March / April 2025 Archives - Sonoma Magazine Things to do in Sonoma County Tue, 24 Jun 2025 13:50:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.1 https://d1sve9khgp0cw0.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/smagicon-150x150.png March / April 2025 Archives - Sonoma Magazine 32 32 ‘It’s Just a Real Nice Time on the Farm’: Petaluma Farmer and Musician Arann Harris’s Shows Are Joyful Affairs https://www.sonomamag.com/its-just-a-real-nice-time-on-the-farm-petaluma-farmer-and-musician-arann-harriss-shows-are-joyful-affairs/ Fri, 09 May 2025 19:41:29 +0000 https://www.sonomamag.com/?p=124702

Known as Farmer Arann, he puts on shows and music education programs at his family’s Windrush Farm just west of Petaluma.

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“My whole heart has gone into making music for kids,” says Petaluma’s Arann Harris. Known as Farmer Arann, he puts on shows and music education programs at his family’s Windrush Farm on Chileno Valley Road, just west of Petaluma. He also runs a summer farm camp and performs monthly at Little Saint in Healdsburg. Harris’s family sing-alongs are joyful affairs mixing original tunes with a bubble machine and a giant green marching-band-style drum emblazoned with the word “YES!”

Harris grew up in Oakland but knew he wasn’t a city boy. In his 20s, he worked as a rafting guide, an outdoor ed teacher and an Outward Bound leader. In the 2010s, he was a fixture of the Bay Area’s live music scene with his group The Farm Band. But the late nights of a working musician were at odds with raising two kids and working life on the farm. Bringing children and their families to the property for music and nature education brought all aspects of his creativity together.

Gregarious and larger than life, Harris creates music that feels genuine and fun. “I’m trying to get people involved, engaged and smiling — moving their bodies and just enjoying being together.” myanimalmusic.com

Arann Harris
Farmer and musician Arann Harris was a fixture of the Bay Area’s live music scene in the 2010s. Now, he runs a summer farm camp and puts on shows at his family’s Windrush Farm in Petaluma. (Paige Green Photography/ Courtesy Arann Harris)
Music for kids

“I feel like I was always a kids’ musician. Some musicians need a quiet audience, but I’m fine with kids going all over the place and having energy. I want that. I thrive on that.”

Finding his place

“After being a touring musician and sort of getting beaten by that world, it gives me value to see pure joy in kids. It really allows me to enjoy music again.”

Come on in

“I have a welcome song called “Come On In,” that plays on the idea of being neighborly and that this stranger with a guitar is safe. That’s the energy I want to give the world, welcoming people to my campfire, to my farm.”

At Windrush Farm in Petaluma. (Paige Green / Courtesy Windrush Farm)
Arann Harris puts on shows and music education programs at his family’s Windrush Farm in Petaluma. (Paige Green / Courtesy Windrush Farm)
Routine brings comfort

“The kids come in and there’s giant sheep and giant drums. We start with the same songs; we end with the same songs, so we have a routine that we do every week. You see kids light up and get that they’re allowed to move their body to the rhythm, and they’re allowed to smile. It brings great joy to see kids just being themselves.”

Spring forward

“The upcoming sessions are really exciting because the baby lambs are arriving. People get to interact with the babes and green grass, and it’s warming up. It’s just a real nice time on the farm.”

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Sebastopol Floral Designer Transports Customers to Europe — One Bouquet at a Time https://www.sonomamag.com/this-european-style-flower-shop-in-sebastopol-is-a-hidden-gem/ Fri, 09 May 2025 18:17:56 +0000 https://www.sonomamag.com/?p=124698

In rural Sebastopol, a flower farmer and her husband nurture flourishing fields and orchards for family gatherings and eager gardeners.

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On foggy spring mornings, there’s often a small fire burning in the blue woodstove inside Nicole Buttitta’s potting shed on the rural Sebastopol farm she shares with her husband, Fred Reid. The rustic, wood-framed shed, with a clear corrugated roof and big barn doors that slide open onto a small grove of redwoods, was a gift from Fred to Nicole, who met a decade ago in the parking lot of the place where they boarded their dogs. Fred invited Nicole to his family’s farm to exercise their dogs in the fields, and the two ended up walking and talking for three hours. A relationship, one built on a shared love of the land and the outdoors — and of course, on a love of dogs — was cemented that day.

Fred, an airline executive, grew up working in the summer on the 40-acre farm alongside his aunt, who bought the land in the 1960s to raise Black Angus cattle, horses, and llamas and sell Gravenstein apples to the Manzana processing facility in Graton. He inherited the farm from his aunt two decades ago, and over time, rebuilt the old farmhouse to suit the needs of a bachelor with three grown sons. He and Nicole, who also has three grown children, have since adapted the property for the next stage of their lives together, adding new flower fields and a large chicken coop in addition to the potting shed and other outbuildings.

“The shed was born out of my desire to just geek out as a gardener and a flower farmer, but also as a gathering place for family,” says Nicole. “We have these six children together, two daughters-in-law, a couple of grandkids now, and we have big family meals out here.”

Sebastopol flower farmer Nicole Buttitta arranging floral bouquets
Sunlight filters through the clear corrugated roof of the potting shed, and there are wide tables for processing blooms for Nicole Buttitta’s shop. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)

When the couple married in 2017, the band for the reception set up inside the potting shed, and guests danced out on the lawn under the redwoods until late in the evening. The shed has a big table down the center, plenty of comfy places to sit, shelves for gardening books, and built-in storage for vases, watering cans, and other gardening equipment. An upholstered bench pulls out to make a bed for the grandkids, who think it’s an adventure to nap outdoors in summer.

There’s also a big sink and wide concrete countertops for starting seed trays and arranging flowers, features that come in handy for Nicole, who opened Healdsburg’s Maison Fiori, a European-style flower shop, in July 2024. Many of the flowers she sells at the shop are grown at the Sebastopol farm.

These days, the farm is alive with the clamor of spring, including baby birds and possums in the fields, bees buzzing in four hives at the edge of the orchard, and some two dozen laying hens in the coop, which supply Nicole’s Healdsburg shop with fresh eggs.

Sebastopol flower farmer Nicole Buttitta
Nicole Buttitta raises chickens and farms flowers at a rural Sebastopol farm for her shop in Healdsburg. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)

“The fawns come a little bit later in the spring, and we have two wild herons that hunt gophers in the field. I see them almost every day — they’ll tolerate my presence for a bit and then take off in that beautiful slow, sweeping flight.”

Spring on the farm is “energetic,” says Nicole, who says that she and Fred revel in the palette of vivid greens from the grasses and trees and pale pinks from the apple blossoms. In the garden, tidy rows of tulips and daffodils begin to give way to roses and peonies leafing out. When the tulips are spent and ready to be taken out, that’s when the dahlia tubers go into the ground.

“That’s when the work of tending and weeding and composting really starts. You get a sense for what’s doing well, what needs more nutrients, but Mother Nature has her way, and I need to give room to that,” says Nicole. “I do my part, but then nature says ‘OK, my turn now.’”

Both Nicole and Fred say that their relatives, especially Fred’s late aunt, would be pleased to know the land is still in cultivation. Farm to Pantry comes each summer to harvest the Gravenstein apples to distribute to people in need, and Nicole’s flower fields are thriving. “Fred wants to be the best steward of this place,” says Nicole. “He tends this land — he just has this reverence for it. He knows it intimately.”

Fred Reid and Nicole Buttitta’s rural Sebastopol farm
Fred Reid and Nicole Buttitta’s rural Sebastopol farm was founded by Fred’s aunt in the 1960s. Fred stewards the land and tends the redwoods and apple trees, while Nicole raises chickens and farms flowers for her shop in Healdsburg. “There’s just so much history here on this land,” says Nicole. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)

Nicole, the daughter of an immigrant from Sicily who found work as a pruner before starting his own landscape design business, feels the pull of her late father’s lessons. “When we were younger, on the weekends and in the summer, my brother and I were our dad’s garden labor force. I hated it at the time — and look at me now,” she laughs. “I think if my dad had come here, he would have really liked this place.”

Nicole says that the peace they have found there, tending the gardens and orchards has become more resonant this spring. Their son and his family fled wildfire in Los Angeles and moved in with them at the farm for a few weeks in January. Nicole, who lost nearly all of her belongings in a residential house fire in 2009, understands the well of emotions that many Sonoma County locals felt upon witnessing the devastation to the south. “You pick up and put one foot in front of the other, but it still hurts. And every time we smell smoke, we think in a way that people who haven’t experienced a fire don’t necessarily understand.”

floral bouquets
Flower bouquets at Nicole Buttitta’s potting shed. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)

Wednesdays are harvest days in the flower fields to supply hand-tied bouquets for her store. Nicole stages multiple buckets of water the night before so they’re ready to go, and is in the garden by early morning. She pulls her tractor up to the back gate of the flower field and harvests quickly to get the cut blooms out of the sun and into the shop as soon as possible. Farming and running a shop wasn’t necessarily what she imagined for this stage of her life.

“But I love how happy and joyful and excited people get when they see the flowers. People tell me about their gardens, and I answer questions, and that’s been really good,” she says. “As I grow older, instead of life becoming narrower, our life has really expanded in a way I didn’t know it could.”

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How a Team of Hobby Growers Made Sonoma County a Hotbed of Rare Fruit https://www.sonomamag.com/how-a-team-of-hobby-growers-made-sonoma-county-a-hotbed-of-rare-fruit/ Wed, 07 May 2025 23:00:53 +0000 https://www.sonomamag.com/?p=124584

During the magical bloom of springtime in Sonoma County, vibrant orchards all over the region are growing unusual varieties of fruit you’ll likely never see in a supermarket.

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In the late ’90s when David Ulmer first moved to Sebastopol, he and his wife started a compost pile in the corner of their yard. one day, a lone peach seedling sprouted from the mound of leftover food scraps.

At this point, it sounds like the beginning of a Roald Dahl novel. And just like any curious character in a children’s book, Ulmer let it grow.

“Being a fruit grower, I said, ‘Let’s see what it does,’” he remembers.

Today, the tree and the variety is known as the Ulmer Compost Peach.

“Everybody laughs and says, ‘Why did you call it that?’ Well, it came up in a compost pile. Why not?”

David Ulmer rare fruit orchard in Sebastopol
A fruit tree begins to bud at David Ulmer’s Sebastopol orchard. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)

A possible descendant of the O’Henry peach, it’s an old-fashioned sweet peach with strong acid balance and excellent flavor, with the taste-test ribbons to prove it. Over the years, Ulmer has given away countless fruits, preserves and cuttings, and people have grown their own Ulmer Compost Peach trees all over Northern California and beyond. It’s the dream of any rare fruit grower — not only to graft, prune and grow unique delicacies to eat and share with others, but to maybe one day grow something that has never been grown before.

“Rare fruit growers have to be farmers, detectives, canners — and, most importantly, year-round consumers of what they grow,” says Ulmer, a retired ophthalmologist who grew up in Mississippi, the son of a Methodist preacher. Before he left the South, he had grown more than 160 varieties of plums.

Standing in the middle of his densely planted 1-acre Sebastopol orchard, a former horse corral he calls “Ulmer’s Acre,” he is surrounded by more than 400 varieties of fruit, including hundreds of different apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, cherries, blueberries, kumquats, oranges, lemons, limes, pineapple guava, kiwis and even mayhaw — a hawthorn berry famous for the delicious jelly it makes.

Recently grafted trees in one-gallon pots to be shared with fellow enthusiasts at a sale run by the Redwood Chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)
Recently grafted trees in one-gallon pots to be shared with fellow enthusiasts at a sale run by the Redwood Chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)

This time of year, during the magical bloom that is springtime in Sonoma County, as bees are buzzing and longer sunny days emerge from the cover of rain, vibrant orchards all over the region are growing unusual varieties of fruit — odd, juicy specimens you’ll likely never see in a supermarket or even at a farmers market.

“Sometimes they’re just not a commercially viable cultivar,” says Rachel Spaeth, a research horticulturist who studies the genetic makeup of rare fruits and is past president of the Redwood Empire chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers (CRFG). “Meaning maybe they have skin blemishes or imperfections, or they ripen unevenly and are not suitable for the commercial market. But for a home grower, they could be fantastic.”

Among the 60 fruit trees Spaeth grows in pots at her southwest Santa Rosa home, one is loaded with 17 different varieties of apples. She doesn’t get a ton of apples on any single branch, but it makes for a deliciously long season, supplying fresh apples from the end of July through December. Along with a jambolan tree native to India, Spaeth also has a “fruit salad tree” with apricots, almonds, peaches, cherries, nectarines, plums and prunes all on one tree, and what she calls a “Frankencitrus” tree, loaded with an array of lemon, lime, naval orange, blood orange, mandarin, pomelo and more.

rare fruit at Sonoma County farm
A tight-knit band of intrepid farmers at the Redwood Empire chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers cultivate hard-to-grow fruits and share their knowledge with anyone who is interested. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)

Standing on the shoulders of famed local botanist Luther Burbank and other fruit breeders like Ferndale’s Albert Etter and Sebastopol’s Will Silva, growers like Ulmer, Spaeth and the tight-knit band of intrepid farmers at the Redwood Empire chapter of the California Rare Fruit Growers are not only obsessed with cultivating hard-to-grow fruits but also sharing their knowledge with anyone who is interested.

This type of community is exactly what Phil Pieri was looking for 27 years ago when he planted a few apple and plum trees on his Petaluma farm, not long after retiring from a career as a telephone equipment installer. “They were a very knowledgeable group of people, who were not commercial, and were willing and more than happy to show you how to do this and do that, and let you know what you can do and what you really probably shouldn’t do,” says Pieri.

Now, along with Ulmer, he’s one of the wise old sages of the CRFG, offering everything from grafting tips and free scions to tastings and tours of his property. Throughout the year, the local Redwood Chapter offers scion exchanges, tastings and clinics.

Pieri’s advice to newcomers: “Ask questions — be curious, be damn curious.”

One of the wise old sages of the rare fruit growers association, Phil Pieri tells newcomers to ask plenty of questions and “be curious, be damn curious.” (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)
One of the wise old sages of the rare fruit growers association, Phil Pieri tells newcomers to ask plenty of questions and “be curious, be damn curious.” (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)
rare fruit at Sonoma County farm
“Any kind of variety of fruit you can’t find in the store is a rare fruit,” says Phil Pieri. His passion offers the thrill of the hunt and the wonder of rescuing varieties otherwise lost to history. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)

Just watching newbies come to a rare fruit tasting for the first time can be nostalgic. “We get people who will come to our tastings, and you can see the ‘aha’ moment after they walk in the door. They’re like, ‘Wow, you have 85 different kinds of apples in here? I didn’t even know that many existed,” says Spaeth, curator of the Prunus collection of fruit and nut trees for the USDA Agricultural Research Service in Davis. After serving as local CRFG event coordinator, secretary, and president, she hardly ever misses a tasting or scion exchange.

“And we’re like, ‘Oh, actually, there’s more like 5,000 kinds of apples.’ And the wheels just start turning. Seeing that sense of discovery and wonder when people first find us helps me relive my own first sense of discovery,” says Spaeth.

On a springtime walk through his Petaluma orchard and greenhouse, Pieri checks on his 200-plus trees, all in different stages of bloom and fruition. Sprinkled among varieties of plums, apples, and peaches are more unique fruits like cherimoya, known for an outer skin in the pattern of an alligator, and the rare Lilly Pilly tree, native to Australia, that bears small, cherry-like fruits. Among his 12 varieties of dragonfruit, there’s American Graffiti and Physical Graffiti, borrowing names from cinema and rock history. A babaco papaya tree, from the mountains in Ecuador, is especially cold tolerant. He also grows tropical white guava, caperberries, black Tartarian cherries, and white sapote.

rare fruit
A rare cherimoya in Phil Pieri’s greenhouse. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)

It’s not uncommon for CRFG farmers to suffer from what Spaeth calls “zone denial,” a condition suffered by green-thumb optimists who refuse to admit they don’t live in the tropics and can’t grow bananas in Northern California (a feat accomplished by several Northern California growers). They also go by “zone deniers” for short.

Pieri freely admits to being one of these zone deniers, growing many types of fruits which technically shouldn’t thrive here but do under his careful care — and with the help of several greenhouses. But beyond the challenge of nurturing finicky plants, there’s something else this passion offers to keep him curious and alive with the thrill of the chase.

Sometimes it’s the wonder of rescuing a rare plant that might otherwise be lost to history and time. More than a decade ago, Pieri and a few other comrades in fruit arrived at the scene of a single Burbank avocado tree on a lonely Santa Rosa street corner that had just been chopped down by construction crews making room for a new office building.

“We found three avocados on the ground,” Pieri says. “They weren’t edible, but the seeds were there.”

After carefully germinating the seeds, he now has a healthy specimen of that lost tree growing on his Petaluma farm.

Expert grower Maile Pieri in her family’s hillside orchard in Petaluma. She and her father, Phil Pieri, have each served as chairperson of the local chapter of the rare fruit growers association. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)
Expert grower Maile Pieri in her family’s hillside orchard in Petaluma. She and her father, Phil Pieri, have each served as chairperson of the local chapter of the rare fruit growers association. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)

The payoff is not always in the fruit. In this case, Pieri says he’s not particularly fond of the pulpy, striated Burbank avocado flesh, compared to the texture of other varieties. But there’s comfort in knowing he saved something worth saving. He’s reminded of this each time someone asks if they can have a scion from the tree.

“I want it to go on forever,” he says, adding he only knows of a few Burbank avocado trees anywhere in the region.

Like Pieri, research horticulturalist Rachel Spaeth enjoys heading out on a good Indiana Jones-style plant adventure. Growing up in Emporium, Pennsylvania, she learned by necessity to grow and harvest fruit at an early age. Her family didn’t have a lot of money, so to get by, they ate dried apples and canned apple sauce, spiced apple rings, blueberry pie filling and pickles. When she moved to California on a whim with a bunch of friends, she was blown away by the abundance of varieties of fruit.

It didn’t take long until she stumbled upon the delicious “pineapple notes” of the green-yellow Hawaii apple, patented by Sebastopol breeder Will Silva. Wanting to find out more about Silva and his work, she set out with several other gumshoes from the rare fruit growers group to track down one of Silva’s lesser-known varieties.

“There was this other apple called ‘Red Scarlet’ that we kept hearing about,” she says. “We knew that we had patent information for it, but we just couldn’t find it.”

Setting out on a mission they called “The Hunt for Red Scarlet,” they showed up unannounced at “random, weird orchards and talked to old processors, just trying to pick the brains of anybody who might have been around and had some overlap in time and space with Silva.”

Expert growers Phil Pieri, right, and his daughter Maile Pieri in the family’s hillside orchard in Petaluma. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)
Expert growers Phil Pieri, right, and his daughter Maile Pieri in the family’s hillside orchard in Petaluma. (Eileen Roche / Sonoma Magazine)

It turns out that one of the volunteers at Luther Burbank Gardens, where Spaeth worked as curator for 15 years, had purchased a Red Scarlet apple directly from Silva in the early 1950s, and the mature tree was still growing in her yard. To verify, the team looked at the parent apples listed on the patent — Red Bell Flower and Baldwin — eventually tracking down living samples of those parent trees at a heritage apple orchard in Washington. That orchard agreed to send leaf samples from both parents, which Spaeth sent along with leaf samples from the volunteer’s tree to researchers at UC Davis. “They sequenced the genomes and we determined that, yes, this is probably Red Scarlet,” says Spaeth.

Finally, they had their match. For Ulmer, it’s the hunt for obscure varieties and the mission to save them from the brink of extinction that keeps his detective skills in tune. He spends most of his time on his property looking after trees like a rare Winioska-Saska pear from Poland or a mystery tree he grew from a street-scavenged avocado seed. It came from a CRFG member who found an ancient, two-story avocado tree growing near an apartment complex on Sonoma Avenue in Santa Rosa. “He climbed that tree in the middle of the night to harvest the fruit,” Ulmer remembers. After tasting the avocado, Ulmer liked it so much he eventually grew his own tree from those same seeds — but he still doesn’t know exactly what kind of avocado it might be.

The ever-curious Ulmer makes time to help other farmers with their own fruit mysteries. His latest case is a mysterious plum tree in the East Bay. The owner’s grandfather grew it in Menlo Park in the 1930s. Now, the tree is dying, and the grandson wants to determine the variety of plum to try to preserve it. Armed with photos and bud grafts from the old tree, Ulmer is trying to narrow down possibilities until he can zero in on a match. DNA testing is an option, he says, but it’s expensive.

For now, he has no idea how long it might take, but he’s willing to try. “I’m retired, I have all the time in the world,” Ulmer says.

After all these years, is he still obsessed? “Oh god yes,” he says, laughing, his avuncular Southern accent pausing for effect. “Look at me — I’m a variety collector. I want to taste them all. I want to grow them and see how they grow, and I want to share them. It’s a rare individual who doesn’t want to share what they’ve grown.”

The post How a Team of Hobby Growers Made Sonoma County a Hotbed of Rare Fruit appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

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Why Occidental’s Historic Western Hills Garden Is a Must-Visit This Spring https://www.sonomamag.com/occidentals-historic-western-hills-garden-is-a-must-visit-this-spring/ Wed, 30 Apr 2025 23:36:22 +0000 https://www.sonomamag.com/?p=124565

New owners embrace the season in the wilds of Occidental's historic Western Hills Garden.

The post Why Occidental’s Historic Western Hills Garden Is a Must-Visit This Spring appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

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After the wet hush of winter, spring erupts at Western Hills Garden like an explosion of skyrockets. Purple and white Spanish bluebells peel out amid the woodlands, joined by baby blue forget-me-nots and white onion flowers. Rhododendrons and magnolias flaunt their lush blooms, while downy catkins, the seed-filled flower cluster of mature trees, drape from branches. Even the weeds seem to be showing off, says Hadley Dynak, who purchased the 3-acre historic garden in the redwood forest near Occidental with her husband, Kent Strader, in 2022.

It’s an exciting time of anticipation and potential, marked not just by the awakening plants and the lengthening days, but by the sudden activity of birds and bees as temperatures shift from brisk to comfortably cool. “Spring is like a loud shout — everything is alive and breathtaking,” says Dynak.

Hadley Dynak, the new owner of the Western Hills Garden in Occidental, poses among the blooming forsythia. She is the new owner of the historic nursery in Occidental. (John Burgess / The Press Democrat)
Hadley Dynak, the owner of the Western Hills Garden in Occidental, poses among the blooming forsythia. She is the new owner of the historic nursery in Occidental. (John Burgess / The Press Democrat)
Western Hills Garden
The pond and garden at the Western Hills Garden in Occidental was created by Marshall Olbrich and Lester Hawkins in the 1960s as a place renowned for rare plants. (John Burgess / The Press Democrat)

Western Hills was founded 60 years ago by Marshall Olbrich and Lester Hawkins, obsessive plant collectors with a commitment to a form of naturalistic, sustainable garden sensitive to California’s warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. Together, they created a nursery that drew horticulturists and plant collectors from around the world to this tucked-away neighborhood of west county. The pair offered unusual specimens for sale, including many at the time seen nowhere else in the commercial nursery trade. Plant enthusiasts visited to swap seeds and talk ecology and world affairs with kindred spirits in what some describe as an informal outdoor salon of ideas.

Marshall and Lester — the garden’s fans refer to them in the familiar, like old friends — had a gentle way with plants, one which respected the tendency of plants and trees to grow half-wild and abundant. The garden fits into no neat design style or theme, beyond being a collector’s paradise of plants adapted to a Mediterranean climate, including primeval ferns and trees prized for their remarkable maturity, from an 84-foot-tall Japanese zelkova to a multi-stemmed Persian ironwood. Some 35 bridges meander past the five ponds, crossing back and forth over stone runnels channeling bubbling streams of water. A large folly just inside the entrance was inspired by the great English garden designer Penelope Hobhouse.

Western Hills Garden
John Leipsic tours at Western Hills Garden in Occidental. (Kent Porter / Press Democrat)

New stewards

Dynak and Strader often dreamed of someday owning a place where they could bring together different communities in partnership, though the concept of a botanical garden never crossed their minds. Dynak is a creative producer who previously worked in the arts in Berkeley and Park City, Utah, while Strader is an attorney. With grown children, the couple faced a crossroads in 2023 after putting their home up for sale. When a friend called to suggest they check out a property in rural Sonoma, they were intrigued.

“We got up here, and we were blown away by the beauty,” Strader says. “I think within 10 minutes of seeing it, I turned to Hadley and said, ‘We’re buying this place.’”

Right away, they dug in, literally, building upon decades of work not only by the garden’s founders, but by previous owners and volunteers. Strader has fixed hundreds of feet of fencing and repaired many of the garden’s bridges. Last summer, he was cutting back a tangled thicket of undergrowth, and unearthed a whole “new” path and viewing bench concealed in the branches — a moment of surprise that speaks to the dense wonders found here.

Western Hills Garden
Volunteer Barbera Costa waters the thousands of plants at the Western Hills Garden in Occidental on Thursday, July 31, 2014. The garden relies heavily on the support and work of its volunteers. (Conner Jay/The Press Democrat)

“We struggled a little early on,” says Strader. “Are we trying to recreate what was here? We went back and forth a lot and ended up with the idea that Lester and Marshall never would have sat on what they had and kept it the same. It would always have been evolving. We’re trying to honor the history while keeping it progressing forward.”

Strader and Dynak have weeded beds, composted leaves, and pruned hundreds of shrubs and trees with the help of a dozen volunteers and a new manager of horticulture, Justin Berthiaume, a former landscape architect with the National Park Service. And thanks to the efforts of intern Kat Gritt, who is studying arboriculture at Merritt College, the team has inventoried 832 different trees representing some 300 species, including a white eucalyptus that at 121 feet, is the tallest of its kind in the country.

Western Hills Garden
A Chinese fringe tree and red rhododendrons at Western Hills Garden in Occidental. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
Coylus Avellana "Contorta," also known as Harry Lauder's Walking Stick, at Western Hills Garden in Occidental on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)
Coylus Avellana “Contorta,” also known as Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick, at Western Hills Garden in Occidental on Tuesday, March 1, 2022. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)

In the past year, they’ve hosted school groups, book talks, forest-bathing sessions, journaling workshops and celebrations to mark the change of the seasons, focusing not just on horticulture but the arts. A class in “bioeuphoria” by Berkeley artist Jessica Abbott Williams had participants using handmade plant inks and natural objects to mark tiny, specific spots within the garden that captured their fascination, down to the level of a single flower or branch.

Weekend visitors check in at a small kiosk and are asked how they’d like to see the garden: by taking in broad sweeps of the landscape or looking up close. They’re offered magnifying glasses to take in new perspectives, such as the tiny marvel of the texture of a leaf or an insect collecting pollen.

“It’s like a superorganism, with all these different individuals and species working together,” says Barthiaume, who appreciates how plants from Asia, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South America and the Middle East can all flourish cooperatively among the redwoods.

It’s a perfect metaphor for what Dynak and Strader are trying to create: a place where many different groups can connect and where all are invited to wander, wonder and discover.

The post Why Occidental’s Historic Western Hills Garden Is a Must-Visit This Spring appeared first on Sonoma Magazine.

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Healdsburg’s New Honey Tasting Room La Ruche Offers ‘Plenty to Geek Out About’ https://www.sonomamag.com/healdsburgs-new-honey-tasting-room-la-ruche-offers-plenty-to-geek-out-about/ Tue, 29 Apr 2025 20:17:14 +0000 https://www.sonomamag.com/?p=124700

For those who primarily experience honey from a squeezable plastic bear, a visit to Healdsburg’s new honey tasting room is an eye opener.

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For those whose primary experience of honey centers on a squeezable plastic bear, a visit to Healdsburg’s new honey tasting room, La Ruche (“the hive” in French), is an eye opener.

There’s wildflower honey from a boreal forest in Northern Canada, pine honey from Greece and creamed honey from Redwoods Monastery in Humboldt County, plus selections from three local specialty producers. Owner Nicole White says what she loves about honey is that it’s so different depending on where it comes from.

“If you’re into food and taste and experimenting, that’s what I think is really fun about this,” she says.

La Ruche honey tasting room
Nicole White, owner of La Ruche, a honey tasting room in Healdsburg. (John Burgess / Sonoma Magazine)

Walk-in guests can enjoy casual tastings — coming soon are seated tastings with cheese, charcuterie and mead. White hopes La Ruche helps others appreciate what a delicacy honey is, and how much there is to learn.

“If you want to geek out about honey,” she says, “there’s plenty to geek out about.”

409A Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. 707-909-0514, laruchehealdsburg.com

This story was originally published in The Press Democrat. Read the full story here.

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‘It’s the Best Meat I’ve Ever Had’: Sonoma County Ranches, Butchers Supply Tasty Meats You Can’t Get From the Grocery Store https://www.sonomamag.com/sonoma-county-ranches-butchers-supply-tasty-meats-you-cant-get-from-the-grocery-store/ Tue, 22 Apr 2025 15:56:36 +0000 https://www.sonomamag.com/?p=123886

A growing number of Sonoma County ranches cater to local demand for bulk orders of beef, pork and lamb. Here's where to go for locally raised meats

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When Santa Rosa home cook Hunter Odem shops for pork, it’s different from the way many of us shop. He simply calls up a local rancher and orders an entire pig.

“I just sent a whole, 200-pound hog to the butcher,” he says. “I get one every six months for me, my wife, and our 2 and 4-year-old kids, and we pack our standalone freezer.”

For Camp Meeker resident Jennifer Sheehan, planning dinner for her husband and son is a breeze. Chances are good that the meal will include pork or lamb from the chest freezer in her workshop, perhaps posole with pork shank and hominy or a lamb ragu with hearty meatballs. It takes about a year for the Sheehans to eat a hundred pounds of lamb, she says, and maybe eight months to finish a whole pig.

Wild Things Ranch
A New Zealand Kunekune pig at Wild Things Ranch in Cazadero. (Charity Epperson/Courtesy Wild Things Ranch)

Sonoma County is home to plenty of home cooks who purchase whole animals, parceling and freezing the cuts to feast on all year long. Many believe in the importance of supporting local ranchers and reducing the distance from field to plate. Many local ranches practice rotational grazing and regenerative agriculture for optimum soil health, and their animals often enjoy more humane conditions.

Home cooks like Odem and Sheehan also love that the boutique, grass-fed meat they purchase is deeply delicious. “Oh my gosh, we eat that whole hog so quickly,” Sheehan says with a laugh. “It’s the best meat I’ve ever had. We got our first pig two years ago, made BLTs and said, oh my goodness, we can never eat bacon from anywhere else again. It’s just so much richer and meatier, and there’s just something to it that you can’t get from the grocery store.”

For Odem, who grew up raising livestock with his 4-H club, it’s always been important for him to know where and how his food arrives on his plate.

“I actually go out to where ranchers are raising my meat, and see how they take care of everything,” he says. “I want to know what those animals are going through and trust the meat. If you don’t know where the meat comes from, you have to cook it more for safety, and that usually makes it tougher and dryer.”

Wild Things Ranch
Rare Icelandic sheep at Wild Things Ranch in Cazadero. (Charity Epperson/Courtesy Wild Things Ranch)

Odem and Sheehan source meat for their families from Wild Things Ranch in Cazadero, where owner Charity Epperson specializes in unusual heritage Icelandic lamb and New Zealand kunekune pigs. Epperson grew up on the protected wetland Grizzly Island in Suisun Bay, with parents who worked a 2,500-acre preserve for cattle ranchers and sheep grazers needing vegetation management in sensitive areas.

“When we were growing up, we never bought meat from the grocery store,” Epperson recalls. “We either raised it or hunted it.”

Epperson’s husband, Sam, was raised on his family’s 1800s ranch in the rugged Cazadero mountains, 7 miles from the coast, where the business is now based. Epperson brought the first animals to Wild Things Ranch in 2018. Because the animals she raises are heritage breeds, they grow more slowly and naturally than commercial breeds. “That yields better flavor and texture, since the meat has time to mature,” Epperson says.

Rancher Charity Epperson and her rare Icelandic sheep at Wild Things Ranch in Cazadero. (Charity Epperson/Courtesy Wild Things Ranch)
Rancher Charity Epperson and her rare Icelandic sheep at Wild Things Ranch in Cazadero. (Charity Epperson/Courtesy Wild Things Ranch)
New Zealand Kunekune pigs at Wild Things Ranch in Cazadero. (Charity Epperson/Courtesy Wild Things Ranch)
New Zealand Kunekune pigs at Wild Things Ranch in Cazadero. (Charity Epperson/Courtesy Wild Things Ranch)

“Kunekune” means ‘fat and round’ in Maori,” she explains, referring to the New Zealand Indigenous language. “The pork is outstanding, with excellent marbling, a deep red color similar to beef, and rich, sweet flavor. They’re a lard breed, so their bacon tastes almost candied after it caramelizes in cooking.” Her ranch’s Icelandic lamb, too, is sweeter than most other lamb meat, distinctively delicately textured and much leaner.

With the variety of cuts she receives in a bulk order, Sheehan says she never worries about driving her family into palate fatigue. “I love to create recipes and cook,” she says. “And pork and lamb are such versatile meats that I make little spins on it and really utilize every single piece.” Taking home bones for savory, soul-soothing broth is a given; brains, heart, and other offal are optional.

At Wild Things Ranch, animals are harvested by a mobile, USDA-certified slaughter service, saving the animals the stress of being transported to a facility. The harvested meat then goes to Willowside Meats butcher shop to be cut and wrapped for pickup. An animal’s hanging weight, or what the purchaser actually receives, is quite a bit lower than its weight at harvest.

Wild Things Ranch
Checking the fences at Wild Things Ranch in Cazadero. (Charity Epperson/Courtesy Wild Things Ranch)

For a 150-pound pig, purchasers take home about 120 pounds, and only pay for that final poundage. A 100-pound lamb nets about 55 pounds of product. “We eat a lot of meat, so we usually can power through it by ourselves,” Odem says. For smaller households, folks often split an order with neighbors or friends.

In days past, investing in a chest freezer full of meat could be risky. In wildfire seasons, power outages made protecting perishable foods difficult, and often impossible. Some Sonoma County residents took to hosting block parties to make sure their freezer victims didn’t go to waste while sharing some much-needed love with the community.

Now, though, freezing food is actually great for disasters, if you’re prepared. “Our deep box freezer is completely fine for about 24 hours,” Sheehan explains. “We do have a generator, because we live in the woods, so we kind of have to. And thawing meat is easier than driving to the store in a disaster.”

The nearest Sebastopol supermarket is about 17 miles round-trip from her rural home. Culinary survival is even easier for Odem, a professional electrician. “I have access to a lot of generators and I’m pretty handy with being able to get around anything that pops up.”

Victorian Farmstead Meat Company butcher shop
Adam Parks of Victorian Farmstead Meat Company in Sebastopol. (John Burgess)

Victorian Farmstead Meat Company owner Adam Parks is well known for the variety of locally raised meats he stocks at his stand inside Community Market at The Barlow. He works with nearly a dozen family-owned farms across Sonoma and Marin counties, hand-selecting unexpected meats like quail and Pitman Family Farms Cornish hen. He can also handle custom butchering, including succulent brisket-chuck burger mix and porchetta wrapped in skin-on pork belly.

“There really is a difference with local meats,” says Parks. “I can go to the ranches and see the animals being raised. I know what they’re feeding them, if anything, other than pasture. I know how they’re being humanely handled. And I trust these farmers.”

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Local Pilot Program Offers a New Way to Support Small Farmers in Sonoma County https://www.sonomamag.com/local-pilot-program-offers-a-new-way-to-support-small-farmers-in-sonoma-county/ Fri, 18 Apr 2025 19:58:29 +0000 https://www.sonomamag.com/?p=124385

Modeled on a similar program in San Mateo County, the idea is “to have more equitable land access to smaller farm property.”

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Nearly a decade ago, the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District recognized a shortcoming in its land protection program, which seeks to preserve agricultural land through conservation easements that prevent subdivision and residential development. Agency staff typically worked with large agricultural properties, like dairies, cattle ranches and vineyards — properties more effective to preserve in terms of staff time and cost per acre.

But the approach often meant that the group worked with people who already owned land, often passed down through the generations.

“It meant there were wide ranges of the Sonoma County population that we didn’t have a chance to interact with as directly,” says Mary Chambers, agricultural specialist at Sonoma County Ag + Open Space. “And when you look at how inequitably land ownership is distributed in the U.S. and in Sonoma County — I think it’s like over 95% of farmland in the U.S. is owned by white people.”

Longer Table Farm in Santa Rosa
Assessing the soil at Longer Table Farm in Santa Rosa, Jan. 27, 2025. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)

Chambers says those numbers allowed the group to reflect on how their work is limited when they work only with existing landowners. They decided to seek out other tools to create opportunities for new landowners when farmland is being sold.

In 2024, to target small-scale fruit and veggie farmers, Sonoma County Ag + Open Space launched a new pilot program called “Buy-Protect-Sell.” Modeled on a similar program in San Mateo County, the idea is “to have more equitable land access to smaller farm property,” Chambers says.

Interested Sonoma County farmers are submitting applications to the program this spring. Later this year, the county agency aims to buy a piece of property, probably between 5 and 50 acres, and secure a conservation easement on the land, and possibly a covenant to the deed to encourage row-crop farming. The agency is also exploring adding an affordability covenant, something Ag + Open Space has never tried before, that would prevent the land from being flipped for a higher price.

Ariel Patashnik, left, Amy Ricard and Bill Keene of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District navigate an old logging road in Howlett Forest, Monday May 1, 2017, near Annapolis. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat) 2017
Ariel Patashnik, left, Amy Ricard and Bill Keene of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District navigate an old logging road in Howlett Forest, Monday May 1, 2017, near Annapolis. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat) 2017

By the end of 2025, one farmer will be selected, based on need and contributions to the community, to purchase the new property at a much cheaper price than they could access on the open market.

For Sonoma County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins, the program is the culmination of principles she’s advocated for since being elected to the board in 2017. Working with then-Ag + Open Space general manager Bill Keene, she was trying to find a way to support small farmers. “It felt like it took forever to actually get the policy across the finish line, and now it’s ‘go time,’ which is exciting.”

If the pilot program succeeds, look for more Buy-Protect-Sell projects down the road.

“I hope this becomes a staple of the Ag + Open Space District,” Hopkins says.

For more information on the Buy-Protect-Sell program, visit sonomaopenspace.org/OUR-IMPACT/BUY-PROTECT-SELL.

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Petaluma’s Cider Circus Shines a Light on Local Apple Community https://www.sonomamag.com/petalumas-cider-circus-shines-a-light-on-local-apple-community/ Tue, 15 Apr 2025 15:31:38 +0000 https://www.sonomamag.com/?p=124262

The upcoming circus will showcase locally made ciders in support of Sonoma County's apple industry, in addition to carnival-themed fare and activities.

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The circus is coming to town — but instead of trapeze artists and animal acts, this show features local craft ciders alongside big top-style entertainment, from circus-themed kids’ activities to a roller-skating clown.

Set for Saturday, April 26, at Steamer Landing, Cider Circus is a spinoff of the fast-growing natural wine gathering Big West Wine Fest.

“We love that cider is such an important and unique local product,” said Emily Weber, who co-founded the event with Nina Kravetz. “We just wanted to offer a new festival that has a different focus and give the cider makers a place to really shine.”

Natural wine and cider festival founders Emily Weber, left, and Nina Kravetz. (Marielle V. Chua/Courtesy Big West Wine Fest)
Natural wine and cider festival founders Emily Weber, left, and Nina Kravetz. (Marielle V. Chua/Courtesy Big West Wine Fest)

Cider Circus will showcase dozens of minimal-intervention ciders from Sonoma County and beyond, including North American Press, Old World Winery, Eye Cyder and Two Shepherds. The festival will have a family-friendly carnival vibe, with performances by Tumbleweed the Clown and Ears of Maize, plus juggling, face painting, music and food, from carnival fare to fresh oysters. Plus, The Floathouse will offer kayak and paddleboat rentals.

cider
Bottles of Eye Cyder in Sebastopol on Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat)
cider
Ellen Cavalli of Tilted Shed Ciderworks will pour new releases at Petaluma’s Cider Circus. (Tilted Shed Ciderworks)

Windsor’s Tilted Shed Ciderworks is working on a new cider to debut at Cider Circus, and owner Ellen Cavalli will be pouring her famous nonalcoholic Gravenstein cider at the festival. To Cavalli, Cider Circus isn’t just a fun day out. Supporting local cider producers is a great way to help keep Sonoma County’s apple farms in business — more important now than ever, she said, as local growers face the impending departure of Manzana Apple Products, the region’s last apple cannery.

“As the Sonoma County apple community continues to experience daunting challenges, I think it’s even more crucial that the public prioritize supporting local cider producers, so that we can help keep our apple industry alive and thriving.”

Tickets for Cider Circus are $45 at bigwestwinefest.com. Starting in late April, you can also snag tickets for Big West Wine Fest, which returns to Guerneville’s Solar Punk Farms June 14-15 and typically sells out quickly. If you’re a fan of small-production natural wines, don’t wait too long to opt in.

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Sonoma Baker’s Spring Strawberry Galettes Show Off Beauty of Local Bounty https://www.sonomamag.com/sonoma-bakers-spring-strawberry-galettes-show-off-beauty-of-local-bounty/ Mon, 14 Apr 2025 16:07:25 +0000 https://www.sonomamag.com/?p=123880

You might expect pastries this incredible to be served at a fancy restaurant in the city. Here's where to find the pretty galettes in Sonoma every weekend.

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You might expect pastries this incredible to be served at a fancy restaurant in the city. But in Sonoma, such treasures can be found each Saturday at an indie-minded farmstand along a winding two-lane mountain road.

Baker Lee Magner of Sonoma Mountain Breads got his start selling sourdough to his neighbors and recently launched a second retail setup on Sundays at Sonoma’s Valley Swim Club. For these pretty spring galettes, Magner macerates Stony Point strawberries in brown sugar, then lays them on a bed of almond cream in a rustic whole-grain dough. A final sprinkling of turbinado sugar brings extra crunch.

Strawberry galettes from baker Lee Magner of Sonoma Mountain Breads
Strawberry galettes from baker Lee Magner of Sonoma Mountain Breads, available on Sundays at Valley Swim Club in Sonoma. (Lee Magner / Sonoma Mountain Breads)

“This project has been such a great way to be catapulted into the beauty of what Sonoma County has to offer,” says Magner, who this spring will also be baking pistachio-praline French pastries and savory miso-roasted spring-onion bear claws — “like elevated sour cream and onion potato chips,” Magner says.

At Valley Swim Club, 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Sundays. 18709 Arnold Drive, Sonoma. For info on the Saturday farmstand, sign up at sonomamountainbreads.com.

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28 Favorite Farmstands in Sonoma County https://www.sonomamag.com/favorite-farmstands-in-sonoma-county/ Fri, 11 Apr 2025 22:14:55 +0000 https://www.sonomamag.com/?p=123811

Nothing beats meeting your farmer at their place of business. Here’s our ultimate guide of where to go and what to seek out this spring.

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Nothing beats meeting your farmer at their place of business. At a roadside farmstand or on a local farm tour, you can learn about soil health, paint with watercolors, or maybe even feed the goats. Here’s our ultimate guide to where to head and what to seek out this spring.

Tomato Central

Farmer Lazaro Calderon has been growing on the 6-acre downtown Sonoma plot known as The Patch for 25 years — it’s a must-visit for summer’s heirloom tomatoes. 250 Second St., Sonoma. 707-849-7384, instagram.com/thepatch_sonoma

Demonstration Farm

Veronda-Falletti Ranch an urban demonstration farm owned by the City of Cotati, is launching a new vegetable garden this year, with lots of opportunities for the community to participate — from volunteer days to composting classes to sheep-shearing demonstrations and a farm education program for the under-12 set. The farm produces fresh eggs, blackberries, figs and pears. 175 West Sierra Ave., Cotati. 707-6645347, sandyloam.org

Dry Creek Peach and Produce farmstand with owner/farmer Gayle Sullivan
Guests visit the Dry Creek Peach and Produce farmstand and chat with owner Gayle Sullivan west of Healdsburg, Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. The farmstand is located on the Sullivans’ property. (John Burgess / The Press Democrat)
Dry Creek Peach and Produce owner Gayle Sullivan puts peaches on display on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, west of Healdsburg. (John Burgess / The Press Democrat)
Dry Creek Peach and Produce owner Gayle Sullivan puts peaches on display on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, west of Healdsburg. (John Burgess / The Press Democrat)
World-Famous Peaches

Tuck this one away for summer: the organic peaches at Dry Creek Peach & Produce outside Healdsburg are the best around. It’s worth the trip to buy straight from the farm, which opens Wednesdays at noon and often sells out. 2179 Yoakim Bridge Road, Healdsburg. drycreekpeach.com

A Legendary U-Pick

Front Porch Farm

This organic produce and flower farm is nestled along the Russian River, just 10 minutes from downtown Healdsburg. Founded in 2010 by Peter and Mimi Buckley, the 110-acre farm emerged from the couple’s desire to leave the corporate world and embrace meaningful, hands-on work.

“Using your energy to grow food and flowers is engaging at every level,” Peter says. “Science, community, beauty and wonder are all at play… In the time of AI, the mysteries of soil biology and plant physiology remain [yet] to be fully understood.”

Front Porch Farm in Healdsburg
At Front Porch Farm in Healdsburg. (Eileen Roche)

With conservation and ecological stewardship at its core, Front Porch grows a diverse range of vegetables, heritage grains, fruit trees, wine grapes and more than 60 varieties of specialty cut flowers. (SingleThread in Healdsburg and Catelli’s in Geyserville both feature floral designs from Front Porch Farm.)

Front Porch sells its produce and flowers at local farmers markets and hosts U-pick events on select open house days on the farm in summer and early fall. U-pick participants can go into the field to select their own flowers, blackberries, tomatoes, fairytale eggplants and other organic favorites. This year, the farm is adding a series of hands-on floral design workshops. 2550 Rio Lindo Ave., Healdsburg. 707-433-8683, fpfarm.com

Nourishing Communities of Color

EARTHseed Farm

farmer Pandora Thomas, founder of EARTHseed Farm
Pandora Thomas, founder of EARTHseed Farm in Sebastopol, on Saturday, July 24, 2021. (Beth Schlanker/The Press Democrat)

Pandora Thomas founded EARTHseed, California’s first Afro-Indigenous permaculture farm, in 2021 with a vision to create a place where people of color can reclaim their relationship to the land. The 14-acre farm and orchard honors African ancestral agricultural traditions and the African principle of sankofa — understanding the past in order to move forward. With a deep connection to nature and a focus on community nourishment and education, the organic, solar-powered farm cultivates thousands of fruit trees, along with raspberries and blackberries.

From June to November, the farm is open certain days for U-pick and farm tours. The farm store has seasonal fruits, handmade herbal products, fragrant bundles of sage and lavender, and African baskets. Retreats, group tours and the BlakCamp farmstay experience offer opportunities for engagement and education, prioritizing people of African descent and other communities of color. 3175 Sullivan Road, Sebastopol. 707-829-0617, earthseedfarm.org

Grow Your Own
Miranda Forni harvests Brandywine tomatoes at Forni Farm and Nursery in Santa Rosa, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
Miranda Forni harvests Brandywine tomatoes at Forni Farm and Nursery in Santa Rosa, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
Brandywine and Pineapple tomatoes at Forni Farm and Nursery in Santa Rosa, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
Brandywine and Pineapple tomatoes at Forni Farm and Nursery in Santa Rosa, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)

Miranda Forni is the fifth generation in her family to farm. Her parents ran a legendary nursery in Calistoga (food critic Mimi Sheraton called her parents’ Great Syrian tomato one of the foundational tastes of her career), and now Forni’s own two daughters help out at her 3-acre business. Forni Farm and Nursery is a destination for healthy, strong veggie starts, spread out on wide tables in the shade of a heritage oak. Forni also runs a gardening camp for kids in summer and a pumpkin patch in fall. Opens for the season March 27. 4000 Barnes Road, Santa Rosa. 707-595-5404, fornifarm.com

Chicken Headquarters

If you have chickens, you may already know about the wonderland that is Sebastopol’s Alchemist Farm, where Franchesca Duval and her family raise rare breeds with love and care. Chicks are available February-September, including Olive Eggers, speckled-egg Welsummers and the farm’s own Alchemist Blues. Duval teaches online classes and hosts a live chat about chicken keeping. The farm isn’t open to visitors to protect the health of the flock, but preorders of baby chicks can be picked up from the farmstand. alchemistfarm.com

Franchesca Duval along with her husband Ryan, and daughter Trinity, 3, tend to the chickens on their family farm near Sebastopol Sunday, March 20, 2016. Alchemist Farm and Garden specializes in laying hens that produce a variety of colored eggs. (The Press Democrat, file)
Sebastopol’s Alchemist Farm and Garden specializes in laying hens that produce a variety of colored eggs. (The Press Democrat, file)
Penngrove's Deep Roots Farm
Locally raised produce from Penngrove’s Deep Roots Farm. (Deep Roots Farm)
Lessons in Ag

As a 10-year-old, Christopher Herrera of Deep Roots Farm in Penngrove sold veggies after school in front of his house; now he’s feeding an entire community and engaging the public in the lessons of regenerative agriculture. There’s an honor farmstand plus u-pick days and farm dinners in the field. Last summer, they even hosted a pig roast. 7000 Petaluma Hill Road, Penngrove. sonomafarmfresh.com

From Sheep to Shawl

Windrush Farm

Mimi Luebbermann was looking for a quiet, peaceful place to retreat and write books about gardening when she happened upon an idyllic 25-acre property among the green pastures of rural Chileno Valley. She’d grown up with sheep, and she knew how to knit and spin wool. So, the author reasoned, why not start a sheep farm?

Luebbermann founded Windrush Farm in 1995. With help from her son Arann Harris, she has expanded the operation into an educational hub for children and adults to learn about farm life and fiber arts.

Spring's rolling green hills at Windrush Farm in Petaluma, where guests can experience farm life and explore fiber arts. (Paige Green / Courtesy Windrush Farm)
Spring’s rolling green hills at Windrush Farm in Petaluma, where guests can experience farm life and explore fiber arts. (Paige Green / Courtesy Windrush Farm)
Guests can explore fiber arts at Windrush Farm in Petaluma. (Paige Green / Courtesy Windrush Farm)
Guests can explore fiber arts at Windrush Farm in Petaluma. (Paige Green / Courtesy Windrush Farm)

Windrush offers a variety of fiber classes using wool from the farm’s own sheep. Workshops take place in a charming barn-turned-classroom, covering everything from shearing to spinning to dyeing. For the Fleece to Garment series, participants create their own clothing items from scratch and then present them in the farm’s annual spring fashion show.

One year, Luebbermann recalls, a woman even attempted to knit her own wedding dress. “It’s a gala event,” she says. “Everybody brings friends and family, and past students come. It’s a great celebration.” Non-crafty types can book group farm tours to learn about wool production and meet the resident sheep, goats, alpacas, llamas, pigs and chickens. 2263 Chileno Valley Road, Petaluma. windrushfarm.wordpress.com

Farmer at Flatbed Farm in Glen Ellen
At Flatbed Farm in Glen Ellen. (Eileen Roche/For Sonoma Magazine)
A variety of pickled vegetables for sale at Flatbed Farm near Glen Ellen on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)
A variety of pickled vegetables for sale at Flatbed Farm near Glen Ellen on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. (Christopher Chung/ The Press Democrat)
Stock the Pantry

Known for their pantry items — pickles, jam, shrubs and syrups — plus fresh flowers, produce and veggie starts, Glen Ellen’s Flatbed Farm also hosts yoga classes and art and wellness retreats. 13450 Highway 12, Glen Ellen. flatbedfarm.com

Giving Back

Created to combat food insecurity in the community, Petaluma Bounty Farm grows vegetables, fruits and flowers on a 3-acre ranch just north of town. The farmstand, open Thursdays from May to December, sells produce and blooms on a sliding scale, and discounts are available to those in need. The nonprofit farm is open to the public for volunteering, field trips, educational programs, gardening events, plant sales and more. 55 Shasta Ave., Petaluma. 707-765-8488, petalumabounty.org

The Sonoma County Youth Ecology Corps held a "Visit a Crew" event at Petaluma Bounty Farm where they showed off the variety of produce they helped to grow. This summer, the SCYEC is providing summer work and learning opportunities for approximately 40 youth and young adults. Five summer youth crews are deployed across the county and are working on conservation and ecology-related projects with a range of community partners. (CRISSY PASCUAL/ARGUS-COURIER STAFF)
A strawberry at Petaluma Bounty Farm on Shasta Avenue. (Crissy Pascual / Petaluma Argus-Courier)
Lavender at Bees N Blooms in Santa Rosa. (Sierra Downey/Sonoma County Tourism)
Lavender at Bees N Blooms in Santa Rosa. (Sierra Downey/Sonoma County Tourism)
Lavender Days

Santa Rosa’s Bees N Blooms is probably best known for its lavender maze, at its height mid-May to mid-July. But this 11-acre garden and farmstand also has a strong educational mission, with classes in healthy soils, beekeeping, and building pollinator habitat. 3883 Petaluma Hill Road, Santa Rosa. 707-293-8293, beesnblooms.com

Spiritual Connection

Starcross Family Confraternity Farm

Set on 92 acres in the coastal hills of Annapolis, this organic farm is part of the Starcross Monastic Community. The serene setting is also home to fruit orchards and two expansive olive groves.

Starcross formed in the 1970s when Toby McCarroll, Marti Aggeler, and Julie DeRossi took monastic vows and moved from San Francisco to rural Sonoma County. There, they created a sanctuary for spiritual reflection and sustainable farming while raising foster children.

The community’s focus eventually shifted away from fostering, and now, Starcross supports itself by producing and selling Sister Julie’s Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil and operating a food pantry.

Olive leaf tea, olive oil and blackberry jam at Starcross Family Confraternity Farm in Annapolis. (Courtesy)
Olive leaf tea, olive oil and blackberry jam at Starcross Family Confraternity Farm in Annapolis. (Courtesy Starcross)

“Farming and caring for our land are constant reminders of how we are all interconnected,” says Starcross operations manager Allison Lovell. “It allows us to live in harmony with the rhythms of the seasons.”

Along with cold-pressed olive oil, the Starcross honor-system farmstand — open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. — sells jams, plum syrup, pickles, dried herbs, and lavender-infused body products. Starcross also hosts weekly meditation circles and invites visitors to explore the grounds on self-guided tours. 34500 Annapolis Road, Annapolis. 707-886-1919, starcross.org

Multigenerational Gem

Oak Hill Farm

Otto and Anne Teller — passionate land conservationists and early adopters of organic agriculture — founded Oak Hill Farm in 1978. Spanning 700 acres in Glen Ellen, the farm now rests in the capable hands of Anne’s daughters Arden and Kate Bucklin, along with granddaughter Melissa Bucklin-Good and her husband Jimi Good.

Farmers at Oak Hill Farm in Glen Ellen
The garlic haul at Oak Hill Farm in Glen Ellen. (Oak Hill Farm)

“Farming is a long-term investment of labor and money, and the rewards are often in the form of stability, satisfaction, and sustainability, rather than financial,” says Bucklin-Good. “As the benefactor of the investments of previous generations, my husband and I are incredibly grateful to have been able to hit the ground running rather than starting from scratch.”

The family’s Red Barn Store, set in a rustic century-old barn among rolling vegetable and flower fields, offers an array of sustainably grown fruits, heirloom vegetables and flower bouquets — all picked daily — plus handmade wreaths and organic nut butters.

The store is open Wednesdays and Saturdays April through December, and on the first Saturday of those months, Oak Hill offers free, family-friendly guided farm tours, focusing on a different topic each season, from cover crops to farm machinery to local bird populations. 15101 Highway 12, Glen Ellen. 707-996-6643, oakhillfarm.net

Green Mbombo beans from Africa at Four Oak Farm in Santa Rosa. (Four Oak Farm)
Green Mbombo beans from Africa at Four Oak Farm in Santa Rosa. (Four Oak Farm)
Beans from Africa

While not exactly a farmstand, Dan Woloz of Four Oak Farm in Santa Rosa has built a thriving business selling unusual seeds and starts — green Mbombo beans from Africa, harlequin potatoes, crosnes, red sunchokes — online via his Etsy site (etsy.com/shop/FourOak) and at the weekly Sebastopol farmers market. “I’m a collector at heart,” says Woloz. “It’s very interesting to see what nature can produce.” fouroakfarm.com

Art Sundays

Covering 5 acres of the original Barlow orchards in Sebastopol, Emmanuel Farmstead grows apples plums, cherries, peaches, pomegranates, and almonds. Visitors can meet the farm’s friendly mini-horses and try an Art Sunday crafting session, sound bathing and a guided meditation. 1406 Barlow Lane, Sebastopol. 925-683-5454, emmanuelfarmstead.com

Easter Eggs

Petaluma’s Farm Barn is a tiny, rural farmstand operated on the honor system, with duck and chicken eggs, honey, jam and crafts. Owner Debra Shaw has lived on the farm all her life, as has her father, now in his 80s. On April 13, Shaw will host an Easter egg hunt in the fields with hand-dyed eggs, arts and crafts, and visits with the animals. 2910 Pepper Road, Petaluma. 707-318-7495, facebook.com/tworockeggs

A dozen unwashed free-range chicken eggs in open carton, on partly brown grass, viewed from above. (AlessandraRC / Shutterstock)
On April 13, Farm Barn in Petaluma will host an Easter egg hunt in the fields featuring arts and crafts like hand-dyed eggs. (AlessandraRC / Shutterstock)
Gold Ridge Organic Farms owner and farmer Brooke Hazen
Gold Ridge Organic Farms owner Brooke Hazen focuses on antique heirloom apples on the Sebastopol property. Photo taken Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. (John Burgess / The Press Democrat)
Apple Blossoms

Farmer Brooke Hazen’s Gold Ridge Organic Farms has 16 acres of heritage apples (over 75 varieties) and a 70-acre olive orchard. The farm store carries fruit, olive oil, vinegar, and an apple cider syrup that’s delicious on pancakes and vanilla ice cream. April 26 and 27 is Apple Blossom Festival weekend — a wonder of spring sights and sounds. 3387 Canfield Road, Sebastopol. 707-823-3110, goldridgeorganicfarms.com

Schoolhouse to Farm

Tenfold Farmstand is the only farmstand we know of located in a landmark historic schoolhouse — a must-visit in rural Petaluma. Owner Catherine Clark has created a welcoming hub for local farmers and artists, including Instagram-famous baker Mary Denham of Blooms End at Neighboring Fields. Check the website and bring your little ones for art classes, music or story hour inside the schoolhouse. 5300 Red Hill Road, Petaluma. tenfoldfarmstand.com

Tenfold is a welcoming hub for local farmers and artists
The 1895 Union Elementary School in rural Petaluma is now a seasonal farmstand and community gathering spot, spearheaded by Tenfold Farmstand owner Catherine Clark. (Tenfold Farmstand)
Blooms End at Neighboring Fields, a bakery popup at Tenfold Farmstand in Petaluma. (Tenfold Farmstand)
Blooms End at Neighboring Fields, a bakery popup at Tenfold Farmstand in Petaluma. (Tenfold Farmstand)
One-Stop Farm Shop

Rusty Hinges Ranch

This farm just outside downtown Petaluma is on a mission to make it easier for people to access local, regeneratively grown food. Founded in 2018 by Suzanne and Jim Kimbel, Rusty Hinges partners with local farmers and artisan food producers to offer fresh produce, meats, pantry staples, dairy products and other farm-fresh ingredients.

The idea behind Rusty Hinges, says Suzanne Kimbel, is to cultivate a healthier planet and healthier people through the power of real food. “Small farms grow more than food,” she says. “They grow community, connection, and the soul of Sonoma County.”

Rusty Hinges partners with local farmers
Rusty Hinges Ranch in Petaluma hosts an open house on the second Saturday of the month. Its farm market is open Tuesdays and Wednesdays. (Rusty Hinges Ranch)
Rusty Hinges partners with local farmers
Rusty Hinges partners with local farmers and artisan food producers to offer fresh produce, meats, pantry staples, dairy products and other farm-fresh ingredients. (Rusty Hinges Ranch)

Among the ranch’s signature offerings are its weekly Real Meal Bundles, available for pickup or local delivery. Each kit includes seasonal fruits and vegetables, a pastured protein from the ranch or from one of its partner farms, and a recipe for transforming the ingredients into a delicious meal.

On the second Saturday of each month, Rusty Hinges opens to the community for a day of outdoor yoga, clothing swaps, a guest coffee roaster and visits with the farm’s donkeys, chickens, goats and pigs. Families are welcome to picnic and explore. The Rusty Hinges farm market opens on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons each week. 212 Chileno Valley Road, Petaluma. rustyhingesranch.com

Volunteer Movement

Sonoma Garden Park is a community agricultural park with an expanded children’s garden, plus a Saturday farmstand. Drop-in volunteer gardening hours are from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. 19996 Seventh St. E., Sonoma. 707-966-0712, sonomaecologycenter.org/sonomagardenpark

Sonoma Garden Park is a working farm and education center. Along with crops, community garden plots, a native plant nursery, a labyrinth and pathways leading to areas like the fig forest, children's garden, bee and butterfly gardens, it is a natural hidden gem in Sonoma. Guests sit in the community garden section while visiting Thursday, June 8, 2023. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)
Sonoma Garden Park is working farm and education center. Guests sit in the community garden section while visiting Thursday, June 8, 2023. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)
Redwood Hill Farm
Baby goats at Redwood Hill Farm – Capracopia in Sebastopol. (Eileen Roche/for Sonoma Magazine)
Baby Goats

Spring is baby-goat petting season at Redwood Hill Farm/Capracopia in Sebastopol, where visitors can snuggle up to knobby-kneed newborns on a tour that also teaches about regenerative farming and cheesemaking. A small farmstand offers olive oil, goat milk soaps and flowers. 5440 Thomas Road, Sebastopol. redwoodhillfarm.org

Dried Wonders

Tierra Vegetables

Sonoma County farms are sometimes found in delightfully unexpected locations. Just off Airport Boulevard, not far from the freeway and directly adjacent to a suburban neighborhood, Tierra Vegetables grows an incredible variety of heirloom dried beans and corn, produce, fresh and dried chiles, masa, polenta and more.

Brother and sister Wayne and Lee James founded the farm together in 1980, and for over 40 years, they’ve dedicated their lives to cultivating a unique variety of crops while forging close ties with the community. That deep level of connection became a lifeline after the 2017 Tubbs fire, when the farm experienced a series of setbacks, including a broken well pump and irrigation issues that threatened the viability of their business. That’s when a loyal CSA member stepped in to create a GoFundMe campaign, which quickly raised $70,000 to keep Tierra afloat.

Farmers Wayne and Lee James
Tierra Vegetables owner Wayne, left, and Lee James in their Santa Rosa barn July 21, 2022. (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)

Though the James siblings — now in their 70s — are in the process of trying to purchase their leased farm property so they can find a successor to take over the business, Tierra Vegetables remains a vibrant part of Sonoma County’s farming scene. “I have now fed a couple of generations of families,” Lee says. “It feels good.”

The Tierra Vegetables farmstand, open Thursdays through Saturdays year-round, features seasonal vegetables from asparagus to zucchini, handmade culinary gifts, and the farm’s acclaimed masa and polenta made from heirloom corn.

Visitors can also take a self-guided tour to learn about Tierra’s sustainable farming practices and environmental stewardship. 651 Airport Blvd., Santa Rosa. 707-544-6141, tierravegetables.com

Farmstead Focused

Achadinha Cheese Company

Family of farmers at Achadinha
The Pacheco family of Petaluma’s Achadinha Farms, a top farmstead cheese producer. (Sonoma County Tourism)

This family cheesemaking operation (pronounced osh-a-DEENya) is named for the town in Portugal’s Azores islands where co-founder and third-generation dairyman Jim Pacheco’s grandfather milked cows. Pacheco, along with his wife Donna and their four children, milk 100 Jersey cows — known affectionately as “the girls” — and raise Nubian goats, sheep, and other animals on their 230-acre ranch in Petaluma.

Achadinha is known for its farmstead cheeses, including such offerings as feta in sea salt brine, fromage blanc, and broncha, a cow milk cheese ripened on cypress planks. The diets of the family’s pasture-raised cows, which include nutritious brewers’ grain and yeast from local beer producers, impart subtle differences to the cheeses from season to season, depending on what the cows are eating.

Achadinha Cheese Company’s family farmstead; farmer with goat
Achadinha Cheese Company’s family farmstead in Petaluma is home to hundreds of goats and dairy cows. (Achadinha Cheese Company)

“If the girls aren’t healthy, they’re not going to produce a healthy product for us,” says Donna Pacheco, adding that the cows consume very little corn. “If they can digest the food they’re eating, we can digest the cheeses they’re producing.”

Book a farm tour to meet Achadinha’s divine bovines and learn more about the family’s cheesemaking process — yes, there is plenty of sampling involved — or sign up for a hands-on class to get a deeper dive into farmstead cheesemaking. 750 Chileno Valley Road, Petaluma. 707-763-1025, achadinha.com

Michelin Dreams

The folks at the Michelin Guide don’t exactly give out stars for farmstands, but what if the farmstand supplies a Michelin-starred restaurant? That’s the case at SingleThread Farm Store in Dry Creek Valley, from renowned chef/farmers Kyle and Katina Connaughton. 2836 Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg. singlethreadfarms.com/farm

Chef/farmer Katina Connaughton at SingleThread Farm
Chef/farmer Katina Connaughton at SingleThread Farm in Healdsburg. (John Troxell/Sonoma County Tourism)
Farmer Patrick Krier’s Suncatcher Farm
Produce and flowers at Suncatcher Farm in Petaluma. (Patrick Krier/Suncatcher Farm)
The Veggie Shack

Patrick Krier of Petaluma’s Suncatcher Farm originally trained as a sound engineer but found his way to farming after a stint at the Berkeley Bowl supermarket. His brightly painted farmstand (complete with Wendell Berry quote on the sign inside) is open weekends starting in April, with salad mix, spinach, new potatoes, medicinal herbs, and seasonal tea blends. He’ll switch to a 7-days-a-week schedule by summer. 4588 Bodega Ave., Petaluma. instagram.com/suncatcher_farm

Olive Oil and a Fire Truck

The colorful fish on the sign for Cloverdale’s Showa Farm is a nod to the owners’ other passion, raising rare Japanese koi. This Alexander Valley farm, open by appointment for tours and picnics, is known for small-batch olive oil and is home to over a hundred goats, sheep, burros, and other critters. Owner Geoff Peters even has a working fire engine for kids to sit on — what an adventure. 26070 River Road, Cloverdale. 301-6757741, showa-farm.com

The Free Farmstand

It’s an idea we’d love to see catch on: Neighbors in a tight-knit rural community in Penngrove bring extra garden bounty to their local Sharing Stand. Chef Laci Sandoval leads the effort, roping in her two young kids to stock the shelves. It’s like a little free library, but for veggies. Try starting one near you.

Abigail Peterson contributed to this article.

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