Wine Country And Horses

It has become a springtime blog ritual to write about the arrival of the ducks in my backyard, in 2008 and 2009. Kind of like the return of the swallows to Capistrano, or the running the bulls in Pamplona.

Spring is in the air! The sun has come out this week, it is coming up earlier in the morning, and setting later. We are all acting a little goofy after so many weeks of (much needed) rain. I wondered, “When will the ducks be back in the pool?” Right on schedule, the mallards returned. They arrived just after dawn, take a liesurely swim and then sit under an apple tree on the warm pool deck, napping and drying off. Not a bad life. They are the picture of contentment.

Ducks sunning by the pool during their annual visit to Sonoma County

This morning, I wondered “How am I going to make my Ducks in Wine Country Post, Part Trey, the sequel any different than the first two?” (Side note: Do I need to? After all the joy of the seasons is in their repetition. I guess the same could apply to seasonal blog posts.)

Then, serendipitously today, I learned what the ducks and Sonoma County residents both know.
Courtesy of Nathan Halvorsen and the Press Democrat newspaper:

Do you have a smile on your face and a little extra pep in your step? Well, so does your neighbor.

A massive study released Monday determined that people in Sonoma County are happier and healthier than anywhere else in California — and ranked fifth overall in the nation.

The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, based on interviews with more than 353,000 Americans during 2009, asked people to assess their jobs, finances, health habits, mental attitudes and communities.

A large scale study of 300,000 plus Americans, including 750+ from Sonoma County, sponsored by the Gallup organization, determined that Sonoma County, specifically the Santa Rosa-Petaluma area, is home to the happiest people in California, and the community is fifth ranked in the nation for happiness and quality of life, also reported in USA Today.

Before I ever moved to Sonoma County, I looked forward to my annual expedition to buy a fresh-cut Christmas tree at one of the many family-owned farms here. Many people from all over the Bay Area make the annual trip to Sonoma County’s 20 plus Christmas tree farms. It is a far superior alternative to visiting the mall or Home Depot for a tree. It’s a great excuse to get out doors in the fresh air and have some fun with the family.

Farms from Knights Valley to Petaluma, Santa Rosa to Sebastopol offer stunning wine country vistas and a chance to cut your own tree, or buy a live tree. Many have picnic areas and other attractions such as tractor rides for the kids. You can find Christmas trees of every variety, wreaths and cedar garlands.

What a great way to spend a day or two this holiday season! Drive through some of the most gorgeous country on earth, take a hike in the fresh air, drink some free cider, gobble up some candy canes, and come home with a very fresh Christmas tree for your holiday celebrations.

There are at least 20 farms in Sonoma County that offer cut your own or live Christmas trees for sale. Most of them offer free apple cider, candy canes and coffee. Many offer tractor rides to the kids and Santa Claus is even know to visit a few. There are farms in Sonoma, Petaluma, Penngrove and Santa Rosa, but Sebastopol is the Christmas Tree Farm capital of Sonoma County with 12 farms in all. Tree farmers seem to be a dying breed as many folks go to a parking lot at a mall to buy trees trucked in from who knows where. Visiting a local tree farm sure is a lot more fun. Follow the link below to Sonoma County Uncorked for a beautiful slide show, map and guide to all the Christmas tree farms in Sonoma wine country.

Feel free to comment with your favorite Christmas tree farm!

Last year’s inauguaral Benefit BBQ for the Sonoma CHANGE Program (Coins to Help Neglected and Abandoned Equines) was a great success!  A fun event in a beautiful venue that raised significant money to help coordinate efforts in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties to save neglected horses from abuse and neglect.

In 2009, your help is needed more than ever. It seems that ticket sales are down this year due to the economy, and the need to help abandoned horses is greater than ever.  This year’s event is at the beautiful Shone Farm of the Santa Rosa Junior College, on the border of Healdsburg, Forestville and Santa Rosa.

Please visit the Sonoma CHANGE website to buy your ticket for this fun event coming up soon on Sunday, September 20, 2009.   You’ll enjoy a great day with wonderful food, friends and family and lots of equestrian entertainment from dressage and jumping demonstrations, the chance to see and learn about all kinds of horses from Mustangs to Percherons and Friesians.  Enjoy drill teams, vaulting and carriage driving.  There will even be a Unicorn!  What a great way to spend a September Sunday and to benefit a great cause–the health and well-being of horses throughout the North Bay.  See you there!

If you can’t make it on the 20th, the CHANGE website will still accept your donation. If you would like more information about CHANGE, the video below will fill you in.

You can take advantage of Cyrus’ two Michelin stars and have less than a 1/2 mile walk home.

…..Or Starbucks?….one half of a mile, the Tuesday night Farmers Market? …1/2 mile. The Raven Theater ?….only .32 of a mile.

These are some of the nifty facts you learn, for example, about my classic Healdsburg bungalow listing at 414 Piper Street when you visit Walkscore.com, one of the coolest real estate search tools I found in 2008.

Because their Wordpress support for this template is lacking at the moment, you will need to plug in 414 Piper Street, Healdsburg to the widget in the upper right hand corner of home page of Wine Country and Horses to generate a map, walkscore and a true view of an addresses’ nearby amenities. I also use Walkscore to convey to country property clients how near (or far) shopping, schools and restarants are. Generally in Sonoma County wine country, people like to know that their lovely country home is still pretty close in to conveniences.

It’s another mashup–combining mapping technology with local directory services–the purpose?

To promote walking, health and help people to reduce their carbon footprint by choosing homes with high walkscores! I think you’d have to live in Manhattan, downtown Seattle, Boston’s Back Bay or Pacific Heightsi in San Francisco to have a higher walkscore.

The company is expanding it’s services to realtors by making a programming interface (API) available for custom use of the Walkscore engine. What a great tool to add to your real estate search portfolio (or if you are marketing a property,to add dimension to your listing promotion.)

Walkscore generates a map or street view of your targeted home and shows you the distance to all the local restaurants, shops, schools and other amenities. It can help you get to know a neighborhood you might be considering.  I can’t imagine anyone looking for property who wouldn’t want to know their Walkscore. (and no, I don’t work for the company! )

The mustard is about a foot high with brilliant yellow flowers, the daffodils have just begun to bloom after pushing up since early December, and it was 74 degrees the other day. We have had two weeks of unbroken glorious weather which is lovely but we are finally getting some severely need rain. Grapegrowers are worried about early bud break, because we still have frost at night and will for some time.

Today my thoughts turned to the pair of mallard ducks who spend their spring break by my pool, bordering some old vine zinfandel that belongs to a neighbor. Generally the last few years, they seem to miraculously show up right around the same time they spring into my mind. Perhaps they are not the only ones tuned into the lengthening days and warming weather?

One of the things I love about living in the country, and being out and about early every morning to feed the horses at more or less the same time each day, is that I feel tuned in to nature in a way that I didn’t quite get living “in town”.

Maybe I should set up a duck cam so I can capture their arrival this year? Last year they showed up on February 25th. I’ll keep you posted when they return, meanwhile, here they are in 2008.   I guess I have intermittent spring fever.

OK I really am working on a more serious post about the 4 year high in home sales we experienced in Sonoma County real estate for the month of October 2008, with plunging inventory, but first this fun video for my horse (and camel) friends, from @WalkingHorse, a Twitter friend.