Following a very long day of travel, we arrived at the Food Conference in time for dinner. Mark was intrigued that the first product label he saw was for this almond butter produced by a Christian "health food" company from the early 1980s. Since then MaraNatha has been purchased by Hain Celestial. Mark does not remember how the name was spelled in the "old days" (using CamelCase?). But the current spelling disguises the origins of the company name a bit. The word comes from the Aramaic for "Our Master Comes": Maran Atha (either מרנא תא; maranâ' thâ' or מרן אתא; maran 'athâ') as used in Paul's First Epistle to the Corinthians (1 Cor 16:22) in the Christian testament.
Debbie's session was scheduled for after lunch on Friday. A goodly number of motivated people attended. The questions asked during and afterward were good. Debbie shared the hechshered Mayordomo chocolate we had found in Oaxaca which was a special treat. People continued to ask about her work throughout the weekend.
We spent late Shabbat morning sitting in the sand, supporting one another as we read. Friends came by to say hello and even volunteered to take our picture.
Other than Debbie's session and a couple of keynotes, Mark spent most of his time meeting new people (while collecting a few new lapel buttons) and taking a few photographs of the beautiful environs.
Crashing surf:
Sand, Sea and Sky:
Gall Nuts:
A tallit hanging from a tree branch reminded him of a photograph in the First Jewish Catalog:
A field of mushrooms… which served as a precursor to an entire series of photographs of fungi in Laytonville:
Shredded wood from a tree that had recently been felled:
Overly tame deer that nibbled all over the campground and did not bother to move, even when approached to within a few feet:
And, best of all… Avigail haloed by the sun on Shabbat morning:
More reports and photographs from the conference are available here:
