Farm To Farm
The first mornings after the autumn equinox you really feel the shift in season on the west side of Anderson Valley, with the redwood forests shedding cold drafts that undermine whatever heat is in...
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It’s no secret what the main agricultural crop of this region is. Wine grapes are the most visible but for the most part only Big Money plants vineyards, whereas any fool peasant can pull off 20...
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Harvesting crews are working around the clock in the Valley these days, diesel engines humming and halogen lights burning in the vineyards as well as the headlamps in pot gardens. Apparently the wine...
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On Saturday morning the boys made a beeline for the Boonville Farmers’ Market once they’d stuffed their guts on blueberry pancakes at the General Store. For unsocial parents like me who never seem to...
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If the Giants had played host to the final two games of the playoffs, the National League Pennant series might still hang in the balance because of the deluge that swamped northern California over the...
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Returning to the farm on Friday afternoon I was surprised to discover a flock of maybe two dozen seagulls lining the ridge of the roof of the barn. I had not noticed seagulls in a decade of life in...
View ArticleBumper Crop In Mendo
“Is that the Master?” says one friend to another, sitting in a living room somewhere in Mendonesia. “You bet,” his friend replies, as he begins breaking down a sticky bud into tiny crumbles. “It smells...
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As the wild oat and its cousins transform the south slopes from bleached gold to emerald green, the poison oak leaves take on the same hues of purple to daffodil blaze as the vineyards. In your...
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There we were, the guy “Fly” and I literally dangling on a limb of this outstretched madrone trunk, gripping another branch for dear life with the small pack of dogs raising a ruckus at the base of...
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Sunday morning there was a message on the answering machine from a neighboring rancher who said he’d found a dead goat in the middle of the pasture. Also several of his heifers had jumped fence and...
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We were still effectively lost on the slopes of Hatchet Mountain, two pilgrims packing garbage bags stuffed with moist, freshly-harvested marijuana, probably trespassing with every step. A full day...
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The cabin was clearly occupied. Smoke snaked from the double-walled, galvanized, chimney pipe. A lamp burned, illuminating the solarium. The German Shepherd pup bounded like a deer and wagged his tail,...
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“Kiss me,” she said. Fly and I both sat bolt upright and gazed perplexed into one another’s eyes with the aid of the scant green light afforded by the digits on the dashboard. Since the motor was...
View ArticleNational Farm Show In Louisville
Thursday they were predicting near-record heat for the region, and the outdoor temperature at seven in the morning was a balmy 54°, the southewestern breeze sending the stars and stripes flapping to...
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When my teenage son and I bounced from Boonville in the middle of January we were merely embarking on a visiting mission — a vacation, so far as we knew. For that reason we packed only our dogs and the...
View ArticleLives & Times Of Valley Folks: Kelly Hiatt
I met with Kelley in her classroom at the High School where she has worked full-time as a teacher’s aid in the Special Education Department for the past twenty-five years. She made a lovely cup of tea...
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The watermelons are ripening almost on time in spite of the unusually cold and wet spring that delayed planting by a month, thanks to a July that saw no more than half an inch or so of rain depending...
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The rows of green salad bowl and buttercrunch lettuce that I’d planted in the shade of a line of hard maples and shagbark hickories are growing faster than the red salad bowl lettuce out in the sun....
View ArticleValley People
WHOEVER started the flattering rumor that the old ambulance barn has been remodeled certainly has a lot of gall. This individual passed the misinformation along to my editor who inserted it in my...
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Saturday morning I was trying to sleep in, but the phone rang about eight. It was my current employer, Mort O’Henry. “Spec?” “Man, I didn’t think we were working today.” “No, I’m down at my grandma’s...
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