Columns

I hope you all had a peaceful and joyous holiday season. Your Scotts Valley schools have been back from break since Jan. 5, and I’ve heard that both teachers and students are back to the books with renewed enthusiasm. We want to welcome new students...

I like to keep up with new garden research as well as the new trends. We humans started growing food about 12,000 years ago when we shifted from nomadic hunter gatherer lifestyles to settled farming. This happened independently in places like the Fertile Crescent,...

Last year Pantone chose Mocha Mousse as their color of the year, which I’m sure looks great in a living room but the garden? Maybe not—although an earthy wood mulch or rich compost looks great but not flowers. So this year they chose “Cloud...

Partnerships, filing March 17, enable two or more individuals or business entities to work together as a single business. Partnerships enable combinations of bright ideas, hard work and capital to make businesses as diverse as law, accounting, construction or retail ownership. LLCs protect personal...

I had my grocery list in hand while stuffing a bag full of string beans for our Christmas dinner last week at Safeway market. Happy that those beans were fresh, I moved on to the dried onions, which were a necessary addition to the...

Well, it’s happened again—we made it around the sun once more. As the calendar turns to a New Year, these are some of my thoughts for 2026. You, fellow gardeners, are unique. I can't imagine any group of people more diverse and feisty and independent...

Perhaps you missed one of the articles this year that highlighted the collective power of women shaping the local business ecosystem. As this year winds down and we gather in gratitude, I wanted to reflect on these women-led businesses not only for the services they...

Now is the time we all are thinking of changing a thing or two for 2026 to improve our lives. Many of us use the new year as a marker to turn over a new leaf, live healthier and be better people. This coming...

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the garden,The creatures were stirring, the deer got a pardon. The hummingbird feeders were hung by the chimney with care,In hopes that the Anna's soon would be there.  The flowering cherries were nestled all snug in their beds,While...

Hayek’s “Use of Knowledge in Society” illustrates the profound challenges that well-meaning but arrogant market planners have faced from widely dispersed market knowledge inadequately understood by domineering politicians, technical engineers, greedy corporations and suffering consumers. Artificial Intelligence and battery-powered cars demand more energy. France and...