Sept/Oct 2024
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Letter from the Editor
Dear Readers, Fall is that transition from hot, dry days into the chill of wintertime. It’s when we can walk in a cold morning mist through the forest, still perfumed by the bay trees’ pungent scent released by the final heat of summer. The emergence of fall sharpens our focus, intensifying all that is there.…
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Local Makers – Environmental Journey
Dave Seter is a civil and environmental engineer, poet, and essayist. Named Sonoma County Poet Laureate (2024-26), he’s the author of Don’t Sing to Me of Electric Fences (2021) and Night Duty (2010), both focusing on social and environmental issues. His work has appeared in Appalachia, Cider Press Review, The Florida Review, The Hopper, Poetry…
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Locavortex – Pumpkin-Palooza
As the leaves begin to turn and the air becomes crisp, Sonoma County becomes a go-to spot for family-friendly pumpkin excursions. The area offers a range of pumpkin patches perfect for family outings, fun activities, and picturesque moments. Here’s a guide to some of the best pumpkin patches to visit this fall in Sonoma County.…
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Park Place – Coastal Saunter
Looking for a new park to explore? One of Sonoma County’s best open secrets is the coastal Jenner Headlands Preserve. Less than an hour north of Santa Rosa, it’s a beautiful place for a day hike with a friend or a seaside family outing right in our own backyard. And it’s open to the public…
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Traditional Foodways on the Table
If the food products lining grocery store shelves could talk, they’d tell many a tale, including sagas of long voyages, preservatives, and shortcuts taken to maximize corporate profits. But rarely would these stories be tied to place, culture, or connection to those who produced it. But the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center (CIMCC) in…
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Back to the Land: Kim LaVere of Land + Local Cooks Up Deep Connection
In our modern grab-and-go food culture, it’s easy to forget that food is a main ingredient in our health and wellness. But Kim LaVere, chef and owner of Land + Local is helping us to remember. She’s all about the philosophy that food can be medicine. Her main goal? To lovingly and gently bring people…
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Talk of the Town – Belonging to Place
An Interview with Danny Chaparro, New Audiences Manager at LandPaths Made Local: What is the mission of LandPaths, how did it begin, and what has been its journey since its inception? Danny Chaparro: Our mission is to foster a love of the land in Sonoma County. LandPaths was founded in 1996 by action-oriented women to…
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Grow Local – Grazing for Good
PHOTOS BY PAIGE GREEN With a knife sheathed in her belt on one side and a bright orange mallet on the other, Paigelynn Trotter traverses a steep hillside with a baby strapped to her back, and a livestock guardian dog at her side. She’s studying how 140 goats just grazed down the spring forage where…
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Medicine Meal with Erin Wilkins, L.Ac.
Autumn in Sonoma County is abundant with local markets and home gardens brimming with loads of ripe vegetables, fruits, and herbs. The plants that thrive here do so with minimal fuss, while others struggle, perhaps due to poor soil preparation, inadequate watering, or pesky animals and insects. Much like our gardens, our lives are filled…
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Community Scene – Taking Charge
Made Local (ML): Tell us about Sonoma Clean Power, and why it began? Geof Syphers: Sonoma Clean Power (SCP) launched in 2014 as California’s second Community Choice Aggregator (CCA), driven by the community’s demand for locally controlled, sustainable energy options coming out of the State’s energy crisis of the early 2000s. By 2014, we were…