Winter 2021 Issue

I was very relieved (and you are, too ... trust me) that I did not have to write this issue’s letter from the editor even just a week earlier. Lockdown fatigue is real, my friends. And I know I’m singing with the choir—all over the world. We are all more than ready to fully reconvene with our people, and I suspect even gather around the office water cooler again.

The lethargy brought on by isolation from my beloved local food and agriculture community had sapped even my long-enduring enthusiasm for publishing and editing this magazine, a vocation I believe to be my dharma.

Then yesterday that all shifted—in an instant—as we drove up Highway 1 on our way to a gathering of fellow supporters of the Agricultural Institute of Marin’s planned Center for Food and Agriculture (CenterForFoodAndAgriculture.org). I had been beaming with anticipation as the date approached, knowing that the always-gorgeous (and SO green with the recent abundant rains!) Stemple Creek Ranch would be filled with many of my local food and agriculture heroes, many of them also longtime friends and colleagues.

I will never again underestimate, or take for granted, the power of being physically in communion. I may have given Peggy Smith, co-founder of Cowgirl Creamery, the longest and tightest hug of her life …

My wish for all of you this holiday season is the heart- and soul-nourishing gift of coming together around a table. And may that table be filled with the most consciously grown, raised and crafted—not to mention delicious—food and drink on the planet, hailing from right here in Edible Marin & Wine Country.