Mar/Apr 2020
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Letter from the Editor
I moved to Sonoma County over 16 years ago, in part to thaw out from the six years I spent in Vermont after leaving my native Louisiana for college. People often assume I’m from here, which I take as a high compliment. The truth is that like many transplants from elsewhere, I too am a…
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Locavortex – “Grow Local” Program & Snapshot of a Local Maker
If you’re one of the first female vintners in the county, what might you do with your influence? For Judy Jordan, formerly of J Vineyards and Winery, the answer was simple: create Geodesy Wine (providing its profit to women in ag) and a program designed to support the upcoming generation. “I have such gratitude for…
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Criminally Good: Sinning in the Kitchen with Dawn Zaft
On a Saturday evening in January, Dawn Zaft is at the Hopmonk, feeling a bit nervous. The place is packed for a sold-out show of The Sam Chase, and Zaft is joining opening band Alison Harris onstage soon. “I’m only singing one song,” she tells me, “and it usually takes me a song to warm…
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Grain by Grain: The Sticky Rice Supper Club Celebrates Asian Diaspora
On a warm afternoon in August last year, a dozen people gathered around a table on the western edge of Spring Lake in Santa Rosa. They chatted and dug into a spread of culinary delights: smashed cucumber salad, egg rolls, jars of homemade kimchi, Hong Kong-style egg tarts, dumplings, crispy rice, watermelon salad, and more.…
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ACE Cider Keeps on Truckin’
What was once primarily a small, tight-knit community of mostly farmers and hippies nestled in a quaint downtown, Sebastopol has exploded into a scene of trendy bars and restaurants, rising rents and vineyards replacing the idyllic apple orchards of days gone by. Jeffrey House, founder of ACE Cider, the longest-running cidery in the region, has…
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Adventures in Drinking – Old Possum Brewing Co.
Like all the very best gastropubs, Old Possum Brewing Co. promises locally sourced food that closes the loop from brewer to farmer and back again in holistic harmony, with the added benny of getting a buzz from a juicy double IPA. Likely story. Then you look around the back, and the Sysco truck is pulling…
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Always the Sun – The Sunrise Movement in Sonoma County
The Sunrise Movement has risen in Sonoma County & they won’t stop until they get a Green New Deal. Growing up in Koreatown, a neighborhood west of downtown Los Angeles, Janina Turner didn’t go camping. She didn’t go to the park—there weren’t any near her home. Driving past oil wells and derricks was normal. Smog…
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Place Matters – The Fibershed Movement
A new book on the Fibershed movement acts as a toolkit for building a soil-to-skin approach to clothing in a fast fashion world. When Rebecca Burgess started Fibershed a decade ago, the majority of Americans weren’t thinking too hard about the environmental and social costs of their clothing—especially “fast fashion.” Most still don’t. “It’s become…
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Locavox: Guy Tillotson
For the past four years, Tillotson has been working hard to make SRJC a greener campus. When a much-needed and appreciated compost bin appeared in our English department workroom, I knew whom to thank. While many of his efforts fly under the radar, Tillotson can be seen around campus daily–wheeling trash cans, emptying water and…
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Savorbang! Creamy Nasturtium Risotto
Welcome to our regular recipe column from teacher and stand-up comedian Sarah Whitmore. This time around, Sarah turns groundcover into gastronomic gold. Story, recipe and photos by Sarah Whitmore No country has the capacity to celebrate awareness in a more monthly fashion. Americans do a first-rate job of isolating issues into 30-day sections, thereby harnessing…