...Where I lived blissfully for a bit less than a year. Didn't plan to move away so soon, but the flood of January 4, 1982 made the decision for us. Several close neighbors lost their homes due to the biggest mudslides I have ever seen. The road in and out of the canyon was impassable for months, and I was pregnant with my firstborn child. My husband was then employed at an offset printshop in Aptos. (Remember those?)
Which is where we moved and lived in or around for the next decade or so.
I first heard about Whitehouse Canyon because my soon-to-be-spouse's brother had been living there for several years. One sunny day, we visited said brother and girlfriend and I was mesmerized by the area. It is located in between Pescadero and Davenport, off of Coast Highway One. About an hour North of Santa Cruz, on the back side of Big Basin State Park. An unmarked turn onto a dirt road that winds upward into the mountains and a tiny enclave of homes and land. An early homesteaders paradise, with orchards of old apple trees, olives, and blackberry vines everywhere. Above the typically foggy, chilly coastal weather, with meadows and forest land all around.
Early that summer, we were invited to live on my future brother in law's land. Being young, impulsive, nature-loving young folks, we jumped at the chance. Bought a big canvas tent and set up housekeeping next to the garden. As the weather got wetter and colder, we moved to a cabin near the woman with the baby in the accompanying photo. Her place had belonged to her grandfather and she taught me a great deal about rural living, like gardening, canning, tending to chickens and turkeys, and she introduced me to her midwife in La Honda, who later helped me deliver my first two kids, and trained the midwife who delivered my third child. That old friend still lives in that beautiful canyon, which I hope to revisit one day. She had dinner here with us a couple of years ago when visiting friends in Hilo. I am grateful to this friend for influencing my decision to have my three babies naturally. The first at a birth center in Palo Alto, and his sisters that followed in my own cozy bed. My life on this earth was rejuvenated by the beauty of experiencing the birth process at its most primal, powerful level.
