THE FARM CENTER ~ Carmel Valley Magic – 5 miles inland

WARNING  ALL ,  SUMMER   2016

This blog below was written over five years ago.  The Farm Center has so dramatically changed nothing about it is recognizable.  Everyone who made it beautiful, including me, has moved out.  I had a remarkable four years there. It was once all magic. There just isn’t anything left.

You’ve been advised.THE SPARHAWK GARDEN HAS NOW BEEN VIOLENTLY DESTROYED AND PLOWED UNDER AND THIS IS ALL YOU WILL SEE:  there is NOTHING LEFT LIVING

is a charming small magical island with more wide-open space around us than people ~~ between the ocean.  It’s half way, only miles inland, sun-filled and delightful. There’s a huge, welcoming meadow for walking next to the Carmel River (path next to the bridge) where Steelhead run, ducks bob. Condor, Hawks, Heron, Seagulls, Wrens, Blue Jays, Crows fill sky and tree….the ancient live oak, the Redwood, Aspen, Willow trees. Every side road is decked with reeds, flowering trees, Magnolias, Cherry, Pear, Apple, Plum. Deer roam in day and mountain lions stalk nights along the river banks.  Before heading further out to the Village for vineyards and wine tasting, before the cattle of Cachagua and just past the shopping center, is THE FARM CENTER and GRANGE.

   THE FARM CENTER just before this the oldest building in Carmel Valley (And Jack London Slept There)  It’s closed right now, used to be occupied by a wonderful sculptor named Paul, some of his sculptings and his gardens remain on view. THE FARM CENTER is a small group of fabulous little SHOPS just a few feet off Carmel Valley Road beyond the Safeway Shopping Center. In it you will find Char ETIENNE ANTIQUES FOR HOME AND GARDEN(she also designs landscaping) with exquisite things and has a spectacular back garden to wander through.

Then THE HAWKS PERCH GALLERY, the only art gallery in mid-Valley and the best on the Central Coast!  And I also carry Ron Wohlauer Photographs. Run by the  EXPRESSIONIST PAINTER ~~me~~ BARBARA SPARHAWK.  I accept portrait commissions of people and animals, SIGNS of any kind made to order.  I sell my own beautiful oil paintings of FLORALS and LANDSCAPES and PORTRAITS, WATERCOLORS, PEN & INKS, and imaginings at unimaginably low prices!  I want everyone in the world to own a Sparhawk Original. 

Next to THE HAWKS PERCH gallery is the most extraordinary. In their huge backyard gardens and fountains, a walk through will lea

 

Hthe meadow is BOB MATTSON’S SADDLERY.  Bob has been here over 25 years.  He’s a master craftsman with leather.  He’ll not only repair your saddle, or sell you a spectacular one for a great price, he’ll make you a belt or knife-sheath, soften up old reins, sell you a saddle blanket.  His shop is an incredible delight to all the senses, a step back in time, a feel of the world of horses before cars. SEE WHAT YOU’VE BEEG! 

THE F used to be all grain and feed and the best place to get your Levi’s.  We still get visitors looking for jeans and hay. It’s gone through a lot of transforming over the years, and it’s better all the time.  Stop in for a visit!  Worth the trip and the sun is always shining.THE FARM CENTER SHOPS, MID-VALLEY

 

JUCARMEL VALLEY BINSANYON ROAD

Original Oil Paintings by SPARHAWK

EXPRESSIONIST ARTIST BARBARA SPARHAWK is famous for being the only female scaffold hauling BILLBOARD PAINTER in the world in the ’70’s (mostly over Times Square) and painting the ROLLING STONE’S WORLD TOUR BILLBOARD ALBUM COVER ‘MADE IN THE SHADE’. She was commissioned to paint a portrait of WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY, JR from sittings; her work has been exhibited at QUANTICO ACADEMY.  She is the author and illustrator of a book of short stories (THE GANDY DANCER) and a children’s book (COCO NO!) with more to come! In a NY career of journalism and politics, SPARHAWK wrote evening news for CBS, ABC, FOX TV, produced ROCKANDROLLA and TALK RADIO shows for WABC and WOR; and was PRESS SECRETARY TO US CONGRESSWOMAN GERALDINE FERRARO, and family CHEF to the Beach Boys Jardine Family.  That’s the short version.

SPARHAWK ORIGINALS STILL AVAILABLE:  EMAIL thehawksperch@outlook.com

 

 

Poppies Crowding Vase

 Mahalia Poppies Crowding Vase     (oil on canvas, 25 X 20)

        There’s a spectacular garden on a bit of land near me, a sort of floating island that’s crisscrossed by paved roads now but was once connected to greater bodies of sagebrush, trees, and river. It is the oldest building in Carmel Valley. It was the pioneer’s Grange, it was the meeting place for cowpokes and their gals and wives and children. And Jack London slept there. And now it is deserted but for flora bunda.                     The garden is spectacular in a way you’d have to do a disconnect somewhat from expectation of the Tuileries or English order. This garden has roamed and spread and died back and gone to seed and is on its own. It’s creator, Paul the rock sculptor and doctor died a few years back.  His legacy is a powerful gift for all who live to see it. I visit and trespass and transplant Paul’s brilliant work (with his son’s permission) to my own garden.  These poppies, photographed earlier on this blog, crowd with their voluptuous beauty into my glass vase, centered on my little patio and fill the air with their extraordinary perfume, their robust life, their glowing presence.

Then I painted it.