Columns

Recently we were visited by hundreds of butterflies. I had over 20 drinking from the small puddle near my front door. One made it into the house as they fluttered around me when I opened the screen door. He’s going out today to join...

“171,000 people experience homelessness daily. California is home to… 30% of the nation’s homeless population, and half the nation’s unsheltered population.” —Kushel, Moore, et al., “Toward a New Understanding” (2023) We all play musical chairs in Santa Cruz County because 80,000 new residents since 1980...

After a lovely, mild spring, summer weather arrived with a vengeance. My poor plants were thinking they lived in England and then were rudely awakened and reminded that they actually live inland and away from the influence of the cool coast. My watering schedule...

Last month, I wrote about the fast fashion industry. Unfortunately, typos happen, but one typo can change the context of an entire story and its meaning. So, let’s correct this right now.  Fast Fashion is about “inexpensive” clothing produced rapidly by mass-market retailers, not “expensive.”...

Hand pies are such an ingenious way to create an individual pie without the problems of serving and the opportunity of various fillings. These freeze and travel well. In my aunt’s kitchen, hand pies came with left-over pie dough and the filling from the original...

The assignment: create a cutting garden. For a designer this is the best kind of request. Until about 100 years ago, one of the most important areas of any large garden was the cutting garden where flowers were harvested like a crop and taken...

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” —Socrates I am an evangelist for financial life planning! I preach it, practice it and donate it to help others. Everyone must do it or face consequences! I studied it for years with a CFP and a GGU...

Children can get anxiety just like adults. Whether it’s adjusting to the changes at school or home, social anxiety, separation anxiety, or generalized anxiety disorder, it’s important to recognize the signs of anxiety in children, take them seriously, and know how to support your...

Many years ago I started writing a book about gardening in the Santa Cruz Mountains. One of many interesting subjects I researched was the different soils we have here in the mountains. I don’t need to tell you if you garden in dense clay,...

When Scotts Valley City Manager Mali LaGoe suggested hosting a community meeting to address the ongoing wildfire threat and the accompanying insurance crisis, there was a hesitation on whether or not people would attend. Well, that question was answered last Tuesday night when hundreds poured...