Page 42 - Sonoma County Gazette Juy 2019

Summer has arrived. We’ve made it through flooding, Monte Rio Fire continuing internal drama, and Bohemian Grove security debates.
Yes, it’s a new title. I am expanding the coverage of my column to include the West of our West County. It will not only cover Bodega and its Byways, but also Freestone, Valley Ford and Bloomfield. If you have ideas from any of these small towns, please contact me directly. We’d like to hear from all of our neighbors.
The Valley Ford Cheese & Creamery now has its very own store front! Doors opened on May 2nd, although the shop was purchased in early 2016. Karen Bianchi runs the distribution out of their new location along with the front of house. She is excited because it’s “good to build relationships with the consumer.”
Monte Rio always has the best fireworks and this year we will have the only fireworks in the River! Friday July 5th. Big Rocky Games for kids 12-4, Boat Parade, Water Curtain, and Fireworks at dusk. Firehouse BBQ Saturday July 6 12-5pm.
Sweet Dreams - Made of Cheese
On Thursday July 25th is the 108th Annual Monte Rio Variety Show. This is always an awesome fun event. All proceeds fund local charities. For tickets and more information: MonteRioShow.org
There have been some isolated instances of hate graffiti recently in Monte Rio and Guerneville. Our Hate Free Community sign should be re-installed on the new Monte Rio Community Center sign shortly.
The Sonoma-Marin Dairy Belt has undoubtedly transformed due to increased costs and consolidation of the market. The business is not what it used to be. Fourth generation farmers like Karen have to think outside the milk box to survive and continue their family legacy.
In another continuing saga, the State Water Board and Sonoma County are moving forward with revised Onsite Wastewater Treatment System regulations. In the latest iteration a questionnaire will be going out
to residents next summer. Depending on how you answer will result in how quickly you need to upgrade. Cesspools and Redwood Boxes will be the first to be upgraded. Existing septic tanks (Class 3 non-conforming, which do not meet full new construction codes such as having adequate leach lines) will be inspected every five years and most likely will need to be upgraded within 15 years possibly by adding a pre-treatment component. If there are “community treatment systems” in the works, the time-line is extended to 20 years. Apparently, Monte Rio is part of a pilot project to look at community treatment solutions that would include neighbors sharing a system. There may also be some grants or low interest rate loans available, but none have been identified at this point. Without an approved permitted septic system, you will not be able to obtain a permit for anything to be done on your house. Having just gone through the process with Permit Sonoma I can tell you it is a challenge.
Karen’s great-grandparents came here from Northern Italy. Since 1918, the family’s 640- acre dairy farm has consisted of pure Jersey cows that produce milk high in protein and butterfat, which makes great value-added products.
It took five months to get a permit to upgrade my redwood box to a septic tank. Other neighbors are having to pay for engineering and soils tests which most likely will now be required for all new permits. The county is also hiring another Ombudsman to assist residents. This will be the second ombudsman as the first resigned a while ago.
Highway 1 (Fontina style); Estero Gold (Montasio style) & Estero Gold Reserve, which won the Best of Show in California; Grazin’ Girl (Gorgonzola style), which won 3rd place in the U.S. Cheese Championship; and a new release, Farmer’s soft, lightly herbed, cultured, creamy cheese.
We are still working on moving a Noise Ordinance
Both of Karen’s sons had a young passion
for farming, starting with 4H and FFA.
Her oldest son, Joe, graduated from Cal
Poly in 2010 with a Dairy Science-Products Technology major and returned home to
join the family business as the cheese-
maker. Her other son, Jim, graduated from
Cal Poly in 2013 with a major in Dairy Science-Husbandry, including the genetics
and nutrition of cows. He then spent a year
dairying in New Zealand and learned from
their advanced innovations. In 2014, Jim came
back to work on the family dairy. With his
new skills, he’ll be starting his own dairy late this fall!
through the county. This too takes more work than you think it would need to. What other municipality doesn’t have noise ordinances and which other municipality only has noise ordinances just for vacation rentals?
Some of the MAC (Municipal Advisory Council) meetings are live-streamed. The meeting in June had Sheriff Mark Essick and Dan Fein from the Lower Russian River Wastewater Citizens Advisory Group speaking. If you can’t attend the meetings in person, try to watch them live-stream.
In other events, on July 27 at the Monte Rio Community Center will be Words Between Worlds. This is the 5th annual Come to Know the Poets gathering, an afternoon of reading by poets Rebecca del Rio, Kristy Hellum, Pat Nolan, Larry Robinson and Vilma Olsvary Ginzberg, hosted by Sashana Proctor of Cazadero. 3pm $17 707-632-5761 for reservations.
Karen is on the Valley Ford Fire Board. With a grant from the Goldridge Conservation District, they built a rainwater catchment system that fills a 45,000 gallon tank, feeding a fire hydrant, sprinkler system and irrigates their herb garden and trees.
Sonoma County Family YMCA will have Monte Rio Swimming Lessons for ages 5-13 July 15-26 Tuesdays and Thursdays at Monte Rio Beach. Fees are $10 a session. Local sponsors are MRRPD and Friends of Monte Rio. SCFYMCA.org to register.
On site they have a private room for an intimate 24-person meeting and a banquet room for bigger events up to 75 people. There is a publicly visible cut and wrap room along with an aging room with 2,500 wheels of cheese. The theme is “rustic” with recycled tin chairs and redwood countertops.
Out of 17 nearby neighborhoods, Nextdoor Downtown Monte Rio has the most neighbors registered! Let’s stay #1. Invite your neighbors to join Nextdoor Downtown Monte Rio via an email invite in the app. It’s the fastest and easiest way to invite and to verify neighbors. Remember real names and addresses are required for registration and comments need to be civil and respectful. Nextdoor is a great asset to our community and we are always continuing to improve it.
It’s worth a trip to Valley Ford to see what they’ve created—a full cafe with everything cheese and then some! Loaded menu with hot or on- the-go items, pastries, espresso, soft serve, gift shop with clothes and cheese accompaniments, beers on tap and an extensive wine list, either by the glass or by the bottle.
Vacation Wonderland, we just keep getting better. 42 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 7/19
You can find their cheese at Farmers Markets on Friday night in Occidental or Saturday morning in Healdsburg, or of course their new storefront and restaurant: 14390 Valley Ford Rd. Open Wed-Sun, varied hours. (707)875-7073. Also, nearly 80 locations @ www.valleyfordcheese.com/find-local
They currently make five cheeses: