True Blue
Indigo crop colors hopes for local soil-to-skin clothing. On a balmy June morning off Westside Road in Healdsburg, I get my first look at the bright green pointy-leafed shrub that’s […]
Grow Local
Born to It
‘On Her Own’ documents the last generation on Gleason Ranch. If one were under any misapprehension that farming is romantic work in which one dreamily moves from field to flower
Slice of Eden
A food forest grows at Chickweed Patch in Petaluma. Suzanne Mackey leads the way through a berry bush-lined path of her backyard, next to a greenhouse made entirely of recycled
Metamorphic Magic
From green bin to black gold at Sonoma Compost. Halfway through a tour of Sonoma Compost, on a hill above the green rolling valleys of Petaluma, I stick my hand
Sustainability on Steroids
Singing Frogs Farm and the great no-till, mega-compost experiment. Editor’s note: This excerpt adapted with permission from ‘The Drought Fighter,’ originally published in ‘Craftsmanship Magazine.’ The complete article can be
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Utile Textile
How hardy, primitive sheep can weed and clothe you. Two years ago, Leslie Adkins and her husband Alden drove their Prius from Massachusetts to California with unexpected hitchhikers in the
Moment to Moment
Seasonal goes micro at Single Thread Farms. For everything there is a season. But for Sonoma County farmer Katina Connaughton, there are 72 to consider instead of just four. Rather
Tree Jewels
Persimmons: The (other) food of the Gods. Abundant, gorgeous, and just a little perplexing, persimmons are emblematic of a Sonoma County state of mind. No school here claims persimmons as
Learning to Eat
The school garden movement could end diabetes and does provide Common Core curriculum. So why is it still viewed as a hippie’s daydream? On a sunny Friday morning in the
Sink or Swim
From salmon to trout to algae to nuts, two entrepreneurs are closing the loop on seafood production and everyone’s waste. Speaking with Bill Foss for the first time, it’s easy