding the right hue for them. while it may be tempting to follow the trends, some-times the “in” colors simply do not mesh with a homeowner’s design style. in such instances it’s best to go with what feels the best. Choosing colors that impart a certain mood can also help create a dramatic, comforting or energizing space.

Certain families of colors say differ-ent things and can create a particular atmosphere. here are some common colors and what they can do for design.

● green: if the desire is for a relax-ing, all-natural retreat, green may very well be the color to choose. green’s connection to nature makes the shade refreshing and soothing to the eye. it can instantly create a calming effect in any space, and homeowners need not worry about going overboard with shades of green. Complementary colors to green include shades of red and pink. Use this accent color in draperies or on prints. fill a vase with magenta-colored blooms and add a special pop of color.

● blue: another calming color is blue. it can make a room serene and

soothing. blue is a cool color, which means it can also be used in abundance with little worry. make a bedroom a quiet retreat with the right shade of blue. a touch of orange or peach blends well with blue.

● red: an energizing and dramatic color, red demands attention. it’s stimu-lating and provocative, and some people love an entire room of red. however, to others, red can be overwhelming. but red can be used on an accent wall or sparingly to spruce up a neutral color scheme.

● purple: This color is often relegated to a girl’s room, but purple is elegant and regal and can add a touch of romance to a room. individuals torn over painting with red may want to try the drama of purple, which is a bit more subdued and mysterious.

● yellow: There are few colors more uplifting than yellow. This hue is reminiscent of a bright, sunny day. a dark house can be brightened by paint-ing a room in a soft shade of yellow that will reflect any visible light. from bed-rooms to bathrooms to kitchens, yellow is a versatile, illuminating shade.

● orange: another vibrant color is orange. This hue can be captivating and friendly and will brighten up dull spaces. orange adds energy to a room, so it

may not be best for bedrooms or other calming retreats, like a den. homeowners needn’t paint a room pumpkin to get the full effect of orange. more subtle shades, like apricot or terra-cotta, can also add the power of orange.

● pink: Pink is a romantic color and ultra-feminine. Pink has long been considered nothing more than a bed-room color, but, when used in the right fashion, it can also add spirited whimsy to a living space.

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white: Some homeowners think the absence of color is ideal. white is fresh, bright and clean. it’s also a time-less choice for consumers who can’t decide on another color. white goes with just about anything, but if all white seems too sterile, think about mixing white with shades of beige for just a little color.

experimenting with color can dra-matically change the look of any room in the house. Consider using an online room simulator to try out different shades before painting.

tired of your living room? new furniture out of the budget? a few gallons of paint and some elbow grease could transform it completely. but what color?

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sharing thecropspotrero nuevo farm sows new model for givingBy Mark NoackPhotos by Charles Russo


Volunteers from the Catholic Worker House thin out a row of winter greens on Potrero Nuevo Farm, in late January, along Tunitas Creek Road.

bill laven and Christine Pielenz, the owners of Potrero nuevo farm off Tunitas Creek road, aren’t your run-of-the-mill farmers.

The married couple first bought their own plot of farmland on the South Coast in 2008, but they came from a very different background

than most growers in the area. They were city folk trans-planted from San francisco. laven worked as a literature and photography teacher, and Pielenz helped fund after-school programs for low-income youth.

They always admired farming, but they admit they were more green horns than green thumbs. Today they own 300 acres of South Coast land suitable for farming or livestock grazing, though they still often find them-selves browsing the aisles at the supermarket.

Perhaps the biggest distinction between them and most farmers is that laven and Pielenz have a ten-dency to give away their crops for free. in fact, the farm this year intends to donate 15,000 pounds of fresh fruits and veggies to Coastside charities. That’s approximately 85 percent of the farm’s total harvest.

although not a nonprofit charity, Potrero nuevo is being run essentially like one. after years of participat-ing in farmers markets and community-supported agri-culture, laven and Pielenz decided last year to com-pletely flip their business model. They now say their

main mission is to provide fresh produce for those on the Coastside least able to pay for it.

“The marketplace doesn’t matter to me. we’ve never had to run this farm as a business,” laven said. “Unless there’s a worldwide economic collapse, we can do this until we die.”

almost every farm on the Coastside is known to donate surplus fruits and veggies to a variety of causes. local growers contribute pallets of vegetables annu-ally for charities to fry up and sell at the half moon bay art & Pumpkin festival. area farmers take pride in contributing their bounty for food handouts, senior programs, or just to a visiting friend.

giving away surplus food is part and parcel of being a farmer, said bill gass, executive director of the San mateo County farm bureau. but traditional farmers still have to put their bottom line before their generos-ity, he added.

“it’s kind of the nature of people who get involved in farming. They work hard and they try to help people when they can,” he said. “but, obviously, they can’t afford to give away the majority of their crop or they’d go broke.”

laven and Pielenz say they are lucky to have a finan-cial cushion from their past careers and an inheritance. The couple entered farming after starting the Potrero nuevo fund, a grant program helping to fund arts, environmental equity and agriculture in underserved areas of San francisco. They drew inspiration from the South Coast nonprofit farm Pie ranch, and they became enchanted by the idea to do something similar with their own slice of land.

They soon discovered that supporting farming in concept and actually toiling in the fields were two very different things.

“finding this farm was absolute dumb luck,” laven said. “we were kind of like, ‘la di da.’ we didn’t know what we wanted to do … and quite honestly we bit off more than we could chew.”

The would-be farmers faced a shaky first year as they experimented with different concepts. They hired a crew of talented farmhands with plenty of agricultural know-how, but they still had no experience with the idiosyn-crasies of their land.

following successful pro-grams at other small farms on the coast, Potrero nuevo sought to diversify its crops and organize a community-supported agriculture pro-gram, providing boxes of produce for subscribers. The farm also sold its wares at the Coastside farmers market, which ultimately kindled its relationship with Coastside food charities.

it started with Potrero nuevo giving away its un-sold produce after a farmers market to the Kelly avenue Catholic worker house. eventually, the farm signed up to give away about 15 percent of its crop for regular food distributions in half moon bay and Pescadero through the nonprofit Puente de la Coast Sur. last year, levan and Pielenz decided to flip that around, keeping only 15 percent of their produce for sale and giving the rest to charity.

“This level of giving, i’ve never seen it before,” said eric Debode, manager of the Kelly avenue Catholic worker house. “it’s probably

Potrero Nuevo Farm owners Christine Pielenz, far left, and Bill Laven, far right, stand by their Bike Hut hospitality station for cyclists, along with farm managers Suzie and Jay Trexler.

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a terrible business model, but they’re trying to redesign the farm to work for the (poor).”

leading a tour of his farm on an unseasonably warm february day, laven and his small group of farmhands were still in the early stages of the growing year. where fields of verdant crops would roll over coastal hills in summertime, there were mostly tilled rows of brown soil at this time.

The day-to-day farm operations at Potrero nuevo are managed by Suzie and Jay Trexler, a young married couple who met while studying in a sustainable agriculture program at the Univer-sity of California, Santa Cruz. Suzie, who joined Potrero nuevo in its first year, keeps records on each crop, the growing conditions and harvest results.

on most weeks, the Catholic worker house drives a van of volunteers to help work at the farm for the day. leading a group of workers for an afternoon in the fields, Jay explained that the farm now grows more than 40 different varieties of veggies. recipients of food charities, many of them latinos, want tomatoes, peppers,

Volunteers with the Catholic Worker House shovel wood chips to be used in the flower garden at Potrero Nuevo Farm. Below, Potrero Nuevo Farm Manager Jay Trexler walks along Tunitas Creek Road to work on a nearby field of crops.

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Christine QuinnEscrow Officert: 650.560.4819 [email protected]

Haydee Navarro MarshallSales Account Managerc: 650.863.5165 [email protected]

NORTH AMERICAN TITLEThe Only Title Company in Town.

NORTH AMERICAN TITLE COMPANY711 Main StreetHalf Moon Bay, CA 94019t: 650.560.4819f: 866.778.9123

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Katie BerggrenBranch Manager / Escrow Officert: 650.560.4819 [email protected]

Kim GilmoreCertified Escrow Officert: 650.560.4819 [email protected]

Christine QuinnEscrow Officert: 650.560.4819 [email protected]

Haydee Navarro MarshallSales Account Managerc: 650.863.5165 [email protected]

NORTH AMERICAN TITLEThe Only Title Company in Town.

NORTH AMERICAN TITLE COMPANY711 Main StreetHalf Moon Bay, CA 94019t: 650.560.4819f: 866.778.9123

NORTHAMERICANTITLECOMPANYLike Clockwork

®

www.nat.com/halfmoonbay

Kathie MonozonSenior SalesRepresentativet: 650.438.3898

your local resource for green living

• Find out how to recycle or reuse almost anything

• Search for green product retailers • Take a free composting class• Learn about energy efficiency• Attend a lecture, events & more!

free hotline:

1-888-442-2666find recycling locations. search the databases at:

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Geneve Jewelers1465 Burlingame Avenue, Burlingame • 650.348.4983 • www.genevejewelers.com

Custom Goldsmiths • Appraisals On Site Diamond Setting and Repairs

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Certified arborists serving the Coastside

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COMPLETE EYE CAREFOR YOU AND YOURFAMILY SINCE 1985

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From beginners to advanced

Reader’s Choice Winner Best Party Location!Visit our party options website for pricing.

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onions and any berries, Jay said. and that demand influences what they plant. This year, they are also planting rows of chayote, mexican summer squashes and different hot peppers in their green-house.

“you give kale or chard to most latino folks, and they’re like, ‘what is this?’” he joked.

at the same time, Potrero nuevo has become a laboratory for new ideas. The farm built two kitchens (one indoor, one outdoor) to provide meals for its volunteers. The farm also hosts a few tenants, including a beekeeper and a woman who grows lavender for a variety of fragrance products. Jay and Suzie also use a piece of the land as a hen pasture for an organic egg-sharing business. The couple is branching out into raising pigs, making homemade preserves and pick-les, and hosting farm dinners.

Perhaps the best-known experiment at the farm is the bike hut, an off-road hospitality station stocked with water, coffee, snacks and air pumps for any passing cyclists. laven unveiled the hut during the 2009 amgen Tour of Califor-nia race, and it’s since become a popular destination for the larger Peninsula bik-ing crowd. no one mans the bike hut, but signage asks visitors to leave enough money to pay for whatever they take. most visitors end up overpaying, laven said, and the bike hut actually turns a profit.

The core mission of the farm is to provide a food supply for those who need it most, said Pielenz. her experi-ence working with San francisco schools left her amazed at how many children have never been to a farm, visited the ocean or experienced the redwoods. among her own most cherished child-hood memories are summers spent at her grandmother’s orchard in germany, plucking apples, plums or walnuts right from the trees. Potrero nuevo is her way of sharing this experience with oth-ers.

“ it’s a way for youngsters to get their hands in the soil and increase their ap-preciation for nature. it’s very close to my heart,” she said. “it’s also good food. i love good foods and fresh vegetables and for other people to enjoy that too. it’s great!”

Farm Manager Jay Trexler digs up a section of the Potrero Nuevo flower garden, in late January.

A bounty of beans is harvested last summer from Potrero Nuevo Farm to benefit the Kelly Avenue Catholic Worker House. (Photo courtesy of eric Debode)


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HALF MOON BAYPLUMBING

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BOWERMAN ELECTRICSteve Bowerman

P.0. Box 457Half Moon Bay

California 94019

650.726.4544Contractor Lic. No. 611287

Insured

37 YEARS IN BUSINESS

HEATING & Air Conditioning .Installation • Service • Sales

GAFFIGAN COMPANY EST. 1917

(650) 574-5740www.gaffiganhvac.com720 So. Amphlett Blvd.San MateoContractors State License #286582

Finishing Touch your most valuable investment deserves the best care.

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Lynda [email protected] DRE#01455905 www.lyndasantini.com

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“...you worked diligently behind the scenes, keenly focused on bringing this all together for us...there was not a glitch in the fl ow, not a hurdle to overcome. It was an incredible experience. Thank you”

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Ara Croce, C.R.S.Ara Croce, C.R.S.Ara Croce, C.R.S.Ara Croce, C.R.S.Ara Croce, C.R.S.Ara Croce, C.R.S.

Ara’s your advocate! Since 1974 she has represented her client’s best interests in real estate matters. Ara’s a CRS (Certifi ed Residential Specialist), and has achieved numerous awards while helping clients achieve their real estate goals. For prompt, professional results, call Ara and let her skill and creativity work for you.

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For Buyers and Sellers new laws, regulations, short sales and foreclosures are constantly changing the Real Estate Market.You need a Realtor who is going to keep you updated on that ever changing market. For 5 star customer service and value see or call Vita Hall. Top Producer Nationwide

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Carolyn ShadeCarolyn ShadeCarolyn ShadeCarolyn ShadeCarolyn ShadeCarolyn Shade

Carolyn has resided on the Coastside for the past 45 years and has in depth knowledge of the coast as well as the peninsula.

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“More Than a Shade Better”

Reach yourhomebuying goalsWhether you’re buying your first home, a second home orrefinancing your current home, Wells Fargo Home Mortgagehas the products and programs to help you reach yourhomebuying goals.

• PriorityBuyer® preapproval• FHA and VA loans• Low down payment programs for qualified borrowers

Contact your Wells Fargo Home Mortgage consultant today!

105361 - 21/90

Sandra L. Chaussard Home Mortgage Consultant Phone: 650/558-5415 Cell: 650-483-5417 [email protected] NMLSR ID 459893

Information is accurate as of date of printing and is subject to change without notice. Wells Fargo Home Mortgage is a division of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. ©2011 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. NMLSR ID 399801.

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