Glorious blue sky and the sound of sprinklers-summer is here! If you asked the golden grasses in Sonoma County they would tell you that spring is over.  The corn and tomato plants in my vegetable garden agree, as do the birds that just finished off the cherries on my tree.

Here in Sonoma County we get our entire year’s rainfall between October and June.  Normally gray rain clouds are punctuated by bright blue skies, but this year it was one long gray march to summer.   The up side to months of Scotland-like weather: happy water tables, full reservoirs and spring plant colors that dazzled.   I was particularly taken in by the pinks.  Pink flowers were everywhere-soft pinks, brilliant pinks, double pinks-I’ll remember spring 2010 in Sonoma County as PRETTY IN PINK and I snapped lots of photos when the sky did give us a sunny break.  They’re my tribute to spring and my welcome to summer.  Happy summer solstice!

Wishing you  lots of BBQ’s, tomatoes and languid days this summer.

I’ve never had better bread anywhere in the world!

I love when amazing food is also healthy….

and Wild Flour is one of those places that’s foodie nirvana for me.

I take just about all of my out of town guest to Wild Flour.  It’s a Sonoma County destination that’s ‘not to be missed’.   I’m always recommending it to my out of town patients when they’re looking for something unique to do while they’re in Sebastopol.

Tourists from all over the country know about Wild Flour because the media’s found it, including CNN. Surprisingly though, it’s never overly crowded and it remains authentically local.

Wild Flour Bakery is in bucolic Freestone. The drive to the bakery is beautiful from every direction, but it’s even better to make the trip part of a little loop out to the coast or to the small town of Occidental.  It takes about 20 minutes to get there from Sebastopol, driving due west through beautiful countryside towards the ocean. It’s important to know that the bakery is only open on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

The breads, scones, sticky buns and biscotti made at Wild Flour are hearty, organic and a baked in a WOOD FIRED BRICK OVEN! They bake their breads continuously and there’s always something hot coming out of the oven. If you time it right, you might get extra lucky and be there when one of the CHEESE BREADS are coming out and –oh boy- there’s hunks of warm cheese in hot fresh herbed bread and little crispy bits where the cheese escaped and hardened on the pan.  Nowhere have I had bread like this; I just can’t tell you how wonderful it is.  The same with the walnut sticky buns-crispy cinnamon sugar on the edge and tons swirled in the center-and it’s all organic.  Believe me, you’re going to want to try everything, and the bakery staff are ready to let you; they have samples of all their breads cut up into little tastes and this bread tasting alone is worth the drive.

And this from me who rarely eats bread or cow dairy products (they don’t agree with me), and walnuts give me hives-but at Wild Flour I throw caution to the wind; like a bear willing to brave the bees for the honey in their hive. I pick the walnuts out of the sticky buns, eat the hunks of cheese in the cheese bread, and I take my chances…. because it’s that good.

Last weekend we went out to the coast for a picnic at our favorite spot overlooking Goat Rock State Beach.  We stopped at Wild Flour to get a loaf of bread, which made a perfect ’sandwich’ with artisan cured meats and Drunken Goat Cheese from Whole Foods.  (Accompanied by cold slaw and a glass of our pinot noir)

After I took this photo, we had a visit from a very friendly raven hoping for a handout.

Delicious food, beautiful scenery and entertaining wild life.  It was a lovely and easy get-away!

For more information about Wild Flour Bakery, visit their web site.

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The ultimate locavor experience is eating produce from your own back yard.

Nothing compares to picking produce warm from the sun and popping it into your mouth-it’s teaming with antioxidants, vitamins and flavor.  Even if all you grow is a tub of cherry tomatoes, those tomatoes will be the tastiest ones you eat this summer.

We have one of the best organic veggie garden resource centers here in Sebastopol- Harmony Farm Supply.  I always recommend a stop at Harmony for my out-of-town gardener patients. We Sonoma County folks love our veggie gardens and Harmony Farm Supply is gardener nirvana.

Harmony Farm Supply is staffed with career plants-people and chock full of everything an organic gardener needs:

• The range of seeds and veggie starts spans from old garden standbys to a huge variety of esoteric heirloom and native varieties with lyrical, ethnic names that are fun to try
• Garden bug, disease and pest experts with organic solutions, if and when our plants start looking funny (I owe these guys for all the help they’ve given me over the years)
• All the organic fertilizer options in the known universe for big, happy veggie plants  that are teaming with vitality and nutrients (the basis of a healthy diet)
• Irrigation experts who help figure out how to water the garden even when we’re not home
• All the other stuff we gardeners could possibly need (tools, pots, trellising, etc.)

The recent weather report says it’ll be 80 degrees for the next 10 days.  That’s an early hot spell and you bet I got my veggie garden in this weekend.  I count my blessings that Harmony is just 10 minutes from my house.  It’s also just 15 minutes north of my office on Highway 116.

They have a small web site but there’s no substitute for bringing your shopping list and questions into Harmony.  After a trip to Harmony, I’ll bet non-gardeners find inspiration for having at least a pot of cherry tomatoes on their patio this summer.

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This morning the Laguna De Santa Rosa was a glorious burst of color from the office reception room.  Spring is around the corner and it’s a lovely time to be in Sonoma County!

The east side of North Main Street has 2 really wonderful stores that I return to time and time again.  It’s also home to the copy center that I use for my business paper/publishing needs.

In my February 3rd post I described my favorite stores on the west side of the Sebastopol’s North Main Street. In today’s post I’ll complete my recommendations on our  main shopping street with the east side of North Main Street.

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Silk Moon

This store is a Sebastopol treasure chest of extraordinary hand woven textiles from around the world.  The owner Janet started with a small store and has had to move into bigger spaces twice to keep up with the demand; people just can’t get enough of her beautiful textiles, most of which are from South East Asia.  Janet travels extensively in Asia, developing personal relationships with the people who produce the beautiful hand woven textiles that she sells. All the items are fair trade and her relationships with her producers can be felt in the warm ambiance of the store.  I’ve bought many gifts and items for myself at Silk Moon, including the blue runner on the reception room table in our office.

195 North Main Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472 Phone (707) 824-4300

Web Site www.silkmoon.org

Dressers

Mother and daughter owners Mary and Tessa carry many of my favorite clothing brands at Dressers. These are perfect California clothes that can be dressed up or down and are flattering and wonderful to wear. A quick survey of their merchandise in my closet includes Velvet, Michael Starrs, Repeat, Cosabella, White+Warren, Christopher Blue, Theory, , Weston Wear, and Bibelot, all of which I’ve gotten good use out of.  Mary, Tessa and their staff know their fashion and will help you find stylish clothes that look good on your particular body. The clothing brands at Dressers aren’t cheap, but because the staff are terrific at putting clothing combinations together I get the maximal use out of what I buy.  Most of the cloths they carry are for women, but there is a small selection of men’s cloths too.

Location 145 North Main Street, Sebastopol, CA Phone (707) 829-8757

Sprint Copy Center

The paper wizards at family run Sprint Copy Center keep my business going with the educational pamphlets and other paper products that we use in our practice.  If you have a business or personal project that involves formatting or printing, these guys give you the personal attention that gets the job from creative inception to finished product.

Located at 175 North Main Street, Sebastoopol, CA 94572 Phone (707) 823-3900

Web Site www.sprintcopycenter.net

See my post on the West Side of North Main Street.

More ideas for spending quality time in Sebastopol: Take a wonderful art walk on Florence Ave and grab a bite at Peter Lowell’s.