Petaluma Arts Center is energizing artists and community to ramp up the Voting spirit this August as we count down the weeks until the most important VOTING DAY of most of our lives.
To see all of the Arts Center Art as Action pieces online click here: and/or, to buy some pretty awesome products with local artist images on them, including t-shirts, posters, cards and masks click here: deedsgetoutandvote.art/store.
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Sonoma County winery spotlight to kick off the 2020 harvest season and fall releases puts a well-deserved focus on Kutch, of Sonoma, as the small, bespoke winery newly releases an offering of its only single vineyard Chardonnay-Trout Gulch, its acclaimed McDougall Ranch Pinot Noir, a Bohan Graveyard Pinot and Signal Ridge Pinot.
"We are thrilled with the outcome of our 2018s as they continue to evolve says winemaker/owner Jamie Kutch. "It started in the vineyards as all the elements really came together and yielded fruit of great quality. . . they really are gorgeous."
Described as being vivid wines that very much capture the personality of the year in their translucent expression of place, Jamie's almost Old World style of Pinot and Chardonnay are true boutique wines for the Sonoma County wine lover.
As the old saying goes: “wine is made in the vineyard.” Following this philosophy, Jamie and his team strives for well positioned, cold climate vineyard sites, with appropriate soils.
"It has been a challenge to locate and secure such sites, causing our production to grow at a slow but steady pace," says Jamie. "Once the fruit is harvested, it is handled with the utmost care, sorted meticulously and moved only by gravity. We attempt to pursue a minimalist philosophy, trying to provide the purest expression of Pinot Noir from a particular place and time, taking great care not to over-manipulate our wines in the cellar. This minimal interventionalist style of wine-making is reflected in our use of indigenous yeast, native malolactic bacteria and élevage in 100% neutral oak barrels (no new)."
All punch-downs are done by foot. Upon completion of fermentation, these wines are gravity flowed into French oak barrels, where they remain unmoved while aging sur lie (on the fine lees). The wines are not racked until ready to bottle, between 11 and 16 months after harvest. AKutch wines are encouraged to express all of the natural greatness of their vineyard origins.
"This is our 15 vintage release! The wines really taste like Sonoma," says Jamie, whose wines have been touted by critics as ridiculously good. "They teleport you to the vineyards each with their own distinct smell and taste. Weather grown in sand or rock, high above the fog at 1,400 feet elevation or 300 feet and below. We let mother nature dictate the wines and she helped shape and grow some fantastic grapes in 2018. We are really proud."
*Link to place an order for Kutch wines ORDER LINK
Link to FALL NEWSLETTER
Link to Zoom tasting of these wines
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"Every fire season I show up to put in my work," says community hero Miriam Donaldson, founding chef of Sonoma Family Meal. "Please help me build a long term relief structure for Herzog Hall Kitchen at the Petaluma Fair Grounds for disaster evacuees."
The seasonal fires in Sonoma County affect everyone in our community, but the acute impact to evacuees can be an extremely traumatic and hungry experience as I saw for myself volunteering with Petaluma People Services at the fairgrounds last year.
"While there are non-profit groups that help manage the workload of cooking and comforting those who need it most, the actual physical work often falls on the backs of volunteer chefs and community members," says Miriam, whose farm-to-table restaurant Wishbone is beloved by foodies around the Bay Area.
Last year during fire season Mariam headed the kitchens at the Petaluma Fair Grounds, which housed up to 700 evacuees. "Now thats a LOT of hungry folks who need and deserve care," she says.
"Our little group managed to do it and do it well! We installed new kitchen equipment on the fly, pulled together healthy meals for hundreds and worked closely with the other evacuation sites in petaluma to share resources. This year we will be stretched thinner than ever and safe care for our community will be even more important."
Miriam aims to bring this vital community kitchen fully up to safety code, equip chefs and kitchen volunteers with the proper equipment (ever try making rice for 700 in a regular kitchen pot!?) and establish a mobile community accessible kitchen kit that may be dispatched to various relief kitchens as needed.
"Basically, I need lots of big pots and pans, a small trailer to move things around, PPE for volunteers, and a huge list of small wares.," says Miriam.
Monies contributed to this fund will directly impact those in crisis and will help lower the environmental impact of cooking for so many people. Good planning reduces single use plastic, water and food waste. Funds will also aid long term support solutions for our community. A kitchen that is built to perform relief is cheaper and safer to run than one cobbled together in a panic.
So let's do what we can to help Miriam plan ahead! She'll do the work, but she needs our help. In an ideal scenario, the city and/or Fairgrounds committee would be outfitting this kitchen prior to fire season, given the past two years of experiences, but that's not happening. People caring for people and coming together in large numbers is what will make this happen in a timely fashion.
And don't think that this kitchen ramp-up is solely for outsiders seeking refuge in our town. There are many reasons why a community kitchen provides a lifeline to locals in times of emergency.
Here's Chef Miriam's GoFundMe page. Click here and let's get this done!
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Petaluma-based beauty expert, artist and professional color stylist Jennifer Robin is one of my favorite go-to, local buddies for a regular reminder that we don't have to go completely wild with our new all-natural approach to hair and makeup during this crazy period of history we find ourselves in the midst of.
"In my former life before COVID, I began each day with a careful outfit selection and artful application of makeup," shares Jennifer. " I inserted my contact lenses, combed out my eyelash extension and smoothed any stray frizzy hairs with a heated brush."
"The next thing I knew I was looking in the mirror through my eyeglasses at my eyelash-less eyes. Gone was any need to look “presentable.” Right away I discovered that blush and lipgloss brightened my mood but that was all the makeup I needed. As the months passed I’ve never felt the desire to even out my eyebrows, smooth my skin or conceal my spots or circles."
It’s a relief, right?
The super-stylist claims we have a way of seeing ourselves that isn’t really looking, or looking at ourselves without really seeing. "I started with my nose," Jennifer explained. “Hello there,” I said, “You certainly are substantial.”
"I don’t have anything against my nose, but I tend to look above and below it at my eyes and smile, and delete any photo with an angle remotely unflattering. The same with all visible signs of aging, always making sure to use the enhancing “portrait” feature on my iPhone," she suggests.
As with many of us, daily walks have been Jennifer's happy time during SIP and in May she created some new lip glosses to match her bandana collection. Friends and clients were in need of some cheering up so she made some for them as well. Her Self-Care Lipgloss collection was created featuring Tender Pink, Soft Sienna, Sweet Lilac and Warm Apricot. Soft, luscious, hydrating, and easy to wear with little or no other makeup. In June she added Gentle Red lipstick and Rare Rubies lip gloss. "Wearing masks that cover our faces (and sadly our lipstick) is a necessity for the foreseeable future," says Jennifer "and I haven’t found a way to feel positive about it. Maybe you have. For now, I’m just enjoying the times when I’m home or outdoors. I wear makeup when I feel Iike it, just to enjoy the familiar pleasure, not to be “presentable.”
"There is a stirring in the beauty force as clothing stores reopen and we venture out to get our pedicures and haircuts," says Jennifer, though at the time of me posting this, those services are now on hold again.
"We’ll see what’s ahead —but I think we will all come through this with a changed perspective about our appearance and the demands it makes on our time and energy," says Jennifer.
"Beauty standards are ours to choose and redefine and that’s something to feel good about."
The post Getting To Know The Unadorned Self appeared first on Jennifer's Website & blog Growing More Beautiful
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Join the good folk at Bellwether Farms in raising funds to help farmers and families in Northern California.
Covid-19 has caused widespread disruption to agricultural businesses and family farms. Fifty % of the US food supply is consumed in restaurants and with so many restaurants closed, the impact on artisan dairy production is substantial—Bellwether Farms' food service customers have not ordered since the end of March.
Simply put, the farms' network of family sheep dairies is now producing a lot more milk than they can effectively sell. Simultaneously, the massive unemployment throughout our economy is putting unbelievable strain on our essential hunger relief organizations.
Bellwether Farms finds itself in a unique position to help both farmers and those in need of high-quality nutrition. That’s why the farmers have starting Project Spilled Milk.
Project Spilled Milk aims to make the best out of a bad situation—that farmers are supported and that food gets to people who need it.
All funds raised from this innovative campaign will be used to purchase sheep milk from our local farmers, which will be used to make delicious yogurt to donate to Bay Area food banks.
Bellwether pledges to dedicate one production shift each week to this effort. If the farm is successful in raising its goal of $50,000, it will be able to buy the milk, ingredients, and packaging necessary to deliver 25,000 16oz containers of yogurt to food banks in Northern California.
Click here to visit www.BellwetherFarms.com to learn more!
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Supporting fellow local authors is important to me. Getting word out about a new book in our community seeds its journey into the outside world. Here's a fun one to add to your kids' book collection this summer.
Spout isn’t your ordinary fire breathing dragon, he is a unique water dragon. His water ability sets him apart from the other dragons. He learns being different from his peers isn’t always easy, but being true to yourself is more important. When the forest is on fire, Spout decides to help the firefighters. He realizes that being unique can lead to extraordinary dreams.
I've added it into my books by Sonoma County authors list on
Bookshop.org Click here to order.
About the Author
David Adams is a Petaluma-based police officer in Sonoma County. He works closely with firefighters and knows how important they are to the community. He has a wife and two daughters who share his love of reading. David has always wanted to write a children’s book, and like Spout the Dragon, is overjoyed to see his dream become reality. Congrats to David on releasing his first book.
(2020, hardback, 34 pages)
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Here is The California Cheese Trail guide to supporting the local cheese community in California:
Curbside Pickups & Deliveries
Achadinha Cheese Co – Pickup and deliveries
Cowgirl Creamery Pt. Reyes Shop – Offering curbside pickup at their Point Reyes shop / Online shop is open
Epicurean Connection – Pickup, Delivery + Online Classes
Daily Driver SF – Offering curbside pickup and delivery
Joe Matos Cheese Co – Pickup + Online Shop
Lady & Larder – Curbside pickup, Delivery + Online Shop
Milkfarm – Curbside pickup
Nicasio Valley Cheese – Call 415.662.6205 and they will come out to meet you outside the shop / Online shop is open
Nicolau Farms – Pickup, Delivery + Online Shop
Palace Market – Open
Pennyroyal Farm – Pickup, Delivery + Online Shop
Ramini Mozzarella – Pickup at various markets, groceries and ranch
Smallgoods – Curbside pickup & delivery
Spring Hill Farmstead Cheese – Various farmer’s markets + online shop
Stuyt Dairy – Pickup + Online Shop
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