Columns

Every so often, I like to remind myself (and everyone within hearing distance) how lucky we are to live where we do. This weekend’s reminder was brought to you by a three-generation day trip to Doran Beach.

As the holiday season is upon us and the end to the rather horrible 2020 approaches, I can’t help but reflect on what we have all been through as a community. While I’m sure we agree “good riddance” to 2020 and have hope for a much better 2021, I realize there are a number of lessons we will carry with us for years to come.

Having lived a few years sometimes seems to confuse my thinking. I get confused between what I grew up with and what I live with today — for example, customer service. When I was young, customer service meant someone would be trying to help me, the “customer,” with some “service.”  Often, businesses were rated on their customer service. 

Fire season is over at last. This week, we’re bracing for wind, waves, rain and snow at elevation. Meteorologists predict a “bomb cyclone” as this goes to press, with four days of continuous rain. Not 40 days, notes Pierre Ratte with causal ease - after all, he filed his latest Snapshot from a Baja beach!

A favorite winter soup in our house is a carrot dill soup. Brian and I had it one Thanksgiving when we were in London.

There are vast benefits to composting, not only environmentally, but also personally within your home. Using compost in your home garden adds nitrogen, potassium and micro-nutrients such as manganese, iron and zinc. These additions strengthen the structure of your soil, retain water in plant structure, prevent erosion and are ideal for drainage.

 I want it both ways, don’t I?

After 21 harvests, Hank and Maggie Skewis are closing Skewis Wines to explore life in different ways while still young enough to travel. I visited the Healdsburg tasting room of my friends last weekend to purchase wine for the last time. As I tasted through...