Grow
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U-Pick at Shone Farm is Very Berry
There’s something deeply satisfying about eating a berry you picked yourself—especially when it comes straight from one of Sonoma County’s most interesting working classrooms. Santa Rosa Junior College’s Shone Farm is opening its fields for a series of Friday U-Pick days, inviting the public to gather berries and other seasonal produce while getting a firsthand…
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Savor the Season
LISTEN NOW (16 mins): What does it really mean to eat seasonally in Sonoma County—and why does it matter now more than ever? In this episode, publisher Daedalus Howell sits down with food and hospitality authority Clark Wolf for a wide-ranging conversation about the rhythms of Wine Country, from early wine grape harvests and Gravenstein apples to the farmers,…
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A New Kind of Harvest: FlyDog Farm blends regenerative agriculture, biodiversity, and community-supported farming
Last week I drove out to Healdsburg on a beautiful morning, took a left and meandered through the vineyards and trees to visit a new community supported agriculture (CSA) farm I’d heard about. When I arrived at FlyDog Farm, I was taken on an enthusiastic tour of the farm by the founders, Grace Lucero and…
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A Serving of Cyclospora
LISTEN NOW (8 mins):Is your salad safe to eat? It depends… In this episode of the Made Local Magazine Podcast, restaurant consultant Clark Wolf shares his insights on the recent cyclospora outbreak with our publisher, Daedalus Howell and how keeping one’s food purchases local can help you avoid it.
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SoCo Fundación de la Voz de los Viñedos Cultivates Next Generation of Leaders
Behind every bottle of Sonoma County wine is a team of people whose work rarely makes the label. They prune vines on foggy mornings, monitor vineyards through the heat of summer, and guide each growing season toward harvest. Their knowledge is built over years—often decades—spent working the same land. The Sonoma County Fundación de la…
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Seven Moons Farm’s Avocado Advantage
For 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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Dig in with Master Gardeners
The 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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Ripe for Change: Making Space for Food in Wine Country
There’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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Against the Grain: From Global Commodity to Local Staple
What comes to mind when you imagine your local farmers market? Those first sweet, hand-picked strawberries in April? The late summer arrival of apples, mounds of vibrant heirloom tomatoes? Even in winter colorful veggies greet the shopper. Mai eventually landed in Sonoma County, leasing multiple parcels, setting up their own flour mill, and selling directly…
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Jardín del Pueblo: The People’s Garden – Farmworker families grow food for themselves and those in need.
Pants freshly stained with grape juice after a long night harvesting a nearby vineyard, a worker arrives to a farm just outside Healdsburg. After an exhausting shift, he should be heading straight for a shaded hammock for some much-deserved rest. Instead, he walks between towering banana plants and a greenhouse strung with drying hibiscus flowers…