ABOUT
Casa Anna Schulz
Casa Anna Schulz lies just above the Ventura River. This ¼ acre property in Oak View, CA was purchased by Elaine and Ched in the spring of 2005 as part of a multi-family community experiment. They moved up from Highland Park in northeast Los Angeles, as did the BCM office (at the time renting a small space from the American Friends Service Committee Pacific Southwest regional office in northwest Pasadena).
After years of repair, development and transformation, this home and yard became a demonstration site for sustainable living. The original 1950s cinderblock house underwent a complete green retrofit in 2008, including a Structurally Insulated Panel System addition, multiple insulation strategies, recycled doors and windows, and bamboo, cork and “green concrete” surfaces. (The home and yard were featured on the Ojai Valley Green Coalition’s Green Building Tours in 2008 and 2013). Solar panels were added in 2021, the office retrofitted with insulation in 2016, and several tool sheds added over time. We host a steady stream of visitors in a guest room (now with its own bathroom!) or a backyard cabin constructed of native woods from a local urban forester. We enjoy sharing good meals and conversation in the kitchen and two patios.
In 2005 there were only weeds and a couple of dying fruit trees in the yard. Today, after years of landscaping, amending and planting–and several consults with permaculturists like Chris Grataski and work parties of friends–the yard is a dense, water-wise mosaic of edible annual and perennial fruits and vegetables, “swaths” (swale = path), and native trees, bushes and grasses. We plant and harvest good food year-round, and host many community and church events around our two fire pits. Elaine and Ched own one vehicle–a 2002 Jetta that runs on locally-produced biodiesel; they bike wherever they can. Chris Wight and his community mates Raquel and John Jensen (“Casa de mi Padre”) live immediately next door, which facilitates sharing and mutual aid.
The Casa Anna Schulz Mural
In 2012, as a Sabbath celebration of 7 years in Oak View, we christened this space with a name and “tatooed” it with a mural. Since we live in Ched’s home place (he is a 5th generation Californian), we highlight Elaine’s heritage from the Canadian prairies and Mennonite tradition. “Casa Anna Schulz” invokes Elaine’s maternal great-grandmother, and through her, the remarkable story of her Mennonite ancestors in Ukraine. During our July 2012 Bartimaeus Summer Institute, a mural telling the story of this legacy was painted (designed and coordinated by Dimitri Kadiev). You can read about the mural’s story and view a time-lapse video of its creation below.
The Casa Anna Schulz Mural
It began with an under-layer as a prayer that undergirds the work and the sacredness of the story, then continued with over layers telling the story.
The mural is a triptych telling the story of Elaine’s relatives during the Russian Revolution and civil war. Beginning in 1917 there were three armies fighting for control of Ukraine and Russia: the White Army for the Tsar; the Red Army for the Bolsheviks; and Anarchist armies made up of dissatisfied peasants. Mennonite communities were often targeted, for three reasons: they were German-speaking, thus appearing to be pro-German; they were for the most part materially secure in food, grain, horses, clothing; and as pacifists they did not fight back.
Center panel: Nestor Makhno (being served by Anna Schulz) led the Anarchists in Ukraine. He was both a brilliant strategist and a brutal warrior; he and his men both redistributed goods from wealthy estates to local peasants, but also often forced people to watch the brutalization of their loved ones. Makhno had worked on a Mennonite farm, and knew their wealth and vulnerability, so he often targeted their communities. In October 1918 he and his men murdered Anna Schulz’s sister and children, and in December they commandeered the Schulz factory (see Elaine’s reflections on her 2010 pilgrimage to this place). Mennonite males over 14 immediately fled into the forest, as they would have been killed. The six girls were hidden in the attic, including Elaine’s grandmother Margaret (pictured at top with angel’s wings, peering down through the floorboards). For two terrible weeks, Anna Schulz and her 6-year old son fed, clothed and nursed Makhno and his peasant soldiers. This remarkable act of hospitality gave flesh to Jesus’ gospel command to “love your enemies” (written in Greek and German in the book held by Menno Simons to Anna’s right).
Left panel: In 1919 Elaine’s paternal grandfather Franz Enns was 28 years old. The battle line between Red and White armies was shifting back and forth right across his farmstead in Russia. One day, the White army had to make a hasty retreat, and hid their rifles in one of the straw stacks on the farm. One of the Russian hired men found the rifles and brought them to Franz—a very dangerous situation, because some of the workers were also Bolshevik informers. Franz and the man carefully counted the rifles and put them in the shop. That night, when everyone was asleep, Franz snuck back to the shop and bent each rifle barrel just slightly so they could not shoot straight. He then returned the useless rifles to the Red army the next day. If Grandpa Enns’ act was not exactly beating swords into plowshares, it was nonetheless a courageous effort to bend the logic of violence. After passing through his hands, these rifles would never be able to kill again.
Right panel: Between 1923-1928, only 20% (approximately 20,000) of Mennonites in Russia and Ukraine escaped, eventually coming to Canada. The scene depicted is the Lichtenau Train Station, the point of departure for most. Many were pulled off the train and murdered; none were safe until they reached the border of Latvia. All four of Elaine’s grandparents got out in this way; most Mennonites, however, did not.
Flanks: The mural is flanked by two angels, who look with fierce love and compassion for all those who suffer, holding story and memory. Next to them are two sacred caves. On the left is the Tauferhohle, which harbored the original Anabaptist dissidents in the 1520s in Switzerland (Elaine and Ched visited this cave in 2011 and were deeply moved). On the right is Painted Cave, which lies in the Santa Ynez mountains an hour north above Santa Barbara. It is a sacred site of the Chumash, and is considered the most spectacular native pictograph site in North America.
This mural honors sacred stories and places, and we are committed to the preservation of both.
Note: These and similar stories of displacement and struggle are told and analyzed through a decolonial lens in Healing Haunted Histories (see here), in an effort to better understand and heal intergenerational trauma and colonial hauntings.