Columns Archives

The Indoor Winter Herb Garden

February 3, 2026February 6, 2026 Bridget Giuffrida

By Bridget Giuffrida Now is a beautiful time of year to lean into cozy, fragrant, hard-working herbs that thrive indoors and bring warmth, nourishment, and a sense of tradition to winter living. Growing herbs inside during the darkest time of year offers not only fresh flavor for cooking and baking but also living greenery for decorating and simple homestead joy.… Read More

Astrology Columns

February’s Celestial Call for Compassionate Warriors

February 1, 2026February 5, 2026 Catie Cadge, PhD

By Catie Cadge, PhD February opens with a Full Moon in Leo, 13°03’, on the 1st, 2:09 pm Pacific time. We are in the heart of “Aquarius season” and the Moon opposes Sun, Mars and Venus (loosely Mercury and Pluto) all in Aquarius, the Sun conjunct the asteroid Vesta at 11°02’ Aquarius. This is a good lunar time to find… Read More

Astrology Columns

A Fresh Start | January 2026 Horoscope

January 4, 2026January 14, 2026 Catie Cadge, PhDastrology, horoscope, January 2026

By Catie Cadge PhD Every January, I think of the words of a Grateful Dead song, “The wheel is turning and you can’t slow down…” Where do we see a fresh start for our wheel moving forward? Where do we see planetary shifts and changes? For this month’s cosmic weather report, let’s briefly look at the next few weeks and… Read More

Columns Real Estate

Reading the Rain | Santa Cruz Mountains Real Estate

January 2, 2026January 25, 2026 MaryBeth McLaughlin

What Long-Term Rainfall Data Reveals About Timing the Market in the San Lorenzo Valley By MaryBeth McLaughlin If you live in the San Lorenzo Valley, you don’t need a forecast to tell you that the rainy season is upon us. You see it in the creeks rising, road damage, and the forest in winter mode. Still, the data behind our… Read More

Columns Food & Drink Recipes

Grandma Ella’s Persimmon Cookies

December 24, 2025January 4, 2026 Thomas Andersen

By Tom Andersen The winds in the Valley have done their annual stripping of the persimmon trees exposing for us winter’s candy. I’m not exactly sure how so many persimmon trees made it into the San Lorenzo Valley, but I’m certainly not complaining. Someone recently told me they were an invasive species in California. They need to go. Shudder at… Read More

Santa Cruz Has Everthing But You Frank Robinson Brentlinger

Columns History Local History

Santa Cruz Has Everything – But You

December 23, 2025December 28, 2025 Lisa Robinson

By Lisa Robinson In 1926, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported “At last – a Christmas greeting card typical of Santa Cruz!” The cards were devoid of snow or snow-covered holly berries. In fact, the Sentinel pointed out, Santa Cruz was a city “where snowstorms are as scarce as seagull’s teeth.” View the full Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper clipping below. Local… Read More

Columns Real Estate

Rates Dip, Buyers Stir: A Seasonal Shift in SLV Real Estate

December 15, 2025December 31, 2025 MaryBeth McLaughlin

The MountainEar Real Estate Update By MaryBeth McLaughlin If you’ve lived in the Santa Cruz Mountains long enough, you know we aren’t the only ones who tune in to the rhythms of the seasons — the squirrels do it, too. And this month, our flannel-clad mascot has one oversized ear tilted toward a sound we haven’t heard in a while:… Read More

Columns Food & Drink

Green Tea and Honey Jun

December 7, 2025December 22, 2025 Thomas Andersen

Crafting a Maui Inspired Kombucha Style Beverage By Tom Andersen Yes indeed you can make a kombucha style beverage with green tea and honey as the sugar. It’s called “Jun,” possibly derived from the Chinese word for pure, some say Tibetan origins. Unfortunately, as I discovered, honey is a pretty good antiseptic and antimicrobial. Needless to say, it killed one… Read More

Astrology Columns

Yuletide Solstice Blessings | December Horoscope

December 3, 2025December 8, 2025 slvpost.com

By Catie Cadge PhD Holiday greetings, Santa Cruz County stargazers! Yuletide solstice blessings to everyone. December begins with a Full Moon, 13°03’ Gemini, on the 4th at 3:14 pm Pacific time. A “supermoon,” La Luna is also “out of bounds” at extreme declination. An out-of-bounds Moon gives it an unconventional spin, a heightened emotional time when the Moon is beyond… Read More

Columns Gardening

November Gardening in the Santa Cruz Mountains

November 22, 2025November 29, 2025 slvpost.com

Preparing for a Productive Winter Garden By Marielle Martin As the rains return and the air cools in the Santa Cruz Mountains, it’s time to turn our attention to winter gardening tasks. Most of the Valley falls within Sunset Climate Zone 15, known for mild, wet winters with the occasional light frost in valley bottoms. November is the ideal month… Read More