Jacoba Charles

Marin county-based science writer Jacoba Charles grew up tending sheep on her family’s Sonoma County ranch. Her work has been published in the New York Times, Salon.com, and the Point Reyes Light.

Cultivating Community in Santa Rosa

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Bayer Farm brings open space and food security to a section of Santa Rosa that needs more of both. With help from the nonprofit Landpaths, people in the Roseland neighborhood are helping each other plant and harvest food, and community.

Getting to Market in Sunol

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In the Sunol Valley, beyond the subdivisions of Pleasanton, Fred Hempel grows tomatoes alongside other farmers growing figs, strawberries, and more. It’s all part of an unusual experiment in micro-farming unfolding under the leadership of Sustainable Agriculture Education on land owned by the San Francisco water department.

Keeping it in the Family in Rio Vista

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For more than a century, Jeanne McCormack’s family has grown grain and raised livestock on a few thousand acres near Rio Vista. But she and her husband Al Medvitz didn’t take a straight line to ranching. Instead, they detoured through Africa and Asia. Now, they’re in it for the long haul.

Sedimental Journey

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For years, controversy raged about the future of Bolinas Lagoon, a significant coastal wetland that seems forever in danger of filling in, to the detriment of the fishing fleet and wildlife like seals and shorebirds. While some locals continue to push for dredging, others say this is all part of a natural cycle. But sea level rise driven by climate change might swamp the whole debate.

Making a PLAN for Badgers

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Where suburban houses give way to grassy fields on the outskirts of Petaluma, a dedicated group of neighbors has spent ten years working to preserve habitat for the elusive American badger. Now, the efforts of the all-volunteer Paula Lane Action Network (PLAN) may pay off in a big way.