Category Archives: environment

Stay at Home and Garden

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Stay at Home and Garden, special issue of SB Independent May 14, 2020.

INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR DESIGN EDITION WHEN HOME MEANS MORE THAN EVER

Welcome to the Santa Barbara Independent’s annual Home and Garden special issue.

With all due respect to the very serious health and economic issues facing us right now, finding the joy and beauty in everyday life is also so important —maybe now more than ever, when our worlds have become so much more insular.

As Alice Walker wrote, “Whenever you are creating beauty around you, you are restoring your own soul.”

We hope you’ll find some restoration and inspiration in these pages. From practical stories about solar panels and ADUs to garden advice from experts and creative musings from some of our town’s top architects and designers, there’s a whole lot here to help light your creative spark or just inspire you to dream about a new project.

Enjoy!

Advice to Grow By

Santa Barbara’s Master Gardeners Keep Calm and Garden On

Big Ideas for Small Spaces

Authors Isa Bird Hendry Eaton and Jennifer Blaise Kramer Discuss Small Garden Style

Premier Party Planner’s Home Entertaining Tips

Dishing With Merryl Brown, Event Designer Extraordinaire

Solarizing Made Simpler

CEC Makes Sun Power Easy and More Affordable

Is an ADU for You?

Allen Construction’s Ryan Cullinen Discusses Granny-Flat Rules

The Original Garden Wise Guy

Landscape Architect and TV Host Billy Goodnick

Creative Inspiration for Home Improvements

Where Santa Barbara’s Pros Go to Find Their Muse

A Monthly Guide to Mastering Your Garden

UC Master Gardener Program Suggests What to Plant and When in Santa Barbara

2020 H&G

Stay at Home and Garden, special issue of SB Independent May 14, 2020.

This special section of the Santa Barbara Independent (May 14-21, 2020) contained the following stories. Click on each one to read it, or view the entire section here, with additional web exclusive content here.

A Monthly Guide to Mastering Your Garden

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UC Master Gardener Program Suggests What to Plant and When in Santa Barbara, originally published in Santa Barbara Independent in May 2020.

UC Master Gardener Program Suggests What to Plant and When in Santa Barbara

Spring has sprung, and with social distancing restrictions in place, most of us have a lot more time to putter in the garden. Here are some guidelines on what to plant when from the UC Master Gardener Program, with an emphasis on edibles to help avoid extra trips to the market.

May

Almost any warm-season edible can be planted now, with the exception of peas and lettuce. Plant seeds or starts of beans, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, melon, peppers, tomatoes, and squash. Basil plants can go in now, as well as just about any other kind of herb, such as lavender, marjoram, rosemary and thyme, all of which originate in southern France, so they thrive in Santa Barbara’s similar climate. Avocado, banana, cherimoya, mango, and strawberry guava trees can be planted now, and spring (through May) is also a great time to plant citrus.

June

If this month offers our typical “June gloom” weather, these gray, often overcast days allow gardeners to make a last planting of warm-season crops. This includes transplants of cucumber, eggplant, pepper, and tomatoes, as well as seeds of beans, beets, carrots, summer squash, and zucchini. Herbs such as basil, chervil, chives, marjoram, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, and tarragon also grow well.

July/August

You can still plant beans (for drying) and corn; also tomatoes (especially dwarf varieties), eggplant, peppers, chard, cucumbers, green onions, kale, and summer and winter squash. Tip: Transplant in the late afternoon or early evening, water well, and mulch around plants. Provide temporary shade as needed from the harsh midday sun. From late July into August, sow seeds of carrots and cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower). Keep soil moist and shaded until seedlings emerge; gradually increase sun exposure over a week. It’s also a good time to plant basil, dill, summer savory, and heat-loving Mediterranean natives such as lavender and rosemary. Plant kumquat, lemon, lime, orange, avocado, cherimoya, and mango (depending on where you live; mangoes love heat and don’t like fog).

Harvest ripe crops regularly (at least every other day) to encourage further production. Dispose of any fruit that falls to the ground to eliminate a food source for vertebrate pests such as squirrels and rats. Most dropped fruit can be composted, except for citrus, which should especially be avoided in worm bins.

September

September is the best time of year to plant anything and everything in Santa Barbara County. This includes seedlings of beets, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, green onions, kale, kohlrabi, lettuce and salad mixes, radishes, rutabaga, spinach, sugar snap peas, chives, cilantro, lavender, lemon grass, parsley, rosemary, winter savory, salad burnet, and turnips. Artichoke and strawberry plants can also go in, as well as onion sets.

California natives do not need water, as they are still “resting” and awaiting winter rains. Use of mulch in planted beds can be helpful to slow moisture loss due to evaporation, but be sure to keep mulch well away from plant stems and trunks.

October

Fall is the time for transplants of artichokes, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and strawberries; and sow seeds of leafy greens, beets, carrots, celery, chard, garlic, leeks, onions, peas, radish, and turnips.

This is a great month to plant California natives: island bush snapdragon, ceanothus, California poppy, Dana Point buckwheat, Douglas iris, Matilija poppy bush, sages, toyon, and others. Visit the nursery at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden during their fall plant sale for a wide selection of native plants best suited for our area.

November

Artichokes, beets, carrots, leafy greens, onion sets, parsnips, peas, radishes, Swiss chard, and turnips grow well this month. Strawberries are best planted during the first half of this month, before temperatures drop.

Herbs such as chives. marjoram, oregano, parsley, rosemary, sage, savory, and thyme grow well in November, too. They may not look their best until next spring, but planting them this early allows them to become established with the onset of winter rains.

December/January

Bare-root roses should be planted in December, when nursery selection is at its best. They are generally less expensive than container-grown specimens, they require less care, and they are easier to handle and plant. Plant them the same day they are purchased for best results.

February

February is usually our rainiest month. It’s best to stay out of your garden when the soil is wet. If necessary, lay down pieces of plywood to walk on instead of directly on soggy ground. Tip: Take your houseplants outdoors during the rain for a nice, deep, cleansing soak.

Sow seeds of beets, celery, carrots, chard, collards, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, peas, radishes, spinach, and turnips. Plant garlic, onions, and shallots. If you want to grow unusual varieties of tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, start seeds indoors now. Artichoke and asparagus crowns, as well as rhubarb rhizomes, can be dug and transplanted.

March

You can still transplant artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and rhubarb. At month’s end, seedlings of early-variety tomatoes can be planted. Continue sowing seeds of lettuce, peas, radish, and spinach. Plant starts of chives, parsley, rosemary, sage, savory, tarragon, and thyme. March is a good month to select and plant citrus as well as bare-root stone fruit such as cherry, apricot, and peach.

April

Sow or transplant beets, carrots, celery, kale, kohlrabi, and rhubarb. On the coast, continue planting chard, leeks, radishes, and spinach. Transplant early varieties of beans, cucumber, and tomatoes. This may be the last month to transplant artichokes, asparagus, and cole (or brassica) crops like broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. Just about any kind of herb can be planted now. Lavender, marjoram, rosemary, and thyme originated in southern France, so they thrive in Santa Barbara’s similar Mediterranean climate.

Find more extensive monthly planting guides, at tinyurl.com/master-your-garden.

Originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent on May 14, 2020.

Big Ideas for Small Spaces

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Authors Isa Bird Hendry Eaton and Jennifer Blaise Kramer Discuss Small Garden Style

Gardens are magical in any season, but during this seemingly endless season of COVID-19’s “sheltering in place” restrictions, there’s never been a better time to have a garden to escape to in Santa Barbara.

No matter how much space you have to work with, authors Isa Bird Hendry Eaton (a landscape designer) and Jennifer Blaise Kramer (a lifestyle writer) have collaborated on a book that’s here to help. Small Garden Style: A Design Guide for Outdoor Rooms and Containers is an excellent resource to help you create a design framework to bring your garden dreams to life.

“It’s all about being really encouraging, really accessible no matter what size space you have,” said Eaton. “Even if you’re doing just a couple containers by your front door or your porch, everyone deserves to have a little garden in their home, and why not make it something that really feels like you and bring your individual aesthetic?”

A key component of the book is helping you figure out what your individual aesthetic is. There’s a really fun quiz that kick-starts the book with a series of questions that help you define your style. Are you a Clean Minimalist who starts your morning routine with black coffee and a cold shower? Or is your style more Bold Eclectic, with a black leather Eames lounge chair as your favorite place to relax at home? Perhaps Organic Modern is more your vibe if your ideal mode of transportation is hiking shoes, as you head for the mountains. Or is it a Jeep Wagoneer with wood paneling that reflects your New Traditional style?

“Then we walk you through these different gardens,” said Eaton, acknowledging that many have crossover styles. “We take you through the design framework behind how to put a container together, how to design an outdoor room, so you can understand the design theory behind doing a really dramatic container.”

By the time you’re at the nursery picking plants, the vast choices are not so overwhelming.

“It’s like a little mini design school for the reader,” said Eaton.

The authors embarked on the project when they wouldn’t find another garden-meets-design book. “We wanted this to feel like a design book for your outdoors,” said Kramer. Her own garden was designed by Eaton, who focuses on layering. “But not just in a pot and not just in a garden,” said Kramer. “It’s the whole look, it’s the whole room, and it’s thinking about your outdoor space just like you would your indoor space.”

Their goal was to make the book be “fun and beautiful and inspirational, but also very practical and useful,” said Eaton. “A container is a miniature garden; it’s the best place to start. There’s a little bit of trial and error. Read the book, then go to the nursery on Saturday morning and try it out — you don’t have to start designing the entire garden; you can start with a couple of containers. Now’s a great time to plant!”

Small Garden Style can be purchased at Chaucer’s Books (3321 State St.) or amazon.com.

Stay at Home and Garden, special issue of SB Independent May 14, 2020.

This story was originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent on May 14, 2020. Click here to read it as it appeared in print.

Advice to Grow By

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Santa Barbara’s Master Gardeners Keep Calm and Garden On

Working to cultivate home gardeners who want to learn about soil, sustainable landscaping, plant and tree care, and growing their own fruits and vegetables, the UC Master Gardeners of Santa Barbara County are 163 trained and 74 currently active volunteers trained to share their knowledge with the community.

They come from all walks of life.

“My class had students just out of UCSB and retirees in their seventies,” said Master Gardener Amy Mayfield. “We all loved our crash course in all things related to plants from top professors from UC Davis and Riverside.” Once they’ve gained some garden knowledge, helping others is a key component of the Master Gardener program. “Volunteering in our community is a great connection to people and plants,” said Mayfield. “My go-to place to volunteer is the community helpline because every question makes me use my brain and research skills to find an answer. I love helping at Harry Potter night at the Public Library, too.”

While the group is currently observing physical distancing, they are also “encouraging the public to prioritize mental and physical health by gardening, and volunteers are still standing by to answer questions through helplines,” said Danica Taber, the Master Gardener Program Coordinator. Volunteers are available to help by phone ([805] 893-3485) or email (anrmgsb@ucanr.edu), and Taber suggested submitting photos along with questions.

“Pictures of the problem and details about your plant’s history and environment, like watering and fertilizing schedules, daily sun exposure, and location on your property, are helpful.”

Not all problems are easy to solve: Earlier this year, the Santa Barbara Zoo’s ponytail palms (which are more closely related to yuccas than palms) turned black at the tops. “The problem? Sprinklers in the field behind them would hit them with water on windy days,” said Taber. “This was not an obvious diagnosis to make for the zoo horticultural staff, because sprinklers weren’t aiming at the ponytail palms, and wind is an invisible, irregular force.”

The program, which is part of the UCSB Extension Program and is for anyone interested in a thriving garden, is designed to “empower home gardeners to help themselves by sharing knowledge and resources that are important for their particular gardening challenges,” said Taber.

Currently in the process of adapting to providing online education, the Master Gardeners offer intensive, practical courses on horticulture, soil and plant nutrition, pests and diseases and their control, plant management, and diagnosis of plant problems, as well as various public outreach events.

Said Mayfield, “It’s the best bang for your buck if you like people, plants, and knowledge!”

For more information, see cesantabarbara.ucanr.edu/Master_Gardener . For a complete list of what to plant now, see independent.com/hg2020.

Stay at Home and Garden, special issue of SB Independent May 14, 2020.

This story was originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent on May 14, 2020. Click here to read it as it appeared in print.

Nature Finds a Way

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Nature Finds a Way, originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent on May 14, 2020.

Out of the 1/9 Debris Flow Comes an Even More Magical Wildlife Retreat

“Nature truly is an awesome force,” says landscape designer Margie Grace, “both in terms of destruction and in terms of renewal.” The founder of Grace Design Associates witnessed nature’s competing forces in working on properties that were devastated by the Montecito debris flow of January 9, 2018.

One such project was for Penny Bianchi, whose ravaged garden reemerged as a thriving habitat less than a year after the catastrophic event. Even though the debris flows left her property covered in three feet of mud and detritus, it never even occurred to Bianchi not to restore her beloved garden. A National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat that was home to coyotes, bobcats, hawks, quail, doves, owls, mallards, songbirds, bats, butterflies, native pollinators, reptiles, and amphibians, the 2.5-acre property sits at the entrance to the 42-acre Ennisbrook Preserve and is bordered by Oprah’s estate on two other sides.

Bianchi had a premonition before that fateful day in 2018. Their house was not in the mandatory evacuation zone, but she fibbed to her husband, Adam, telling him on the way home from dinner at Birnam Wood that the zone was expanded and they had to leave. “I just lied,” she admitted. “I just made it up because I was so worried that he wouldn’t want to evacuate.”

So the couple, who are partners in McCormick Interiors, were safely ensconced at the Bacara when the massive debris flow struck, killing 23 people and destroying more than 400 homes.

“Our neighbor said it sounded like there was a freight train in the house,” said Bianchi, who had to wait three weeks before they could access the property, accompanied by a mental-health specialist in trauma. “I told her, we’re alive, my daughter got the cats out … so I’m not going to freak out,” said Bianchi.

“The scope and scale of the damage was mind boggling,” said Grace. “I’m trained as a geologist, so I know that this could happen, and I couldn’t believe that this happened.… Geology in action is really a lot for humans to absorb.”

Grace’s firm and contractors Giffin & Crane, who were both part of the original build team in 2004, came back on board to reconstruct two decimated structures — a garage and guest house — as well as the expansive gardens. Thanks to strict county regulations to build the main house two feet above base flood elevation, no mud got inside, although every single item in the antique-filled main house had to be removed and cleaned because of toxic contaminants from the firefighters’ boots.

While the Bianchi’s had excellent insurance, the $900,000 allocated for mud removal wasn’t nearly enough to get rid of it all. “I told them that’s all we’re spending, and then I’m making friends with the rest of the mud,” said Bianchi when they got the $1.6 million estimate to complete the rest of the job. She challenged Grace to figure out something to do with the mud.

“It was like, ‘When given lemons, make lemonade;’ this was, ‘Given mud, make mountains,’” laughed Grace. They created mounds along the property line, designed a new hill near the duck pond, and utilized all the boulders, which would have been even more expensive to move than the mud.

“Now our favorite part of the whole garden is the hill that was the result of the extra mud,” said Bianchi. “Margie designed steps up to it, and, where it was flat before, there’s now a beautiful view.”

About 95 percent of the plants had to be replaced — “what a silver lining,” said Bianchi — and now the 28-foot tall hill features sycamore trees and poppies. “Everything I put in the ground grew lightning fast; those trees just shot up,” said Grace. “She has bobcats; she has all kinds of birds, raptors all the way down to the couple of geese and hummingbirds. It is an extraordinary piece of property. I don’t know whether the good juju is part of the property or whether Penny brings that, but her roses even bloom in the shade; it’s just magical. Things just bounce back. Everything that gets put in the ground, you kind of have to stand back; it grows so fast it’ll knock you over.”

Bianchi is pleased with the rebirth. “Some of my friends still think that we’re strange for wanting to be here,” she said. “But we love it here, and we don’t feel worried about it happening again at all.”

Originally published in the Santa Barbara Independent on May 14, 2020. Click here to see the story as it appeared in print.

Sip Trip: Tri-Cities, Washington

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Sip Trip: Tri-Cities, Washington, originally published in Touring & Tasting, spring/summer 2020.

Explore the Heart of Washington Wine Country

A sojourn to the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco, Richland and West Richland) is an excellent way to savor the heart of Washington Wine Country and experience a winning combination of sun, water and wine. Whether you want to tour wine country, play outdoors, feast on the local culinary bounty or enjoy a wide variety of cultural pursuits, the Tri-Cities has it all!

DAY 1

10 a.m. Start in Benton City with Washington’s hottest AVA, Red Mountain. Encompassing about 4,000 acres of vineyards, Red Mountain provides grapes to over 175 wineries throughout the Pacific Northwest, consistently earning critical acclaim. With 11 on-mountain wineries and tasting rooms to choose from, you’ll enjoy meeting with vintners during this hands-on experience. For an even more intimate exploration of the Red Mountain Trails, ride from winery to winery on horseback or take a horse-drawn  wagon ride. Redmountainava.com | redmountaintrails.com

DAY 2

9 a.m. Get outside and breathe some fresh air along the sparkling Columbia River. There are fun, outdoor recreation activities for everyone, with stand up paddle board yoga, bike rentals, kayaking and more available. greenielife.com | northwestpaddleboarding.com

11 a.m. Visit Columbia Gardens Wine and Artisan Village in historic downtown Kennewick for an urban tasting experience at their boutique tasting rooms and wine production facilities.

12:30 p.m. Choose from one of the three charming wineries on Tulip Lane in Richland —J. Bookwalter, Barnard Griffin and Tagaris — for cuisine that’s expertly paired with their wines. bookwalterwines.com | barnardgriffin.com | tagariswines.com

3:30 p.m. Indulge in a bit more tasting, with a number of excellent wineries to choose from in Richland and Kennewick, including Goose Ridge Estate Vineyard & Winery, Longship Cellars, Badger Mountain Vineyard & Powers Winery, Kitzke Cellars, Farmhand Winery and Market Vineyards. gooseridge.com | longshipcellars.com | badgermtnvineyard.com | kitzkecellars.com | farmhandwinery.com | marketvineyards.com

6 p.m. Revel in a stunning sunset and a gourmet dinner, as well as all of the luxuries of a 96-foot yacht, on a Water2Wine Cruise along the Columbia River. water2winecruises.com

DAY 3

10 a.m. Enjoy the short drive from the urban Tri-Cities to the small, agricultural community of Prosser. Often recognized as the “Birthplace of Washington Wine,” Prosser has a variety of wineries to visit at the Prosser Wine & Food Park. Vintner’s Village has over 12 wineries, as well as the Winemaker’s Loft, a winery incubator that houses a half-dozen wineries and tasting rooms. gotastewine.com/prosservintners-village.php

2 p.m. Don’t miss the Walter Clore Wine and Culinary Center. Named after Washington wine pioneer Dr. Walter Clore, the Clore Center is a unique wine tasting and education destination that showcases Washington wine’s quality and diversity by offering an in-depth taste of each wine region. theclorecenter.org

There are always loads of special events going on in the Tri-Cities, with entertainment for all ages and interests. May’s Cinco de Mayo celebration is a true cultural experience with traditional music, amazing Mexican cuisine, horse dancing and more. June’s Cool Desert Nights takes car-lovers throughout the Tri-Cities. Every July brings the three-day Tri-City Water Follies boat racing tournament. Labor Day weekend is the Tumbleweed Music Festival, with more than 100 talented performers participating in three days of amazing concerts and events, many of which are free. Check out visittri-cities.com/events to stay up-to-date on all of the local happenings.

VisitTri-Cities.com

Originally published in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Touring & Tasting. Click here to read this story and more! TT-SP20.digital

Wenatchee Whitewater Wows

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Wenatchee Whitewater Wows, originally published in the Spring/Summer 2020 issue of Touring & Tasting.

Pair your white — or red — wines with some whitewater on an exciting journey rafting down the Wenatchee River’s wild rapids. This action-packed adventure departs from Leavenworth and combines wine tasting with the splashes, thrills and (possibly) spills of careening down Washington’s exhilarating whitewater for a nonstop day of fun!

Blue Sky Outfitters’ Wenatchee Whitewater Wine Adventures covers ten miles of rapids, with fun names like Upper Gorilla, Sharkstooth, Rodeo Hole, Drunkards Drop, Snowblind, Grannys and the Suffocator adding to the adrenaline-filled day.

After you work up a hearty appetite on the river, you’ll be treated to their famous top sirloin steak barbecue, then chauffeured to Wenatchee Valley wineries for a three-hour tasting tour. The most popular stretch of the Wenatchee River is about 14 miles between the towns of Leavenworth and Cashmere, and it boasts a thrilling array of class 3–4 whitewater every spring (river rapids are classified as 1–5, with 1 as the easiest and 5 as the most challenging).

Experts say that on the Wenatchee, when you hear a rapid coming — you know you are going to get wet! But with 300 days of sunshine per year, you’ll enjoy the drench. Along with great waves, and Osprey soaring overhead and nesting in the tops of trees, you’ll also find beautiful scenery, from mountainous forested landscape in Leavenworth to apple and pear orchards, rocky sandstone spires and grass-covered hillsides as you leave the Cascade foothills and enter the more agriculture-rich eastern part of Washington state.

In addition to Blue Sky Outfitters (blueskyoutfitters.com), other rafting operators offering guided trips in the Wenatchee River area include Alpine Adventures (alpineadventures.com), Leavenworth Outdoor Center (leavenworthoutdoorcenter.com), Orion Expeditions (orionexp.com), Osprey Rafting (ospreyrafting.com), River Riders (riverrider.com) and Wildwater River Guides (wildwater-river.com).

Originally published in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Touring & Tasting. Click here to read this story and more! TT-SP20.digital

Santa Barbara’s Rugged Beauty: Photographer George Rose Turns His Lens to Wine Country

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Santa Barbara’s Rugged Beauty: Photographer George Rose Turns His Lens to Wine Country, from the Spring/Summer 2020 issue of Touring & Tasting.

One of the things about Santa Barbara County’s wine country that is so unique is the western feeling, says George Rose, whose new large format photography coffee table book, “Wine Country Santa Barbara County,” showcases this bewitching California coastal wine landscape to perfection.

A longtime wine and travel photojournalist, Rose, whose most recent coffee table book was “Vineyard Sonoma County,” has photographed the Santa Barbara region for decades.

“When you get over into the Santa Ynez Valley where the grapes are grown in Santa Barbara County, the mood is very western and in the summertime it’s a little dusty and considerably warmer than on the coast. I just love the attitude, from Santa Maria barbecue to all of the crazy Danish memorabilia and architecture in Solvang,” Rose says. “It’s a lot of fun and I think it comes through in the book, which I divided up by trails or regions of the county.”

Also unique to the region: just about every wine grape variety known to the modern American consumer is grown in Santa Barbara County. A veteran photographer whose work has been featured in Time, Newsweek and Rolling Stone, as well as throughout the wine and travel world, Rose captures Santa Barbara’s beauty with sections on the various AVAs and wine trails, as well as chapters that spotlight people enjoying the wines in urban tasting rooms in downtown Santa Barbara and Solvang, and the all-important harvest.

“These people who toil out in the vineyards all year long really are the key and the linchpin of this whole business,” says Rose, who explains that his approach was kind of “National Geographic-style photojournalism.”

Indeed, the sumptuous landscapes and the intimate lifestyle shots are both truly a work of art — and an eight-year labor of love to compile and shoot. The book is handcrafted, hand stitched and each sheet was hand fed into a Heidelberg press, says Rose.

“Wine Country Santa Barbara County” is available at featured wineries, as well as georgerose.com.

Originally published in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Touring & Tasting. Click here to read this story and more! TT-SP20.digital

Cruising With Cork Hounds

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Cruising With Cork Hounds, originally published in Touring & Tasting, spring/summer 2020.

Traveling with your favorite furry friend? The handy Cork Hounds website and app makes your hunt for dog friendly vineyards especially easy. Search for pooch-pleasing vineyards and wineries throughout the U.S. with the free database.

Founders Peggy Mihelich and Jeremy Glesner created Cork Hounds in 2016, after a weekend trip to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. “In addition to exploring this historic town … we wanted to visit some of the vineyards,” explains Mihelich.

It was a cold and windy March day and with Bentley and Greta (their dogs), there was no way they could sit outside and taste wine. Trying to figure out which vineyards had dog-friendly tasting rooms took “lots of Google searches and quite a few U-turns … I thought, there has to be an easier way! Wouldn’t it be great if there was a website, one place, where we could just find out all this information, so we’d know before we go?”

Glesner, a technology executive in the Washington, D.C. area, responded, “I can build that!”

Mihelich came up with the name Cork Hounds, the domain was available, and they bought it that weekend.

With so many wineries going to the dogs in the past few years, Cork Hounds’ directory now contains 5,662 vineyards and wineries and 1,406 dog-friendly tasting rooms, across all 50 states.

“Getting to travel to various dog-friendly vineyards and wineries across the U.S is probably the best part of running Cork Hounds,” says Mihelich. “We’ve attended wine-dog charity events; these experiences have not only shown us that people love bringing their dogs to wineries, but also that our service is loved and appreciated by dog owners and winery owners.”

She believes, “By welcoming owners and their dogs, people stay longer and have a better time. They enjoy themselves more because they have their dog(s) with them, and they don’t have to rush home to take care of the dog(s). With so much competition out there, vineyards and wineries who turn away customers with dogs are losing out.” corkhounds.com

Originally published in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Touring & Tasting. Click here to read this story and more! TT-SP20.digital

When the Sun Goes Down, Paso Comes Alive With Light

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When the Sun Goes Down, Paso Comes Alive With Light, originally published in Touring & Tasting, Spring/Summer 2020.

PASO ROBLES HAS ITS VERY OWN FIELD OF DREAMS

Strolling along the stunning, 15-acre outdoor art exhibit “Bruce Munro: Field of Light at Sensorio” is a mesmerizing experience that defies description.

Designed to enhance the natural topography of the rolling hills with a colorful array of almost 60,000 stemmed spheres lit by fiber optics that gently illuminate the landscape, guests stroll through property accompanied by live music and surrounded by blooms of morphing color.

A nighttime-only attraction, which comes alive when the sun goes down, visitors from 41 countries have come to experience Field of Light, says Sensorio Executive Director Tracy Strann of the installation, which has attracted worldwide press and acclaim, and significantly exceeded attendance expectations. Because of the high demand, the immersive exhibit’s run has been extended through June 30.

This solar powered artwork has attracted more than 110,000 visitors to date, according to Strann.

Munro, a London-born artist, is best known for large-scale light-based artworks that have been exhibited around the world.

Along with its beauty, the Paso Robles, California spot has also become known as a romantic setting for popping the question, with Sensorio staff reporting at least six marriage proposals on the grounds to date. Guests can toast their good wishes with a glass of wine, as on-site amenities include food and alcoholic beverages, as well as a special VIP terrace option offering a more extensive dining experience with a breathtaking seated view of the exhibit.

Tickets are available for Bruce Munro: Field of Light at Sensorio Thursdays through Sundays through June 30. For more information, visit SensorioPaso.com or call 805/226-4287.

Originally published in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Touring & Tasting. Click here to read this story and more! TT-SP20.digital