Fall Harvest 2026

I ALWAYS THOUGHT BIRD WATCHING WAS FOR OTHER PEOPLE, but that was due to a fundamental misunderstanding about the point of it. I had thought the hobby required learning to identify countless species—along with their calls and habits—and keeping notebooks of sightings, but in fact, bird watching is unique to the bird-watcher, and my style…

  Alameda Alameda Marketplace “We’re beyond thrilled to welcome celebrated, woman-owned Bake Sum,” says the Alameda Marketplace team. The bakery has just joined the Beanery, Greens & Grains, Sushi King, East End, and Tahina Fresh Mediterranean for a host of delicious dining options. 1650 Park St, Alameda | alamedamarketplace.com(opens in new tab)   Dragon Rouge…

Megan Bre Camp’s Summer Solace Tallow By Cheryl Koehler | Photos by Jessa Carta     ON MOST ANY SUNDAY MORNING throughout the year, the Temescal Farmers’ Market in Oakland is a riot of geniality as neighbors amble in for coffee and pastries and kids splash in the rivulet that runs along the DMV parking…

An Evolution in Plant-Based Dining Story and photos by Camille Morgenstern   Long before “plant-based” became a marketing term, a generation of writers and restaurateurs was reshaping how we think about the foods we choose to eat. In 1971, Frances Moore Lappé’s Diet for a Small Planet connected everyday food choices with environmental stewardship, helping to…

By Rachel Trachten  |  Photos by Mary Dee     Reflections on the early days of Three Stone Hearth (TSH), Berkeley’s one-of-a-kind cooperative kitchen and retail food store, often include a reference to magic. Perhaps that’s not so surprising when you consider how five community members created a thriving business based on nutrient-dense local foods,…

An inspired team creates a vibrant new ‘third place’ Story and photos by Clara Rice     Nine years ago, the beginnings of a dream formed in a simple shared thought: El Sobrante does not need yet another gas station. With a name that translates literally as “the leftover,” El Sobrante is an unincorporated section…

By Supriya Pandit   It started in 2022. Pandemic rules were relaxing and socially starved neighbors were beginning to mingle. Our block in Kensington had a new neighbor in the house with the enviably large lawn backing into a redwood grove. Sharon Zo was teeming with enthusiasm for all things trees, soil, and ecosystem, and…

By Rachel Trachten | Illustrations by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge     It’s nigh on 100 years since rocky road ice cream joined vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry in America’s pantheon of flavors, and while there’s consensus that the bumpy chocolate concoction sprang to life in Oakland, it’s still being debated whether Dreyer’s or Fenton’s invented it. One…

Story and illustration by Gary Handman   My maternal grandfather, Harry, and his sisters, Hannah and Rose, were born on a small farm outside of Nashville, Tennessee (a fact that has always mystified me, given that my great-grandparents were urban Jews from Austria and Romania). The family migrated to Los Angeles in the early 1900s,…