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Maintenance accomplished from December 31, 2020 thru January 3, 2021

December 31, 2020 – Tom and Pam brought down pipe and culvert to Coastways to repair Foxy’s Dam, Charley’s road and Tim’s driveway. Tom started excavating (with the rented mini excavator) with Jon, Tim, Jonica and Pam’s help at Foxy’s Dam. Jon cut down small trees growing at the top of the dam. Tom discovered all was not as expected and called Hank for guidance. It was decided that more digging was necessary.

January 1 – Tom, Tim, Pam and Jonica continued working at Foxy’s Dam. Tom continued digging and discovered 4” plastic pipe inside of the rusted out metal culvert under the burned up plastic culvert, all of which were soon removed with the excavator. With Jonica’s help peering into the hole left under the dam, an obstruction was discovered. Because we couldn’t see exactly what it was without digging out the entire face of the dam, it was decided to insert the new 8” SDR plastic pipe as far as possible under the dam and connect it to the concrete pipe before the kiwis. Before leaving that day, Tim hauled out truckloads of brush and the small trees Jon had cut down.

January 2 – A bit more clean up at Foxy’s then on to Charley’s road to replace the burned out culvert. Does anyone know who Charley was? Tom and the excavator made short work of digging across the road and the culvert was installed. He cleaned up some brush and a few smaller downed trees that were close to the road too. After lunch at Charley’s road, we headed to Elliott to do some clean up. First we (Tom, Tim, Pam and Jonica) cleared the road closest to the highway by the gate opening then we headed up to Elliott Dam to get rid of some trees that were in the water just below the dam. There were 4 fairly large pieces, 3 at the dam and 1 a little further down. Tom was able to grab the 1 further down and drag it up out of the water then on to the 3 below the dam. Tim was able to get a choker on the first tree and Tom pulled it out then on to the ones at the bottom. Jonica told Tim which way she thought he should go to get down to the water and it worked with the tree that Tim stepped on carrying him right down to the bottom. Pam went down the bank and carried the choker and chain over to Tim who was on the other side then tree #3 was out. Tim got in the water for tree #4 and with Jonica’s help was able to get the choker and chain hooked up to it then Tom lifted it out.

January 3 – Replaced the broken culvert across Tim’s driveway and smoothed the hump in the driveway down. Consolidated the compost pile and hauled the brush pile in front of Diane’s house away. Pulled a tree out of Finney Creek. We had discovered a leak in the roof over the office so Tom climbed up and spread some roof patch around the chimney while Pam cleaned the standing water and downspout. Once that was done, helped Andy and Stephanie move the greenhouse.

All in all a very productive few days.

Photos: Foxy's Dam; Charley's Road; The Trees in Elliott; Teamwork

A is for Artichoke; Y is for Yerba Buena
Coastways Alphabet pysanky created for the Art & Music Auction by Skye Daniels 

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters of Coastways Ranch,

The last two months have been blessedly free of natural disasters - what a relief!  As many of you know, the fires this fall left us with an incredible number of downed trees, fallen fences, and piles of work to do to clear roads and return the ranch to its former, functional self.  Work parties have been held almost every weekend since, and a LOT has been accomplished.  In the midst of clearing roadways, the formerly trusty bulldozer (which Tim and David purchased a while back when Coastways was unable) died and is in need of some major repairs. Our goal this month is to raise $10K to help cover the cost of repair, as Coastways is currently unable to afford it, and we'd love to surprise Tim and David with a working bulldozer. We know this is a tough time for everyone, but if you're willing and able to help out with the expense we'd be forever grateful, as we still have a lot of dozer-work to do to prepare for the winter rains.  A local geologist has warned us that floods following fires can be intense without well-rooted vegetation to slow waters and block debris.  We will keep our fingers crossed and hope that this already-catastrophic year doesn’t have too many more surprises in store for us, but in the meantime, we’d like to be prepared.  As always, you can go to www.coastwaysranch.com to see how we’re doing.       

Financially, our progress continues in baby steps.  We have been granted provisional approval for a line of credit, our application for a tax reduction through the Williamson Act is moving forward, and we have signed a “letter of intent” to create a conservation easement over the property through POST.  Because a conservation easement stipulates that we would give up all rights to future development on the ranch, payment for those rights would ostensibly be of commensurate worth.  While this process is slow and will likely take about a year to finalize, we are optimistic that the resulting endowment will be enough to keep us comfortably in the black going forward.  

The ranks of our donors continue to swell, and the total amount raised through your generous donations has grown to nearly $45,000, more than doubling in the last two months.  Wow!!  We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our circle who care about us so very, very much.  Thank you to you all!  Extra-special thanks go to our thirty Top Donors, who have contributed amounts of $250 or more.  Our Guardian Angels - donors who have given $1000 or more - are now *nine* in number, and we are eternally grateful for their continued support.  We couldn’t possibly do it without you.  

If you are interested in other ways to support the ranch, the Coastways Ranch Fund “store” at Zazzle is now open for business.  A variety of Coastways-themed items are available for purchase there, including T-shirts, fabric, playing cards, baby blankets, and more.  All profits will be donated to Coastways, so feel free to splurge!  If you feel intimidated by Zazzle’s somewhat un-user-friendly interface, you can access the T-shirt order form here, and Skye will place your order for you.  Please contact Skye at shipsandsealingwax@yahoo.com with any questions.   

For those still planning on donating directly to the ranch, there is now an opportunity to have a “plaque” placed on our website in honor of a loved one.  If you have already made a donation and would like to place a memorial plaque for a family member or friend with ties to Coastways, please do let us know.  You can send your text and a favorite photo and we will create the plaque for you.  Skye’s Coastways Alphabet art is also available for this purpose, as in the following image.  Snippets of available designs can be seen here.

With safe and effective COVID vaccines now rolling out, our Art & Music Auction is one step closer to being a reality.  Unfortunately, that reality is still relatively far off as we wait for the vaccine to trickle through the front-line essential workers all the way down to you and me.  If you are a contributing artist planning to create works for the auction, we assume you still have plenty of time!  If you have already created pieces to donate, but have not yet submitted a picture for the auction page, please contact Skye at shipsandsealingwax@yahoo.com.  To see previews of the Coastways Alphabet project (eggs for two letters are pictured at the top of this update), click here.  To see additional items already slated for auction, or to make a donation yourself, you can visit www.coastwaysranch.com and go to the Auction page.  We will let you know as soon as we have set a firm date for the Auction that will be safe for all of our friends and loved ones to attend.

Your continued support in these challenging and uncertain times means so much to us all.  Please continue to share our GoFundMe site within your wider social networks.  Every little bit helps as we work to preserve Coastways Ranch for generations to come. 

Stay safe, be well, and may the new year bring you hope and happiness,

Skye, Becca, Sarah, Tim, Dorothy, and Stephanie 

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters of Coastways Ranch,

It’s been a somewhat less harrowing, but equally exhausting month as last.  The CZU Lightning Complex Fires were officially declared 100% contained as of the week of September 20th.  Areas of the ranch continue to smolder to this day, but our valiant fire department (the Wilson contingent of which is pictured above in full regalia) has been working tirelessly to suppress all threatening flare-ups.  The focus this month has been on restoring the water system, clearing the roads, and returning evacuated items to their rightful places.  September 26th saw the successful installation of two brand new 5,000 gallon water tanks to replace the tanks that burned.  Special thanks to Andy, Tom, Woody, and Tim for pulling that massive project off without a hitch.     

As before, if you would like to see a slideshow collection of reports on the fires and the subsequent recovery efforts, you can go to www.coastwaysranch.com and click the red banner at the top to read the latest.  Updates are added several times per week, as they come in.  Below the slideshow is a link to an order form for the T-shirts Skye designed for the Coastways Ranch 1” Hose Fire Department, modeled by members of the valiant fire crew themselves in the photo above.  You can also access the order form here.

On the financial front, things are looking incrementally more positive, but progress has been slow due to the impact of the fires on all involved.  Our applications for the agricultural tax reduction under the Williamson Act, and for the conservation easement through POST, are both still under way.  We are waiting to hear what our options are going forward, and will keep you updated as we know more.  We have several promising candidates for new agricultural tenants to take over from Swanton Berry Farms, and we are in the final stages of securing a line of credit to keep us afloat when the next back tax bill - likely a bit over half a million dollars - comes due.  Thanks to the generosity of our wonderful donors, we have raised over $22,000 to help us meet that obligation.  Special thanks go to our eighteen Top Donors, who contributed amounts of $250 or more.  To our four Guardian Angels - donors who have given $1000 or more - we heap our gratitude upon you!!  We couldn’t do this without you.  Thank you!

Our Art & Music Auction is still in the works, of course, but has no finalized date as yet.  To see the items already slated for auction, or to make a donation yourself, you can visit www.coastwaysranch.com and go to the Auction page.  If you have already committed to donating an item or service, but have not yet submitted an image, please send one to Skye at shipsandsealingwax@yahoo.com.  We will let you know as soon as we have a firm date that will be safe for all of our friends and loved ones to attend.

Your continued support in these challenging and uncertain times means so much to us all.  Please continue to share our GoFundMe site within your wider social networks.  Every little bit helps as we work to preserve Coastways Ranch for generations to come. 

Stay safe, be well, and much love,

Skye, Becca, Sarah, Tim, Dorothy, and Stephanie

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters of Coastways Ranch, 

This year has been a doozy.  Nevertheless, things were looking hopeful until the recent fires.  We are in talks with a conservation group to create a conservation easement on the property, thereby securing funding to cover our back tax liability.  Since funds won’t be coming in until the agreement is finalized in perhaps a year or so, we are applying for a line of credit to tide us over in the meantime.  We have also applied for an agricultural protection which we hope will substantially reduce our future taxes.

Recent widespread fires have not spared the ranch, but as of this morning, all structures were still standing, and look to remain that way for the time being.  Thanks especially to Andy, who stayed up for three days straight fixing water lines, clearing roads, moving combustibles, hauling hoses, and helping CalFire keep us from burning to the ground.  Stephanie, Tim, Ian, Jon, Alan, Brian Fogg, George Cattermole, and a host of others have also been indispensable in the fight.  Our most heartfelt thanks go out to all who have assisted us in this time of urgent need.

There is currently a crew of about six Coastways family members, residents, and friends putting out spot fires and holding the firebreak, but CalFire’s trucks have been called off to more populated areas.  Damage to the water lines has resulted in a single 8,000 gallon gravity-fed tank being all that’s available, and pressure goes down with every bit they use. If you live locally and are in position to help let us know.

Here is a link to a slideshow of photos of the fire taken on or near the ranch during the tail end of the lightning storm and onset of the subsequent fires.

Thank you all so much for your support of Coastways.  Although times are terrifying right now for so many reasons, knowing that all of you have our backs is a real comfort.  As always, every little bit counts.  Sharing our GoFundMe campaign with others will help us get the word out and secure this amazing place for all who love it, now and for years to come.

You can also visit our own site, coastwaysranch.com, to leave a story, see the progress of the upcoming Art & Music Auction, or make a donation.  

Thanks again.  We couldn’t do it without you.

Love and Gratitude,

Skye, Sarah, Stephanie, Becca, and Tim