Green Fueling on the Coast

Green Fueling on the Coast

by Whitney Merrill

Biodiesel “magic” under the hood. Photos: Whitney Merrill.

April 2013—Dave Eck and his wife Ginny just returned from a weekend trip to Pismo Beach in their custom-built RV, and they didn’t stop for gas even once. In fact, if you recently had a meal at one of the local restaurants in Half Moon Bay, it’s likely that your meal subsidized part of their trip — so “thank you” on behalf of our local economy and also on behalf of the Ecks. They look like they had a great time in their fully refurbished, custom-designed 1971 Silver Eagle luxury coach that burns fuel at about 4 miles per gallon, so it’s really nice of you to help them out!

Dave Eck.

If you haven’t guessed it already, what we’re talking about is the use of biofuel — and in particular, biodiesel. The reuse and recycling of cooking oils from local Coastside restaurants into a fuel is what powers the Ecks’ coach and a number of the vehicles at the family business of Half Moon Bay Auto Repair. Eck buys the cooking oil directly from Coastside restaurants and converts it into biodiesel via a mini-refinery on-site at his business. He’s been doing this for 15 years, even when the gas prices were lower. Eck says: “It’s not just about the cost savings. The reason I’m doing it is because it’s a cleaner-burning fuel.” He adds that biodiesel produces less black smoke and has more power.

The process starts with finding what Eck calls a “really good product” — cooking oil from a local restaurant that uses high-quality oils with no trans-fats and changes the oil every day. He picks up the oil himself from pre-installed storage tanks, pays the restaurants for their oil, and also pays the state 16 cents per gallon road tax. This oil is then converted to biodiesel by adding some chemical agents including potassium hydroxide and sulfuric acid, drying it to removing the water and moisture, filtering it, and then removing and recycling the by-product of the reaction — the glycerin used in some soaps.

The green-fueling lab.

Eck describes this as a fairly non-toxic process and says that he isn’t required to have a license to make biodiesel. He has a number of storage and drying tanks, a machine that mixes the chemical agents, and a bunch of testing equipment that looks a bit like a biology lab — but he’s quick to point out that the process is fairly simple and low-tech. “A person could get everything they need to do biofuel and do it out of a 50-gallon drum,” he says. There is also extensive information in the form of biodiesel home-brew guides and kits available on the Internet. A number of federal tax incentives for biodiesel use are currently in place and promoted by the U.S. Department of Energy.

The luxury biodiesel Silver Eagle coach just back from Pismo Beach.

Some of the other benefits of using biodiesel are the resulting reduction of greenhouse gases and the environmental benefit of recycling. Since Eck is recycling oil that has already been produced and transporting it locally, the net carbon output is very small, and he is reusing something that would normally take additional energy to dispose of or recycle completely. “I feel really good about it because I’m doing something good for the environment,” says Eck. “I’ve really been into being green, and at the shop I recycle everything.”

Eck is also very proud of this custom RV that he has lovingly restored and equipped with a full stainless steel refrigerator, flat-screen TVs, full kitchen, hardwood floors and a full master bath and bedroom. And “it goes down the road like a pillow … it’s so smooth,” Eck says. He’s worked with the Cabrillo school system for years, works on motor homes in his business and has a true passion for transportation and freedom. His RV is a labor of love: “To take something from the ground up, you’re building something that’s worth building,” he says. In his case he’s built more than a custom RV — he’s built a system and a process by which he can be fully independent of fuel supply and costs, thereby providing more flexibility and freedom for himself and his business.

The green-fueling lab.

But there’s one more reason for using biodiesel, Eck says: “The real reason I’m doing this is because I am ready for an earthquake. I’m off the grid and I have three backup generators.” Pointing to a map of the U.S. on his fridge showing all of the places that he’s visited, Eck notes that he can travel for hundreds of miles with his coach and its large storage tanks, all with a green and renewable process. With his “refinery” and his bus, he’s ready to hit the road at any time and he feels prepared for the future, whatever that may bring. Eck sums up with what sounds like his personal motto: “When you’ve got your own fuel, you can go places.”

On the Web:

www.afdc.energy.gov/laws/laws/US/tech/3251

Preschool Yoga

Even preschoolers get busy these days and need to take a break to quiet the mind and rejuvenate.

I see it as both a sign of the times and a heads-up that we are 'moving in the right direction' that they have Yoga @ pre-school!


All the Best,

Whitney

© 2013 All rights reserved, Whitney Merrill

Pumpkin Cover

It's Pumpkin season in Half Moon Bay, CA and the above pic was on the cover of Coastviews Magazine this month and features my son Zander pulling the daughter (Eva) of good friends of ours.  They also visited again this past weekend and took a few more pics - who knows... maybe one of these will be next year's cover! :)

All the Best,
Whitney
© 2012 All rights reserved, Whitney Merrill

Sunday Morning Special: Folk music in Half Moon Bay

Coastviews Magazine Article

by Whitney Merrill

Lighthouse String Band Members (L to R): Dave Sahn, guitar; Raymond Tsang, fiddle; Helen Tsang, mandolin; Cyndi Menzel, hammered dulcimer; and Mary Maguire, bodhrán (Irish frame drum). Photos: Whitney Merrill.

September 2011— Community means many things to many people — but at Blue Sky Farms in Half Moon Bay on a foggy coastal morning it smells like coffee and fresh-baked pastries, tastes like a mouth-watering breakfast, and sounds like lively folk music from the Lighthouse String Band. The cold mist outside is watering the nursery plants, but inside the cafe it is warm and cozy as friends, neighbors and visitors enjoy music that draws out smiles. Beautiful images of California native landscape designs are on display, and talk of water conservation, green building practices and coastal sustainability are typical coffee-chat conversations in this unique coastal community that has formed over the past few years. This community is what Ken and Sally Coverdell have created with a little patience, focus and attention to the environment.

In 1977, the Coverdells bought a 2.5-acre coastal farm next to Nurserymen’s Exchange on Route 1 in Half Moon Bay. After running their Blue Sky Designs landscape company for many years, they were inspired to build a retail location, Blue Sky Farms nursery, across the highway from their farm. What started out as a simple barn project eventually took almost three years; the results became a model for green building on the coast, earning the Coverdells a water conservation award. After adding the coffee shop and kitchen, the barn quickly transformed into a restaurant — and the restaurant became a community focal point for the Miramar section of Half Moon Bay as neighbors began gravitating to the cafe. Sally gets up at 3:30 a.m. to do the baking and cooking because “plants can wait, but food service can’t.” Ken says, “Now that we have the cafe, we’ve met everyone” and points out several items in the barn that have been donated by neighbors.

Dave Sahn repairing a broken guitar string.

And met everyone they have, whether it’s chatting with the band members about their music, discussing water conservation with a local board member, teaching about recycling and composting, or providing advice to community members about how to balance beauty with conservation. “We’re passionate about water,” Ken says, noting that a little bit of patience, planning and thought can make all of the difference in landscape design. “People are often buying on impulse and want instant gratification. We’re focused on California natives, not just instant color.”

It is this type of environment that prompted members of the Lighthouse String Band to inquire a few years ago if they could practice their music at the cafe; they could indeed, and eventually wound up adopting the cafe as their regular Sunday morning gig. The Coverdells were more than excited. Ken says the band plays “the happiest, most loving music I’ve ever heard in my life.” And Sally adds: “So many families look forward to coming with young kids. They come inside, the windows steam up and people start smiling.” Raymond Tsang, one of the founding members of the band, says: “This is our favorite place to be. We try to promote Irish, Celtic and American folk music and we want to be on the coast, and on the coast there is not too much folk music.”

The band has a unique combination of vocals and instruments that include the fiddle, mandolin, guitar, bouzouki, hammered dulcimer, and bodhrán —an Irish frame drum. Whether the performance is out in the sun of the nursery garden or inside on a cozy morning, children dance around and friends, neighbors and visitors chat and smile.

Blue Sky Community: Lighthouse String Band members with Raymond Tsang, Cyndi Menzel and Helen Tsang with Ken Cloverdell.

The band has been together since 2009 and performs at several other coastal venues, including the local farmers markets. The band members — Robin Fish, Mary Maguire, Dave Sahn, Helen Tsang and Raymond Tsang (with Cyndi Menzel currently standing in for Robin Fish) — are also passionate about supporting their local community; 50 percent of their tips go to the San Mateo food bank. The band members who live nearby can often be found at the cafe when not playing, enjoying both the nursery’s plants and the cafe’s food. Tsang says: “Everything that I got from here stays good and healthy. … And the pecan roll is a killer; I’m addicted to it!”

Blue Sky Farms is located at 3068 N. Cabrillo Highway in Half Moon Bay, and can be reached at 650-726-5999.

Risk Mitigation for the NOW

I was recently doing research for an article on Northern California beaches and I came across this sign in Santa Cruz.  Pretty daunting, eh?  Makes you wonder why anyone would get in the water to go surfing or swimming.  But they do... and it got me to thinking about taking risks - why we do it and how do we mitigate against them in the face of uncertainty.  

 

Why do we take risks and what's really in it for us?  The common understanding is that we take risks in order to get to something that we feel we'll enjoy or something that will benefit us - essentially the whole risk/reward notion.   For example, surfers will brave the great white sharks hunting for seals off of the waters of Nor Cal because they love the experience of surfing the waves - for them the reward outweighs the risks.  And for those who may not be fully aware of the risks involved, they're super clearly outlined for them on the sign above. :)

But what about those situations where the 'sign' is not as obvious and the risks are not clearly known?  How do we make choices and move forward in the light of uncertainty?  We see something that we may want to 'try' but how do we know that we'll even like it or that it will benefit us.  There is an 'up-front' risk and our risk/reward guide doesn't know how to calculate it properly... so we freeze and the energy stops flowing.  If this happens repeatedly it can even become a recurring pattern of fear, limiting us from the full experience of life - no waves, no hang 10, no fun... real bummer dude.

 

One potential strategy for moving forward is to seek to mitigate the risk and in doing so shift the balance of the risk/reward equation in our favor.  This is where the potential upside (even though unknown) would still be perceived as greater than the risk because that risk has been minimized to make the 'math' work.  It does take a bit of negotiation but with a little practice it really can be achieved in most situations.  I know, because my wife and I try it with our son most evenings at the dinner table trying to get him to try something new to eat that he's never had before (his risk that it will taste yucky) by using some form of reward (dessert = something he knows he likes). :)

 

The difference with adults is that risks are very often 'thrust upon' us and risk mitigation is something that we usually have to practice by ourselves (no parents to guide us at the dinner table).  Whether it be a new project or role at work, making a new dinner recipe for your family, engaging socially with a new group, going in for the first kiss or trying surfing for the first time, we're confronted with risk situations almost daily.  We don't know if the reward will be worth it and the risks of failure (especially for a first time experience) appear to be fairly large - how do we mitigate these situations daily so that we are able to move forward and grow?

 

The strategy that I'll offer up today is a simple one - go to what you love and go to where you are strong when approaching a risky situation.  Realize that you don't have to take on ALL of a huge unknown risk today - you can scout it out and add to your knowledge base one activity at a time.  You may feel that you do have to brave the sharks, the cold water, the undertow, large waves and eroding cliffs all at once... but it's very rarely the case (it may just feel like it).  You could take each one on separately, mitigating the risk as you go along to see if the reward is really worth it - and enjoy the experience while you're at it.

 

So, as I sat looking at this sign I thought that perhaps there might be a better way to experience much of what was being offered but mitigate my risk in a way that worked for me and focused on what I loved and where I was strong - I came up with a risk mitigation plan that worked for me in the NOW.  Still some risk but something I could work with today and keep me moving forward:

 

 

All the Best,

Whitney

© 2012 All rights reserved, Whitney Merrill

Hidden Beaches of the Coast

Coastviews Magazine Article

by Whitney Merrill

August 2012— Feeling a bit harried? Coastside beaches are a great place to get away, relax and enjoy the summer months. Most of the main beaches are well marked and easily accessible from Highway 1, but there are a few hidden gems that are not visited as often and offer a more secluded beach experience. Here are a few lesser-known beaches that you might have overlooked or might want to revisit. All of the beaches listed will remain open this summer, unaffected by the closing of some California parks. Enjoy your summer at the beach!

Davenport Landing Beach

Davenport Landing Beach. Photos: Whitney Merrill.

Directions: Take Highway 1 and go 35 miles south of Half Moon Bay. Turn right on Davenport Landing Road; the beach and parking are about a half mile down on the left. Davenport Landing Road is 1¼ miles north of Ocean Street, the center of downtown Davenport. So if you get to Ocean Street, you’ve come too far; turn around and go back.
Overview: A wide sandy beach in a protected cove makes this a perfect spot for relaxing on a quiet beach to watch surfers, sailboats and sunsets. Originally the site of the whaling town of Davenport, it is now just a hidden white sand beach on the coast with a few homes overlooking the water. In the summer months the kelp beds are full of life and pelicans, cormorants and seals abound. As this beach is not marked from Highway 1 it is often overlooked by visitors and frequented by locals. The downtown of Davenport has a number of restaurants and stores to dine or grab picnic supplies for a day at the beach.

Davenport Landing Beach

Bean Hollow.

Directions: Take Highway 1 and go 18 miles south of Half Moon Bay, and 2½ miles south of Pescadero Road. There are two parking lots, the more southern lot offering access to the sandy crescent-shaped beach.
Overview: Although this beach is readily visible from Highway 1, beach-goers heading south from Half Moon Bay often stop at either the San Gregorio or Pescadero state beaches, leaving this beach with more room to stretch out your beach blanket. Additionally, when there is coastal fog or an ocean breeze, this cove provides shelter from the wind and the white sand provides warmth on marginal beach days. The shape of the beach also makes it easy to keep an eye on children and dogs — dogs are allowed on leash — and there are tide pools to enjoy at low tide. Nearby Pescadero provides several options for beach food and dining in town.

Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay Beach
Directions: Take Highway 1 and go 2½ miles south of Route 92 in Half Moon Bay. Turn right on Miramontes Point road; the parking lot is about a half mile down on the left. The paved path to the beach cuts directly through the golf course with protected fencing.

Half Moon Bay Ritz Beach.

Overview: This is a public access beach, well worth the 55 steps down to beach even if you’re not staying at the Ritz. This beautiful white sand beach is great for long romantic strolls and exploration of tide pools; it’s often overlooked because there are a limited number of parking spaces at the public access. However, the Ritz provides 25 additional parking spaces at the main building and you can also combine your visit to the beach with dining, golfing or a relaxing spa at the Ritz.

Maverick’s Beach & Pillar Point Harbor Beaches
Directions: Take Highway 1 and go 3½ miles north of Route 92 in Half Moon Bay. Turn left on Capistrano Road to Pillar Point Harbor. Continue past the harbor entrance to Prospect Way and turn left. Turn right on Broadway, then immediately left on Harvard. Continue to the end of Harvard. Turn right on West Point Avenue and go ½ mile to the Pillar Point Marsh parking lot. From the parking lot walk along the water to the harbor beach and then ¼ mile further to Maverick’s beach out around the bend.
Overview: Famous for the Maverick’s Big Surf competition and waves of up to 50 feet in the winter

Pillar Point Harbor.

season on the outside reef, the beaches inside of Pillar Point Harbor provide calm and relatively warm waters for children and are dog-friendly. If you round the corner out beyond the harbor wall there is a white sand beach with views of surfers and kayakers at high tide and the exposed reef at low tide. At the northern tip of Half Moon Bay this beach provides spectacular views of the bay and the coastal mountain range. The parking lot is sometimes full, but there is additional parking at the harbor mall and bike rentals are available for the short ride out to the beach.

Seal Cove Beach at Fitzgerald Marine Reserve
Directions: Take Highway 1 and go 5¾ miles north of Route 92 in Half Moon Bay; turn left on Cypress Avenue at the sign for the Moss Beach Distillery. Follow the signs to the Distillery where there is parking and then walk ¼ mile back along Beach Street until it intersects Cypress Avenue. The beach access, via stairs, can be found along the Bluff Trail.

Seal Cove Beach.

Overview: The newly constructed 100 steps down to this isolated white sandy beach have a landing with park signs to tell the story of the cove and its bootlegger history. At low tide the rocks of the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve are exposed and the tide pools are full of sea anemones, crabs, clams and snails. Seals frequent the beach and gray whales are a common sight just off shore. Stop at the nearby historical Moss Beach Distillery for a burger and beer on the patio or a more formal meal inside and you may catch a glimpse of the famous Blue Lady ghost.

On the Web:
www.halfmoonbaychamber.org/
visiting_hmb/beaches.html
www.parks.ca.gov
www.scparks.com
www.co.sanmateo.ca.us/portal/
site/parks/

The Stream of Positive Intentions

I was heading out for a nature hike for some Unavailable Time to recharge and reground when my son (who knew where I was headed) said "Daddy - will you say Hi to my stream that I love and throw in a magical rock?"  We've spent a good deal of time in nature together as father & son and both have a great affinity for water in all of it's forms so I knew exactly what he meant - he was asking me to make a wish for him, or as I would state it: to set a positive intention for the future.

Those of you who have children will know the challenges of making and keeping promises so I always look for 'easy' wins :) - this was one promise that I knew that I could keep so I said back to him "You Bet!" and also set a promise to do the same for myself.  The short drive to the stream and the subsequent hike through the forest allowed me some time to focus on what intention that I would set so when I did arrive at the stream I was good to go.

Over the years I have developed a discipline around setting intentions and holding/maintaining a positive focus to achieve the outcomes that I truly desire.  I've set intentions for everything that you can imagine - finding a new job, meeting my life partner, meeting someone who will advise & guide me on my path, a new car, inner guidance, tickets to a concert, having a healthy baby, a new pet, etc.  Today however I found myself with an intention of something broader so I went for it.

I selected a special rock from the creek side, held it to my chest, set my intention in my mind and spoke it into the rock - "I'm setting my intention to be a powerful force for good and change in the world."  I know, kind of a 'world peace-y' intention but it was what was in me and I've learned to just run with it over the years.  With that I threw the rock at the stream... and it bounced off a log and missed the pool I was aiming for.  Not exactly what I was hoping for here at all.  However, one of the reasons that my son and I love this stream is that it always seems to 'deliver'... so I waited.

And then the quiet voice inside of me said as clear as day: "Throw again."  Again, this is where continued practice can make the difference - the calm and quiet seems to create a space for these 'things' to occur - if you're quiet you can hear it but if you're running around all crazy you often miss it.  What also came with the voice was the picture of multiple rocks, not just one.  So I selected three more rocks, set the intention and threw again.  This time, they all flew straight and into the pool creating that splash and radiating wave of intention that I could feel already moving out into the universe - spot on.

I thought about this little intention experience and the meaning and interpretation came forth for me almost as bubble within - the true power of my intention was actually related to my impact on others, not just myself - hence the multiple stones.  By focusing on helping and assisting others to make a positive impact (vs. just myself) I am more likely to achieve my intention and not 'miss the stream'.  I could feel the power in that intention as well as the 'gift' of the specific insight as I walked away from the stream, ready to openly receive whatever is flowing my way next.

What I wanted to share today was less about my specific intention and more about how a practice of setting intentions and following a discipline can work for you (specifically).  I ask you to consider that a 'bounce off a log' while setting an intention may actually be a 'hello' regarding your intentions themselves.  If things don't exactly 'work out' as you intended or perhaps scripted out in your mind, consider trying again or resetting the intention with a more flexible range of outcomes or interpretations.  You may be surprised what you experience and your feelings will almost always validate for you when you are 'spot on'.

I have made a promise to a good friend of mine to write and share more, as well as keeping the promises to my son that are 'easy' to keep - I can only hope that this new intention that was set to today is part of the positive flow!

All the Best,

Whitney

© 2012 All rights reserved, Whitney Merrill