Come take a few rounds on the diurnal swing - it's hot during the day, it's cool at night; harvest action is ripping along at a frenetic pace, and the Valley is abuzz with activity! What can calm us down? A kitten. Or a puppy. So Jody Purdom from Pet's Lifeline is on the podcast this week talking about how to adopt a pet in Sonoma Valley, the important work of Pet's Lifeline providing shelter, adoption and medical care services for the kitties and pups of wine country. Did you know that Sonoma w...
Oct 09, 2024•42 min•Season 1Ep. 96
We forgot to write down our introduction when we first thought of it, so our intro is about our lack of intros. Luckily we didn't sweat it too much, because Chef Cristina Topham of Spread Kitchen in Sonoma is a laid-back very-special-guest on the Sonoma Spiel. So laid-back she won't follow the recipes exactly as written (sorry, Grandma!) but rather it's a "riff on my own interpretations of Lebanese and Mediterranean cooking." Before she gets to answering questions from visitors, she talks about ...
Sep 25, 2024•47 min•Season 1Ep. 95
The smell of harvest is in the air: open top fermenters, grapes being crushed and even the "Sonoma aroma" of fertilizer on the fields. And with harvest comes the Valley of the Moon Vintage Festival, when Sonoma Valley comes together to celebrate the hard work of the year's vintage. Robyn Sebastiani of the Sonoma Valley Vintners & Growers details all the happenings at one of the oldest agricultural festivals in California: the tastings, the wonderful winemaker dinners, the grape stomp, the mu...
Sep 17, 2024•45 min•Season 1Ep. 94
Bernie the rescue dog brought Ryan Budlong with St. Francis Winery to the Sonoma Spiel podcast to talk about the Blessing of the Animals, how to take a Vineyard Adventure through their estate to learn about how their grapes are grown and why their culinary garden is now the culinary farm. While Bernie stays pretty quiet, Ryan also details the amazing food pairing experience for which St. Francis won "Best Restaurant in America" from Open Table as well as the bicycle pedal trolley that seats up t...
Sep 13, 2024•49 min•Season 1Ep. 93
Mark Bodenhamer with the Sonoma Valley Chamber is our VERY SPECIAL GUEST this week (and we actually mean it this time) and he has the updates on all things harvest and fall related in Sonoma Valley. Mark talks about fall events like Sundays Music in the Plaza from Music in Place (free concerts), Broadway in Sonoma's finale under the stars in the "Field of Dreams" near the Montini Open Space Preserve, and the 200th Anniversary of planting winegrapes in Sonoma Valley, which will be celebrated at t...
Sep 03, 2024•48 min•Season 1Ep. 92
For more than 25 years, the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art has been showcasing local and internationally-renowned artists in their intimate space on Broadway, just a half-block south from the Sonoma Plaza. Linda Keaton, Executive Director and Chief Curator, paints a picture of what the museum is about and why it's a great place for visitors to Sonoma. She also sketches her journey from a childhood in a farming community in the California Central Valley to a career teaching and curating art. Other t...
Aug 21, 2024•44 min•Season 1Ep. 91
Many people know that Sonoma Valley has had two centuries of winegrowing. But a lot of people don't know that it was also the birthplace of the modern American microbrewery: New Albion Brewing Company. The brainchild of Jack McAuliffe, New Albion was founded by him and Jane Zimmerman and Suzy Stern in 1976, when a decision was made in the driveway of Jane's house in Sonoma. With $1000 each, Jane and Suzy became partners in the "crazy and fun idea" of starting a small brewery on the edge of town ...
Aug 14, 2024•54 min•Season 1Ep. 90
This week we have a very special guest, and this time we actually, actually mean it: Karina Garcia stops by the Sonoma Spiel podcast to talk about "The Springs," a collection of small former resort towns (Fetters Hot Springs, Aqua Caliente, Boyes Hot Springs and El Verano) with great food options and places to explore. Born in Mexico, raised in Boyes Hot Springs, Garcia details her life growing up in the neighborhood with parents who worked multiple jobs, including picking grapes at the end of s...
Aug 07, 2024•46 min•Ep. 89
Sean Gerrity with Sonoma Ballooning parked his colorful balloon right outside the KSVY studio and hopped off to talk about hot air balloons in Sonoma Valley. During the podcast we find out how to become a hot air balloon pilot, that the job has its ups and downs and landings are guaranteed. We also learn about a day in the life of a hot air balloon pilot, why the hot air balloons take off at sunrise and why Sean avoids delivering babies on hot air balloons (not that much space.) Also, the first ...
Aug 01, 2024•55 min•Season 1Ep. 88
On the eve of the Napa to Sonoma Half Marathon, the Sonoma Spiel podcast went to the farmers market to drag two farmers into the studio: Elizabeth Stein and Tucker Stein of Cassidy Ranch farm in Sonoma. The married couple took over the farm in 2021 and grow both grapes as well as flowers and crops. Elizabeth recounts how her time working at Ridge Vineyards in Santa Cruz attracted her to the world of food and wine, and they both wanted to start a farm that would have the experiences they wished e...
Jul 26, 2024•47 min•Season 1Ep. 87
We're back on the Spiel! And this week we have a VERY SPECIAL GUEST: Lisa Pidge, from the Laugh Cellar and Crushers of Comedy and now her new gig - Pickleball and comedy! A repeat offender on the podcast, Lisa comes back to talk about what's happening with her popular comedy shows at wineries like Deerfield Ranch, Cooking With Comedians, and her new Pickleball and comedy show that supports an autism charity. As usual we riff on random topics like the roll of AI in comedy, the addictive quality o...
Jul 16, 2024•55 min•Season 1Ep. 86
Kelly Conrad is with Farm to Pantry ( www.farmtopantry.org ), a local organization committed to rescuing food that would otherwise go wasted and getting it to people in need. "The food is out there; all we have to do is go get it. No one should be left behind." On her turn on the Spiel she dishes about working with SingleThread Farms, how visitors to Sonoma Valley can participate in harvesting crops from farms and gardens around Sonoma and help fight hunger, and her journey from Portland, Oregon...
Jun 18, 2024•48 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Returning Very Special Guest star Amy Miller brought fellow Buckeye Tony Gonzalez to the Spiel to preview the BRAND NEW season of Transcendence Theatre Company's summer series, and to detail how the new location - just steps from the historic Plaza - make this a truly magical moment for "Broadway in Sonoma." During a rather raucous chat we cover their journey from the shores of Lake Erie to the vines of Sonoma Valley, preview the four different shows and talk how there are special deals for grou...
Jun 03, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 84
Safari West Foundation provides funding for programs like an "animals in hospitals" program for children who are hospital-bound, as well as a program that brings children to the Safari West, a 400-acre preserve with giraffes, gnus, lemurs and all manner of amazing African animals who are in conservation programs. The Foundation also focuses on education. Paula Johnson from the Foundation came by to talk, and although she is a Very Special Guest, she also brought Dash the Sloth, a cranberry-eatin...
May 30, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 83
Not many places have a professional-level, volunteer-run observatory open to the public. But not many places have the Robert Ferguson Observatory . Luckily, Sonoma Valley does. Executive Director Stephanie Derammelaere explains the mission of the observatory, how it came to be, why Sugarloaf Ridge State Park is a good place to see planets and stars and galaxies, and how visitors can come up and see the heavens during various events. She also details how visitors can take a walk that outlines the...
May 15, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 82
Mustafa Tolosa always "goes to eleven" - the local restaurant reviewer started off taking photos of his steak while on a date with his wife, and from there it has grown into a Wine Country go-to spot for locals looking for the low-down on food trucks, restaurants and more. "I'm not a food critic - I'm a highlighter. I like to highlight things," says Tolosa, who gets ideas for his reviews from his audience. His likes? Good experiences, polite service, fresh food. His dislikes? Vinegar. Not a fan....
Apr 30, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 81
The Sonoma Valley Author's Festival is in it's seventh year in Sonoma, and founders Ginny and David Freeman come to the Sonoma Spiel and share their passion for books and the ideas expressed within. As Ginny notes, "It's an ideas festival - it's small and curated and intimate." This year we find out that among the many author's attending includes historian Doris Kearns Goodwinn, novelist David Grann ("Killers of the Flower Moon"), Amy Tan ("Joy Luck Club"), Akhil Reed Amar of Yale Law School, an...
Apr 22, 2024•43 min•Season 1Ep. 80
Caitlin Cornwall of the Sonoma Ecology Center returns to the Spiel to give her review of the eclipse (thumbs up), talk redwoods as yard trees in dry valley floors (thumbs down, usually) and encourage us to create diverse ecosystems with native plants in your front yard to get the best birds. She also details the upcoming events at Sugarloaf State Park, the Sonoma Garden Park and other places where the Sonoma Ecology Center is doing their work and public demonstrations. As usual our guests answer...
Apr 17, 2024•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 79
Bettina Sichel got her start with Blue Nun, one of the most famous wines of the past 100 years and the one that put German wine on the map (and which her great grandfather started) and is now with Laurel Glen Vineyards in Glen Ellen. Specializing in (and famous for) cabernet sauvignon, the winery is now branching out to rose and sauvignon blanc. Wait - did we mention Blue Nun? The special Liebfraumilch that was brought to the United States by Sichel's father, and advertised by Jerry Stiller &...
Apr 09, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 78
Maeve Smith is the director of Sonoma Arts Live's latest musical, "The Hello Girls," which details the story of American women who answered the call to be switchboard operators for the US Army Signal Corps during World War I. They had to speak French, know how to operate specialized communications equipment and serve near the front lines - and yet when they returned, their time in the service was not recognized for six more decades. "It has everything - it's funny, it's silly, it's sad. they pla...
Apr 02, 2024•57 min•Season 1Ep. 77
They grew up on a dairy farm in West Marin, where the fog rolls in and grassy hills meet the rugged beaches of the Pacific Ocean, and now they are the force behind the California Cheese Trail . Vivian and Michael Straus left Marin for Portland (Vivian) and an ashram in India (Michael) but then came back to help save the family ranch and raise the profile of the cheese trail. Now the California Cheese Trail is a map and website of the 70-plus cheesemakers in California and how to visit them, take...
Mar 25, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 76
From Kenwood to Carneros, to Santa Rosa and Petaluma and Napa and more - coming to you LIVE and IN YOUR HEAD at THOUSANDS OF WATTS of RADIO POWER - it's KSVY-FM! Bob Taylor and James Marshall Berry talk two decades of Sonoma radio and reminisce about how it connects community, provides a crucial link during times of duress and is a true taste of Sonoma wine country for visitors and locals. Did you know that KSVY-FM (91.3 FM on the radio dial, ksvy.org online and on the app store) has an incredib...
Mar 18, 2024•48 min•Season 1Ep. 75
Ginny Krieger from the Sonoma International Film Festival is back on the Sonoma Spiel podcast to talk all things film, food and wine. But this time, she's brought Carl Spence, artistic director and film fan, who gives the rundown on some of the major U.S. premiers of films at one of the best film festivals in the country. As always our guests answer YOUR Sonoma Valley questions, and this week they take on: Hi- we're visiting Sonoma later this year and looking for something on par to Ravenswood s...
Mar 13, 2024•51 min•Season 1Ep. 74
Van Solkov of Happy Traveler's Tours came by the Sonoma Spiel podcast to talk cannabis growing in Sonoma Valley, how tours of farms and dispensaries serve to educate and dispel myths as well as update older traveler's about changes in the scene since the 70s and 80s. During a wide-ranging interview he also covers how he was one of the first cannabis tours in wine country and how we got into the business, transitioning from a "party bus" to an educational and refined experience like other wine to...
Mar 07, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 73
Jeannie Perales, new director of the Sonoma Botanical Garden , put down her pruning shears and stopped by the Sonoma Spiel to talk about their new upcoming summer program of concerts and the Ribbit Exhibit that will bring whimsical frog statues to the garden. Perales talks about how she ended up leading botanical gardens from Florida to California, and her belief that there are four "natural therapies" for people: nature, movement, art and music. And how the botanical garden can incorporate thos...
Feb 26, 2024•52 min•Season 1Ep. 72
San Francisco is an hour from Sonoma Valley and the majority of visitors to Sonoma Valley usually make a stop in "The City" before heading up to wine country. This week, Lynn Bruni-Perkins of SF Travel talks what makes San Francisco special, from the culture of social movements, Burning Man, and the technology that brought us the iPhone, to the next phase of technology like AI and self-driving cars (Waymo, for good or ill) as well as social movements coming on the horizon. She also directly answ...
Feb 13, 2024•56 min•Season 1Ep. 71
Molly Spencer is with the Sonoma Community Center, a school building turned arts and culinary center complete with galleries and theater programs. She hops on the Sonoma Spiel podcast to talk ceramics, chili recipes, fiber arts happy hour, ballet and a secret garden that isn't that secret because we are talking about it. She then says that yes, the movie "Scream" was filmed at the Sonoma Community Center in 1996, thanks to Santa Rosa High School backing out of the production at the last minute. ...
Feb 06, 2024•53 min•Season 1Ep. 70
He was inspired to start cooking because his great aunt's awful Thanksgiving dinner spurned him to action, his first restaurant job was with three Lebanese brothers in Pennsylvania, and he left Manhattan for the excitement of Sonoma Valley: Ari Weiswasser of Glen Ellen Star talks his journey to having two restaurants and a catering company in California's wine country. And like all guests on the Sonoma Spiel, he answers YOUR Sonoma questions including: “Hello! We are planning a trip and I have a...
Jan 22, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Season 1Ep. 69
Heidi Geffen founded Tiddle E. Winks just off the Sonoma Plaza as a place to find items of whimsy, fun and happiness. She stops by the Spiel to talk her journey from a rubber stamp saleswoman in LA to a sticker designer in Petaluma to the bringer of happiness to Sonoma. She also talks a bit about wellness and how being happy is part of the experience, and even brought in some home-made kale chips from her secret recipe. (Brewer's yeast is the secret, so saved you a click.) Like all our guests sh...
Jan 16, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 68
Lauren Feldman (Valley Bar + Bottle and Valley Swim Club) joins us in the new year to talk all things food, wine, wellness and how she ended up leaving fashion for running front of the house at her restaurant, that she started with her husband Tanner and two friends. In between running a new restaurant, Valley Swim Club which is a west coast take (vegan tartar sauce!) on an east coast clam shack, she also has a young child and teaches spinning classes at the local health club. And like all our p...
Jan 08, 2024•50 min•Season 1Ep. 67
