It’s not the time to deck the halls quite yet, but if you want to adorn them in vintage ornaments, you’d better start early. Most local thrift and vintage stores carry holiday decor this time of year, but often sell out as soon as it’s stocked. Upcoming, are a few special sales in Sonoma. Get out that calendar page, and mark a few dates because your vintage shopping adventures await.
Cast Away Yarn Shop in Santa Rosa turns 10 this Thanksgiving weekend. Now, if that wasn’t enough of a good excuse to get both crafty people and non-knitters excited, the textile-based craft shop will also put on a 10,000 New Knitters Event on November 10.
The event, part of a nationwide project to create 10,000 new knitters in one day, will include a knitting kit giveaway for 100 people and complimentary knitting instructions throughout the weekend of November 10-11.
But, why does the world need 10,000 new knitters, you may ask, if you haven’t yet discovered the benefits of handicraft.
“Knitting is kind of wonderful,” says Cast Away co-owner Cleo Malone, adding that it gives her a sense of purpose: a knitting project makes her feel “productive, but relaxed and calm at the same time.” (In case you’re still in doubt, the health benefits of knitting – like dexterity, memory and stress relief -are even backed by science.)
The 24-year-old shop owner recalls that during last year’s fires, customers came in saying, “I wouldn’t know what to do if my hands weren’t knitting right now.
Cleo, a recent art school graduate, joined her mother Justine Malone as co-owner of the Santa Rosa shop a year ago. Both learned to knit when Cleo was just seven years old and attending a Waldorf school that taught knitting. When Cleo was thirteen, the two decided to further their skills and enrolled in a class. Only a short time later, Justine said they needed to open a knitting store.
Located in a brick warehouse in the historic Railroad Square, Cast Away Yarn shop now carries a wide range of premium knitting, crocheting and embroidery supplies, including lots of stunningly-dyed, sustainable wools, many of which can be spun on site. Samples of every new pattern are displayed in store, and events are happening seemingly all the time from Help Nights and classes to Sip & Stitch Thursdays.
10,000 New Knitters, Saturday, November 10 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Cast Away Yarn Shop, 100 4th St., Santa Rosa, 707-546-9276, castawayyarnshop.com
It’s a typical weekday morning at Les Pascals patisserie on Arnold Drive in the heart of Glen Ellen. The smell of fresh bread wafts in the air. Pastries and other confections glisten tantalizingly—like jewels in glass cases. Locals laugh amid a din of small talk competing convivially with small talk.
In this moment, at this newly opened French bakery, it is hard to imagine that barely one year ago a monumental and historic group of fires terrorized most of the Sonoma Valley, including Glen Ellen and nearby Kenwood. Dozens of homes and businesses burned to the ground. Hundreds more were threatened. Thousands of people had to evacuate. Many stayed away for weeks.
Remarkably, these small Sonoma Valley towns have now begun to come back from the fires. Major residential rebuilds are underway. Damaged hotels, wineries, and commercial agriculture operations have started or completed repairs; many have reopened to the public. Both Glen Ellen and Kenwood have even added new businesses.
During and after the fires, the community rallied. At Tips Roadside in Kenwood, owners Andrew and Susie Pryfogle did their very best to help. When it became clear that the restaurant’s food trucks would survive the conflagration, the Pryfogles encouraged Chef Thaddeaus Palmese to start cooking and dispatched the trolley-style kitchens to the front lines to feed victims and first responders.
According to general manager Thomas Rowley, the crew served more than 5,000 meals.
“We didn’t even have a physical location at that point—we were still under construction when the fires came through,” Rowley remembers. “We had no idea whether the fires were going to come our way or how the incident was going to impact the community. Our goal was just to keep going.”
Locals, no doubt recalling the selflessness of the restaurant crew during the time of crisis, have continued to pack Tips Roadside after the brick-and-mortar restaurant (finally) opened this summer.
“This community might be small, but we’re resilient and we look out for each other,” says Chris Benziger, who has spent most of his life in Glen Ellen and currently runs the eponymous winery his family founded more than 30 years ago.
Benziger, who, like many others, lost his family home in the fires, felt lucky to oversee a successful harvest last year—with the help of a few friends.
After the fire, Benziger recalls mentioning in passing to the bartender at the Jack London Saloon that he needed basic kitchen items—measuring cups, mixing spoons and the like. A few days later, when returning to the local watering hole, he was greeted with a box of supplies, overflowing with household donations from locals, with his name on it.
“It was serious neighbors-taking-care-of-neighbors stuff,” he says. “The fire challenged this community to its core and we came out with a renewed sense of unity and purpose. Instead of running away and fending for themselves, everyone stayed and fought for what we always knew we had—together.”
Scarlett Graham, general manager, at the Kenwood Inn & Spa, agrees wholeheartedly that out of the fire has come a rebirth of community spirit.
While the inn was lucky not to lose any structures to the fire, it was forced to shut down for months to remediate smoke damage by re-plastering all the walls.
The inn operators then used the opportunity to invest in cosmetic changes, renovating the front desk and lobby area and embarking on a complete modernization of the spa. When most of the property reopened in February, locals reacted as if an old friend had come back after an extended tour at sea.
“There was a sense of relief because everything looked the same,” Graham said of people’s reactions. “They stopped by. They got out of their cars. A lot of locals just came in to make sure the inn was OK.”
Many other local businesses report that they are experiencing this sense of a rebirth in the Sonoma Valley community.
Salt & Stone, the eatery that opened in the former site of the Kenwood Restaurant after the fires last fall, has established itself as a gathering place for locals and visitors.
Gaige House + Ryokan and the Olea Hotel, two different lodging options that were impacted by the fire, have renovated, reopened, and enjoyed busy tourist seasons this year. The Gaige House even added a new meditation room.
McCormick’s Mercantile of Glen Ellen, a general store that debuted in July, has seen a steady stream of customers and support.
“We’ve seen the spirit of the people of this community first- hand,” says owner Sheryee McCormick. “Even if people can’t buy anything, even if they still don’t have a home to put stuff, they come in, they engage us, and they give us words of encouragement. That means a lot.”
Looking forward, there is more good news from Glen Ellen: Jack London State Historic Park officials have announced that the House of Happy Walls, a museum devoted to the life and times of the park’s namesake author, will re-open in November after a nearly two-year, $1.5-million renovation. The revitalized museum will feature 22 new exhibits designed to commemorate and celebrate the lives of Jack London and his wife, Charmian.
Considering everything Glen Ellen and the surrounding communities have endured since last October, the museum represents one more step toward a Sonoma Valley recovery.
Were your tomatoes in overabundance in August and September? Oh, how you had to give so many away, and all that salsa and Caprese salad you ate… But as summer turn into fall, brittle fruitless bushes sit in your planters as sad reminders of how bountiful everything was.
Now what?
According to Petaluma Seed Bank staff member, Caolifhionne (pronounced Kay-len) Mears, “There’s no reason to put your garden to bed during winter…Plant lettuce (from a seed) right now, and you’ll be eating salad on Christmas Day.”
Sonoma climate is a gold standard for growing
Mears says Sonoma’s climate is “darn near the gold standard for growing,” with “285 growing days out of the year.”
Mears loves gardening in “turtleneck and flannel shirt” time of year with the “bite in the air,” but says many don’t enjoy being outdoors in the cold. This makes the necessary regular watering a challenge.
What to plant
Some good crops for this time of year include lettuces, carrots, broccolis, cauliflower and kale. Bok choy, Swiss chard and mustard greens are good choices, too, Mears says, but some may need to be started indoors in seed starter trays, which the Petaluma Seed Bank sells.
Tucker Taylor, who manages the culinary gardens at Kendall Jackson Family Vineyard, says he plants one of his favorite crops at this time of year: the “Happy Rich” broccoli. It’s a cross between Gai Lan and traditional broccoli with “a sweet flavor and succulent texture.”
Innovative insulation
To insulate sensitive crops (mustards, lettuces, arugula and chards) during freezes, Taylor makes “hoop houses” – a row of curved electrical pipes tented in fabric. Taylor says these are the “new wave of the future” for small-scale gardeners because their affordability and portability makes them preferable to greenhouses.
Successional planting spreads out harvest
The Fig Garden at Rhone Room, which supplies The Girl and The Fig restaurants, keeps a supply of “perennial herbs that are good all year,” according gardener Ray LaVoy.
Working together with gardner Lauren Caproni—a former chef at Chez Panisse—LaVoy also plants crops in succession so that supply is staggered. The winter garden has broccoli, rabe and romanescos, which have a growth cycle of 45-75 days, and beets which mature 30-45 days after planting.
Caprioni suggests aspiring fall and winter gardeners get to know their local seed grower, talk to neighbors and experiment with what works. “There are so many variables in gardening,” she says, “one thing doesn’t work for all gardens.”
Grow garlic
Both Mears and LaVoy name garlic as a satisfying, easy-to-grow bulb for this time of year. Plant a clove now, and edible greens will sprout in a couple of months, but the full head of garlic will take until April to mature. Mears loves Asian Tempest garlic, which is hot and spicy, while LaVoy mentions Spanish Roja garlic as a good option.
Let the soil rest
While LaVoy and Caproni keep the Fig Garden crops growing during colder weather, LaVoy says he sees winter as a time to “return balance to the garden,” and focuses on taking care of the soil through ground cover like hay or clover so that soil isn’t “exposed and arid.” He integrates compost at this time and removes debris which can cause molding.
La Voy says he appreciates the more mellow harvesting duties in the winter. He describes the winter crops as “less intense” than, say, the tomatoes which they find themselves picking daily during harvest. During winter – the “ying to the fervor of the (summer’s) yang” – it’s time to “give the soil more love,” he says.
Over the last couple of months, I’ve been asked a lot about why the Fremont Diner abruptly closed last June and when they will reopen. A lot. You guys are relentless. So I went straight to the source.
What I can tell you for sure is that the restaurant quietly reopened in early September. They’ve entirely revamped the menu and given the spot a new name — Boxcar Fried Chicken & Biscuits and so far the slimmed-down concept focused on fried chicken seems to be working. Yelpers even seem to be (mostly) happy.
After the June closure, owners Erika and Chad Harris said the wildly popular diner on the outskirts of Sonoma had simply been a victim of its own success over the last 10 years.
“It was incredibly successful to those who visited, but the model was hard to sustain,” owners said. With small children at home, ongoing staffing hurdles and long hours, they decided to get back to their roots.
“Boxcar came from a desire to get back to the beginning. We wanted to scale back our menu and make it more manageable for the kitchen to execute in a consistent and quick fashion,” said Erika Harris, who emailed her thoughts to Biteclub. Though we talked briefly in person and by phone, she said she preferred to send a written statement to explain the changes.
“We chose to focus on fried chicken because we felt that it was an item that most people didn’t make at home and we just love fried chicken,” she added. Walk-up service has also returned. “As a family with three kids, we appreciate being able to get a meal quickly.”
For customers, it is certainly a simpler experience — and on an early visit, pretty darn fast. Everything comes in paper or plastic containers neatly arranged on paper-covered aluminum trays. Plastic silverware, paper napkins, and no fuss. Service is walk-up, and they’ll call your name when the order is ready, rather than table service.
The menu includes Fremont Diner’s top hits of the past with a few new additions. The buttery biscuits and honey are actually better than ever, the hush puppies with remoulade are addictive and they’ve still got the most authentic pimento cheese west of the Rockies (we think). The deviled eggs aren’t ironic here, they’re just delish little noshes with mustard seeds. We got downright weepy at the dab of molasses mixed with butter for a true Southern biscuit experience.
You can still get fried chicken platters in Nashville Hot, buttermilk or salt and pepper, as well as in sandwich form. The Golden Boy is a standout with juicy fried chicken, pimento cheese and a soft bun. Minor bummers: The fried pies were out when we stopped by and the sweet baked beans weren’t quite as soft as usual. Also, they’re only open weekdays currently but will be expanding weekday hours and adding Saturday service soon. Being an icon takes time, and we’re willing to wait.
2698 Fremont Dr., Hwy 12, Sonoma. Open 11am-3pm weekdays, boxcar-friedchicken.com.
Why did the turkey cross the road? Because it was a Sonoma-raised heritage Bourbon doing a stage appearance and meet-and-greet at the Heritage Turkey Sunday Supper on Nov. 4.
He’s also trying to win the Chateau Montelena Vertical auction lot, we hear.
Meet the stars of your Thanksgiving table at Atwood Ranch’s Heritage Turkey Sunday Supper in Glen Ellen. The evening features live turkeys raised by local 4-H/FFA students as part of the Slow Food Russian River’s Heritage Turkey Project. Kids from around the county raise rare historic breeds like Narragansett, Royal Palm and Midget White from poult to, well, plate.
The evening supper includes dishes from top Sonoma County Chefs Daniel Kedan (Backyard), John Stewart and Duskie Estes (Zazu), Bryan Jones (formerly of St. Francis Winery, Condra Easley (Patisserie Angelica) and Robb Ledesma (Worth Our Weight). Kedan said that some of the menu items included Stemple Creek brisket, smoked Liberty Duck legs with Bee Run Hollow delicata squash, turnip greens, roasted quince and apple jus.
Plus cider, beer and wine, appetizers, silent auction and “Foodie Chap” Liam Mayclem onstage (which is pretty entertaining if you’ve seen him at BottleRock).
All proceeds go to the young farmers who raised the turkeys, Slow Food Russian River programs and Worth Our Weight.
So what’s so great about heritage turkeys? They’re pretty distant cousins to the Broad Breasted Whites that we’re used to seeing on our Thanksgiving table. Bred to have big breasts and quick to mature, Broad Breasted is an industry standard. Turkeys that are more akin to their ancestors — with more traditional musculature (ie: they are able to walk and reproduce naturally) are usually considered “heritage breeds”, and are prized by turkey connoisseurs. It also helps endangered turkey species to once again flourish.
If you’re up for the turkey extravaganza, tickets are $100 per person. Tables of 10 can be purchased for $2,500 with specially curated wines and other goodies. Sponsored tables are also available for the fundraiser. Details at heritageturkeysupper.eventbrite.com or contact Julie Atwood Events at 707-318-7526.
Crisp air, piles of colorful leaves, apple cider donuts and ever-divisive pumpkin spice lattes — thoughts of autumn don’t immediately conjure images of California.
But according to a list compiled by Travel + Leisure of America’s 25 best pumpkin patches, the top two are actually right here in the Golden State — both within about two hours of Sonoma County.
The list of America’s top pumpkin patches was created using data from crowdsource review platform Yelp. The patches were ranked according to a number of different factors, including a requirement that visitors be able to pick their own pumpkins.
To be considered, Yelp businesses had to be listed under “farm” or “home and garden,” and also contain the word “pumpkin” in reviews. Businesses also had to have a pick-your-own patch on-site.
Coming in at No. 1 is Bob’s Vegetable Stand & Pumpkin Farm, located in Half Moon Bay.
How can you beat a pumpkin patch with an ocean view? With more than 70 reviews and a rating of 4.5 stars, Yelp visitors praised the patch for its dog-friendly atmosphere, lack of excess attractions like bounce houses or hayrides and its good ol’ fashioned vibes.
Bob’s Vegetable Stand & Pumpkin Farm can be found on Highway 1, about 5 miles south of Highway 92. The patch is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, closing on Oct. 31.
With 4.5 stars and more than 60 reviews, Yelp ranked Sacramento’s Uncle Ray & Uncle Ron’s Pumpkin Patch as the second best pumpkin patch in America.
While the Half Moon Bay patch is continuously praised by Yelp users for its back-to-basics approach to harvesting pumpkins, Uncle Ray & Uncle Ron’s Pumpkin Patch is the exact opposite. The Sacramento patch’s many attractions include a pumpkin cannon, a kids train, hay rides and a weekend petting zoo.
Uncle Ray & Uncle Ron’s is located at 5610 Garden Highway in Sacramento, and is open weekdays from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. and weekends from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. It’s last day is Oct. 31.
What’s your favorite Sonoma County pumpkin patch? Let us know in the comments!
Man cannot live on simple carbs alone, but in moderation, and in the form of artisan Sonoma-made pasta dishes, it’s a truly beautiful thing. Add to that the convenience of these great foods, and it’s time to rejoice. And get dinner on the table fast. Because evening you-time awaits — click through the above gallery for details.
After more than a decade of producing small-batch California wines without setting down roots, the team behind LIOCO Wine Company has opened its first tasting room in downtown Healdsburg, just around the corner from the town’s iconic square.
Operated by husband and wife duo Matt and Sara Licklider, the winery’s first tasting room at 125 Matheson Street is housed in a sleek and surprisingly cozy 1,300-square-foot space renovated by New York and Los Angeles-based design firm, Paige Pierce Design.
LIOCO wines, which draw fruit from vineyards in Sonoma, Mendocino and Santa Cruz counties, are produced in a Santa Rosa winemaking cooperative. Their focus is on chardonnay, pinot noir, carignan and the occasional coastal syrah or mid-century planting of valdiguie.
The chic tasting space currently has two flight options, as well as a seasonal menu of wines by the glass — and soon will offer a curated list of small plates, featuring local ingredients.
The Lickliders also plan to host a rotating list of events, including industry nights, guest chef pop-ups, live music and more.
LIOCO’s Healdsburg outpost is open daily from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Reservations, including access to private tastings, are available here.
