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I came from Brooklyn to San Francisco in 1967

Into a fantasy world of color and

Magic that was the Haight/Ashbury reflected by

An Oracle filled with tales of Magic

On pages of color and Promise of

Even More

Spiritual/Musical/Colorful Un-Folding

In 1968 when finally

The Movement Self-Imploded into Chaos/

Hard Drugs/Rip-Offs/Murder and Over-Doses

I Walked

Longing for Re-Birth, For Rejuvenation

For Reinvention, A New Beginning!

Into an Un-charted Wilderness of Self

Discovery/New Family/A Sense of Community

I Walked

All the Way Back to

The Land

Into An expanded sense of Family

In Siskiyou County at

Black Bear Ranch

Where I Experienced

Joys, Pains, Bonding

The Ecstasy of Birth,

Our extended family

A larger Sense of Ourselves, The World

Births!

The Communal Experience!

Rearing Children!

Real Life!

Filled with

Tears and Laughter/

Blood and Sweat/

Urine and Feces

The Lost Loves/The Found Loves,

The Many Loves

1974 I left the Ranch for Berkeley

And encountered

New Families/New Bonding

While keeping

The Old

I Walked out of my youth into

My Twilight

So to speak

In my Own Minds-Eye

It seems it will not be so hard

When I know it is Time to Exit

I, Will Leave!

Martín, 2004 (excerpt)

A Brooklyn Boy

Remembering Martín this afternoon, we came from all directions; from east and south and west, from north and north-er still (those travelers weary, with eyes grainy from lack of sleep and washed with the tears of friendship); old Bears, getting grizzled now, but ladies still fine in their silks -and Berkeley family, all family now in our kinship of loss and affection. We brought food, a groaning board of tasty tidbits, and the ham that’s traditional at such repasts, with Mrs. Hagle’s Mustard Sauce in a jar – cheese and apples and nuts; deep chocolate desserts and wine, and sparkling water. He would have enjoyed it, indeed. Kind words, remembered tales that made us laugh or hug one another when tears fell. (I was surprised when these welled up in me!) And then the music- in the back yard, at the piano – a gathering of guitars and a flute by the front window- everyone agreeing that this was the way it had been here in Martín and Judy’s house. The party was just gathering steam when I left, driving down in the road in the gathering dusk, thinking about a piece of the poem he’d written in 2004: “I Walked out of my youth into My Twilight So to Speak …. It seems it will not be so hard, When I know it is Time to Exit I, Will Leave”!       Kathy Nolan

Martín, my friend. My brother.

Here we are again.

I see you dancing.

With your daughters.

In a circle.   

Of your lovers.

Spinning to the music.

Of your family.

Who love you, So dearly.
Ain’t it great?! Isn’t it grand?!

Sharing our lives the way we have.

I’m so glad that we are friends.
J. Cedar Seeger

            It was Martín who welcomed me the first time I set foot on the ranch. As welcome, he tried rolling a number in an old shoebox but it was all stems and seeds and little green to winnow. There were just a few of us. Just then police cars raced down the drive and Martin slipped out the back door with the stash. It left me to handle the heat, an act I did so adroitly that I only spent the next two or three weeks in Yreka Jail. There are no deputies where you’re headed now, Martín, to paraphrase “The Hobo’s Lullaby.” 

            Those early winters at the Black Bear commune were much like putting 30 people—eventually 60 people—into a pressure cooker. I remember one night, after we’d been snowed in for weeks and snow at the main house was piled three feet deep, that tensions were pretty high. One night Martín was kneeling on the floor to pour white gas into a Coleman lamp. Problem was that he was ten feet from a cook stove full of burning wood. John Glazer, who knew more about such things than many of us, ordered Martín to stop. Martín ignored him because he didn’t like his tone. Glazer shrugged, walked over to him and caught him with a punch that sent Martín rolling on the floor. Fortunately, it didn’t spill the white gas or that would have been the end of the main house. Martín took it all in stride, brushed himself off and took the gas and the lamp outside to finish the chore. Not worth fighting about.

            By the next night other people were being shabby to each other and, as the evening wore on, the tension grew thicker and thicker. Finally, Martín jumped up and yelled that everybody was going crazy and he was getting out. He threw open the door and plunged on to the darkened porch as we all stared in wonder. He looked both ways into the endless fields of snow and, in his gorgeous Brooklyn voice, yelled, “Taxi! Taxi!” Suddenly all the tension evaporated, everyone had a smile and I remember it as one of the most pleasant evenings of the winter.

Martín was a friend and a good brother in those amazing days and I will miss him.

Malcolm Terence

            I first met Martín while he was at the Oracle and I lived with the Good Earth Commune in the Haight.  The Coors truck fits in there somewhere….

When David and I started ENT Forestry, on paper I was the owner and therefore couldn’t get paid (with unemployment benefits in mind) so I worked under Martín’s name.  When came the fall that year and the unemployment benefits began, Martín left the Ranch for his new beginnings in Berkeley.  I always felt that I helped grubstake that “Walk”. 

            Martín shared with me a daughter to love and care for and learn from.  One of the most truly wonderful moments of my life was solemnizing Milagra’s and Andy’s wedding.  I got to stand before the collected family and watch Martín escort Milagra to the beginning of her own “Walk”.

I think the loveliest words spoken that afternoon amongst Martín’s Family was that although there were countless times when you wanted to jump up and grab him by the lapels and shake him, you were never able to be angry with him.  How can we laugh so hard through so many tears?

A unique man. 

Tesilya looked at me, the sun streaming in from her flat’s windows on Alamo Square as we prepared to leave for the memorial and said it simply,

“I can’t believe I’m in a world without Martín.”

In some ways we aren’t.  At least for that beautiful afternoon he was the reason we were all there and he was on our lips and in our hearts.  Memory almost as vigorous as presence.

As our family grows older and we begin to see the end of days, I am awed and humbled and heartened by the dignity and grace we, as a family and as individuals, are confronting the beginning of this new “Walk.”

Peace Love and Good Vibes, Brother…

Announcing the Passing of 3 Beautiful orginal Bears.    

John Albien, Martin Linhardt and  Douglas Hamilton

At 1:30 am Wednesday, September 8, Doug Hamilton, a member of the original group at Black Bear Commune, died peacefully in his sleep at Swamp Creek in Oregon. He battled prostate cancer for over a year, had chemotherapy in March and was able to fulfill his desire to return home for the spring and summer.

Not only was Doug a family member and a long-time friend dating from the early days of Black Bear, he was one of those people who could walk into a room and resume the conversation where it left off no matter how long it had been since you last seen him.

He had an acute understanding of politics and invariably took the side of those victimized by an unjust and inequitable society, catching you off balance with his sardonic wit and observations.

Many memories return: cutting firewood with him at Black Bear, mostly on a just-in-time basis; sharing dinners in his dome in the meadow and at Malcolm and Zoë gate cabin; and shared family holiday dinners, sitting around drinking beer and solving world problems.

Three days before he passed away, I pointed out that he was still wearing his watch. It is good to know what time it is when I want to know, he answered. The next day when I asked what time it was he replied, What does it matter?

Don Monkerud

****** WINTER WEATHER UPDATE *****
Creek Hanauer
April 4, 2010

From my dear friend and downriver correspondent, from whom I am separated by Reality:
Creek, April 1, 2010
The contractor has finally started moving rubble on the down river side of the Birthday Slide. How long has it been since it fell? (March 4, Mugg’s B’day.) Anyway, they have a backhoe, an excavator and two 10-yard dump trucks. The waste fill site is at Oak Bottom. They also still have two or three people on harnesses scaling loose boulders perched above the slide and the driver of one of the trucks warned me as I headed up to shoot the attached photo that I should approach with caution.
The crew, from Yreka, is small but game. They’ve been up there scaling on what must be a near-vertical wall of mud 250-300 feet above the river through some very wet weather. Hard not to admire their pluck.
When I was there at 10:00 this morning, it was clear that there was no longer a trail on our side the slide.
Malcolm Terence
From above the Birthday Slide, having medical appointments on the coast looks like this:
If it’s not snowing (Thursday) one drives up the South Fork to Callahan, Hwy 3 over Scott Mountain, 5400 feet, to Trinity Center to Weaverville and Hwy 299 (2 ½ hours.) Turn Right. Two hours later you’re in Arcata.
If it is not only a weekend, but heavy snow has fallen above 3 or 4000 feet then “they” don’t plow Scott Mt. So your trip coming home (Saturday) from those coastal appointments looks like this:
Pretty much the normal trip in thru Willow Creek, Weitchepec, then up the Klamath to Orleans where you now detour around the Klamath River slide using the Ishi Pishi Rd. (Ishi Pishi Rd., think Salmon River Road with Klamath River traffic) only 15 extra minutes.) Once you arrive in Somes Bar, you cast a longing look at the road that would have you home in under an hour and turn left toward Happy Camp, past Seiad Valley to the mouth of the Scott River where one turns right and travels into the Scott Valley. Turn right on Hwy 3 in Fort Jones and pretend you’re coming home from Yreka. Simple and only a 6½ hour drive, beginning to end!


Friday, March 12, 2010
( New update 3-28-2010 it looks like maybe a month before the forks road is open for travel)
The main road into the immediate region from Somes Bar into Forks of Salmon has recently experienced a landslide resulting in some 30 feet of the road being thrown some 200 feet into the Salmon River down below. The road is closed and the Forest Service IS issuing citations for anyone attempting to cross the slide are on foot. This is still considered a very dangerous area. The road is speculated to be closed for a minimum of a month. It is advised that people use the route from the east via Interstate 5 through HWY 299 to Weaverville and up to Cecilville. From there one can head towards Forks of Salmon on the Salmon River road. In the alternative, one can travel from I-5 out of Yreka to Sawyers Bar and take Eddy Gulch road to Black Bear Summit and into the ranch.
The last option is for traveling in from the coast. Coming into Orleans, one needs to continue on into Happy Camp and through Scott Valley to connect with the previous route coming into Sawyers Bar. These are the only options for getting in here at the moment.

Hey Folks,
Many have emailed about stuff to bring for the gathering. Here’s a list of basics needed for
the gathering and other stuff as well that could be used. I’ve included
a list of things we’d like to have for some small projects if anyone felt inclined to
contribute such things.

 
Flour (white and wheat)
Rice (white and brown)
Sugar
Any kind of produce
Kitchen sponges/scrubbies
Copper Brillo pads
Active dry yeast
Dry cat food (Teala is spoiled now)
Garlic
Onions
Potatoes
Toilet paper
Candles
Rechargable Batteries (AA and AAA)
Screw in Type flourescent light bulbs

 

PROJECT WISH LIST ITEMS

Barrel stove kit (legs, door,flue extension to double barrel on top) for new stove in shop

Track lights (4 foot section w/3 or 4 lights on it) for corner over seating in front room

1 250′ box of 12/2 with ground Romex electrical wire

Assorted outlet/switch/fixture boxes

Come and join us for the 2009 Thanksgiving Gathering, we expect it to be a big one this year. Come early and jump in on one of our many projects that will be going on. Make sure to bring your musical instruments, stories and creative juices, there will be lots of music, art projects, plays, and other fun creative things happening. Email us if you want to know what you can bring to share in the realm of food. Bring warm clothes and make sure you know the weather conditions before you leave, right in around this time its been known to get snowed in up at the bear, remember you can always hike in, its clear and a very nice slow 2 hour wallk.
Come and make new friends and visit old ones, we will keep the fire lit, seeya sooner

,

The Harvest Bazzar in Forks of Salmon this year was a great success for the Bear. Numerous homemade apple and squash pies were sold. Ranch tee-shirt went well also. Some bartering went on among Bears and river folk…….pears, apples and the like were traded for an assortment of vegetables for the ranch. A great deal of money was thus raised to go into the General Fund of the ranch. A special thanks goes out to visitors Sammy and Ben, without who’s effort this may not have happened.

6-30-2010 – *Road Update*
All roads Clear and Open – Come on up!