Southern Sonoma Country Life

Save Petaluma Wildlife & Natural Science Museum — Community Crowdfunding Spotlight

 

The Petaluma Wildlife & Natural Science Museum is the only student-run natural history museum in the country, dedicated to “inspiring the next generation of conservationists through environmental education and practical conservation.”

The Museum, which relies on donations as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, has had to cancel its school tours, open houses, fundraisers, and summer camps due to the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing income down to zero even as operating costs for maintaining the animal exhibits continue.

I have a special place in my heart for this one-of-a-kind community treasure as all three of my boys attended preschool and elementary school tours and camps and my youngest son, Dom, who just graduated from UC Davis this June, worked as a camp counselor throughout his high school years. As an out of the box kid, the Wildlife Museum was a second home for him and the friends he made and instructors he learned from enhanced a deep appreciation and love for his native Sonoma County and Northern California environment, landscape and wildlife. There are hundreds if not thousands of young people like Dominic who have benefitted so greatly from this program. 

Click here to donate to Petaluma Wildlife Museum's GoFundMe Campaign. 

Yearly operating costs sit at $50,000 for animal feed, supplies and payroll for the Animal Care Technician, who is leading a group of Board volunteers in keeping the museum animals alive. The museum team is exploring every avenue for fundraising and loans, but with the cancelation of its annual Pasta Feed fundraiser and summer camps, the situation is dire.

Recently, amidst the chaos of our global pandemic, another potentially devastating pathogen – one that is specific to snakes and lizards – has taken hold inside the museum and infected one of the animals in its care. Museum staff are taking immediate and decisive steps to prevent the spread of this parasite throughout the museum's collection and making major changes to its husbandry and exhibition protocols going forward in order to protect students, visitors, and staff from spreading this pathogen to additional lizards and reptiles. 

Donations will be utilized as follows: A first goal of $15,000 has helped to purchase animal feed and husbandry/maintenance supplies through the summer and into the fall semester, as well as making a start with begin quarantining and testing of reptiles for this parasite.

Reaching $25,000 ensured continued maintenance of the museum and to pay the Animal Care tech to lead the adult volunteers until the end of 2020. That goal has been met.

Next goal of $42,000 is required to maintain the museum and continue to pay the Animal Care tech until the end of the 2020-2021 school year. And, hopefully, reaching $55,000 will carry the museum through the summer of 2021 and help to pay summer camp counselors if it is safe again to host summer camp next year.

The Petaluma Wildlife Museum was created due to the generosity and passion of the community and it is again up to the generous donors of our community to keep the PWM – and its mission of environmental education and wildlife conservation – stay alive for the 2020-2021 school year.

For more information on the Museum or on Cryptosporidium click the Petaluma Wildlife Museum webpage and FB page. 

 

 

 

Petaluma Arts Center's Community Driven Art Apart Program Builds Momentum Within City Limit Neighborhoods

It was fun to run into the intrepid Mary Fassbinder delivering Petaluma Arts Center's ArtApart signs around Petaluma on two wheels. Peddle power is where its at during Shelter in Place especially. Mary was dropping off a sign in front of fine artist Michele Rosett's West Side home where you can see Michele's beautiful work shared for passerby to enjoy. 

The Arts Center continues its call for art until the end of sheltering-in-place, sending out the message: "Now, more than ever, we need community and we need art. Those of us who are sheltering in place, confined to our homes and a narrower way of living in the world, are craving contact, interaction and connection. Since galleries and museums are closed, why not bring the art outside? Constraints won’t limit our creativity."

The Petaluma Arts Center invites all community members to create and share work on front yards, lawns and windows. All mediums are welcome: 2D, 3D, mixed-media, found objects, whatever. Everyone who lives within the city limits is invited to participate in Art Apart and be added to the map. Let your imagination go wild (but please keep it family-friendly). 

Please contact <exhibitions@petalumaartscenter.org> with “Art Apart” in the subject-line–along with a photograph of your artwork–to have your address added to the growing map of our citywide gallery. [Selling your artwork is optional; sales can be facilitated through PAC.]

Black Lives Matter

Art by Phoebe Wahl 

 

Support California Artisan Cheesemakers with a Shipment of Cowgirl Creamery's Good Neighbors Collection Victory Cheese Box

FREE OVERNIGHT SHIPPING, ORDERS INCLUDE A $10 DONATION TO THE CALIFORNIA ARTISAN CHEESE GUILD

A celebration of the strength and resilience of community, the new #VictoryCheese box is Cowgirl Creamery's call to join the fight to save the American artisan cheese industry. From Sonoma & Marin county backyards to your table, comes a collection of full-flavored, award-winning cheeses from some of our region's favorite creameries.

$10 of every purchase goes to the California Artisan Cheese Guild, a non-profit organization supporting California cheesemakers through partnerships, outreach, and education. Each collection contains a Cheesemonger's Choice, a rotating selection of cheese from friends and neighbors in artisan cheese.

Weights may vary. Substitutions will be made as needed with like product of equal or greater value.

Mt. Tam
Cowgirl Creamery • Petaluma, CA
As a respectful nod to the majestic beauty of Mt Tamalpais, located a few miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County, Cowgirl Creamery named its signature cheese Mt Tam. Creamy and elegant, Mt Tam coats your tongue with a rich, buttery flavor that carries an earthy hint of white mushrooms. The triple-cream Mt Tam is made from unblended, organic, single-herd milk from Straus Family Creamery. (8 oz)

Estero Gold Reserve
Valley Ford Cheese Company • Valley Ford, California
The Bianchi family has owned and operated their 640 acre ranch since 1918 and began producing cheese in 2008. Estero Gold Reserve is made from raw milk and aged for about 16 months, giving the cheese a hard texture and sweet flavors of fruit that are reminiscent of Parmigiano. (12 oz)

Point Reyes Original Blue
Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company • Point Reyes, California
Made from raw milk and aged for six months, Original Blue is creamy and tangy with a medium punch of blue mold flavor, and a perfect balance of salt. The cheese’s rich, unique flavors are attributed to the high quality of the farm’s pastures and their proximity to the ocean. (6 oz)

Cheesemonger's Choice
A rotating selection of American artisan cheese from one of Cowgirl's favorite producers. Whether it be cow, goat, or sheep, this cheese is sure to round out a cheese board and provide much needed support for our industry partners.

Weights may vary. Substitutions will be made as needed with like product of equal or greater value.

Click here to order. 

---

Shipping Policy & Rates

Due to the perishable nature of cheese and Cowgirl Creamery's standards for the quality of its cheese, the company ships via FedEx Overnight Monday - Thursday. Please note the selected ship date is an estimated ship date. All orders will arrive within the selected week on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.

 

Memorial Day 2020 — A Moment of Remembrance

Photos Via Pinterest

"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself."

– Joseph Campbell

"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it."

– Mark Twain

"A hero is someone who understands the responsibility that comes with his freedom."

– Bob Dylan

 "Freedom makes a huge requirement of every human being. With freedom comes responsibility."

– Eleanor Roosevelt

"Ceremonies are important. But our gratitude has to be more than visits to the troops, and once-a-year Memorial Day ceremonies. We honor the dead best by treating the living well."

— Jennifer M. Granholm

“Heroism doesn’t always happen in a burst of glory. Sometimes small triumphs and large hearts change the course of history.”

— Mary Roach

McEvoy Ranch Ode Line Adds Botanical Hand Sanitizer Spritz

Made with Lavender, McEvoy Ranch's new Botanical Hand Sanitizer Spritz feels good and is soap-free with a clean, light feel. This multipurpose sanitizer spritz with 65% ethyl alcohol purifies hands and other items. For A Limited Time Buy 2 Botanical Hand Sanitizer Spritz 3.7 oz And Receive a FREE Pocket-size Sanitizer Spritz!   Keep the Home & Office size to spray in home entryway, communal spaces, guest bathrooms. Take the Pocket-size with you to sanitize phones, shopping carts, and doorknobs wherever you go. Add 2 Botanical Hand Sanitizer Spritz 3.7 oz to your bag and see your FREE pocket-size Hand Sanitizer Spritz at checkout!

SHOP NOW

How To Wear (& Make) a Mask —Style, Design & Additional Safety Measures — Southern Sonoma County Smart

“Masked, I advance.”

René Descartes - 1596 - 1650 important scientific thinker and an original metaphysician

Staffers in the West Wing have finally been directed to wear face masks to work in the White House, except when at their own desks, according to government and news reports, this week.

In contrast, we're already a good couple of months into the mask making and wearing here in Sonoma County and most surely ahead of the curve when it comes to most of our local folk being on board with face covering as one of a series of key measures we need to be taking continually to protect ourselves, our families, our communities, our frontline workers to whom we owe our safety and sanity, as well as to maintain the relatively civilized ability to move around our restricted zones as freely as we do. 

Stay vigilant. And be aware that wearing a face covering is only part of what we all need to be doing to prevent infection spreading. 

I asked friends and neighbors via Facebook to post me photos of their masks and mask-making efforts in order to share a little of the local look and cottage-industry as we head into the summer months without losing track of how to behave.

Renée B is a 38-year Healthcare veteran in Diagnostic Imaging. "I recognized the need early on for our community to have and wear their own masks in public places well before the county health order was put in place," shares Renée. "I started out making them for my family, in-laws, NC relatives and friends. I also made them for a first grade teacher on Next Door who was searching for masks for herself and spouse and for the owners of Perry’s Deli in Fairfax who are friends and needed the masks to stay open. The fabric I use is recycled from clothes, old jeans and whatever I can find in my sewing remnants. I try to use bright, fun colors and patterns and have also used a few old sports tees for sports fans."

To date, Renée has made around 100 masks and refuses to accept any payment. "In making them I find a sense of calm and purpose that juxtapositions how stressful working with Covid patients can be at my hospital. It’s been a great creative outlet for me as mask making and wearing has quickly become a fashion statement and an avenue for self expression during this uncertain time."

Here's Renée:

And her masks:

Margo G shared: "I have been making masks for Hospice of Petaluma. Our guidelines were to make them to cover the disposable paper masks, and to be able to withstand daily washing. I chose batik fabric, from Quilted Angel's beautiful selection (curbside pick-up). I figured if I'm going to stare at fabric for hours while I sew, I might as well enjoy looking at something nice!"

Here's Margo:

The Maskateers of Petaluma, led by retired SRJC administrator, KC G, whose band of volunteer seamsters including my neighbor Jerrie P, have sewed well over 1,000 fabric masks over the past few weeks. These masks have been donated to staff and residents of the Committee on the Shelterless amongst numerous other local non-profits. Dozens more have donated beautiful fabrics to the cause.

Here's Lotte G  in a mask made by one of her colleagues. Reversible. Organic cotton with a batting barrier. "It’s pretty and it’s comfortable as masks go anyway," says Lotte. 

Kellee Y is a tastemaker whose fun approach to fashion always makes me smile. I love this sporty, coordinated look for keeping spirits up and in shape for masked neighborhood cycle rides!

Lesley M sports a mask made by Jane S, whose style and design sense has translated into unique, one-of-a-kind face coverings for friends, family & local non-profits.

Cat P wonders if this was the right choice for a visit to the bank?!

Clever Nadine C has come up with a design that you can wear without fogging up your glasses or sunglasses. 

And this one she made for a friend in LA who raises butterflies in her home.

Tireless Toni B has been making masks since March and is up to 1,000 (or very close) "She's donated most, custom made quite a few and sold to whomever insisted on paying, but at the core: she's a giver!" says Elise D.

Francesca S Writes: "Kudos to Barb B and her mom Toni B! Since the very beginning of this, they are THE amazing dynamic mask-sewing duo!"

Artist Roberta A (above) has turned mask-making into a small business. Click here for Roberta's beautiful work, including a limited edition, hand painted silk range for the true fashionistas out there. 

Former SoCo resident, illustrator and textile designer Nicky O has a long-established Bandanna line and I'm enjoying my recent delivery of her latest design of an off-white and South-Western red, cotton, made-in-America design. Click here for Nicky's line. 

Stylist and author Jennifer R and her darling hubby rock the bandana look! 

All across the country, Americans from fashion industry elite to elementary age kids and little old ladies sitting at antique sewing machines, their arthritic fingers as rusty as the needles being oiled back into rapid working order, are churning out meticulously crafted, homemade cloth masks in full-on war-time-mode in order to provide basic face coverings for friends, family, neighbors, nursing home patients and staff and the desperate medical workers who are woefully without adequate protective resources during this crippling first-round of the Coronavirus pandemic.

CDC guidance say it's OK for healthcare workers to use homemade masks and even bandanas as “a last resort.” Though it doesn't take an infectious disease specialist to figure out these homemade masks should be going to “people more peripherally involved,” and not to those directly treating COVID-19 patients, who are the rightful recipients of any N95 masks that people have stashed away or become available. Healthcare workers however, are wearing homemade masks over the N95 and surgical masks to make the medical grade masks last longer.

But it's important to be aware that no matter how smart we may feel we're being, when out and about with our bandanas and masks in place, the wearing of which, is no excuse not to adhere to all of the safety rules required of the times. Don't be lulled into a false sense of security just because we've got the hang of the face covering thing. 

The World Health Organization, however, strongly warns that the wearing of a mask alone is not recommended as a form of protection and/or prevention of spreading the virus: "Individuals without respiratory symptoms should: - avoid agglomerations and frequency of closed crowded spaces; - maintain distance of at least 1 meter from any individual with 2019-nCoV respiratory symptoms (e.g., coughing, sneezing); - perform hand hygiene frequently, using alcohol-based hand rub if hands are not visibly soiled or soap and water when hands are visibly soiled; - if coughing or sneezing cover nose and mouth with flexed elbow or paper tissue, dispose of tissue immediately after use and perform hand hygiene; - refrain from touching mouth and nose; - a medical mask is not required, as no evidence is available on its usefulness to protect non-sick persons.

Best practices should be followed on how to wear, remove, and dispose of masks and face coverings and on hand hygiene action after removal (see below advice from CDC regarding appropriate mask management).

Individuals with respiratory symptoms should: - wear a medical mask and seek medical care if experiencing fever, cough and difficulty breathing, as soon as possible or in accordance with to local protocols; - follow the below advice regarding appropriate mask management.

 

How to Wear a Cloth Face Covering (Centers for Disease Control & Prevention Guidelines)

Cloth face coverings should—

• fit snugly but comfortably against the side of the face
• be secured with ties or ear loops
• include multiple layers of fabric
• allow for breathing without restriction
• be able to be laundered and machine dried without damage or change to shape

CDC on Homemade Cloth Face Coverings

CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

CDC also advises the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.  Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.

Cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance.

The cloth face coverings recommended are not surgical masks or N-95 respirators.  Those are critical supplies that must continue to be reserved for healthcare workers and other medical first responders, as recommended by current CDC guidance.

Should cloth face coverings be washed or otherwise cleaned regularly? How regularly?

Yes. They should be routinely washed depending on the frequency of use.

How does one safely sterilize/clean a cloth face covering?

A washing machine should suffice in properly washing a face covering.

How does one safely remove a used cloth face covering?

Individuals should be careful not to touch their eyes, nose, and mouth when removing their face covering and wash hands immediately after removing.

Sewn Cloth Face Covering

Materials

• Two 10”x6” rectangles of cotton fabric
• Two 6” pieces of elastic (or rubber bands, string, cloth strips, or hair ties)
• Needle and thread (or bobby pin)
• Scissors
• Sewing machine

• Tutorial

  1. Cut out two 10-by-6-inch rectangles of cotton fabric. Use tightly woven cotton, such as quilting fabric or cotton sheets. T-shirt fabric will work in a pinch. Stack the two rectangles; you will sew the mask as if it was a single piece of fabric.

  

  2. Fold over the long sides ¼ inch and hem. Then fold the double layer of fabric over ½ inch along the short sides and stitch down.

  

  3. Run a 6-inch length of 1/8-inch wide elastic through the wider hem on each side of the mask. These will be the ear loops. Use a large needle or a bobby pin to thread it through. Tie the ends tight.
  Don’t have elastic? Use hair ties or elastic head bands. If you only have string, you can make the ties longer and tie the mask behind your head.

  

  4. Gently pull on the elastic so that the knots are tucked inside the hem. Gather the sides of the mask on the elastic and adjust so the mask fits your face. Then securely stitch the elastic in place to keep it from slipping.

  
   

  Quick Cut T-shirt Face Covering (no sew method)

  Materials

  • T-shirt
  • Scissors

  Tutorial

  

  

  
   

  Bandana Face Covering (no sew method)

  Materials

  • Bandana (or square cotton cloth approximately 20”x20”)
  • Rubber bands (or hair ties)
  • Scissors (if you are cutting your own cloth)

  Tutorial

  

  

  
  

  

  

2020 Independent Publisher Book Awards Names Big Green Country by Frances Rivetti as Gold Medal Winner for West Pacific Best Regional Fiction

Still pinching myself following recent exciting news on a big, first award for my debut novel Big Green Country. The 2020 Independent Publisher Book Awards is a highly respected annual literary award competition open exclusively to independent authors, small publishing houses and university presses around the English speaking world.

Big Green Country, a contemporary novel set in coastal Sonoma County, Russian River and into the Emerald Triangle counties of Humboldt and Mendocino was judged Best Regional Fiction in the West Pacific.

I'll share more on this news later, but for now, thank you to everyone who has read and all of those who have taken time to write a brief review for my latest work. A book is not worth its salt without readers. The hardest part of writing a book is finishing it. The next hardest, putting into print, the hardest of all is the marketing and promoting. So every time a reader shares my work with another, word spreads and my books take wings. Please do continue to tell friends and family and fellow readers about Big Green Country. 

I'm delivering signed books locally in my hometown, via PayPal store orders on the homepage of Southern Sonoma Country Life and will mail to addresses in the U.S.  It is available on Kindle and all the major online booksellers, including my favorite, Bookshop (click here) and through local bookstores. Big Green Country is available in the UK. 

I'm back at my desk starting on the next one, slowly, but surely! 

This is my second IPPY. Fog Valley Winter — Pioneer Heritage, Backroad Rambles and Vintage Recipes won a Silver Medal in 2018. in the Holiday Book category. I was thrilled to attend the awards ceremony at the iconic Copacabana Club in NY. No award ceremony this year for obvious reasons but I will plan a party for the Big Green Country Gold when it is safe to gather. I hope you will join me in a toast! 

Click here for full list of award winners of this year's Independent Publishers Book Awards (Ippys).

Victory Day 75th Anniversary In Words & Images — Lest We Forget

photos via Pinterest

“At eleven o’clock this morning came to an end the cruelest and most terrible War that has ever scourged mankind. I hope we may say that thus, this fateful morning, came to an end all wars.”

David Lloyd George

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.”

Winston Churchill

“The world must know what happened, and never forget.”

General Eisenhower 

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”

Albert Einstein

"Humility must be the measure of a man whose success was bought with the blood of his subordinates, and paid for with the lives of his friends."

General Dwight Eisenhower 

“I believe it is peace in our time.” 

Neville Chamberlain 

 

A Special Tea For Mom — Help Petaluma People Services Center & Petaluma Sunrise Rotary Provide A Memorable Virtual Tea for Senior Moms this Mother's Day

Click here for the Petaluma People Service's website. Click on the link "A Special Tea for Mom."