Velvet & Linen

Coming Home after the Thomas Fire...

 

 

What a difference a week makes! This has truly been the longest week of my life. As we speak the Thomas fire has burned 235,000 acres and destroyed 800 structures. We were given the ok to come back home over the weekend. Here's what happened... 

 As the fires burned, our sheep, Linen, Paisley and Cashmere, were safely hanging out at the Earl Warren Show Grounds in Santa Barbara. They were well cared for by the selfless team of volunteers from the Santa Barbara Equine Evac. I had never heard of this organization before now, but they are going to be getting a whole bunch of love (and a fat donation) from me and Steve for the holidays!

 

We packed our goats, Thelma, Louise, and Dottie, into the back of the wagon...

 

Our sheep made themselves at home in the back of our neighbor's SUV.

 

It isn't every day that you see this in your rear view mirror!

 

Everyone made it safely home. Check out my videos on Instagram to see everyone in action... so much happiness! Look at those smiles...

 

 With the sheep and goats home again, it was time to bring home the donkeys. Daisy, Buttercup, Blossom, and Huckleberry weathered the fire just a few blocks from our home at the Ventura County Humane Society. Steve and I have always been supporters of this amazing non-profit organization, knowing that they have provided wonderful animal programs for our community over the last 85 years. We never imagined that we would need them to care for our donkeys during such a devastating disaster. 

 

Because of the donkeys' close proximity to our home and the Humane Society,  and their hatred of trailers, Steve decided to try walking them home.  Apparently, they made some friends along the way!

 

 

We are so blessed to live Ojai. These two lovely ladies were at the Humane Society and offered to help Steve get the donks home.

 

I had to take a group photo to document the moment they arrived home. 

 

We had an uneventful, but very smoky night at Patina Farm. This morning a lot of the smoke had cleared and everyone was back to grazing and running around. 

 

Although the evacuation has been lifted, we are still staying alert. Small fires continued to pop up behind our home and in other areas around the valley over the weekend. 

 

The presence of thousands of brave firefighters allows us to be cautiously optimistic that we are safe.

 

We had to have faith in them as they did a controlled burn of the mountains behind our home.

 

 

We spent the weekend watching and praying.

 

It is now Wednesday morning, and there are still fires to be contained. The air quality is terrible. We wear masks when outside and try to stay inside as much as possible. We pray that the animals will be ok. 

We have a new perspective on the holiday season this year. Steve and I have decided that this year we will be donating to a variety of charities connected to the firefighting effort. Several charities have been suggested on my Instagram account by people who have firefighters in their family. These include:

Our local Ojai Fire Station

Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation

And the animal support:

The Ventura County Humane Society

Santa Barbara Equine Evac

Community support:

Help of Ojai

 

If you are local and have a charity to add, please do so in the comment section of this post.

 

Thank you to all of you who have sent prayers our way. I have read every single email and comment on my posts as well as on Instagram.  I know that our home is still standing because of your love and prayers!

 

xo

 

Brooke

 

An Update on the Thomas Fire here in California...

 

Before I begin this post I wanted to inform those of you who were planning to join us tomorrow in the store for our First Thursday Event that we have decided to postpone the event due to the terrible fires. We hope that you all are safe!

Those of you who follow me on instagram may already know some of this information, so my apologies for the repetition...

I wanted to give all of my Velvet and Linen readers an update on the Thomas fire here in Ventura County. The fire started on Monday night near the beautiful Thomas Aquinas College.

By 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday, we were woken up and told to be on stand by to evacuate. It would have been difficult enough if we only had our human family to consider, but we now have many furry four legged family members to care for. 

The fires in the hills to the east of our home on Tuesday morning..

We woke up and began to pack the cars... It was a very odd, surreal experience... the process of trying to figure out what to take. My mind became very calm and nothing really seemed to have much meaning, other than the safety of our family and animals.  

By 9 a.m. we were told to evacuate. Our wonderful gardener, Ricardo Gutierrez, and his team helped us get the goats and sheep into the back of our cars. Our next door neighbor and the equestrian team from Leila's school provided transportation for the donkeys (the saying "stubborn as a mule" is oh so true!) in one of the school's trailers. We are so blessed to have this supportive community!

At 10 a.m. we took one more walk around the house, knowing that we might not see it again. The inside of Patina Farm was eerily  lit from the fire that was burning the hills behind our home. 

 As I left our home I thanked Patina Farm for the memories we created there and imagined a protective shield around our property. 

Our first stop was Ojai Valley Lower School. We left the donkeys in the care of the equine faculty and began to focus on the sheep and goats. It was very difficult to leave Ojai and our community during this crisis, but we knew that we needed to find the sheep and goats a safe place to be. We started our drive on the 150 through Casitas Pass up to Santa Barbara.

Lake Casitas during the fire. Image by Michael Owen Baker for the LA Times.

We drove up to the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara and were able to leave the goats and sheep in a stall with the Santa Barbara Equine Evacuation team. 
We spent the night at a client's home nearby, thankful to be safe.

Until we went to bed, we were on our computers trying to get updates on the fire and praying for the safety of all of our neighbors and the rest of Ventura County. The devastation being reported was almost unbelievable... so many structures gone. Leila's school lost several buildings. I tried to comfort Leila as she processed this loss. 

Before we went to bed, I contacted our neighbor, who remained in Ojai with her horses, to see if she had news about our homes. I went to sleep knowing that Patina Farm was still standing 

We woke the next morning , and Steve decided to go back to Ojai to assess the situation. The wind had died down, and most of the fires were out, but the smoke now filled the air.  Ojai Avenue, the main street in town, was deserted... no cars parked anywhere. 

Patina Farm was still standing, but surrounded by thick air filled with smoke. 

 

The mountains behind our home we not visible through the smoke. 

 

Our entire property is covered in ash and soot.

Steve is spending the day watering the house and property in preparation for another 24 hours of dry winds. He also was able to talk to several of the courageous fire fighters that are risking their life to protect our small town. 

We would appreciate if you would keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I am a big believer in the power of thoughts and prayers to mold our reality, or at the very least,to give it a little nudge in the right direction!

And now news of new fires in Bel Air and Hollywood to add to our prayers!

I will be adding updates on our situation on Instagram. 

 

xo

 

Brooke

Our Antiqued Velvet Shoe Collaboration with George Esquivel and some exciting Tennessee news!

 

I hope you all are having a wonderful start to your holiday season! It's always a busy and exciting time here at Patina Farm and Giannetti Home...

First, some Giannetti Home fun to share...

Recently, we had the honor of doing a collaboration with shoe designer and craftsman, George Esquivel. Because of his attention to details and his dedication to creating the highest quality, handmade shoes here in California, I knew he was the perfect person to work with to create our antiqued velvet mules. 

 

The colors we chose were inspired by some of our favorite textiles and tapestry pillows.

 

Our antiqued cotton velvets have the ideal Giannetti Home patina and texture, so we decided to add them to our pillow collection as well.

 

We like to mix our antiqued velvet pillows with our cashmere pillows and throws for the ultimate softness overload!

 

You can read more details and see more images on our Giannetti Home website. Or even better... if you are going to be near our shop in Santa Barbara this week, please join us on Thursday, December 7th from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. when we will be hosting George Esquivel to celebrate our collaboration. 

 

George is going to share the craftsmanship that goes into making every pair of shoes. We hope to see you on Thursday!

I also have some other very exciting news to share...

Those of you who follow me on Instagram already know that Steve and I have been spending quite a bit of time in Tennessee. Steve and our friend, the very talented interior designer, Adam Hunter, are just finishing an amazing project near Leipers Fork. During the last two years, Steve and I have fallen in love with the area and recently were crazy enough to purchase 40 acres of gorgeous pasture and forest in the area.

We are calling the property "Patina Meadow", and we have just started dreaming about what to do with all of this land!  

No, we aren't planning to leave Patina Farm and hope to create a vacation property on the Meadow. We hope you will join us on another adventure as the design of this property unfolds,  which will include a main house, guest house, and plenty of room for animals! I'll be sharing all the details here as well as on Instagram. This should be fun!

In the meantime, if we don't see you on Thursday in Santa Barbara, Steve and I send our wishes for a Wonderful Holiday Season to you and those you love!

xo

Brooke