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In his recent memoir "Do You See What I See," Woodside Highlands resident Russell Targ describes how he and his wife Joan dreamed of a cluster development that would also include a commercially viable organic garden to benefit the community.

After discovering an idyllic parcel rising 800 feet above the valley floor, in 1976, along with Nancy Hunt Kiesling, the Targs purchased 80 acres which they dubbed the Hayfields. It took considerable time and money to work out the water and zoning problems. But they eventually gained town approval for a planned-unit development that would allow nine homes on 28 acres, with the remaining land reserved for agriculture, or a "farm field," Targ said.

"Foremost was our desire to create an intentional community, much like those of the Shakers, where families could have their own homes, but share the beauty of the land — and a small-scale organic community garden," Targ says.

But when gardening actually began in 1992, two of the homeowners protested, and commenced a court battle that consumed the last several years of Joan Targ's life. In spite of numerous hearings and trials, she never gave up. In June 1998, just two months after the San Mateo County Superior Court at last decided in her favor — that she could indeed farm three of her 52 acres — the 60-year-old woman died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Russell Targ regrets his wife wasn't able to enjoy the results of her fight. "Today the garden is quiescent, waiting for a dedicated gardener to resume Joan's dream ... my youngest son Nicholas and his family have hopes to return here to make that possible," he says.

The Larry Lane Trail runs through the Hayfields, starting at Russell Road. It was designated in 1979 as a tribute to early Portola Valley Pioneer L.W. (Larry) Lane, father of Bill Lane, retired Sunset Magazine publisher and former Ambassador to Japan and Australia.

Commissioned by Bill Lane and his brother Mel, the breath-taking trail climbs more than 100 feet along an old logging trail, through the Hayfields to the bridle path of the Woodside Pony Club.

The community, along with Nicholas Targ, has located a new trail loop to be dedicated next March to Joan Targ in the area adjoining the Hayfields the wider district known as Woodside Highlands, according to Hayfield neighbor Richard Crevelt, who lives nearby on Russell Road.

Woodside Highlands was originally subdivided in the mid-1920s and marketed as summer cottages to upwardly mobile San Franciscans.

Crevelt, president of Woodside Highlands Improvement Association, is a fairly recent neighborhood resident, although he grew up in Portola Valley. "My wife Ann and our two kids moved here from Emerald Hills two years ago, although we bought the property in 2003. I'm a contractor so I built our house after tearing down an old cottage. We love it here. My daughter Jordan is at Corte Madera School and son Owen at Ormondale, he says." Crevelt volunteered for the semi-annual community cleanup project — part of the neighborliness in Woodside Highlands.


FACTS


CHILD CARE & PRESCHOOLS: Windmill Preschool, 4141 Alpine Road, Portola Valley; Ladera Community Church Preschool, 3300 Alpine Road, Portola Valley; Carillon Preschool at Christ Church, 815 Portola Road, Portola Valley; New Horizons (after school care), 200 Shawnee Pass, Portola Valley

FIRE STATION: Woodside Fire Protection District, Portola Valley Station, 135 Portola Road, Portola Valley

NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION: Woodside Highlands Improvement Association, president, Richard Crevelt, 650-851-4518.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Portola Valley School District — Ormondale School (K-3), 200 Shawnee Pass, Portola Valley; Corte Madera School (4-8), 4575 Alpine Road, Portola Valley

Sequoia Union High School District — Woodside High School, 199 Churchill Ave., Woodside

SHOPPING: Nathhorst Triangle, Portola Road at Alpine Road; Village Square, 884 Portola Road; Ladera Shopping Center, 3130 Alpine Road, Portola Valley

MEDIAN 2008 HOME PRICE: $1,393,000 ($1,093,000-$2,495,000)

HOMES SOLD: 3

View the neighborhood map (PDF)

— Palo Alto Online staff