Summer Harvest 2020
School & Community Garden Check-In
What’s been happening around the East Bay? By Rachel Trachten | Photos by Rachel Stanich Vallejo People’s Garden founder Vilma Aquino harvests grape leaves to use for dolmas. Aquino welcomes volunteers who want to help out with garden chores. In March when everything shut down, school and community gardens were in full spring…
Read MoreThe Gardentini
From the story: Of Makers and Spirits How an artists’ block in Oakland inspired the creation of OsCo, an unconventional distillery By Kathryn Campo Bowen | Photos by Clara Rice The Gardentini By Michael Pierce of Oakland Spirits Company (OsCo) I’ve been attempting to fill a need created by the abundance of spirits…
Read MoreA Simple Grilled Dinner from the Farmers’ Market
Photographer/chef Judy Doherty lives near the Castro Valley Farmers’ Market. One morning early this summer, she went there to see what our local farmers had grown. Arms filled with fresh produce—plus a bunch of sunflowers for good cheer—Judy trotted home to her studio kitchen to create photos and videos (see below) to help you…
Read MoreBently Heritage Estate Distillery
Taste, Tradition, and Technology Bently Heritage Estate Distillery takes the farm to the flask By Barbara Twitchell | Photos by Asa Gilmore Once simply a sleepy little hamlet in the Carson Valley east of the Sierra, Minden, Nevada, was long known for two structures listed on the National Register of Historic Places: The old Minden…
Read MoreCoCo San Sustainable Farm
Jumping Through Hoops How a psychologist/activist built a farm for the community on Contra Costa County Sanitary District land By Rachel Trachten Research psychologist Carolyn Phinney managed to convince government agencies, local businesses, and garden experts to help her transform barren industrial land into a thriving community farm. Photo by Frank J. Sulloway …
Read MoreMint & Stone Fruit Herbal Shrub
Recipe and photo by Anna Marie Beauchemin | East Bay Herbals The shrub is a traditional beverage made with fresh fruit, honey (or sugar), and vinegar, which combine to create a uniquely zippy drink to enjoy during the hot summer months. It’s kid friendly and makes a great substitute for sugary soda or…
Read MoreNew Products from Renewal Mill
Oakland’s Renewal Mill spins out new upcycled foods By Rachel Trachten Claire Schlemme collects okara from the Hodo Soy waste stream and turns it into baking flour. Photos courtesy of Renewal Mill and Alice Medrich. The process of upcycling works its magic in two ways: first, it makes use of something that would…
Read MoreStone Fruit & Chicory Slaw with Ginger Vinaigrette
Courtesy of Market Hall Foods | Food styling and photography by Marshka Kiera This salad, created by Sandy Sonnenfelt of Market Hall Foods, is a true ode to summer. It combines sweet, juicy, peak-season stone fruit with crunchy cabbage and sharp, slightly bitter Treviso. Sandy used apriums and pluots when developing this recipe, but…
Read MoreEditors Mixing Bowl
It’s been five long months since we last met on this page. During the early weeks of the pandemic shutdowns, it was hard to see how to continue making a magazine. Would our stories be relevant? Would our advertisers—who provide 99% of our operating funds—remain in business? How would readers find their free copies?…
Read MoreDig Deep Farms
Digging Deeper for Better Food Access and Better Health Alameda County officials hope this food hub and urban farm project becomes a national model Story and photos by Austin Price On East 14th Street in the East Bay community of Ashland, a garden sits inconspicuously between a clothing store, a liquor store, and…
Read MoreTakeout for the cause
Resistance Is a Loaf of Babka Story and photos by Meredith Pakier It’s not news that, this year, the restaurant and hospitality industries have been caught in the crosshairs of a public health crisis, forced to make difficult decisions—to restructure, lay-off staff, or close completely. In the midst of this mounting uncertainty, our…
Read MorePort Perks Pop-up Market
No Grocery Store? No Problem! Port Costa’s Port Perks pop-up market fills the bill … at least for now Parker (left) and Kramer Collins get the pop-up market ready for customers. By any description, the tiny town of Port Costa, California, (pop. 186) is a unique spot in the largely urban East Bay.…
Read MoreEast Bay Farmers’ Markets
Farmers’ Markets are an Essential Service By Cheryl Angelina Koehler | Illustrations by Gary Handman ”We have been staying verrrry close to home, except for bi-weekly Acme runs and occasional nursery forays,” says artist Gary Handman, who draws daily in his Instagram Journal of the Plague Year @ghandman. He and his wife, Pam, look…
Read MoreOsCo: an Unconventional Distillery
Of Makers and Spirits How an artists’ block in Oakland inspired the creation of OsCo, an unconventional distillery By Kathryn Campo Bowen | Photos by Clara Rice Early March In a time before quarantine and masks and social distancing, Michael Pierce offered to show me around the block. “Let’s walk next door,” he…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
Produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. By Barbara Kobsar | Illustration by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge Snap Beans & Shell Beans Now is the time to scoop up fresh beans at your farmers’ market. Both edible-pod snap beans and shell beans (those you have to shell) are ubiquitous through…
Read MoreMonifa Dayo and Sur Place
From Food Service to Food Justice, Monifa Dayo Makes It Work Story and photos by Annelies Zijderveld Monifa Dayo is not new to pivoting. In 2016, the chef realized she had grown weary of the steep physical demands and endless manual labor of commercial restaurant work. Stepping away, she opened Sur Place, a…
Read MoreYour Backyard is a Garden of Eden
By Joshua Burman Thayer, based on interviews with John Valenzuela | Illustrations by Joshua Burman Thayer As a Bay Area horticulturalist devoted to encouraging home food production, I often find myself thinking about the Eastern Mediterranean. It’s the region where many of the important food crops we grow in Northern California originated. “Where…
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