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1: Going to California

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Made up my mind, make a new start I'm going to California with an aching in my heart — Led Zeppelin, Going to California “Decided” may be too generous a word. It suggests two calm adults sitting across from each other at a sensible table, perhaps with tea, making a thoughtful list of pros and cons. What actually happened was more like life dismantled itself around us piece by piece until California began to look less like a destination and more like the emergency exit. First came the closure of Rowdy Mermaid. Then came the end of Jamba’s role as CEO after the brand’s acquisition. Thirteen years of work, friendships, ambition, identity, and the deeply held belief that if you built something from nothing, surely something of it would remain. Very little remained. Then came inflation. A trip to the grocery store became an exercise in courage. Limes were a dollar. Avocados were five. Lettuce had apparently joined the luxury-goods market and was now ten dollars a head. Every grocery run...
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2. The Banana Belt

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Sexton Road is in West Sebastopol, in what we were told is the “banana belt” of western Sonoma County. This information came from a very chatty handyman we ultimately decided not to hire, which means it may be either local wisdom or something he invented while standing in our driveway. According to him, the banana belt is a miraculous pocket of weather where you can grow anything. Anything. Bananas? Probably not. But the general idea was persuasive. The property already had pears, apples, walnuts, blackberries, roses, grapes, cactus, more apples, an Asian pear, and a plum tree. It was less a yard than an unsupervised fruit bin. And Sexton Road sits just off Bodega Highway, the road that carries you west toward Bodega Bay and the ocean, which is only about thirteen miles away. Around us were vineyards, apple orchards, sustainable vegetable farms, roadside stands, and restaurants serving things like rockfish tacos, breakfast polenta covered in edible flowers, local honey, artisan bread,...
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