Publisher’s Note

Torrey Douglass

Roughly a decade ago, I was at a local food event when Holly Madrigal approached me with an idea. As a self-employed web and graphic designer, I was used to folks sharing their entrepreneurial ambitions with me. These social conversations rarely led to actual work, so even as I listened, I had no expectation that Holly’s project would ever materialize on my desk.

Hence my surprise when Holly reached out a couple of years later to say that she was ready to launch a local food magazine for Mendocino County. Together we hashed out a logo, followed by the layout for the articles she’d collected. By early June of 2016, we held the first edition in our hands.

Take a moment and think back to what our world was like in 2016. No matter your politics, events of the past seven years have left you sometimes horrified and at other times elated. At no other period in my lifetime have long-held beliefs and assumed norms been so deeply challenged and transformed. The responsibilities of government, the nature of gender, the role of law enforcement, the integrity of cultural icons, the trustworthiness of information broadcast over airwaves and online, the resilience of supply chains, the emotional and cognitive impact of new technologies, the very safety of the air we breathe—whew! It’s been A LOT. Folks have either adopted new perspectives or doubled down on their convictions, but no one has been left unchanged.

Through it all, every season, the Word of Mouth team has done its best to assemble a collection of articles to inspire and illuminate. Our stories examine, in new and compelling ways, this thing that we all rely on—food—and the land that grows it. This remote corner of Northern California we call home is a special place, but that’s not always evident on the surface. We peek inside that little wine shop you always drive by, we introduce you to the family behind that cafe you love, and we let you know what new farmstand you should check out. We talk to fascinating people who are spending their time and talents solving our county’s problems—feeding the vulnerable, protecting us from wildfire, building community gardens, nurturing the flora and fauna (everything from kelp to pollinators to donkeys), and, of course, growing the ingredients that end up on our plates.

And this issue is no different. In the following pages you’ll learn about some great places to eat, like Stan’s Maple Cafe for breakfast, Good Bones Kitchen for dinner, and Boonville’s tiny ice cream spot, Paysanne, for dessert. We look at the challenges of farming in Mendocino County, what’s up with Ireland’s Hope Spots, and the joys of gardening with children. And we tip a hat to our very first issue, returning to the original “Ripe Now” subject, the beloved strawberry.

There’s a pop-science assertion that claims that the cells in our body renew every seven years. It’s not true—different cells renew at different rates—but I like the idea that we become a whole new person for each seven year cycle of our lives. Today’s Word of Mouth is different from the 2016 version and will be different again in 2030. But whatever comes, we will keep sharing stories about this quirky and complex county we inhabit—and just how delicious and beautiful it can be.

With Gratitude,

Torrey Douglass
Co-Publisher* & Art Director

*Holly has graciously agreed to share the role of publisher with me as we move into our next chapter, so I’ll be writing the publisher’s note sometimes. Thank you, Holly!