Slow Books, Zaitoun: Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen, by Yasmin Khan
2023-04-24 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | Cloverdale
Slow Books is currently full, but we are currently reading Zaitoun: Recipes from the Palestinian Kitchen, by Yasmin Khan.

Slow Cookbooks: Focus on Deborah Madison
2023-05-17 16:00 - 18:00 | Cloverdale
Please join us for the next meet-up of Slow Cookbooks!
Deborah Madison is the author of 14 cookbooks and countless articles on food, cooking, and farming. She is revered for bringing vegetarian cooking to a wide audience, including non-vegetarians, via Greens restaurant in San Francisco and her cookbooks. A bestselling and award-winning author, her first cookbook was The Greens Cookbook.
Please join us on May 17 to share food from her cookbooks, and discuss her philosophy of food and cooking, what she has contributed to the world of food, and your critique of her cookbooks.
To participate, select a recipe from one of Deborah Madison’s books and prepare small bites to share with the group. We will let you know how many people will be attending. Please also bring a beverage.
There is no charge for the meeting, but please sign up now because space is limited.
Register Here
What Is Slow Cookbooks?
Slow Cookbooks is an informal group that will gather 4 times a year in someone’s home to discuss the book(s) chosen for that meeting and share food each participant prepares from the book. Each meeting will have a different food theme or cookbook, selected by participants, and is open to everyone who wants to explore that focus.

Slow Books: California Soul by Tanya Holland
2023-06-05 18:00 | CA
The Slow Book group is currently full, but we are reading California Soul by Tanya Holland.

Noble Goat Farm Tour
2023-06-08 10:00 - 12:00 | Noble Goat Farm, Kinley Drive, Healdsburg, CA, 95448, United States
Please join us for a tour of this 3-year old farm in the Dry Creek Valley. Our tour will be led by Noble Goat’s farmer, Jon Vandervelde, who will describe what it takes to create a bio-diverse farm from a neglected orchard, and how they work with Farm to Pantry and Farm to Fight Hunger to reduce food insecurity in our community.
Bring your lunch if you’d like to eat together at picnic tables in the farm’s Grove after the tour.
Full disclosure: there are no goats on the farm yet!
Tickets are $10 for Slow Food members and $15 for non-members.
Buy your tickets here.
Owners Shalie and Jeremy Jonkers describe their farm this way:
We’re a family-run truck farm in the heart of the Dry Creek Valley watershed. Established in 2020, we started by reviving a neglected pomegranate orchard. Working alongside a team of local experts, we’re on journey to develop a sustainable, bio-diverse farm. From revitalizing the soil and fixing irrigation, to selecting our seasonal crops, we’re growing every day. For every pound of produce we sell, we donate a pound to local organizations fighting food insecurity in Sonoma County.
Reinvigorating the soil, and restoring the biodiversity, will not only lead to higher-nutrient produce, but will also increase carbon draw-down and support climate improvement.
Today, the property includes 400 pomegranate trees and 4 acres of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. We aspire to build a sustainable family farm using a holistic and ethical approach to growing. We believe that mindful farming practices, bio-diversity, and local engagement will positively impact the health of our community and the planet.

Summer Picnic at Gradek Ranch
2023-07-15 17:00 | Gradek Ranch, 2323 West Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, CA, 95448, United States
Annual Summer Picnic at the Lake in Dry Creek Valley

It’s picnic time again! Let’s get together at our Annual Summer Picnic at the Gradek Ranch lake in Healdsburg’s Dry Creek Valley.
Saturday, July 15, 5 pm
2323 West Dry Creek Road
Healdsburg
Note that the cutoff date for tickets is July 8.

A selection of appetizers will be followed by a supper of grilled Italian sausage, handcrafted from California pork, your choice of hot or sweet; peppers and onions, Bodega Red potato salad, green salad, rolls, and dessert.
Bring your own beverage, place setting, and glass.
Want to take a swim in the lake? Bring your bathing suit.

Tickets are $45 for Slow Food members, $55 for nonmembers.
Children under 12 are free. The deadline for purchasing tickets is July 8.
If you prefer to pay by check, please register at slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com and send your check (made out to SF Sonoma County North) to 1321 W. Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg 95448. WE MUST RECEIVE YOUR CHECK BY JULY 8.
Directions will be sent upon registration.
Not sure if your membership is current? Email us at slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com.

Buy Your Tickets Here

Summer 100 Mile Dinner in the Alexander Valley (Wait List)
2023-07-29 18:00 - 21:00 | CA
Wait List
A 100-mile dinner sources every ingredient within 100 miles of the dinner’s location. Please join us for one of these special experiences!
July 29, 6 pm
Diaz Ranch, Cloverdale

The 5-course menu with wine is $150 per person. Our setting is the patio at Colibri Vineyard overlooking the vines and hills to the west. The meal is created and served by members of our chapter’s Events team, and raises funds for our many Slow Food projects that support farmers and food-related businesses.

Green Star Farm Tour
2023-08-11 10:30 - 12:00 | CA

Slow Books: The Cooking Gene
2023-09-05 18:00 - 20:00 | CA
Slow Books: The Cooking Gene

We have two places open for the next meeting of Slow Books. Please join us!
Tuesday, September 5, 6-8 pm
Cloverdale
For this meeting, we are reading The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael Twitty.
Our meetings include a discussion of the book and a meal. Everyone makes a dish from a recipe in the book. Just select a dish you’d like to bring and let the group know by email.
There is no charge for the meeting, but please sign up now because there are only two places available.

Register Here

The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South by Michael Twitty.
A renowned culinary historian offers a fresh perspective on our most divisive cultural issue, race, in this illuminating memoir of Southern cuisine and food culture that traces his ancestry—both black and white—through food, from Africa to America and slavery to freedom.
Southern food is integral to the American culinary tradition, yet the question of who “owns” it is one of the most provocative touch points in our ongoing struggles over race. In this unique memoir, culinary historian Michael W. Twitty takes readers to the white-hot center of this fight, tracing the roots of his own family and the charged politics surrounding the origins of soul food, barbecue, and all Southern cuisine.
From the tobacco and rice farms of colonial times to plantation kitchens and backbreaking cotton fields, Twitty tells his family story through the foods that enabled his ancestors’ survival across three centuries. He sifts through stories, recipes, genetic tests, and historical documents, and travels from Civil War battlefields in Virginia to synagogues in Alabama to Black-owned organic farms in Georgia.
As he takes us through his ancestral culinary history, Twitty suggests that healing may come from embracing the discomfort of the Southern past. Along the way, he reveals a truth that is more than skin deep—the power that food has to bring the kin of the enslaved and their former slaveholders to the table, where they can discover the real America together. (Amazon)

©2023 Slow Food Sonoma County North | P.O. Box 1494 | Healdsburg CA | 95448

Slow Food Presents a Sunset Supper at Foss Vineyards
2023-09-23 18:00 - 21:00 | The Barn at Foss Vineyard, 6475 Starr Road, Windsor, CA, 95492, United States
As the season turns from summer green to the colors of fall, please join us for supper on the Autumn Equinox. The evening begins outside overlooking the Foss Vineyard, savoring a selection of appetizers, and enjoying a variety of Italian wines. Guests can peruse the treasures offered in a silent auction before sitting down for a three-course dinner accompanied by DaVero wines.
Between dinner courses, we will hear from those who attended Terra Madre 2022. Our delegate to Terra Madre 2022 was Tucker Taylor, Head Culinary Gardener of Jackson Family Farms. Also attending from the chapter were Donna Del Rey, owner of Relish Culinary Adventures in Healdsburg (both Snail of Approval awardees), and Marie Giacalone, Chair of the chapter’s Events Team. The meal will be prepared by the Sonoma County North’s Events Team.
This will be a fundraiser to send our delegates to Italy in 2024.
Tickets are $75 for Slow Food members and $85 for non-members. Ticket sales close September 16, 6 pm. Note that there are no refunds after September 15.
If you prefer to pay by check, please mail your check made out to SF Sonoma County North to Mark Crapeau, 985 Lupine Court, Healdsburg 95448. Checks must be received no later than September 16.

TICKETS

Supper will be accompanied by wine generously donated by DaVero Farms and Winery.
MENU
Assortment of Slow Appetizers served with a selection of Italian wines
Late Summer Salad
Lasagna Involtini (with vegetarian option)
Fall Vegetables
Vin Santo and Biscotti

Showa Olive Farm Tour
2023-10-05 10:00 - 12:00 | CA
Showa Olive Farm Tour

Continuing our 2023 farm tours, next we will be visiting Cloverdale and touring
Showa Farm
Thursday, October 5, 10 am
26070 River Road, Cloverdale
Tickets are $10 for Slow Food members, and $20 for non-members.
We will tour the farm and taste the Arbequina olive oil with Geoff Peters, the owner. We will see the olive trees full of olives right before harvest and learn about his farming practices— Showa is both organic and biodynamic. There will also be time to visit the animals he has on the property (chickens, goats, sheep, and two donkeys). After our tour, Geoff will host a tasting of his award-winning olive oil.
The ground will be uneven on this tour so we recommend you wear flat, comfortable shoes.

Get Your Tickets Here

Harvesting at night

Showa Farm
Located in the Alexander Valley, Showa Farm is family-owned. We use best practices based on biodynamic and organic farming principles. The olive orchards are 90% Arbequina olive trees with the remaining trees being pollinators.
Our estate-grown organic extra virgin olive oil is made solely from hand-picked Arbequina olives. Using well water, drip irrigation, low-density no-till farming, we organically press each small batch to create this flavorful and super high-quality EVOO.
100-percent of our electric usage comes from our solar panels and our water is all-natural aquifer well water administered to the orchard using drip irrigation. We raise goats, chickens, a burro, a horse and dogs. We grow fruits and nuts as well as vegetables to add to the diversity.
Of the 30 acres on the farm, only 8 are devoted to olive trees with another 2 acres devoted to other non-commercial organic gardens, trees, and food production. Even the 8 acres of olive trees are planted 16-18 feet center on center allowing very large areas for air circulation and lots of sunlight. This low-density approach has allowed us to be disease and pest free and has improved the quality of our olive oil.
Showa was selected as one of the top 100 olive oils in the world three times at the New York International Olive Oil Competition.

Volunteer Day for Farm to Pantry
2023-10-11 08:30 - 11:00 | CA
Volunteer Day for Farm to Pantry

Do good and have fun! Volunteer with us for a few hours of gleaning for Farm to Pantry!
Wednesday, October 11, 8:30-11:00 am
We are gleaning at Farm to Fight Hunger, 12340 Los Amigos Road, Healdsburg
We will meet at Farm to Fight Hunger at 8:30 am at the barn. Park near the entrance to the farm and walk up the driveway to the barn.
During the morning, we will harvest field vegetables and pack and weigh them. If you don’t want to bend over and pick, carry buckets of produce, or work in the sun, you may choose to weigh, bag, and box in the barn. There’s a job for everyone!
When we finish, the produce will be delivered to organizations that feed people in need of healthy food.
Wear work clothes and bring a water bottle, hat, and gloves. We’ll also learn a bit about this farm and its mission.

SIGN UP HERE

Farm to Pantry Executive Director Duskie Estes

In 2008, the nonprofit Farm to Pantry was launched to serve a need in our local community: to provide a continuous supply of fresh, healthy produce to our most vulnerable neighbors who lack access to it by cultivating a community of growers and volunteers. The mission then and now is to bring together communities to end food injustice and reverse global warming by rescuing and sharing locally-grown food with those who have been systematically marginalized. We envision a just food system in which everyone has access to healthy food that honors and nourishes our community and heals the planet through eliminating food waste.

Farm to Fight Hunger owners Bruce Mentzer and Anthony Solar

Farm to Fight Hunger is a non-profit organization that grows, harvests and delivers fresh nutritious produce, free of charge, to those in Sonoma County in need of healthy food. Eggs layed by happy pastured hens are also donated to local food banks. We farm in an earth-friendly sustainable manner and work to improve the soil health, therefore improving the nutritional content of the food we grow, increasing the amount of carbon the soil can hold and reducing greenhouse gases. We will work to make the farm its own healthy balanced ecosystem, with habitat for both native plants and beneficial insects.
Farm to Fight Hunger is a Slow Food in Sonoma County Snail of Approval farm.

Sonoma County North Annual Meeting
2023-10-15 15:00 - 17:00 | CA
Annual Meeting: An Afternoon of Conviviality and Information About the Food Movement

Meet and greet, sip and nibble, and hear about some cutting-edge issues in the food world.
Please join us for our annual meeting next month!
Sunday, October 15, 3-5 pm
Farm to Fight Hunger Barn, 12340 Los Amigos Road, Healdsburg
Greet your friends and meet new members, learn what your chapter has planned for the year, and make your voices heard. Three speakers will inform us on some of the current trends in the food movement.

There is no charge for the meeting, but please register as we need a count for planning purposes.
We extend a special invitation to our newer members–come meet other members and get involved in your chapter’s activities! If your membership has expired, attend and renew it. Not a member? Come and see what we’re all about.

REGISTER HERE

Our Meeting Speakers
Naomi Crawford, Co-Owner of Lunchette in Petaluma and member of Zero Foodprint. Lunchette’s fast-casual model is designed to increase equity in the operation. Naomi has worked with suppliers for better compostable take-out containers, and reduced their restaurant’s trash to almost nothing. Lunchette is a Slow Food in Sonoma County Snail of Approval Restaurant. Naomi will talk about getting to zero waste.

Aleta Pierce, Owner and Farm Manager of Beet Generation Farm, Forestville. Aleta will describe the process of regenerating the soil and building the infrastructure at the farm’s new location. Beet Generation is the 2023 recipient of our chapter’s Local Farmer grant.

Steve Pogue, Glean Leader at Farm to Fight HungerHealdsburg. Steve will talk about the farm’s model of reducing food insecurity, and the partnership with the gleaning organization, Farm to Pantry. FTFH is a Slow Food in Sonoma County Snail of Approval Farm.

Volunteer With Us at the Redwood Empire Food Bank
2023-11-28 10:00 - 13:00 | CA
Volunteer With Us at the Redwood Empire Food Bank

The Redwood Empire Food Bank (REFB)is the largest hunger-relief organization serving Northern California. Since 1987, REFB has been feeding our neighbors in need and leading the community to end hunger. Volunteers are critical to the Food Bank’s mission. Every month, volunteers contribute time which would otherwise require the work of 45 full-time staff members.
Our Sonoma County North leadership group is volunteering a few hours of our time to help pack food in the Food Bank’s warehouse. We have reserved 15 places and invite you to join us! Have fun together while giving back to our community and helping to alleviate hunger.
Tuesday, November 28, 10 am-1 pm
Redwood Empire Food Bank
3990 Brickway Boulevard, Santa Rosa
We must confirm our volunteer reservation with the Food Bank by November 25. We look forward to working together!

SIGN UP HERE

©2023 Slow Food Sonoma County North | P.O. Box 1494 | Healdsburg CA | 95448

Celebrate Terra Madre Day With Us
2023-12-10 17:30 - 20:30 | Idlewild Tasting Room, 132 Plaza Street, Healdsburg, CA
Celebrate Terra Madre Day With Us!

Please join us for dinner on Terra Madre Day
Sunday, December 10, 5:30 pm.
This year we are observing Terra Madre Day with dinner at Idlewild Tasting Room, 132 Plaza Street, Healdsburg
(street parking)

MENU
Selection of Appetizers
Tuscan Kale Salad
Boeuf Bourguignon with Mashed Potatoes (a vegetarian option will be offered)
Bread & Butter
Apple bars
Idlewild wines are included

In the Slow Food tradition, please bring your own (non-disposable) plate + silverware + napkin to help reduce waste and clean-up time. Wine glasses will be provided. No outside wine, please.

Space is limited–reserve your place now!
Tickets are $60 for Slow Food members, $75 for non-members. Sales will close on December 6, 2023.
See you on December 10!

Reserve a Spot

Terra Madre Day is on December 10 every year around the world. It is Slow Food’s way to promote the diversity of food traditions and production and show how our network is using its creativity and knowledge to build a better food future.
Terra Madre Day brings together all who share the vision of a food system that supports local economies, and respects the environment, biodiversity, taste, and tradition.

©2023 Slow Food Sonoma County North | P.O. Box 1494 | Healdsburg CA | 95448

Slow Books: The Fate of Food: What We'll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World
2024-02-19 18:00 - 20:00 | CA
Although the Slow Books meet-up is currently full, you can join us in reading this month’s selection.
The Fate of Food: What We’ll Eat in a Bigger, Hotter, Smarter World by Amanda Little
In the fascinating story of the sustainable food revolution, an environmental journalist and professor asks the question: Is the future of food looking bleak – or better than ever?
Climate models show that global crop production will decline every decade for the rest of this century due to drought, heat, and flooding. Water supplies are in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the world’s population is expected to grow another 30 percent by midcentury. So how, really, will we feed nine billion people sustainably in the coming decades?
Amanda Little, a professor at Vanderbilt University and an award-winning journalist, spent three years traveling through a dozen countries and as many US states in search of answers to this question.Through her interviews and adventures with farmers, scientists, activists, and engineers, Little tells the fascinating story of human innovation and explores new and old approaches to food production while charting the growth of a movement that could redefine sustainable food on a grand scale.
Throughout her journey, Little finds and shares a deeper understanding of the threats of climate change and encounters a sense of awe and optimism about the lessons of our past and the scope of human ingenuity. (Amazon)

6th Annual Snail of Approval Awards
2024-02-28 17:30 - 19:30 | Sebastopol Grange, 6000 Sebastopol Ave, Sebastopol, CA, 95472, United States
Celebrate our 2023 Snail of Approval Awardees! We will honor 12 local restaurants, farms, and artisan producers at the 6th Annual Snail of Approval Awards ceremony at the Sebastopol Grange.
Meet our community of honorees and enjoy their tastes and displays, while learning about local food businesses. They will be joining a growing group of local Sonoma County food purveyors and hundreds of awardees from across the country.
Get your tickets now!
2023 Snail of Approval Awardees:

Americana Sebastopol, Sebastopol
[the bejkr], Sonoma
Bricoleur Vineyards Culinary Garden, Windsor
Fourteen Magpies Handmade Jams & Preserves, Santa Rosa
Goguette Bread, Santa Rosa
Psychic Pie, Sebastopol
Sarmentine Artisan Boulanger, Santa Rosa
SingleThread Farm, Healdsburg
The Spinster Sisters, Santa Rosa
Culinary Farm at St Francis Winery & Vineyards, Santa Rosa
Wise Acre Farm, Windsor
Volo Chocolate, Windsor

Light bites and beverages will be served.
Snail of Approval is a recognition given to food businesses that pursue and practice Slow Food values of good, clean and fair food for all. As a locally run but internationally recognized program, Snail of Approval is a powerful recognition. Slow Food in Sonoma County is a joint project of two local Slow Food chapters, Sonoma County North and Russian River, run in partnership with Slow Food USA.
Slow Food USA’s Snail of Approval directory is a national interactive Snail of Approval map that allows users to find businesses across the US that are embracing the Slow Food values.
Visit the Sonoma County map for a full list of local Snail of Approval awardees.

Slow Food Tortilla-Making Class and Lunch
2024-03-09 10:00 - 13:00 | CA
Tortilla-Making and Lunch With the Diaz Sisters

Saturday, March 9, 10:00 am
26607 River Road, Cloverdale
Instruction and practice, followed by lunch
Join the Diaz Sisters and learn to make flour tortillas. Margie Diaz Bourdon and Eliza Diaz Thompson will lead us in a morning session on the process, sprinkled with stories and fun. Learn to make the dough, roll with the pipa and grill up light, delicious tortillas. You will never want to buy store-bought again!
Hands-on, we will work together to make the dough and get a feel for rolling out the tortillas.
After our work is done, we will sit down to lunch, enjoying a meal with our warm tortillas.

$35 Slow Food members, $45 non-members

TICKETS

The word “tortilla” originally comes from the Spanish word torta, which means “round cake.” When Spanish explorers discovered an unleavened flatbread made by the Aztecs, they called it tortilla (little torta).

©2024 Slow Food Sonoma County North | P.O. Box 1494 | Healdsburg CA | 95448

Volunteer Day at Redwood Empire Food Bank
2024-03-19 10:00 - 13:00 | Redwood Empire Food Bank, 3990 Brickway Boulevard, Santa Rosa, CA
More information coming soon.

Slow Wine
2024-03-27 12:00 - 16:00 | City View at the Metreon, 135 4th Street, San Francisco, CA, 94103, United States
Slow Wine
City View at the Metreon, San Francisco
(Slow Food Sonoma County North and East Bay will have a table)

Slow Books: Taste: My Life Through Food by Stanley Tucci
2024-04-08 | CA
Although the Slow Books meet-up is currently full, you can join us in reading this month’s selection.

From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen.
Stanley Tucci grew up in an Italian American family that spent every night around the kitchen table. He shared the magic of those meals with us in The Tucci Cookbook and The Tucci Table, and now he takes us beyond the savory recipes and into the compelling stories behind them.​
Taste is a reflection on the intersection of food and life, filled with anecdotes about his growing up in Westchester, New York; preparing for and shooting the foodie films Big Night and Julie & Julia; falling in love over dinner; and teaming up with his wife to create meals for a multitude of children. Each morsel of this gastronomic journey through good times and bad, five-star meals and burned dishes, is as heartfelt and delicious as the last.
Written with Stanley’s signature wry humor, Taste is for fans of Bill Buford, Gabrielle Hamilton, and Ruth Reichl – and anyone who knows the power of a home-cooked meal. (Amazon)

Slow Books: The World Central Kitchen Cookbook by Jose Andres
2024-05-13 | CA
Although the Slow Books meet-up is currently full, you can join us in reading this month’s selection.

Farm Tour: Seven Moons Farm, Sonoma
2024-05-15 | CA
Farm Tour: Seven Moons Farm

You’re invited to a tour of Seven Moons Farm in Sonoma’s Valley of the Moon
Wednesday, May 15, 10-11:30 am
Tickets are $20 for Slow Food members and $25 for non-members.
Proceeds from this event will be shared equally by Seven Moons Farm and Sonoma County North’s Local Farmer Grant.

GET TICKETS HERE

Rebecca Bozzelli

Our tour will take approximately 1.5 hours, led by Seven Moons’ owner, Rebecca Bozzelli. There are two nearby restaurants that buy produce from the farm (Swim Club and El Molino) if you want to have lunch after the tour.
Directions to the farm will be sent upon registration.
Seven Moons is a small two-family farm in Sonoma Valley. It is a diverse landscape of fruit trees, perennial herbs, berries, flowers, native habitat, and fields for row crops. “We pride ourselves on growing the highest quality produce for local restaurants, farm boxes and the farmers market by focusing on sustainable and regenerative farming practices.”
Visit them on Saturday mornings at the Santa Rosa Original Farmers Market at The Luther Burbank Center.
Seven Moons Farm is a Snail of Approval in Sonoma County awardee, and grows Ark of Taste products.

©2024 Slow Food Sonoma County North | P.O. Box 1494 | Healdsburg CA | 95448

The Mendocino Grain Project and Ridgewood Ranch Farm Tour
2024-06-15 10:00 - 13:00 | Mendocino Grain Project, 3541 N. State Street, Ukiah, CA, 95482, United States
Farm Tour: The Mendocino Grain Project and Ridgewood Ranch

Please join us for a tour of the Mendocino Grain Project in Ukiah followed by a tour and picnic lunch at Ridgewood Ranch.
Saturday, June 15, 10 am
3541 N. State Street, Ukiah
The tour is limited to 15 people. Tickets are $20 for Slow Food members and $30 for non-members.
Proceeds will be shared equally by the Mendocino Grain Project and the chapter’s Local Farmer project.
Ridgewood Ranch is about 20 minutes north of Ukiah. You may choose to leave after our tour, or continue north to visit the Ranch and have a brown-bag lunch. Carpool options will be sent upon registration confirmation.

BUY TICKETS HERE

Rachel Britten is the owner of the Mendocino Grain Project in central Mendocino County. She grows primarily wheat and rye on 34 acres in Redwood Valley. She took over the business in 2020 from Doug Mosel who started it in 2009.
“We’re right on the Russian River, and we don’t use any fertilizer other than compost and cover crops. We use a low-tillage system, which means minimizing the disturbance to the soil. It’s part of my farming values, but it also feels like a responsibility to my community. Local farming creates a really beautiful loop of accountability and understanding.” (Alta Magazine)
Rachel processes her grain for sale, and also partners with other farmers to process their grains post-harvest: quinoa, rolled oats, heirloom beans, and Einkorn. A percentage of the grain stays with the Grain Project for sale and the remainder goes back to the farmers.
Rachel lives on a ranch made famous as the retirement home of champion race horse Sea Biscuit. Ridgewood Ranch is north of Ukiah, and we will have a chance to tour the ranch and have a brown-bag lunch after our visit to the grain milling facility in Ukiah.

Slow Books: How to Cook a Wolf by M.F.K. Fisher
2024-06-24 | CA
Although the Slow Books meet-up is currently full, you can join us in reading this month’s selection.
Written to inspire courage in those daunted by wartime shortages, How to Cook a Wolf continues to rally cooks during times of plenty, reminding them that providing sustenance requires more than putting food on the table.
M. F. K. Fisher knew that the last thing hungry people needed were hints on cutting back and making do. Instead, she gives her readers license to dream, to experiment, to construct adventurous and delicious meals as a bulwark against a dreary, meager present. Her fine prose provides reason in itself to draw our chairs close to the hearth; we can still enjoy her company and her exhortations to celebrate life by eating well.

Annual Summer Picnic at the Lake
2024-07-27 16:00 - 19:00 | Gradek Ranch, 2323 West Dry Creek Road, Healdsburg, CA, 95448, United States
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ANNUAL SUMMER PICNIC AT THE LAKE

Please join us at our Annual Summer Picnic at the Gradek Ranch lake in Healdsburg’s Dry Creek Valley!
SATURDAY, JULY 27, 4-7 pm
2323 West Dry Creek Road
Healdsburg

MENU
Selection of Sonoma County Breads and Spreads
Grilled Tuscan Ribs
Bodega Red Potato Salad
Kale and Wheat Berry Salad
Ice Cream and Shortbread
PLEASE BRING YOUR PLACE SETTING, GLASS, AND A BEVERAGE!

Tickets are $45 for Slow Food members, $55 for nonmembers. Children under 12 are free.
Directions will be sent upon registration.
Want to swim or dunk in the lake? Bring your bathing suit! There is a cabin for changing.
Not sure if your membership is current? Email us at slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com.

Buy Your Tickets Here

100-Mile Dinner Tickets
Some of you have experienced our delicious 100-Mile Dinners, in which every ingredient of the meal is sourced from within 100 miles. At the picnic, you may purchase a seat at our next dinner, on September 7.

Slow Books: Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Foods, by Sarah Lohman
2024-08-05 | CA
Slow Books is an ongoing activity of our chapter. The group meets every 6 weeks to discuss a food-related book and enjoy a potluck dinner based on the book. We meet in people’s homes which can usually only accommodate up to 8 people. For this reason, we are usually unable to invite others than our core group of participants.
But we’re learning a lot from the books we’ve read, and thought you might want to enjoy the books as well. We will therefore let you know what we’re reading each meeting through the newsletter and our website.
August Selection
Endangered Eating: America’s Vanishing Foods, by Sarah Lohman
In Endangered Eating, culinary historian Sarah Lohman draws inspiration from the Ark of Taste, a list compiled by Slow Food International that catalogues important regional foods. Lohman travels the country learning about the distinct ingredients at risk of being lost. Readers follow Lohman to Hawaii, as she walks alongside farmers to learn the stories behind heirloom sugarcane. In the Navajo Nation, she assists in the traditional butchering of a Navajo Churro ram. Lohman heads to the Upper Midwest, to harvest wild rice; to the Pacific Northwest, to spend a day wild salmon reefnet fishing; to the Gulf Coast, to devour gumbo made thick and green with filé powder; and to the Lowcountry of South Carolina, to taste America’s oldest peanut—long thought to be extinct. Lohman learns from those who love these rare ingredients: shepherds, fishers, and farmers; scientists, historians, and activists. And she tries her hand at raising these crops and preparing these dishes. Each chapter includes two recipes, so readers can be a part of saving these ingredients by purchasing and preparing them.

Animated by stories yet grounded in historical research, Endangered Eating gives readers the tools to support community food organizations and producers that work to preserve local culinary traditions and rare, cherished foods—before it’s too late. (Amazon)

Farm Tour: Hog Island Oyster Farm
2024-08-21 10:30 - 12:00 | Hog Island Oyster Co., Marshall, CA, United States
Farm Tour: Hog Island Oyster Farm

Join us for a special educational tour of Hog Island Oyster Farm! For those who are interested, we will have a quick visit to Hog Island Saltworks after the main tour.
Wednesday, August 21, 10:30 am – noon
Hog Island Oyster Company
20215 Shoreline Highway, Marshall, CA 94940
Tickets are $30 for Slow Food members and $40 for non-members.
Lunch is not provided but you may reserve a place at Tony’s Seafood, 415-663-1107, just down the road from our tour.

BUY TICKETS HERE

The Story of Hog Island Oysters
Few foods carry the flavor of “place” quite like an oyster. Tomales Bay has the cool, clean water rich in plankton that oysters feed on to grow plump and sweet, and the flavor of the bay is evident in every delicious mouthful.
We started out with the aim of cultivating the highest quality oysters possible, and that is still the driving principle behind Hog Island. Good things grow slowly and that is what we have tried to do, developing sustainable aquaculture techniques to produce superior shellfish that taste wonderful while building a community of like-minded people. We take great care in everything that we do, from cultivating oysters through to the ways in which we work with our environment and finally how we present our product to you.
Visit our farm in Marshall and learn all about oysters, how we farm them, the marine environment in which they grow, and how to shuck an oyster.

Salt Is Another Product
Harvesting salt the Hog Island way is hands-on from start to finish. We begin by feeding the mineral-rich water of Tomales Bay into a large evaporation tower lined with “salt sails,” made from the same material we use to grow our oysters. Water drips down the sails and recirculates back to the top with the help of solar-powered pumps. Then, we let the wind and sun work their magic to evaporate the sea water into a high salinity brine.
Next, the saturated brine gets brought into the salt house, where Jeff gently heats it over a wood-fired brick oven. As the salt emerges from the brine, Jeff carefully extracts the harvest to give it a unique, fluffy texture and rich mineral content.
The distinct mineral makeup of Tomales Bay’s water gives our salt a high concentration of essential minerals, like magnesium, potassium, iodine and more. With a deep umami flavor profile that’s uniquely West Marin, Hog Island Saltworks adds the perfect finishing touch to any dish.

information coming soon!

100-Mile Dinner in Bennett Valley
2024-09-07 18:00 - 20:00 | CA
100-Mile Dinner in Bennett Valley

Setting for our 100-mile dinner in 2023

A 100-mile dinner sources every ingredient within 100 miles of the dinner’s location. Please join us for our next special experience!
Saturday, September 7, 6 pm
Bennett Valley, Santa Rosa
This 5-course menu with wine is $165 per person. The dinner features Liberty duck, and the full menu will be set according to what is most fresh on September 7.
The meal is created and served by members of our chapter’s Events team, and raises funds for our many Slow Food projects that support farmers and food-related businesses.
The special location will be revealed when you purchase your ticket(s). Dinner is limited to 16 guests.

Sign up soon as only a few seats are left!

PAYMENT OPTION: If you prefer to pay by check, please sign up first at slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com. We will tell you where to send your check, and will register you when we receive it.

Heron Shadow Farm Tour, Sebastopol
2024-09-12 10:00 - 11:15 | CA
Farm Tour: Heron Shadow

Heron Shadow is an Indigenous biocultural heritage oasis in Sebastopol. Join us for a special educational tour!
Thursday, September 12, 10-11:15 am
Sebastopol
Tickets are $20 for Slow Food members and $30 for non-members. The tour is limited to 15 people. Proceeds are divided equally between Heron Shadow Farm and Sonoma County North’s Local Farmer grant.
There are several Slow Food Snail of Approval restaurants in Sebastopol if you want to have lunch after the tour.
Handline, 935 Gravenstein Hwy S.
Americana, 162 N Main Street
Psychic Pie, 980 Gravenstein Hwy S.

BUY TICKETS HERE

An Indigenous Biocultural Heritage Oasis
Heron Shadow is a Native place of refuge and learning for community engagement, connection to the land, growing Indigenous foods, and nourishing Indigenous and intercultural relations.
After 37 years of growing our organization and implementing our mission to protect and revitalize the sacred relationship Native peoples have with ancestral lands, we now have purchased 7.6 acres of land in Sonoma County, on the ancestral lands of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Peoples of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. We were able to become stewards of this land and make this purchase thanks to the discount offered by the former owner, the generous support of key funders, and with the permission of Graton Rancheria.
Heron Shadow: An Indigenous Biocultural Heritage Oasis is a home for the dreaming, building, growing, and transmission of The Cultural Conservancy’s mission and work. We are transforming this gift of land into an innovative haven that will focus on the conservation and regeneration of Indigenous agriculture, Native Sciences, and healthy lifeways.
We invite you to connect with this land, engage in the dream, and experience the potential of Heron Shadow.
(The Cultural Conservancy is a Native-led nonprofit organization founded in 1985. It is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.)

Slow Books: The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo Garcia, by Laura Tillman
2024-09-16 | CA
Slow Books: The Migrant Chef, The Life and Times of Lalo Garcia

We have 3 places available at our next Slow Books meeting, and invite you to join us for a potluck dinner and discussion of the book, The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo Garcia,by Laura Tillman.

Monday, September 16, 6 pm, Cloverdale

There is no charge for the meeting, but we must know who is coming. Please sign up here and we will confirm your attendance: slowfoodsonomacountynorth@gmail.com. The address and details about the meeting will be sent upon confirmation.

The Migrant Chef: The Life and Times of Lalo Garcia, by Laura Tillman A chef’s gripping quest to reconcile his childhood experiences as a migrant farmworker with the rarefied world of fine dining. Born in rural Mexico, Eduardo “Lalo” García Guzmán and his family left for the United States when he was a child, picking fruits and vegetables on the migrant route from Florida to Michigan. He worked in Atlanta restaurants as a teenager before being convicted of a robbery, incarcerated, and eventually deported. Lalo landed in Mexico City as a new generation of chefs was questioning the hierarchies that had historically privileged European cuisine in elite spaces. At his acclaimed restaurant, Máximo Bistrot, he began to craft food that narrated his memories and hopes. Mexico City–based journalist Laura Tillman spent five years immersively reporting on Lalo’s story: from Máximo’s kitchen to the onion fields of Vidalia, Georgia, to Dubai’s first high-end Mexican restaurant, to Lalo’s hometown of San José de las Pilas. What emerges is a moving portrait of Lalo’s struggle to find authenticity in an industry built on the very inequalities that drove his family to leave their home, and of the artistic process as Lalo calls on the experiences of his life to create transcendent cuisine. The Migrant Chef offers an unforgettable window into a family’s border-eclipsing dreams, Mexico’s culinary heritage, and the making of a chef. (Amazon)
