Volume 65, Issue 4 | April 2020  
  Download the Headlines here 
April 2020 Community Center Calendar

Public meetings are cancelled until further notice due to the 
shelter-at-home order.
 
  7 | HVCA Board |
14 | HVLT Board | 
21 | Firewise Committee |
28  | Sanitary District Board |

1st/3rd Wed. | Tam Design Review Board |
Saturdays     | A. A. Meeting |
Wednesdays | Mill Valley Zen Meditation | 
 Fridays         | SingDancePlay - Music Together |
COVID-19 & Homestead Valley
We hope this finds all our friends and neighbors healthy, happy and safe at home in these turbulent times. As of this writing, the shelter-at-home order in response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been extended to May 1, 2020. All public meetings and gatherings are cancelled indefinitely. Due to this order, the Homestead Valley Pool opening has been postponed until further notice.

As noted by HVCA Board President, Alex Scalisi, "...while these are challenging times indeed, this too shall pass.  As a community we'll persevere, and maybe even retain some newly discovered joys like a slow after-dinner stroll, or "la passeggiata" as they say in Italy.

"At 8:00 PM every night is the Mill Valley "Howl".  Step outside for a reprieve and listen to and join in with your fellow wacky neighbors and dogs howling at the moon!

"For now, please stay vigilant and indoors within your residence whenever possible.  Practice quality social distancing when out in the community and continue to wash those hands.  We will continue to update you as much as possible, however please reach out with any questions or concerns.

"Continue to take care of yourself and your neighbors."


Useful links:
 
HVCA contact information:
 
Marin County Coronavirus website:  

Individuals may contact Marin Health and Human Services with non-medical questions about the coronavirus by calling (415) 473-7191 (Monday - Friday, 9:30 AM to 12 Noon and 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM) or emailing COVID-19@marincounty.org.
Homestead Valley Vignettes by Chuck Oldenburg
La Verne Railroad
 
In 1909, local capitalists sponsored a project to construct an electric railroad to Muir Woods and Big Lagoon [Muir Beach]. Passengers would board the train at Locust Station. The new tracks would come off the Mill Valley line at Doherty's Lumber Yard at Evergreen and Miller, where Whole Foods is today. The line was to follow La Verne Ave. up to the Dias ranch then down to Muir Woods. From there it would follow Redwood Creek to Big Lagoon. An editorial in the Mill Valley Independent was enthusiastic: "The feasibility and excellence of the proposed electric railroad is beyond question. Some day some far seeing financier is certain to build the railroad to Big Lagoon and Willow Camp [Stinson Beach]. The possibilities of that spot on the Coast are just being made known and have long been unappreciated. It is a certain proposition that before many years one of the finest summer resorts in the State will be located on the sea coast in that neighborhood, which will rival Santa Cruz, and bid for more San Francisco patronage because of its closeness to the city. For that reason, the railroad that will be constructed will prove a valuable investment for the owners." The project died for lack of subscriptions.
Land Trust Notes
Linear Mind

The deer go everywhere they find edibles. In the higher parts of Homestead there is much green grass growing in the open spots around the coyote brush. There are deer trails all over, a wonderful network of them.

A man wants to go a particular direction. To him, the deer trails make up a maze, one with many deadends. They are not so to the small coastal deer. To the upright two-leggeds they are.

The day after the Easter drizzle, I set out to pass through this maze for the first time in a couple of years. There was an anxious moment or two when every way seemed to deadend. I wasn't even sure which way I'd come in. I knew where I was; I just didn't know how to get somewhere else gracefully. And the sun was disappearing behind the ridge.

My linear, goal-orientated mind gave up. I opened my-self to feeling the lay of the land, the pattern of openings and closings. Soon I was standing on the Eagle Trail next to Amaranth Court. It was all downhill from there; I gratefully surrendered to the trail's direction.

I followed the Homestead Trail next, around to the new Madrone Park Circle connection. This is a lot of raw dirt now, but I can appreciate how it will be after a year or two's weathering. It has some dramatic turns, and passes by a big madrone and a small grove of chinquapin. It also cuts through Homestead's only huckleberry patch that I know about.

Praise be to the Marin Youth Conservation Corps that build our trails, to the Homestead Valley Land Trust that employs them, and to the tax-paying residents that fund them.
April 1988


These timeless articles are reprinted from "On Foot in Homestead A Hiker's Journal of a Coastal Valley," by Matthew Davis, 1988. Matthew Davis (1935-2015), a former HVLT Board member, wrote articles which appeared in the Homestead Headlines beginning in 1984. In 1988 Matthew compiled his columns into a book "On Foot in Homestead - A Hiker's Journal of a Coastal Valley," published by the HVLT.
Homestead Valley Contact Information
Community Center Office
David Ross, Executive Director                      
415.388.0137                                           

Community Association
Alex Scalisi, President

Ashley MacDonald, Vice-President
                          
Land Trust
Brian Spring, President
415.497.2880

Firewise
Mark Stahl
415.519.7525

Sanitary District
Bonner Beuhler, Manager
415.388.4796

Stolte Grove Rentals
Sheila Nielsen
415.388.2162

Joint Marin Horizon School/Homestead Valley Committee
Christina Oldenburg, Co-Chair
415.388.9315

Bill Perrine, Co-Chair
415.388.8408 x225

E-Mail HVCA Board, Center & Headlines
info@homesteadvalley.org              
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