Columns

At the Healdsburg Certified Farmers’ Market, strawberries are reaching their peak sweetness, their scent lingering in the air before they are even visible in the stalls. Spring onions and green garlic are tender, fava beans are shelled by the pound and sugar snap peas—the kind of bright green that seems to be omnipresent in my life lately—offer that crisp, wet-mouth crunch that makes them an irresistible snack...

Wisteria is associated with romance and spring, and it turns out spring love is more than a romantic idea. Longer days and increased warmth boosts phytochemicals in plants and hormones in animals. Plants transition from vegetative to reproductive growth (blooms and flowers) when Flowering Locus T (FT) is released.

More than 100 children and adults gathered at a get-together meeting Thursday noon at the Mill Creek school house. The following schools were represented: Junction, Felta, Pine Ridge and Mill Creek. A picnic lunch was enjoyed and this was followed by a program in which every school took part. This and more historical news from the Healdsburg Museum...

'There’s a magic hour on Saturday mornings when the sun hasn’t quite burned through the morning mist and the scent of basil floats on the breeze. It’s in that moment—coffee in one hand, tote bag in the other—that Healdsburg wakes up..." Meet our new columnist, Liza Gershman.

The library and museum world is reeling from a new executive order issued on March 14, 2025, targeting the Institute for Museum and Library Services, which provides federal funding to support libraries in all 50 states. Sonoma County Library Director Erika Thibault reports...

100 Years Ago: Arrangements have been made by the amusement committee, Frank Corrick, chairman, with W. F. Warner, a parachute dropper, who will come to Healdsburg for the Fourth of July celebration, and will jump from an airplane with a parachute, beneath which he will float to the earth. 

In 1950: "Because the effects of marijuana produce criminal tendencies in the user, Lt. Nicolini advised his listeners to contact Chief of Police Al Giorgi if they should see anyone with the identifying marijuana cigarettes of brown paper which are sealed at both ends, or if they should discover any strange and unusual plant. By doing this, stated Lt. Nicolini, every citizen can do his part in stamping out the traffic in this vicious plant."

Warmth and water are most always welcome in California. These happy spring flowers, coppery mesemb, Malephora crocea, cheer up spring gardens with wild pops of color, like so many little suns. They are succulents in the ice plant family. Native to Africa, this plant is considered a noxious weed in some areas and a perfect garden addition in others.

When spring is in the air, we hope that local families are thinking about ... coming to Storytime! We have many upcoming events that will appeal to residents of all ages at the Healdsburg Library...

Fun facts: The chances of finding a four-leaf clover are reportedly about 1 in 5,000. Luck is involved. Clovers, or trefoils, can have more than three leaves. Five-leaf clovers are two times rarer than four-leaf, and the most leaves ever found on a clover was 63, discovered in Japan in 2023.