Emandal ArtStay 2026
I had been to Emandal twice before, once for my sister's 50th anniversary party, and once for a "sister's weekend" of gardening. When I had the opportunity to attend the "Woodland Oaks" class at ArtStay this September, I thought it would be about learning about nature. It was that and so much more!
First of all, in case you are wondering, the name Emandal comes from the original owners of the property Em and Al Byrnes, who bought the property in 1908, and proceeded to build an oasis for those seeking relief from the craziness of city life. Even though my life is not crazy, especially in retirement, I still felt like my time at Emandal was life-changing. In this blog I'll attempt to tell you about it, but I encourage you to find time to visit Emandal yourself, you won't be sorry you did! And visiting with a friend or family member doubles the fun as you can share your experience. My friend Laura attended with me, and it was fun to have someone to hang out with outside of class, and discussing the experience as we went deepened the learning.
ArtStay is just one of the events hosted at Emandal. The next big event is wreath-making on the Saturday after November. That one comes with pizza made in their outdoor pizza oven, which is worth the trip alone! While our ArtStay included wonderful food, that was just one aspect of what made it so pleasurable.
I'll attempt to document the overall experience here, and I expect I'll need a separate blog to document the "Woodland Oaks" class more thoroughly. Let's just say I learned many things, discovered that some things I thought I knew were wrong, and am now able to think about my prior knowledge in a more well-rounded way. Our word of the day changed as the class went on, from "REALLY?!?" to "Wow!" to "C'mon!". I expect that my behavior outdoors will be forever altered, as I spend more time looking and listening to the nature around me. And I am definitely motivated to learn more about birds, butterflies, insects, and plants. Never too old to learn!
First of all, the Emandal experience starts with a walk through the garden. The main house is surrounded by flowers, herbs, and fruit and veggie crops, all wonderfully jumbled and competing with weeds. We were able to wander in our free time, and the garden was also the basis for some of our morning walks, where we informally observed birds and insects. Here are a few photos to give you a taste of that experience.
There are animals at Emandal, which gladdened this farm girl's heart. You wake to the sound of roosters crowing, you regularly hear the sound a hen makes when she lays eggs, and we visited the cows and coo'd over the new calves. In addition to all the wildlife we observed, it was fun to see the farm in action. And we greatly enjoyed the fresh scrambled eggs in the morning, and the homemade yogurt, cottage cheese, and ice cream were some of the best I've ever tasted!
The accommodations were "rustic" as Laura and I shared a cabin in the "camp" area of the property. There are more homey spots available, such as the "Straw Bale House", the "School House" and the "Bunkhouse", but we registered late so this was what was available. For me, though, it enhanced the experience to "rough it". And going outside at night to empty my bladder gave me the most beautiful view of the stars!
Located up the hill from the farm, we got our daily exercise as we hiked up and down multiple times a day. It was very comfortable for this country girl, though. The redwood cabins had comfy beds, a set of shelves and hooks on the wall for your belongings, and a sink in the corner for your daily ablutions. What it DIDN'T contain was a bathroom, so a separate cabin served as a restroom and a lovely shower room was just down the hill. See below for the view of the shower space, the outside of our cabin, and the view of the farm from camp.
After class was over, we had time in the afternoon to visit the river. Again, this experience brought me back to my childhood, where after our summer chores were done we often spent the rest of the day at the swimming hole. At Emandal, there were three main areas people visited at the River: Otter Cove, Swallow Rock, and Robin's Pool. Like our swimming hole, it was a hike downhill to Robin's Pool, and the way back up was "work", but by then we had been nicely cooled in the water and the heat of the day was over, so we were still refreshed when we got back to the cabin. And the warm shower afterward was heavenly!
Enough about the environment, now let's talk about ArtStay. First of all, one of the many reasons you should visit Emandal is to taste Tam's cooking. ArtStay comes with breakfast and dinner, and the quality of the food is worth the price alone. It helps that she is using Emandal meat, milk/cream, eggs, fruit and vegetables, even grinding the grain for the buckwheat pancakes. She put together a great spread for breakfast that included oatmeal (with homemade granola, fresh milk, and brown sugar as toppings), a fresh baked item (muffins, scones, cinnamon rolls), scrambled eggs, homemade yogurt and cottage cheese, fresh fruit and vegetables. We all ate heartily as we knew we'd have a big day. Lunch was on us, so I would load up my backpack with snacks from what I had stored in the bear box, which is where you stored your food if you were in the cabins. At 5:30 p.m. each day we gathered for "sip and share", where the snacks were provided by ArtStay participants and we shared what we had been doing each day. Most of us were full after that, but still managed to do justice to Tam's dinner (salmon, ribs, chicken, burgers), again with lots of sides and fresh veggies. I was so impressed to watch Tam in action, whether it was making up a recipe for veggie burgers or making homemade burger buns. I'm pretty sure most of us would struggle to feed 45 people, but Tam and her daughter Kashaya made it look effortless. Here are a few photos for your drooling pleasure.
Lest you think all we did was eat, the instructor for our Oak Woodlands class (Kate Marianchild) offered morning walks as well as the planned excursions that happened after breakfast. We would meet on the deck, some of us indulging in a fresh-brewed cup of coffee, and at 7:45 we would head out through the garden or to the river for some bird watching/nature study. Since early morning is the best time to see/hear birds, there was no shortage of learning. When the breakfast bell rang at 9 a.m. we would head back to the dining room, then head out again around 9:45.
Kate had scoped out the property ahead of time and had new and old favorite things to share with us. The first day we headed up the hill to Rainbow Lake, which is the reservoir providing water to Emandal (thus no swimming). The second day we headed down the road to study ground squirrels and learn about vinegar plants (no longer calling them weeds since they are so important!). The third day we headed further down the road to find different types of oaks and discovered some interesting scat. The last morning we headed down to the river and learned about "ant lions" (we called them doodle bugs growing up) and spotted some phoebe nests (that had birds nesting during the June season). Every day I learned so much my brain was FULL, I am still absorbing the information.
Kate had a variety of teaching techniques. Sometimes she would point out the item of interest, sometimes she would let us discover it, sometimes she would pull out her binder of information and photos, sometimes she would share a story or a passage from her book. She was endlessly patient and her humor and excitement just shone through. I highly recommend taking a class from her if you get the chance, or reading her book if you don't.
Here is a sampling of the learning I had. I resorted to taking notes on my phone during our walks so I could remember interesting things, and I perused the book Kate wrote called "Secrets of Oak Woodlands" (highly recommend!). These examples are meant to whet your appetite to learn more. Today I went for a hike in our local Helen Putnam Regional Park and it was a whole different experience than before I took Kate's class.
For example, I took note of the acorn crop, and noted some deer browsing under oak trees. I had noticed our local deer eating acorns, but I learned from Kate that a whopping 75% of a deer's diet in the fall is from acorns. Apparently 2000 species depend on oaks! But oak trees contain tannins, so the species have to evolve to handle them.
One of the things Kate taught us the third day is what it means when you see a row of holes in a tree. I'm pretty sure I've noticed these on fruit trees in the garden of my childhood home, but the example we found was in an oak tree. Kate told us that these holes are caused by sapsuckers, who drink the sap and eat the insects that get trapped in it. But as always, Kate's deep knowledge of her topic enabled her to add the fascinating fact that because oak tannins are toxic, the sapsuckers needed to only drink a little oak sap, and they would continue on to drill holes in other types of trees. Then each day they would follow this "route", eating from the same trees every day.
Of course, most people know that acorn woodpeckers drill holes in trees and other soft wood to store their acorns. My mom's house was a continual target of woodpeckers, despite the fake owls she hung to deter them. In some rooms with gaps in the wall you could literally see a line of acorns standing one on top of another. I heard when they remodeled the kitchen and tore off the drywall the acorns just poured out!
In our class we learned that the trees full of acorns are called "granaries", and they are used by generations of woodpeckers. Woodpeckers also have an interesting social structure, they practice "polygynandry", which means rather than pairs the woodpeckers breed with multiple males and females. They all lay eggs in the same nest, and all adult birds cooperatively incubate the eggs and take care of the babies.
One of the interesting facts we learned is that the females are not all ready to lay at the same time, so the first eggs are removed by other females and put on a branch to be eaten. They know the chicks that hatch early are more likely to get fed and be healthier, and they don't want the chick from their later egg to be left behind. This continues until all females are ready to lay eggs, at which point they are laid in quick succession and left in the nest.
I could go on for hours, but I'll just share a few more facts that gave me a new perspective. For instance, mistletoe! I grew up thinking it was poisonous and bad for trees, and somewhere heard that it would cause our cows to abort their calves if they ingested it. So other than for holiday decorations, it wasn't a good thing. However, Kate taught us that when mistletoe is removed from ecosystems, one third of the animals, including birds, mammals, and insects disappear. At least 28 species of birds eat the berries and many small mammals eat the leaves, which have a nutritional content that is 60 percent starch and sugar and nearly 10 percent protein. However, the plant is poisonous to humans so don't be tempted to try it!
Another learning is that the long strands hanging on some of the trees are not "spanish moss", as I thought, but a type of lichen. They are actually good for trees, because they absorb minerals and nitrogen from the soil, and when it rains these drip down into the soil around the tree. They also provide nesting material for birds. I didn't hear this from Kate, but my reading indicates that they are actually an indicator of healthy air, because it doesn't grow in areas with pollution. So our local Helen Putnam park must have great air!
Two more facts that surprised me: ground squirrels actually do good! Again, growing up they would strip my Mom's pear tree in a single day, so that made them "bad", but we learned that they are important to plants because they aerate the soil, transport seeds to the surface, and disperse plants, including buckeye trees. They are the only species that can eat buckeye balls because they are loaded with toxins (other than humans, who leach the poison out), and so they help spread them around. Kate mentioned this study about how gophers were able to bring an area that had been blasted by volcanic ash back to life with just 24 hours of "work".
This was one of those stories that seemed so unbelievable that we all said "Come on!" when we heard it. As you can imagine, rattlesnakes love to invade ground squirrel burrows, and will dine on the "pups" if it finds them. In fact, in the Spring they make up about 70% of the diet of northern Pacific rattlesnakes. One of the techniques the mama uses is if she finds a shedded rattlesnake skin, she will chew the skin, lick her paws, and wipe the substance on herself and the pups, this makes the squirrels less attractive to the snakes and other predators. Crazy, huh?
OK, next surprise, poison oak! As you might imagine, all of us who grew up around poison oak were taught it was something to avoid if you didn't want to end up with a nasty rash. I never thought it could be a positive in the environment, but I learned from Kate that they produce flowers in the spring that are a source of nectar and pollen for bees and butterflies. In the fall after the leaves have fallen, there are hard seeds which are attractive to birds and mammals. At least 50 bird species eat its berries and seeds. They also hide inside it's foliage. Many mammals eat the leaves, which are rich in phosphorus, calcium and sulfur. Apparently humans are the only animals to suffer ill effects!
Last but not least, I may have been totally wrong about the name of this pine tree my whole life. I thought it was called "bull pine", but apparently it's name is "grey pine" or "ghost pine". When I look up "bull pine" google says it's another name for the Ponderosa Pine. Huh!
But another google shows that bull pine is one of the vernacular names, so maybe I'm not crazy after all.
When we were out exploring I happened to be standing next to a small one of these trees, and when the wind blew it whistled through the needles, making a sound I remembered from childhood but had forgotten. One more reason to love Emandal!
OK, onto some of the other aspects of ArtStay that made it magical. First of all, it was a real pleasure to see some of the Art being made there. I didn't sign up for the basket making class because I'm thinking to myself "what fun is it to make a basket?" but after meeting the instructor, seeing the daily progress on these and the fun materials used, I could imagine it would be a good time. Here is a video of the materials used.
and a photo taken on the last day of "Sip and Share".
Other snapshots of the various classes work give you a flavor of the beauty produced. The quilt in the top left was this young woman's first attempt at sewing, and was a memory quilt for her father. The thread in the middle bottom was naturally dyed (except for the neon colors), and the instructor had a book on that topic and was working on one for her "slow stitching". What talent there was at this ArtStay!
One of the unique things that made this a life-changing event was the camaraderie that developed over the course of a few days. There were 45 attendees, and by the time we left I was finally getting people's names down, but everyone was friendly and supportive. Not only did Laura and I develop a closer friendship, but I really felt close to the people in my group after tromping all over and sharing "wonder". Even other attendees, who were pursuing different art, felt like new friends.
Between "Sip and Share", shared meals, coffee on the deck, swimming together, or casual interactions throughout our time together I really enjoyed the people as much as the surroundings and activities.
Below are some photos from the "Sip and Share" times. Good food, beautiful views and weather, and fun drinks, plus lots of people shared their work! The top right is a photo of the bouquets made by each team to commemorate Susan's (Memoir Writing instructor) birthday. We all had symbolism in our bouquets. To the right is a close-up of ours. It was made totally of native materials. Thanks to Kate for helping forage materials, and to Diane for the assistance making the bouquet and for serving as my model!
One of the unexpected learnings came
from one of the members of our group, a woman named Ginger who is a professional tracker. Kate knew lots about scat, but Ginger's depth of knowledge made it even more interesting. On our last day we spotted an aged pile of scat in the field. It was mostly white, so I thought it would be so old that it wouldn't be interesting, but Ginger pointed out that it contained short black hairs, so then we wondered what the animal that left the scat had eaten. Was it a skunk? Raccoon? And what type of animal left the scat? Ginger hypothesized that it wasn't a cat (mountain lion or bobcat) because their digestive systems were so efficient that they would have digested the bones, and there was a bone clearly showing in the scat. Who knew that poop could be so fascinating? Another example of where those close-focus binoculars were helpful. Ginger was really good at sharing what we knew, but also encouraging us to "wonder". As she said, rather than look up the answer and know immediately, it's OK to leave some questions unanswered, what's important is to have the curiosity to ask the question.
There were so many more "moments" that I could share, but I don't want you to be bored, so I'll just close with one more thing that made this a special experience. On the last day, Laura and I packed the car and were ready to head out. It was hot and sunny, and we couldn't find Tam to say one more "thank you". Turns out, one of the young woman had a dead battery in her car and needed help jumping it. It was a real team effort, Tam had jumper cables and a car to jump with, Laura knew about removing the corrosion from the battery terminal, the book provided directions on where and when to clamp the cables, Tam had a wire brush to clean with, and we all held our breath and hope the car started. It did! Laura and I followed the driver out to make sure she didn't get stranded along the way. Just one more example of Tam's calm leadership and going the extra mile to give everyone a good experience.
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