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Amaya Lounibos: Emerging Artist Featured in Petaluma Arts Center Exhibit
Read more: Amaya Lounibos: Emerging Artist Featured in Petaluma Arts Center ExhibitWe love to see our local artists flourishing! Artist Amaya Lounibos, whom we interviewed in June 2024 is part of a new exhibit at the Petaluma Arts Center showcasing emerging talent from regional colleges and universities. Come celebrate the next generation of North Bay artists and see their work in New Voices, an new annual…
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Seven Moons Farm’s Avocado Advantage
Read more: Seven Moons Farm’s Avocado AdvantageFor many in Sonoma County, avocados are a highlight of our California-style food culture, from the brunch favorite: avocado toast, to the “super” in a super-burrito. The avocado, native to Mexico and Central America, came-of-age as a local culinary essential during the California food culture movement of the 70s and 80s (I first encountered the…
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Gold Ridge Organic Farms Launches Apple Press Initiative
Read more: Gold Ridge Organic Farms Launches Apple Press InitiativeOne door closes and another opens—or more specifically, as one Sonoma County apple processing facility heads toward closure, another plans to open. Gold Ridge Organic Farms has announced plans to open a new 20,000-square-foot apple processing facility in Santa Rosa that will expand local processing capacity for organic apple growers and cider producers. This is…
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Happy Summer, Sonoma County!
Read more: Happy Summer, Sonoma County!Dear Readers— The brightest days of the year are upon us and with them, a bright new future for Made Local Magazine. Made Local Magazine was originally created as a publication of the Sonoma County Go Local Cooperative, which recently closed its doors after 18 years (2008-2026). A new organization, Shop Local Sonoma, has formed…
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Celebrating M.F.K. Fisher Month
Read more: Celebrating M.F.K. Fisher MonthLong before celebrity chefs, prestige food Instagrams, and “foodie” entering the social lexicon, there was M.F.K. Fisher quietly alchemizing food and literature in the wilds of Sonoma County. This summer, the newly launched M.F.K. Fisher Foundation honors the pioneering writer with the inaugural M.F.K. Fisher Month, a nationwide celebration running from June 3 through July…
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Petaluma Bounty
Read more: Petaluma BountyAt the end of a short road in west Petaluma that is more pothole than roadway sits Petaluma Bounty Farm, a thriving urban farm with a 20-year history. At first glance, it’s an unlikely spot for a farm, surrounded by railroad tracks, an apartment complex, and an old strip mall. In fact, it is a…
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Spring Farmers Markets
Read more: Spring Farmers MarketsFind a Sonoma County Farmers Market Near You: Ourfarmersmarkets.org Nuestrosmercados.org Cloverdale Cloverdale Farmers Market cloverdaleconnect.com Downtown Plaza Tuesdays (Summer) 6:00-9:00pm Cotati Cotati Farmers Market ilovefarmersmarkets.org La Plaza Park Wednesdays (June–September) 4:30-7:30pm Forestville forestvillefarmersmarket.com Downtown Park Tuesdays (June–September) 4:00-7:00pm Healdsburg Healdsburg Farmers Market healdsburgfarmersmarket.org Foley Family Community Pavilion, 3 North St. Saturdays…
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Springtime’s First Food
Read more: Springtime’s First FoodIn the Eastern Pomo language, April is referred to as “Schubok-Goy-Di” or “Flowers Grow Time.” For many of our local tribes, the first strawberries are celebrated and blessed as the arrival of spring brings growth and renewal, and the strawberries are considered “first foods.” Berries are an integral part of the traditional California native diet.…
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Reuse and Restore
Read more: Reuse and RestoreSonoma Restorations creates beautiful heirloom pieces from repurposed wood. In a world where furniture is mass-produced and discarded far too easily, it feels good to collect pieces that come with backstories, ready to enhance a new chapter in your story. In the heart of Sonoma County, Sonoma Restorations transforms the history and heritage of wine country into handmade furniture, décor, and…
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Rare Bird: Glen Ellen’s Songbird Parlour
Read more: Rare Bird: Glen Ellen’s Songbird ParlourSometimes the best restaurants feel a bit like a well-kept secret. Those places with thoughtfully prepared food, attentive service, and ambiance that encourages good conversation and genuine conviviality. Songbird Parlour in Glen Ellen is just such a spot. Tucked into historic Jack London Village, which dates to 1839, Songbird Parlour offers an elegant and sophisticated…
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Ripe for Change: Making Space for Food in Wine Country
Read more: Ripe for Change: Making Space for Food in Wine CountryThere’s a new crop popping up across Sonoma County. You’ve probably seen them while driving by rolling hills or along rural roads. Emerging from soil once dominated by grapes, this new crop is sturdy, oddly rectangular, and complicates the future of local agriculture: “For Sale” signs. For half a century, ever since local wine began…
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All That Jazz
Read more: All That JazzHealdsburg Jazz Festival is one of the Crown Jewels of Sonoma County’s Cultural Calendar Don’t let June sneak by without catching the Healdsburg Jazz Festival, taking place from June 12-21 in and around the wine country town. This is the festival’s 28th year, and surprisingly it manages to fly under the radar for many locals.…
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Dig in with Master Gardeners
Read more: Dig in with Master GardenersThe UC Master Gardener Program Offers Science-Based Solutions to Your Gardening Questions A flourishing garden—whether on a large lot, small patio, or even a community garden plot—holds enduring appeal for so many of us. We dream of picking fresh plump tomatoes or clipping lettuce leaves or flowers from our neatly maintained patch out back. It’s an…
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Urban Wild
Read more: Urban WildPetaluma River Park For decades, a 35-acre industrial site on the McNear Peninsula in downtown Petaluma sat dormant. It was an abandoned peninsula surrounded on three sides by the Petaluma River. Today, that neglected spit of land is transforming into an ambitious public space: the Petaluma River Park. In 2020, a community-led grassroots effort raised…
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Calendar of Local Events
Read more: Calendar of Local EventsWith the summer season quickly approaching, Sonoma County is heating up with some of its biggest annual festivals. From the high-end culinary scenes in Healdsburg to the classic fairground fun in Petaluma, here are the standout public events for May and June 2026. May 2026 Bodega Bay Fisherman’s Festival Saturday & Sunday, May 2–3Blessing of…
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Letter from the Editor
Read more: Letter from the EditorThis time of year, our thoughts turn to the garden. Whether it’s food, flowers, or perfecting the landscaping, there is plenty to keep us humming in the yard. This summer, tired of battling gophers, deer, and turkeys, I’ve turned my attention to the front porch where I’m planting veggies in pots. Nice and safe where…
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Season of the Mosquito
Read more: Season of the MosquitoOn purpose, belonging, and social change In his book Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, Sebastian Junger reports on the historical successes of societal groups that work cooperatively, both as the norm and during extraordinary times such as wartime and natural disasters. From indigenous cultures over thousands of years to Londoners transcending class distinctions during the…
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California Native Table
Read more: California Native TableBy Nicole Lim, J.D. (Pomo/Miwok) Bah’-ki is the Southern Pomo word for elderberry. Throughout Sonoma County and the state, California Native Americans continue to gather and steward elderberries as an important nutritional, medicinal and cultural resource. Elderberry has and continues to be one of our most important plant relatives. California Native Americans share spiritual and…
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MEHKO
Read more: MEHKOThe Microenterprise Home Kitchen Movement Is Here It was a full circle moment. Dawn Zaft was starting another business in her home kitchen. Her last home-based business had been an unpermitted “criminal” bakery in her home. A single mother with little money for start-up, Zaft’s home kitchen operation had allowed her to earn some money…
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Let’s Dance
Read more: Let’s DanceRemember how fun it was to learn a dance style as a kid? Though most of us left behind dance class as we moved toward adulthood, no doubt we remember shaping our bodies and souls to uplifting music in coordination. There is no sensation quite like it; connecting with others through movement. It may just…
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Convenience (minus the guilt)
Read more: Convenience (minus the guilt)How Trellus Makes Same- Day Local Delivery a Force for Good: A Conversation with Trellus’ Julie Montgomery MLM: What is your role with Trellus? JM: As a sales associate for Trellus, my job is to reach out to local businesses and help them understand how the marketplace makes it easy to increase their revenue and gain new…
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Made in the Cloud
Read more: Made in the CloudPhotos by Paige Green The pieces were falling into place quickly as Beth Tisthammer prepared to open her new art studio and gallery for kids. After years of teaching art to children through Sonoma County nonprofits, Tisthammer was ready to create her own unique program of afterschool and summer classes. An ideal storefront in West Petaluma…
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Pacific Pact: An Island-to-Mainland Flavor Fusion
Read more: Pacific Pact: An Island-to-Mainland Flavor FusionAfter long months of damp, dark, dreary days, Sonoma County folks welcome the arrival of spring. It’s like a big exhale after many months of anticipating the return of light and warmth. In days gone, sweet little spring greens were harvested out of the damp ground and eaten to stimulate digestion and encourage vitality after months…
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