Opinion

North county fire services

Are you a farmers market shopper? I’m guessing many of you reading this are regulars, but maybe some of you are a “when friends or family are in town” kind of attendee and some have never been. If you do shop at the market, when did you first discover it and when did you decide that farmers markets were a viable and desirable shopping option?

The following snippets of history are drawn from the pages of the Healdsburg Tribune, the Healdsburg Enterprise and the Sotoyome Scimitar, and are prepared by the volunteers at the Healdsburg Museum & Historical Society. Admission is always free at the museum, open Wednesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Months ago, Gov. Gavin Newsom, target of a disgruntled developer and facing a recall campaign while managing extraordinary wildfire storms, COVID-19 and worsening drought, called for a voluntary water conservation effort that initially targeted only Sonoma and Mendocino counties. Not too much later, as the greatest reservoirs in the state came closer to reaching their lowest levels, Newsom ultimately placed the entire state under voluntary limits of 15%, while never calling for mandatory ones. In the meantime, water levels went down, down, down.

As the winter rains continue to fall, and hopefully bring relief to our watershed communities mired in a historic drought, the rainwater will begin to soak into our gardens and fields and run down the streets into our storm drains, which are not linked to the sewer. Storm drains are specifically designed to capture excess stormwater from streets and divert the flows through culverts and drainage channels into creeks, rivers, and eventually the Pacific Ocean. Stormwater drainage systems are not limited to just the drains on our streets; they can also include engineered systems which help reduce flooding, increase groundwater recharge, and improve overall resilience of the ecosystem. These engineered systems are called Low Impact Development (LID).

Greetings, fellow Healdsburgers! After a hiatus, Idlewood 3 is back, and ready to note what’s happening in our town. “IDlewood 3” was the town’s original telephone exchange and now “Hedda Healdsburg” wants to know all. Send your newsy items to me in care of The Healdsburg Tribune.

It is impossible to imagine Sonoma County without its majestic redwood trees and stunning oaks. Besides giving shape and definition to our hills, valleys, ridges and rural scenery, their likenesses are etched on our county seal, town logos, highway markers, school monuments and countless commercial labels. We live in a “redwood empire” where the original people here centered their culture around acorns.

These days, just about everywhere we look, we are being “halved.” For instance, half of all Americans have now had their COVID-19 vaccinations. (Half of the other half doesn’t believe in vaccinations.) According to one recent opinion poll, half of Republican voters still think the 2020 Presidential Election was stolen from Trump. Half of the rest of us can’t believe this is happening.

While washing dishes the other night I was contemplating what this month’s topic should be for the Market Report. As I squeezed the environmentally friendly liquid detergent onto the sponge, I realized my dishwashing ritual has changed substantially this past year. I never use...

Suspending flow for fish