Guest Column | Progress on Regional Water Resource Collaboration
In Santa Cruz County there are seven separate water agencies that serve our community, each with different sources of water, customer demographics and infrastructure ages. As a result, each agency has different needs and approaches to operations and, until recently, operated largely independently of...
Letters to the Editor | Published May 19, 2023
Frustrated with Ferrellgas
My husband and I are residents of Boulder Creek. We’ve been long-time Ferrellgas customers. Until this winter, we’d been very happy with their service. We maintained a significant positive credit balance “just in case,” and were on “automatic” tank refills.
Then something happened—Ferrellgas...
Plain Talk About Food | Jumping Frogs
“If the first thing you do in the morning is eat a live frog, you can go through the rest of the day knowing the worst is behind you.” —Mark Twain
The year was 1972 when a friend drove me to the small town of...
The Mountain Gardener | The Wonderful World of Wisteria
Wisteria are one of those vines that you either long for or lament ever having planted. They are all fragrant with a delicious sweet scent that varies from faint to strong to almost overpowering. Bees and hummingbirds love them. Here are some tips to...
Fitness | Stop Comparing Body Types
Ever feel like you wish you had someone else’s body type? Is the body you want always just out of reach? Like no matter what you do, you’ll never quite be slim, strong or fit enough? If this is true, try to not be...
The Mountain Gardener | Filoli Gardens in May
What fun it must have been for the children raised in the 1900s at Filoli Estate. You can just imagine what a kid could do on 654 acres of orchards, fields and gardens creating a maze of places to hide and seek. As gardeners,...
Strictly Business | Lessons from Horses: The Power of Intention
As someone who has held management and leadership positions for most of my career, I was intrigued to learn more about how working with horses can improve leadership skills in the workplace. I had the opportunity to meet Razelle Janice Drescher, owner of Intentional...
Plain Talk About Food | Soup/Salad and Let’s Talk
Having been raised by my elderly aunt who ran a boarding house for the workers at the nearby sawmill in the small town of Aberdeen, Wash., my younger days were spent primarily in the company of older people. Our house was the last house...
The Mountain Gardener | Growing Vegetables in Containers, Small Spaces or Shade
I have been gardening for a very long time. But even now I feel I know just a little bit about a whole lot of subjects. Every day I learn something new. Now that spring weather has finally arrived I’m anxious to start planting...
Guest Column | D.A.R.E. Empowers Students
Students face challenges beyond the pressure to succeed academically. Parents hear about many of these issues as their children move through middle school, high school and beyond. These challenges include peer pressure, drugs, harassment, bullying, discrimination and low self-esteem.
How can we help our young...
News Briefs | Published July 4, 2025
Tree removal leads to temporary closure on Big Basin Highway
Caltrans will temporarily close a section of southbound Highway 236 (Big Basin Highway) left on...