May/Jun 2022
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Letter from the Editor
As I write this letter, most of my family is gathered in Louisiana to celebrate the life and mourn the death of my grandmother, who passed away peacefully in her bed at the age of 90. Sad that I can’t be there, I’m also grateful that I saved a voicemail from her a couple of…
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Meet a Local Artist — Onye Onyemaechi
Onye Onyemaechi is a world-renowned musician, teacher, and inspirational speaker who connects with and helps people from all walks of life. Onye embodies global cultures—with roots in his native Nigeria and professional training from Boston College school of management, where he earned his MBA. He has two grown children. Regarded as a virtuoso of African…
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Eat Local – “Humpday Hedonism”
Before I’d ever set foot in Sonoma County, I’d heard about the Wednesday Night Market from my soon-to-be housemate, who was a fan of the beloved downtown Santa Rosa street fair. Soon enough, so was I. Romances and jobs came and went, but the market remained. Like many of you, I’m thrilled that after a…
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Eat Local – “Kneading a New Life”
Veronica Herico’s Journey from Corporate Go-Getting to Culinary Adventuring By the time she was 27, Veronica Herico had worked herself “to a puddy.” She’d been ambitious her whole life—a degree from U.C. Davis, a fluency in Mandarin that took her to Shanghai for a year, and then to a job in SF doing PR for…
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Grow Local – “Working Hard for the Moisture”
Is Dry Farming Making a Comeback Rewards taste sweeter when you have to work for them. And for thousands of years, deep underground, that’s how vines have brought us grapes. From the prehistoric Levant to the Spanish missionaries who bottled Sonoma these plants can thrive without a single drop of irrigation. As Tony Coturri explains,…
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Make Local — “Humor, Horror and Everything In Between”
Humor, Horror and Everything In Between Ursa Born Explores the Liminal Possibilities of The Imaginists The first time I saw the Imaginists perform, I was sitting in the shade of a ginkgo tree in Santa Rosa’s Juilliard Park, surrounded by a lounging audience sipping beverages and snacking on picnic charcuterie. It was a performance of…
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Make Local — “Major Play”
Two Local Baseball Teams Take to the Field There’s a growing spectacle in Sonoma Wine Country. Healdsburg and Sonoma are teaming with talented collegiate ball players, and some are headed for the big league. Games are about to begin, offering a glimpse of raw talent, ripe for the picking. During the 19th century, average citizens…
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Meet a Farmer — Aleta Pierce: Beet Generation Farm
I’m Aleta Pierce, the new owner of Beet Generation Farm. The farm was started in 2010 by my dear friend and mentor Libby Batzel, who taught me how to farm when I was fresh out of college and unsure what to do with my life. She opened my eyes to the joys of farming, and…
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Locavore: Eating Local, Cooking Local — “Making Strawberry Vinegar with Sheila Shupe”
I’ll be honest. When I see a kid take one bite of a juicy red strawberry, then chuck the rest, I want to google their value in Bitcoin and sell to the highest bidder. I go mad thinking of all the hours the farmer had her hands in the dirt, all the water that nurtured…
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The End Bit: Meet a Teacher — Jibranh Ortega
Jibranh Ortega teaches Spanish at Rancho Cotate High, where teachers recently won a salary increase after a successful strike. He loves reading, writing, hiking, and teaching. He also enjoys listening to good music and serving the community in any way that he can. Who do you admire, and why? I admire my maternal grandmother, Doña…