Mar/Apr2017
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A Letter from the Editor
Like many public elementary school students before me, at some point I was required to memorize a few lines of “The New Colossus.” Written by Emma Lazarus in 1883, the poem was published originally as a fundraising tool for the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal. Today, it’s engraved on a bronze plaque on the lower level.…
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Handing Down the Farm
Succession isn’t always easy—even when it’s all in the family. Across from the old Watson School in Bodega, on a steep, craggy swath of land peppered with grazing meadows and dense wooded patches, sits a house built in 1917. “If we don’t take care of this land, we’re failing these people here,” says the house’s…
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Welcome to the Egg Rainbow
At Alchemist Farm, heritage breed chickens come home to roost . Green Eggs and Ham may be one of the most popular children’s books of all time, but Franchesca Duval, the self-described “head chicken wrangler” at Alchemist Farm and Garden, a small-scale heritage chicken hatchery on the outskirts of Forestville, still spends a good chunk of…
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Healthy and Free
A new health literacy series brings cooking and exercise classes to a library near you. The rain pours down outside the central branch of the Sonoma County Library in downtown Santa Rosa. But, inside the library’s community room, the smell of leeks sautéed in homemade vegetable stock permeates the air with a warm and cozy…
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Spring Gardening Tips from the Masters
The weather is warming up, which means it’s time to stick our hands in the soil and get planting. We asked UC Master Gardeners Sue Lovelace and Susan Foley and urban homesteader Melissa Keyser for their best spring gardening tips. Now get out there and plant something! Pollinator-Friendly Garden by Sue Lovelace Here are five…
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Adventures in Beer
Carneros Brewing Company Driving along Highway 121 in the Sonoma Valley, you may find your head turning as you pass a small hop yard slightly obscured behind a few olive trees. Make a quick turn and you’ll enter the park-like grounds that are home to Carneros Brewing Company. Upon arriving I’m usually torn whether to…
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Local Milk
Clover Sonoma continues to nurture a century-long partnership with small, family-run dairies. It’s Tuesday afternoon in late January, and a surprisingly strong afternoon sun shines across the rolling hills surrounding the Buttke Dairy in south Sebastopol. Without a doubt, the beauty of this golden hour would make even Werner Herzog smile. The afternoon milking session…
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Locavox
Stories from the people who make our food system go. Caiti Hachmyer Farmer/Owner at Red H Farm in South Sebastopol Can you describe Red H Farm for us? Red H Farm is a 1.3-acre diversified vegetable farm in south Sebastopol. The farm is split between two parcels. Half of the farm is on the piece…
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Locavortex
In Memoriam: Iraj Soltani . In the stadium of downtown Santa Rosa, longtime lunch counter Mac’s is a turnstile—a narrow corridor through which passes lawyers, janitors, city councilmembers, restless teenagers, reporters, artists, cops, architects, nurses, and more. And for the past 46 years, each have been greeted by the same face: Iraj Soltani. Soltani, who died in…
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The End Bit
A Farmland Mystery. Why is Sonoma County agricultural land so expensive? I’ve almost accepted that asking this question is like asking, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”. But here’s the thing: If we want to have affordable housing and grow our own food, the high price of land is a problem for Sonoma County.…