Page 38 - Sonoma County Gazette March 2017

It’s Not Dirt. It’s Soil.
Lake Sebastopol
t’s March. It’s Graton. Do NOT, repeat, NOT start putting your summer annuals out in your garden beds – unless they are nestled under a well-fastened row cover. Here’s damply hoping that by publication date these interminable rainstorms will have headed elsewhere. The storms have wreaked havoc with the roads all over West County and Graton didn’t escape. Green Valley Rd. has been ravaged by the change in the waterway bed which now has decided to take a permanent shortcut across the road at the bend near the old cemetery. Emergency repairs are being planned and should be done very soon; waiting is not a choice as it will mean losing access on that road before long. Hopefully the skies will clear and allow the repair in coming weeks.
With the continuing surge of rainstorms, local creeks – Zimpher, Calder and Witter – have been emptying into the Laguna and helping ll it up.
Clear skies in Graton mean lots of frost, however, so keep your plant babies wrapped up or just wait and get some rockin seedlings from your favorite farmer’s market. Meanwhile, chill while you can, things always get lively around here in April.
This adventure is for experienced, self-su cient paddlers only. Locals usually launch canoes and kayaks from Occidental Road just east of the bridge across the Laguna. From that spot, boaters can venture south to Sebastopol’s Meadowlark Field and/or north to Santa Rosa Creek. Given the submerged barbed wire fencing throughout the area, in atable boats should stay away.
I know, it’s hard not to get out there and dig into that soil as it soon as
it’s friable and boyoboy do we have interesting soil around here. The menu includes ne-loamy, mixed, superactive, thermic Abruptic Haplic Durixeralfs (set a ame tableside?), sheared serpentine (clearly a haircut), Franciscan melange matrix (for dessert of course) and maybe a bit of Huichica soil type which is found in Napa and Sonoma.
Less experienced paddlers could consider a docent-led tour with the Laguna Foundation. To see photos of Lake Sebastopol, visit www.estuarian.org and enter “Lake Sebastopol” in the search window.
Huichica soil is named for a 18,700 square mile land grant in Sonoma given to Jacob P Leese in 1841 (or it was 5.5 nautical leagues depending on where you look; which is confusing as the term “league” originally meant how much a person could walk in an hour...but as only certain politicos think they walk on water, it just doesn’t add up). You see, Leese married the sister of...who was it now? Oh, yes – General Vallejo, and was an early pioneer who – fun fact – built the rst house in San Francisco.
With all the rain and wind this season, many trees have toppled over, sometimes taking the power out with them. Yours may need care to prevent their topple. Approaching springtime, consider if your trees need more attention.
Excited about your fun Spring projects? Great, but reserve some of your gardening energy for the routine maintenance that will give your house curb appeal: clear and clean your sidewalk. You’ll also help the person trying to walk by your property.
The word Huichica is actually from Huchi, a village of the diverse Coast Miwok which stood near the plaza of the city of Sonoma. Along with the destruction of their language, we are all now familiar with the dark side of Indian enslavement at the hands of the missions. It’s a long way from the sugar cube mission models us NorCal schoolkids all had to make after our sugar- coated eld trips to Vallejo.
It’s your responsibility to keep the sidewalk in front of your house neat and tidy. The City doesn’t have a crew to come do that work for you. You need to take care of your own sidewalk.
But, I digress (a lot); if you want to learn more you may dig into this 1916 publication California Place Names of Indian Origin, by A. L. Kroeber; University of California Publications in American Archeology and Ethnology Vol 12, No 2.,pp 31-69 June 15, 1916, found at soda.sou.edu/awdata/030731c1.pdf .
So get out your clippers and clear away the overhanging bushes and branches. Trim the foliage well away from the edge of the cement. Weed the cracks and remove tripping hazards. Then rake or sweep the debris into your compost bin.
BadgerBadgerBadger...Mushrooooom
Don’t dump everything into the gutter guring the street sweeper will clean up after you [there must be an ordinance against using the gutter that way]. The leaves from your driveway or entranceway could clog up the nearby storm drain if you don’t pick them up. Put ‘em in the green or brown can.
It is still mushroom hunting season, and we nally have good pickins out there. This week we have seen many delectables including yellowfoot/winter chanterelles, black trumpets, uted even saddles, bluets, and boletes. Be sure and get with an experienced hunter and do your due diligence – observe habitat, cap texture, gill attachment, aroma, spore prints and careful physical characteristics. A good local group to know is SOMA Mushroom-ID on Yahoo. Be sure and only post any pics after you can provide above details.
Marching Along
You see, it can be done. An entire column without one rant about TrumpleThinSkin. Why try; by the time you read this I can only imagine how many ga es and frightening political moments we will have endured. And endure we will, together. Maybe even thrive a bit here and there.
Please get your items to me before the 15th of the month prior to your event: heatagran@sonic.net.
Make room for our pedestrians where our drivers expect them – on our sidewalks.
The full Laguna o ers the opportunity to paddle on “Lake Sebastopol” which extends north and east, along the Laguna’s channel, from near the Hwy.12 Bridge to Guerneville Road.
There’s no lifeguard or safety patrol out there to help. The risks are real and the rescues are expensive.
Tree Care Needed?
Your Sidewalk is Your Responsibility
Avoid the temptation to use the hose and cavalierly wash the sidewalk. Or worse, a leaf-blower. Nothing [other than tra c] generates more complaints than leaf-blowers and makes neighbors unhappy with each other.
Kudos for The Barlow
Reading the banners across McKinley Street, the Barlow is the designated “marketplace” for Sebastopol’s Documentary Film Festival, celebrating its remarkable 10th anniversary. The Rialto again joins the DFF as the key venue and Taylor Maid Farms as a sponsor.
Festival-goers will enjoy the downtown venue for shows, meals, and treats, March 23 through 26.
CALL FOR ARTISTS:
$500 prize for Sonoma
Cittaslow Sebastopol is seeking graphic designs for markers to be glued to sidewalks along the Sebastopol Ped Line, the city’s self- guided, color-coded walking tour. Deadline is March 31. Artist must live in Sonoma County. Download the application at www. cittaslowsebastopol.org/artists. Questions? Email info@cittaslowsebastopol.org.
County Graphic Artists
SEE page 36 for INFO
38 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 3/17