Beta

Mar/Apr 2018

The Garden Whisperers

Home gardening start-up Avalow wants you to grow a little food and make it pretty too. Dr. Jenny Holland Brown has never gardened—not for lack of interest. She is in a wheelchair and it’s an issue of accessibility. “I can’t get on the ground or bend over or anything like that,” Holland Brown says. But…
Letter from the Editor

On weekday mornings, I walk my daughter to school. It’s our luck that her preschool is just a few blocks away—a sweet jaunt that takes us along a section of the Santa Rosa Creek. We take our time once we hit the dirt path above the waterway. My daughter usually comments on the color of…
Locavox

Locavox: Stories from the people who make our food system go Dana Peck, Cofounder and CEO at Render Healdsburg. Dana Peck launched Render in 2017 with two other cofounders, Ali Bouzari, a culinary scientist with a Ph.D. in food biochemistry, and Daniel Felder, the former head of research and development at Momofuku Lab, the food…
Lessons from a Fire Ecology

Lessons from a Fire Ecology By Leilani Clark A few times a year, Edward Willie tends to the last remaining dogbane patch in Sonoma County. Situated on a three-acre preserve bordering Highway 101 in northern Santa Rosa, the patch is estimated to be centuries old and once spanned a five-mile radius. Neighboring tribes—mainly Pomo and…
Adventures in Drinking

Let Cocktails Be Thy Medicine The Drawing Board’s apothecary-inspired cocktail bar isn’t afraid to put adaptogens in your hot toddy. By Bernadette Machard de Gramont Is it possible to call your happy hour libation a health drink? Maybe, if it comes from The Drawing Board’s apothecary-inspired craft cocktail bar. The downtown Petaluma restaurant’s drink menu is…
Watershed Protector Powers, Activate!

How an unprecedented disaster led to an unprecedented coordinated action to keep toxic ash out of the Russian River watershed. For 26 years, Jim Cadden lived with his wife Carol in a home above Mark West Creek, a tributary of the Russian River. An avid fisherman, Cadden cherished the creek as a breeding ground for…
Wine of the Times

Women-Owned Wineries of Sonoma shifts the spotlight to women winemakers. By Bernadette Machard de Gramont As a winemaker and winery owner, Jennifer Reichardt has experienced her share of sexism and gender stereotyping—intentional or not. At Raft Wines in Petaluma, she’s a one-woman show. She transports the grapes. She makes the wine. She handles sales and…
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop

The fire may have destroyed their farms and homes, but these local farmers won’t stop growing food for the rest of us. By Ariana Reguzzoni Thirty years ago, Janet and Corrie Leisen settled in Santa Rosa’s Wikiup Bridgeway subdivision—a small valley tucked among towering oaks and eucalyptus and bordered by Mark West Creek. They raised…
Savorbang!

Welcome to our regular recipe column from local teacher and stand-up comedian Sarah Whitmore. In this installment, Sarah puts a fresh spin on an old favorite: The Hippie Salad. Make Good Choices Every new year, we resolve to take better care of ourselves, exercise, and eat healthier. We get off to a respectable start in January—gym…
Locavortex

Sonoma Family Meal: Healthy, Digniﬁed Comfort Food for Fire Victims. Erin Havstad’s life lately has been awash in compiling personal property lists, managing a complex home rebuilding process, commuting to work from a temporary home in Cloverdale, and a host of other stresses. One thing she doesn’t have to worry about, since losing her home…