Nov/Dec 2019
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Letter from the Editor
For me, the winter holidays are synonymous with tamales. My family has only attempted to make them from scratch a couple of times. The time-intensive process was a chance to bond and laugh over corn husks, but with everyone strapped for time these days, we didn’t carry it on. Generally, my mom orders them from…
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Locavortex: Small Farm Doesn’t Mean Low Tech
For many, the countryside of Sonoma County epitomizes a certain rustic chic, a nostalgic adventure through a bygone era conjuring up lopsided barns, rusted pitchforks, and apples overflowing from splintered boxes. While this quaint image of a simpler life may help lure tourists, agriculture is, in fact, an industry in the throes of rapid technological…
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In the Aromas, the Ancestors are Present
In the face of sudden loss, the family behind The Tamale Factory continues a tradition of handmade tamales handed down through generations. When her grandmother Mary died suddenly last March after suffering a bad fall, Elva Nùñez and her family were faced with a difficult decision. Should they keep going with their recently relaunched tamale…
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Crab Season’s New Normal? Climate Change in the Crabbing Industry
Uncertainty plagues the local crab industry after years of setbacks fueled by climate change. With the approach of Dungeness crab season, consumers are looking forward to serving local shellfish as the traditional centerpiece of their holiday feasts. But California crabbers—especially those on the Sonoma Coast—are anticipating the season with heightened anxiety. Last year, the commercial…
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Listening to the Spirit Coming Off of the Still
Sonoma Distilling Company steadily barrels towards becoming California’s whiskey. On a warm September morning in 2008, Adam Spiegel sat in his car in the parking lot of a financial sales firm where he, along with a third of the workforce, had just been laid off. He was 24 and thought he’d like to be his…
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Adventures in Drinking: Breathless Wines
Breathless brut sabered at Sunday brunch! That’s not an overblown headline ripped from the front page of a tabloid. That’s part of the experience of going to Breathless Wines in downtown Healdsburg. Well, not quite downtown. Breathless is in Healdsburg’s light industrial district, all but hidden behind landscaping between the warehouses. The short urban hike…
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Ode to the Local Walnut
I am by nature a forager. No matter that I come from several generations of farmers and ranchers. Give me a tangle of inky blackberries, a patch of ephemeral miner’s lettuce, and I begin to know the land. This autumn, I found myself falling for the Sonoma County walnut. As a child in Healdsburg’s Dry…
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On Persimmons – An Excerpt from “Fruit Trees for Every Garden”
Growth Patterns of the Persimmon Tree The Hachiya tree is tall and vigorous, often 15–20 feet tall and as wide. The fruit too is large, 3–4 inches wide, and heart or acorn shaped. It has a warm, deep orange color and an almost subtle glow. Hachiyas are extremely astringent, laced with tannins, until fully ripe.…
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GO LOCAL’s Holiday Gift Guide
What’s in your Made Local Magazine Holiday Gift Basket? It’s that time of year again! Why go to a big box store when an amazing array of local gift options abound? We had a hard time narrowing down the list, but here are just a few fantastic gift ideas for the food and drink lovers…
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Savorbang! Creamy Autumn Holiday Soup
Welcome to our regular recipe column from teacher and stand-up comedian Sarah Whitmore. This time around, Sarah gets a little salty about her vegan winter squash soup recipe. Blame my purse Recently, my neck seized into a snarled bunch and it took a full week of nonstop complaining to straighten it out. I blame restaurants.…