Forty years ago, artist Annie Morhauser arrived in Santa Cruz County with a passion for glass and a dream to succeed.
After graduating from the California College of the Arts with a degree in glassmaking, Morhauser set up shop in a small, 400-square-foot studio in Santa Cruz and got to work.
Today, Morhauser’s glassware manufacturing facility in Watsonville covers more than 16,000 square feet, and the company ships pieces worldwide—including to top luxury brands such as Neiman Marcus. In 2006, some of her pieces were selected as part of a new display at the Smithsonian Institute.
The company also donates to about 365 charities, and provides scholarships to local high school students and mentoring to schools and colleges. In addition, Annieglass is in the process of starting a new sustainability project to work with reclaimed glass.
“Sometimes I can’t believe how far we’ve come,” Morhauser says. “It’s been an incredible ride.”
Morhauser, named Santa Cruz County’s Artist of the Year in March by the Santa Cruz County Arts Commission, says she couldn’t have gotten to this point in her career without her family, friends and everyone at Annieglass.
“Some of my staff have been with me for over 30 of these years,” she says. “They are amazing, and it’s not fair that I get all the credit. I’ve been so blessed.”
To celebrate Annieglass’ 40th anniversary, the documentary film Art of Resilience will be released by local production studio Swan Dive Media. Filmmakers Joel Hersch and Michael Daniel headed up the project, working closely with Morhauser to tell her story.
“It was awesome to have her reach out to us,” Hersch says. “We’re honored for the opportunity. Our film tells the story of a really strong woman who’s had an amazing career and given a lot to Santa Cruz County.”
Hersch, the film’s producer and director, says that working on it was eye-opening.
“I had known about Annieglass for a long time,” he explains. “When you see someone who’s run such a successful business for such a long time, it’s easy to just see that success in front of you. But we had the opportunity to go into the whole story. When you realize where someone came from, all the steps it took for them to get where they are, it makes their success a more tangible thing. That’s cool, as a storyteller.”
Daniel, editor and cinematographer, says he was surprised to learn about the hardships Morhauser went through, from losing her father when she was a kid to living on food stamps in college and constantly forced to endure the sexism of the glassware industry.
“Annie’s kind of a rock star,” he says. “I was impressed by how she persevered through everything to become such a successful business owner. It was inspiring to see.”
Morhauser says she has loved what she’s seen of the film so far.
“They did a great job telling our story,” she says, “from dumpster diving to the Smithsonian and everything in between.”
She adds that the chance to celebrate the anniversary of Annieglass through something creative, like a film, is rewarding after a challenging few years.
“Covid has been a nightmare,” Morhauser says. “Running a business like this that deals with manufacturing, sales, design–just the supply chain issues have been hard. Things we’ve made for years, and suddenly we can’t make them anymore. It’s taken a lot of creative thinking to figure it out.”
But, she still loves what she does.
“My favorite part of what I do is getting an idea and then seeing it realized,” Morhauser says. “Just seeing the final product and going, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s even better than I had in my head!’”
The glassmaker says she is proud to represent South Santa Cruz County, and appreciates the ongoing support from the community.
“[Watsonville] has always been so supportive of Annieglass,” she says. “Even people who can’t afford a piece bring people in to see the studio as if we were a tourist attraction. They show pride in us being nationally known. We really appreciate that.”
“Art of Resilience” premiered at Semper Recital Hall on Oct. 22 and will be available to stream online soon.
Parking has been the holy grail for lots of towns—more parkers, more business, more taxes. Our farmers market lot has been a target for many years, and the library bond money and the need for more housing and the expense to developers to provide their own parking all saw the lot as low-hanging fruit. With my adjacent business, I get no complaints about parking from customers or employees. I park in a structure a five-minute walk from the proposed structure, and it is never full at the bargain rate of five bucks a day.
Then there is the question of priorities. We do need a treatment center and public housing for our fellow human beings living in tents and vehicles with no facilities—not something we want in the middle of town. Are we really going to tear down the old library, described as a 100-year building by a prominent local architect? Are we not going to have to tear out all that asbestos anyway? Do we not need an event center? And how about some events?
And the question of urban architecture … let’s imagine the cities of Healdsburg or Paso Robles putting a parking structure in the middle of their plazas.
At least we finally got rid of the River Street sign. I fear that it is in storage. Vote yes on O.
Vote yes on Measure Q because our agricultural lands are in one of the smallest and most unique climate and soil areas on the planet and should never be built on. These soils should be classified as a World Heritage Agricultural Site with their ability to grow a vast array of crops on the coastal level ground in our mild dry summers and cool winters.
Our protected lands could be linked with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, as the Pajaro Valley shines as a rare locality for land and water resources.
By extending the timeline of the existing Urban Limit Line, Watsonville can concentrate new growth on available vacant sites, without the threat from the deceptive city-based Measure S, which can go after farmland parcels with a single City Council vote.
Defend our past and our heritage by voting to protect our future with a yes vote on Measure Q.
Jerry Thomas
Aptos
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I admit, our Halloween Issue is the most loosey-goosey package we put out all year. It’s basically our staff’s chance to write about something weird, spooky or otherwise off-topic that normally would not make the cover. Aliens, Bigfoot, ghost hunters, haunted houses? Sure thing! Last year, Adam Joseph and I wanted to write about scary movies with a local connection. Boom, Halloween issue! Put it on the calendar!
But I feel like this year’s Halloween cover story is different, for a couple of reasons. First, Aiyana Moya’s plan to write about tarot as a cultural phenomenon didn’t even start out as a Halloween idea. She was planning on doing it earlier this year, but—well, if you’ve read her in-depth stories on land-use issues, homelessness, funding for community services, district elections, ballot measures and supervisor candidates (and that’s all just in the last few months), you can understand why a story on tarot cards got pushed to the back burner. Finally, we all just admitted it was a natural fit for Halloween, and it was supposed to be a fun, offbeat break from Aiyana’s news beat.
Except that, of course, she threw herself into researching it with the same passion she brings to all of her stories, and even brought a personal aspect to it that readers normally don’t get to see. The end result is a great Halloween story, but it’s also about so much more than just tarot, or even the revival of interest in the occult. It’s about the search for magic that I think we all can relate to, whether we’re skeptics or true believers, or somewhere in between. Happy Halloween!
STEVE PALOPOLI | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
ONLINE COMMENTS
Also from the Nelson/Nygaard parking study cited by Mr. Longinotti: “As the City plans for future growth and anticipates new stores, offices and housing to be concentrated in Downtown, it must carefully consider how to provide convenient access for a growing mix of employees, residents and visitors. Because some of this growth is planned for parcels that are currently used for parking, the parking supply is projected to shrink slightly, even as the amount of activity downtown increases. In grappling with this challenge, the City will need to be particularly thoughtful about how it augments access to downtown—through the strategic addition of a new parking facility and through more robust efforts to encourage people to take other modes when coming to the area. Building and maintaining parking is expensive, so it is critical to the City’s long-term financial sustainability that policy makers identify the right balance.”
— Jim MacKenzie
PHOTO CONTEST WINNER
BONING UP ON HOLIDAY SPIRIT Ready for Halloween in Pleasure Point. Photograph by Ali Eppy.
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GOOD IDEA
DEAD MAN’S PARTY
Día de Muertos is coming to Watsonville Plaza on Friday, Oct. 28. The celebration will feature a screening of the movie Coco, live music and dance performances, community altars made by local families and nonprofits and art activities at the Plaza. There will also be a Mercado marketplace, where more than 30 artists will be selling and featuring art. Learn more at: watsonvillefilmfest.org/dia-de-muertos.
GOOD WORK
COUNTY’S MOST WANTED
Curious about working with public parks, or have an interest in helping community members with housing or mental health issues? For the first time since the pandemic, the County of Santa Cruz is hosting a Career Fair. Representatives from more than 20 county departments will be at the County Government Building on Thursday, Oct. 27, 4-7pm, to discuss career opportunities with residents.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“There is no greater power than the one others do not believe you possess.”
When I was a kid, I sought out signs of magic everywhere.
Where I lived, it was easy to find proof that it existed. Growing up in the countryside of Sonoma County as the child of a single mother in her early twenties meant we were always on the move, swapping out one bedroom for another that was cheaper and closer to work. The places I lived were unconventional, and lent themselves to a larger, fantastical narrative I wove for myself as a child.
A small cabin on the outskirts of a forest was home to fairies and elves who found their homes beneath towering redwoods. A room with a window that overlooked the eyelet in Jenner, where the ocean met the river, mesmerized me for hours as I imagined the beasts that swam beneath the river depths and into the sea. When we lived in a yurt on the farm my mother worked at for a brief spell, I spent my time after school roaming through apple orchards, making friends with the nature that surrounded me.
As I got older, I mostly grew out of these beliefs, and gave up on my search for magic. But there was a part of me that still hoped to find the secret spellbook, the key that opened the door to another world where real magic exists.
Now, as I stand in a store filled with sparkling crystals and shelves of books with titles like Spells for Beginners and The Witch’s Cauldron, talking to a self-proclaimed witch, I realize I might have stumbled upon just that.
Emelia Nahinu is not just any witch. She is a Priestess in her coven, and a teacher of magic.
“I always knew I was a witch,” Nahinu says as she leads me through Air and Fire, the mystical bazaar that she owns in Boulder Creek. “It was just a matter of accepting it.”
She was also enchanted by the idea of magic from a young age. But unlike me, who gradually let go of the hope that magic exists in the world as I knew it, Nahinu sought out ways to make magic a reality for her.
It wasn’t an easy path, in no small part because Nahinu grew up in one of the strictest religions: the Mormon church.
Both within the religion and outside of it, Nahinu was deemed “weird” early on. Eventually, she leaned into that outsider identity.
“As a teenager, people would call me a witch—I mean, I even kind of look the part,” Nahinu says with a wry smile. She has long, auburn hair that falls around her shoulders in curls, and bright green eyes. Today, she’s dressed in all black, and her hands are adorned with large stone rings. “They used it as a derogatory word, but eventually I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’”
For Nahinu, who practices what she calls natural magic, being a witch means she can use the four elements to create magic. She believes there is energy in nature, and she can harness that energy to create certain results. She says she creates and casts spells, and has daily and monthly rituals that she and her coven practice together.
Another way she uses her magic, and one of the first ways she says she experienced magic in the real world, is through tarot readings, which Nahinu now gives to people at her store. Tarot is a deck of cards, and the common perception is that they are used to tell someone’s fortune. Tarot is also the reason why I am talking with her on a bright, sunny day in mid-October: Nahinu has agreed to perform a tarot reading for me.
She pulls aside the curtain that separates the front of the store from the back, and leads me to a back room. The room is smaller, decorated with candles and crystals, and as Nahinu lights candles and silence falls between us, I start to feel apprehensive.
Nahinu explains she has cast a protection spell around the room, and that the space is sacred. She asks me to turn off all recording, and calls out to my ancestors in a strong, clear voice, asking them to oversee the reading. When she finishes, the silence feels stark, and my ears ring.
“Let’s begin,” Nahinu says, spreading the deck of cards out in front of me. “Draw a card.”
A Little History
Hundreds of years ago, tarot was more akin to a typical deck of playing cards than a tool for predicting the future.
It can be traced back to the fourteenth century, with the earliest documentation of people using the cards in Italy. The deck was used to play an elaborate card game, one similar to modern-day bridge. Wealthy Italians commissioned artists to create decks known as “carte da trionfi,” or “cards of triumph.”
Historians differ on when people began using tarot decks for divination purposes; there is evidence in the 18th century of Europeans starting to use them for fortune telling. In America, it was the 1970s when tarot became popular, thanks to the well-known Rider-Waite Tarot deck.
But some people, like Nahinu, argue that tarot has always had roots in some type of exploration of the human condition.
Tarot cards were originally marked with suits of cups, swords, coins and polo sticks (eventually changed to staves or wands) and courts with kings. Tarot cards later incorporated queens, trumps (the wild cards unique to tarot) and the Fool to this system. Today, the suits are referred to as the minor arcana, while the trump cards are the major arcana.
But unlike a typical deck of cards, there are stories behind each card, meanings that reflect a deeply human experience. Nahinu explains that tarot is often also known as the Fool’s journey, and the remaining cards are representative of the challenges and successes the fool encounters throughout life. In this way, tarot is rooted in human experience: psychoanalyst Carl Jung explained that the cards were an easy way to represent the “archetypes of mankind”— the universal traits like strength, ambition and passion.
In modern society, Nahinu says there’s a misconception that tarot is similar to fortune telling. She says the reality is much different.
The Rider-Waite deck, created in 1909, is probably the most iconic of all tarot designs.
“Tarot is an amazing tool to help you gain a deeper understanding of what’s happening in your life, and who you are right now,” says Nahinu, as we look down at the cards I drew. “When we look at the future, it is based upon how things are going at this time. I’m not telling you your exact future, it’s not absolute.”
Every placement of the cards that I drew is meant to signify a point in time: the past, the present, the future. As we go through the cards and their meanings one by one, Nahinu first asks me to interpret the pictures on the cards myself.
Before my reading, I decided to divulge as little personal information to Nahinu as possible. I had the idea that by doing so, I could more easily discern how legitimate and accurate the reading was. As a journalist, I tried to suspend skepticism and also deploy a certain degree of wariness.
But as I describe the scenes in the tarot cards to Nahinu, I’m quick to abandon my professional role—the reason for the reading in the first place—as we dive into my favorite pastime: dissecting my life.
Right away, I am assigning meaning to the cards and their depictions based on what’s going on in my life, already drawing my own connections. Nahinu’s explanation of the card afterwards offers a perspective, and a suggestion, that always seems relatable to the situation.
The two swords, with two soldiers at an impasse as they struggle against each other, seems to represent a recent conflict with my sister. Conflict that at times seems insurmountable, given our similar brand of stubbornness.
“You’re in a standstill with someone. You’re both passionate, an equal match. Something, or someone, needs to shift, needs to let go,” Nahinu says as she explains the card.
Another card I pulled says that I need to establish better boundaries; another, that it’s time to take stock of my life, and examine the people or patterns that might be holding me back. Nahinu is quick to advise against making any quick judgments about cutting people out of my life, right as I start to compile a mental list, instead encouraging me to take the significance of the card simply as an opportunity to evaluate.
Yes, the advice is a little generic, but at the same time, I find myself nodding along and opening up as Nahinu asks, “Does this feel connected to anything in your life?”
Psychologist Cassidy Sterling would say that this connection I’m making between the tarot cards and the events happening in my life can be explained away by a common psychological phenomenon.
“Whenever we want to believe something, if we’re looking for answers, we often succumb to something that’s called the confirmation bias, or selection bias,” says Sterling. “Confirmation bias is the principle where we believe things that we want to believe and then we discount evidence to the contrary.”
He says this tidy, packaged up interpretation of the things happening in my life is likely what makes tarot, and other occult magic, so appealing.
“People want to have quick, simple explanations about things going on in their life,” says Sterling. “They want meaning, to have some control over their life, they want to feel like there’s some sort of guiding principle, and they want to tap into that.”
Sterling explains that this desire for explanation and meaning, combined with our basic instinct to seek out patterns, makes belief in occult magic, at its core, humanistic.
“For millions of years, our ancestors evolved the capacity to recognize patterns in the world,” says Sterling. “It makes sense that now we might start to notice patterns that may not actually exist and then attribute cause to something like tarot cards.”
Usually, nothing bad comes from these beliefs: in fact, at its best, psychology would agree with Nahinu that tarot can be a powerful tool for critical self-evaluation and actualization.
“Tarot doesn’t change the physical world,” Sterling says. “But what it could do, especially if one believes strongly in something that the cards tell you, like ‘set better boundaries’… if you believe in it, then you might work to set better boundaries, so it could actually cause the effect that you have to then work at maintaining boundaries. And the more that you practice something, your brain gets optimized to do that thing.”
A 2017 Pew research study says that 30% of Americans believe in occult magic—the highest that number has ever been. More and more, people are identifying as ‘spiritual’; meanwhile, the number of people opting for organized religion is shrinking.
As to why tarot and occult magic are gaining popularity, Sterling hazards a guess that social media might be increasing the visibility of people who believe in and practice occult magic, inspiring people to be more transparent about their own beliefs—in other words, the number of people who believe in these practices might not actually be growing, Sterling thinks.
But with a quick look at pop culture, it’s undeniable that all things witchy are increasingly trendy.
“This is your sign,” “If you see this, it’s meant for you,” “The universe wanted you to find this” — scroll through TarotTok on social media platform TikTok, a corner of the internet that has 36 billion views, and you’ll see videos of people drawing tarot cards and promising that this information found you for a reason.
The “spirituality” tag of Gwyneth Paltrow’s online shop Goop contains articles on tarot. Urban Outfitters stocks spell books. Fashion designer Christian Dior’s spring 2021 haute couture was inspired by tarot. The makeup brand Urban Decay released an “Elements” eye-shadow palette decorated with alchemical sigils. Sephora briefly offered “witch kits” with tarot cards that were later pulled due to public outcry.
“It’s interesting that we are seeing a huge rise in commodifying [occult magic], something that lots of people take to be a sacred and personal practice, and making money from it,” says Julie Walsh, philosophy professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.
Walsh teaches a course on witchcraft as a way to explore philosophical questions about historical attitudes towards gender, womanhood and evil. Part of what is so interesting to her about witchcraft is the modern-day commodification of all things considered witchy—tarot, spells, the “witch” concept itself—despite the historical context of persecution and execution of people who were accused of practicing witchcraft.
Walsh attributes the attitude shift towards witches in part to Hollywood. With shows like Bewitched, Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Charmed, the witch transformed from evil and scary to mysterious, sexy and non-threatening.
“There’s nothing scary about the witch anymore,” says Walsh. “One of the things that Hollywood has done is they’ve made the witch sexy. Or, if they’re not young and sexy, they’re like, the Wicked Witch of the West.”
Siwa, a High Priestess local witch I spoke with who asked her last name remain private, say that they actually don’t mind the way that their spiritual practices have made it into the mainstream. Even though it simplifies what they do, if it makes magic more accessible, then that’s a win in their book.
“It was hard growing up and believing in magic,” says Angelique, a witch in Siwa’s coven. “If some little girl buys some witch balm from Bath and Body Works, and that’s how she gets to start exploring magic, and it makes it easier for her, I’m all for it.”
Nahinu has also made a business that relies on people being interested in magic.
“I like to sell things. I like money. I need that to survive,” she says.
Rethinking Representation
But, like all things in a capitalist, structurally racist society, not everyone has equal opportunity or accessibility to the world of magic.
“As a Black tarot user, there were not many decks available that feature Black people in them,” says artist Courtney Alexander. “The ones that did exist were not even created by Black artists—they just used a pen name.”
Alexander is queer, Black and a practicioner of occult magic: she’s also an artist, and creator of the tarot deck Dusk II Onyx, a deck made especially for the Black community.
Her tarot deck only features Black people, and her artwork is rooted in Black cultural history. She is unapologetic in catering to the Black community, because at the root of her inspiration for creating tarot decks is serving a need that she didn’t see reflected in the tarot industry.
But it hasn’t been an easy journey.
Alexander used Kickstarter, a website where artists can crowdfund their projects, to raise money to create her tarot deck. She raised $30,000, and later $50,000, for her decks, money she was surprised and excited to put towards her projects. But she also notes the disparity between her deck’s funding and the ones that cater to a wider—and whiter—audience.
“I see decks that are clearly intended for white people, featuring white people, raise seven figures off of Kickstarter alone,” says Alexander. “I definitely see the difference in the amount of work between me [and white artists], too.”
And while the witches and practitioners of occult magic I spoke with often cited the accessibility of these practices, and the more accepting nature of the religion, Alexander says that narrative ignores the reality of the stigmas and dangers that Black people face when trying to tap into this growing industry of magic.
The largest demographic that believes in occult magics tends to be younger, affluent women. Sterling says that might be because of the relationship between power and affluence in America.
“Affluence allows the ability to think about things and act in ways that others may not be allowed to act,” says Sterling.
Sterling says this can also be true with issues surrounding race, and might also explain the challenges Alexander says she runs up against as she tries to tap into the Black magical community: as we consider racism, stigmas and stereotypes, there’s a greater risk involved for non-white people who want to enter into the occult space.
“I feel like the access point for these practices is whiteness, and at the core there is this sort of idea that anyone can be involved, right?” says Alexander. “But pretending like it’s equally accessible almost removes white identity, which means they can absolve themselves of responsibility and accountability.”
Reclaiming the Magic
After stepping into real world magic, my biggest takeaway is how familiar magic feels. When Nahinu talks about magic, at its core, it seems to stem from the idea that what we focus on will become our reality. When she read my tarot cards, my initial apprehension melted into self-evaluation, a practice I love and which gave me new insight into my life.
The frightening parts of magic and witchcraft came from unexpected origins—the realization that I’ve never paused to consider the historical context as I donned a witch hat and tight dress, assuming the costume that people—especially women—were oppressed and persecuted for.
“With Halloween around the corner, and I see little kids in their witch costumes, I’m always a little uneasy,” says Walsh. “Anytime in our culture that we encounter images that have staying power, it’s worth interrogating where they come from.”
And, as it was often portrayed in my fantasy books and as Alexander reminded me, magic never comes without risk—and that risk is not equal for everybody.
The Campaign for Organic and Regenerative Agriculture (CORA) envisions that in the near future, the Pajaro Valley will be an organic farming sanctuary that functions much like the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
In this scenario, farmers from around the world will come to the fruitful valley where Santa Cruz and Monterey counties meet, and learn about how to effectively farm organically from scientists and farmers who are largely responsible for establishing the organic standard. CORA member Woody Rehanek imagines local farmers such as Dick Peixoto, the owner of Lakeside Organic Gardens—the largest family-owned-and-operated organic vegetable grower in the U.S.—serving as a shaman of sorts for those willing to make the journey.
“This valley is a special place,” says Rehanek, “and it can be a leader.”
But today’s reality, he says, is far from that lofty dream. While parts of the Pajaro Valley have started to buy into this organic vision—20-25% of agriculture in Santa Cruz County is organically grown—the majority of operations in the fertile region of the Central Coast still use several pesticides that they consider essential to growing the area’s key crops, but that also have been linked to health problems in humans. This includes a number of farms within a stone’s throw of Pajaro Valley Unified School District (PVUSD) campuses and neighborhoods.
On Sept. 9, around 25 members of CORA held a press conference at a 30-foot-wide dirt road that separates dozens of homes and MacQuiddy Elementary School from Nugent Ranch—where, according to state records, pesticides are routinely used to help produce a variety of berries. They called on Driscoll’s CEO Miles Reiter to lead the local organic farming revolution by converting the billion-dollar berry producer’s conventional grows around local schools and residential areas to organic operations. That same day, CORA sent a letter to Reiter stating that while the group wants Pajaro Valley’s agriculture industry to continue its reign as one of the world’s most prolific producers, that should not trump the public’s health, nor the protection of the region’s fertile soil.
“Because we understand that the leadership of your companies decides which fields go organic, we are appealing to you directly as the CEO who has the power to make a real difference,” the letter states.
Taking turns holding a large banner reading “Stop Poisoning Our Kids: Go Organic,” three local farmworker families spoke during the press conference, all highlighting instances of cancer, physical birth defects and learning disabilities that they believe are a result of being exposed to pesticides while their children were in the womb.
While the group’s demands were straightforward, CORA members stressed that local farmers should not see them as the enemy. On the contrary, Rehanek says, the group wants to work with them to preserve the region’s agricultural footprint, and the rich soil that is found in few other locations across the globe.
“We just need to convince them that there’s a better way to do things so that they don’t have to worry about public health,” he says.
Call and Response
In a response to CORA’s letter shared with GT, Reiter wrote that while Driscoll’s, and his family’s company, Reiter Affiliated Companies, have made “a lot of progress in developing the capacity to farm berries organically in suitable areas,” making the shift to organic farming is not a simple process.
Reiter told CORA that one of the biggest hurdles to going organic is the cost incurred by the farmer tending to the crops and the owners of the land who lease their fields to local growers. Nugent Ranch, Reiter wrote, is one of several farms tended by Driscoll’s growers that faces this pinch—Reiter Affiliated is a tenant there.
“A decision to convert a farm to organic typically requires three years and a very substantial investment by the tenant farmer,” he wrote. “Landowners have generally been reluctant to participate in the costs of conversion. In addition, the lease terms typically do not extend for a sufficient amount of time to allow full utilization of the property following its certification as organic.”
According to the Nutrition Business Journal, organic farming grew from an estimated $21.6 billion industry in 2010 to $51.6 billion in 2020. Locally, according to the County Agricultural Commissioner’s 2021 crop report, there were 204 registered organic operations over 7,118 acres of land, valued at $110,310,000. But while those figures underscore organic farming’s evolution from a niche industry in its fledgling stage to a viable option for hundreds of farmers across the country, electing to farm organically still comes with increased risks for crops—and a growers’ ability to make ends meet.
Reiter wrote that he “would expect to see continued conversion of farms in the Pajaro Valley and other suitable areas to organic farming.” But he stopped short of guaranteeing that more of the company’s growers would make the switch, saying that “the choice of whether to farm a field organically or not is made by the grower.”
In contrast, members of CORA who have worked with Driscoll’s tell GT that the agricultural powerhouse pushes its contracted growers to farm conventionally. But they agree with Reiter’s assertion that more farms will go organic over time, as both the federal and state governments have shown an increasing interest in helping farmers make the change to organic agriculture.
Kathleen Kilpatrick, a member of CORA and a retired school nurse, closed her presentation by showing a photo of an agricultural field with two signs featuring skulls and crossbones warning people to keep out.
“This is what you would see from some of the backyards in our neighborhood,” Kilpatrick said, highlighting how the older adult communities on the eastside of Watsonville are mere feet away from various agricultural fields where pesticide use is commonplace.
In her presentation, Kilpatrick provided several visual breakdowns of where pesticides are being sprayed around the Pajaro Valley, while also explaining which fumigants and other chemicals are being used, and the quantities in which they are being deployed. Many of the areas surrounding the communities and schools on the northeast side of the city were demarcated by deep red blocks, indicating a significant amount of pesticides have been applied there.
One of those areas was the field by MacQuiddy Elementary, where CORA held its press conference. According to CORA representatives, 33 of Nugent Ranch’s 66 acres are farmed organically, but the fields closest to MacQuiddy are all conventional grows. In fact, some 41,000 pounds of pesticides were applied in the square mile nearest to MacQuiddy, according to the most recently available state data. This includes 26,000 pounds of chloropicrin, once used as a chemical warfare agent, and 5,000 pounds of Telone, also known as 1,3-dichloropropene. In addition, last year Glyphosate—commonly known as Roundup—was sprayed at Nugent Ranch. Agribusiness giant Bayer announced last year that it would stop selling the harsh weed killer for residential use in 2023, a decision that came after the company lost several significant lawsuits from plaintiffs who alleged glyphosate gave them cancer.
Growers are quick to point out that the use of pesticides is highly regulated by not only the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR), but also by the County Agricultural Commissioner’s Office. Hidalgo said during his presentation that California often implements more stringent pesticide regulations than the EPA, and regularly reevaluates which pesticides can be used for agricultural purposes. For instance, he said the state will soon enact tougher regulations on the use of Telone, after it found the fumigant was used beyond CDPR regulations in the Central Valley.
But CORA says the regulations do little to stop pesticides from drifting out of agricultural fields and into neighborhoods. Moreover, they say they find it confounding that pesticides such as Telone and Glyphosate that are banned in dozens of countries around the world continue to be the most commonly used pesticides in the U.S. Local jurisdictions are unable to ban pesticides—a power that the state removed from their hands decades ago—and getting the EPA to take action against pesticides has been historically difficult because of a lack of research that directly links exposure to adverse health effects.
To the state’s credit, CDPR’s pilot notification system—which is active in Watsonville’s older adult neighborhoods, as well as three other small communities across the state—is slated to expand to a statewide program by 2024. But, as trial runs often do, there have been several hiccups that residents say needs to be addressed before the expansion. CORA’s Kilpatrick says that the top issue is that notifications—which come via text and email to those in the pilot zone—do not include the location where the pesticides are being applied, only warning residents that they are within one mile of the application.
The City Council did not take any action at the meeting, but Mayor Ari Parker said that the topic could be revisited at a future meeting as an action item. It’s unclear exactly what could come before the council when the subject is back on its agenda.
Serious Step
On Oct. 12, the Center for Farmworker Families joined the Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, local pesticide reform coalition Safe Ag Safe Schools and statewide coalition Californians for Pesticide Reform in filing a legal request to the Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner to stop pesticide sprays near PVUSD schools.
The groups, represented by Earthjustice, said in a statement that they are asking for a review of restricted-materials permits approving the use of numerous pesticides within one mile of Ohlone and Hall District elementary schools, as well as Pajaro Middle School in North Monterey County.
“The groups ask that the Commissioner stop all spraying authorized by these improperly issued permits until the required review of health and environmental impacts occurs,” their press release stated.
The Monterey County Agricultural Commissioner’s office had not yet responded to the request as of late last week, according to Mark Weller of Californians for Pesticide Reform.
Weller says the group was spurred to action by a 2019 UCLA report that found agricultural commissioners throughout the state are in violation of state law by failing to analyze cumulative health impacts and safer alternatives when approving pesticide permits. The legal request cites sections of permit applications that should detail environmental review, but instead “contain meaningless filler text or nothing at all and also provide no evidence of independent review by the Commissioner,” the press release stated.
Weller tells GT that while the group does not have immediate plans to file a similar request with Hidalgo in Santa Cruz County, the request in the neighboring jurisdiction is “the first step in what needs to be a much larger effort to reform a broken permitting system.”
Santa Cruz Together, the committee leading the charge against Measure N—Santa Cruz’s proposed empty-home tax—led all local political groups involved in the Nov. 8 election in contributions as of Monday evening with a whopping $133,538.
The coalition took the top spot after the California Association of Realtors ($29,900) and S.C. Beach Hotel Partners, LLC ($5,000) made large contributions earlier this month. It was the second significant contribution for both entities—CRA chipped in $20,000 to the campaign in August, and S.C. Beach Hotel Partners gave $5,000 in May.
While there are dozens of individual donors who have made small three- and four-figure contributions along the way, other large donors to the No on N campaign include Bailey Properties ($2,500) and Santa Cruz Seaside Company ($10,000).
Measure N would levy a tax on residences that are in use less than 120 days per calendar year in the amount of $6,000 per single-family residence, $6,000 per parcel with six or fewer units and $3,000 per year on condominiums and residential units with seven or more units. The revenue from the measure—an estimated $2.5-4 million—would go toward affordable housing construction, paying the costs of administering the tax and conducting independent audits of the measure. In addition, up to 5% of revenue would go toward providing restroom and hygiene services to people experiencing homelessness.
The committee supporting that initiative has raised $26,366.52, the majority of which has come from individual Santa Cruz residents. That group gathered the required signatures to place the item on the ballot earlier this year.
Measure O
The committee advocating for Santa Cruz voters to reject Measure O, which seeks to halt the construction of the Mixed Use Library Project on Cedar Street, has raised the second-largest amount of contributions, bringing in $111,056.
This includes large donations from Redtree Partners LP ($10,000) and SCFS Ventures LLC ($5,000) that came in over the last few weeks. The former is a local commercial real estate company, and the latter is the developer behind the Cruz Hotel project, a six-story, 228-room hotel planned for the 300 block of Front Street.
Friends of Santa Cruz Public Libraries ($10,000), Santa Cruz Seaside Company ($12,500), and the Green Valley Corporation, also known as Barry Swenson Builder ($10,000), have also given five-figure contributions to Santa Cruz for Real Library and Housing Solutions, while around a dozen businesses and individuals that have ties to the hospitality and development sectors have given four-figure donations. This includes the Santa Cruz Dream Inn ($5,000) and Devon Construction Inc. ($5,000).
Meanwhile, the group that gathered the signatures to place Measure O on the ballot—Our Downtown, Our Future—has raised $30,872.22. All but three of the contributions collected by that committee have been three-figure donations from individuals.
Measure Q
The committee formed to propel the renewal of Watsonville’s urban growth boundaries fell from its spot as the local political group with the largest number of monetary contributions earlier this week.
That’s because a $100,000 donation from a local farmer to the Committee for Planned Growth and Farmland Protection in early April has been scrubbed from the group’s fundraising total in amended campaign statements filed Monday.
Committee member Sam Earnshaw tells GT that New Native co-founder Sandra Ward actually made three donations of $100, $200 and $50, but that an error produced the previously reported six-figure donation.
Watsonville City Clerk Irwin Ortiz says the error could have been a typo on the part of the committee or a technical glitch. Ortiz adds that he and committee treasurer Betty Bobeda looked over the committee’s transactions on Monday and could not find the $100,000 contribution.
“So either the committee corrected it, or it fell off at some point,” Ortiz says.
The committee’s amended filing for the months of January through June only showed a $200 contribution from Ward.
After the $100,000 deduction, the committee’s total contributions received for this calendar year dropped from nearly $150,000 to $47,669.25, according to Bobeda.
That new number includes a recent $5,000 donation from Randy Repass, the founder of West Marine, the chain of boating supply and fishing retail stores that was once headquartered in Watsonville. Repass is just one of several South County agriculture and business leaders who have donated to help the committee pass Measure Q, which locks the City of Watsonville into the urban growth restrictions first approved in 2002 for another 18 years.
Live Earth Farm’s Thomas Broz, for instance, has given $10,000 this calendar year, and the Santa Cruz Land Trust also recently donated $10,000. Lakeside Organic Gardens ($2,000) and Bruce Rider & Sons’ Jim Rider ($2,500) have also made significant contributions.
Measure Q is running in opposition to Measure S, which proposes to allow the Watsonville City Council to alter the city’s urban boundaries during the upcoming general plan process. The committee spearheading Measure S has only raised $99.
Measure R
The committee leading the charge for the approval of a half-cent sales tax measure in Watsonville has netted $25,999 in contributions this month. Two labor unions ($10,000), the Ow Trust ($9,999) and the Santa Cruz County Land Trust ($5,000) all made significant contributions to the Committee for a Vibrant Watsonville, which had only raised $2,624.14 through September.
Measure R—placed on the ballot by Watsonville City Council in June—would raise the city’s sales tax to 9.75% and bring an estimated $5.1 million into the city’s general fund. City leaders say that the additional revenue would be used to upgrade and upkeep Watsonville’s parks and roads, as well as its library and older adult services.
The two Santa Cruz County Fair Board members who voted against firing former CEO Dave Kegebein during an Oct. 4 meeting were terminated from their positions Friday in abrupt phone calls from the governor’s office.
Because county fairgrounds are owned by the state, Fair Board members are appointed by the governor. A representative from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office did not return a call for comment before press time Tuesday.
Loretta Estrada, who has held the seat for 34 years, and Jody Belgard, who has done so for 16 years, received calls late in the afternoon from a woman who gave them the news before hanging up without further comment.
“She said, ‘The governor has decided to go in a different direction,’ and hung up,” Estrada says. “She didn’t even say thank you for 34 years of service.”
Still, Estrada says she wasn’t surprised by the call after she and Belgard voted not to fire Kegebein after an audit showing, among other things, he used a state-issued credit card to purchase fuel for his truck, which he used for his work at the fair. It was not the purchases themselves that were at issue, but the fact that he did not submit receipts to the state.
Estrada says she was planning on resigning at the meeting on Oct. 25. Her concern now is for the future of the facility.
“My direction was always to improve the fairgrounds, and make it beautiful,” she says.
Belgard says she has been waiting for the call, explaining that the ‘no’ votes were in defiance of the California Department of Food and Agriculture officials who attended the meeting.
Belgard pointed out that Kegebein worked without a paycheck for two years as the fairgrounds rebounded from near bankruptcy to financial stability—it boasted revenues of $4 million last year, and a $1.75 million reserve, by Kegebein’s estimation. He was the facility’s CEO for a decade before his firing, which has been questioned by a number of people in South County, including 4th District County Supervisor Greg Caput.
In a press release Friday, the governor’s office said that Watsonville Parks and Community Services Director Nick Calubaquib and California School Boards Association Public Affairs and Community Engagement Representative Rachel Wells have been appointed to fill the positions.
Don Dietrich, who took over as CEO in the wake of Kegebein’s dismissal, says he was surprised by the state’s actions, and said he did not know why it happened.
He says that the past two years have been “tumultuous.”
“My focus right now is getting the fairgrounds on track and moving forward, because it is a huge resource for the community,” he says. “And we’re going to keep providing a resource for what the community needs.”
The Fair Board was set to discuss recruiting a new CEO at the Oct. 25 meeting
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Of all the rich philanthropists in the world, Aries author MacKenzie Scott is the most generous. During a recent 12-month period, she gave away $8.5 billion. Her focus is on crucial issues: racial equality, LGBTQ+ rights, pandemic relief, upholding and promoting democracy and addressing the climate emergency. She disburses her donations quickly and without strings attached, and prefers to avoid hoopla and ego aggrandizement. I suggest we make her your inspirational role model in the coming weeks. May she motivate you to gleefully share your unique gifts and blessings. I think you will reap selfish benefits by exploring the perks of generosity. Halloween costume suggestion: philanthropist, Santa Claus, compassion freak.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): What animal best represents your soul? Which species do you love the most? Now would be a good time to try this imaginative exercise. You’re in a phase when you’ll thrive by nurturing your inner wild thing. You will give yourself blessings by stoking your creature intelligence. All of us are part-beast, and this is your special time to foster the beauty of your beast. Halloween costume suggestion: your favorite animal or the animal that symbolizes your soul.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): During the tyrannical reign of Spain’s fascist government in the 1930s, Gemini poet Federico García Lorca creatively resisted and revolted with great courage. One critic said Lorca “was all freedom inside, abandon and wildness. A tulip, growing at the foot of a concrete bulwark.” I invite you to be inspired by Lorca’s untamed, heartfelt beauty in the coming weeks, Gemini. It’s a favorable time to rebel with exuberance against the thing that bothers you most, whether that’s bigotry, injustice, misogyny, creeping authoritarianism or anything else. Halloween costume suggestion: a high-spirited protestor.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): If the trickster god Mercury gave you permission to do one mischievous thing today and a naughty thing tomorrow and a rascally thing two days from now, what would you choose? Now is the perfect time for you Cancerians to engage in roguish, playful, puckish actions. You are especially likely to get away with them, karma-free—and probably even benefit from them—especially if they are motivated by love. Are you interested in taking advantage of this weird grace period? Halloween costume suggestion: prankster, joker, fairy, elf.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Everyone’s mind constantly chatters with agitated fervor—what I call the ever-flickering flux. We might as well accept this as a fundamental element of being human. It’s a main feature, not a bug. Yet there are ways to tone down the inner commotion. Meditation can help. Communing with nature often works. Doing housework sometimes quells the clamor for me. The good news for you, Leo, is that you’re in a phase when it should be easier than usual to cultivate mental calm. Halloween costume suggestions: meditation champion, tranquility superstar, gold medalist in the relaxation tournament.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “Education is an admirable thing,” said author Oscar Wilde. “But it is well to remember that nothing worth knowing can be taught.” What?! That’s an exasperating theory. I don’t like it. In fact, I protest it. I reject it. I am especially opposed to it right now as I contemplate your enhanced power to learn amazing lessons and useful knowledge and life-changing wisdom. So here’s my message for you, Virgo: What Oscar Wilde said DOES NOT APPLY to you these days. Now get out there and soak up all the inspiring teachings that are available to you. Halloween costume suggestion: top student.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): To celebrate Halloween, I suggest you costume yourself as a character you were in a past life. A jeweler in first-century Rome? A midwife in 11th-century China? A salt trader in 14th-century Timbuktu? If you don’t have any intuitions about your past lives, be playful and invent one. Who knows? You might make an accurate guess. Why am I inviting you to try this fun exercise? Because now is an excellent time to re-access resources and powers and potentials you possessed long ago—even as far back as your previous incarnations.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): I guess it would be difficult to create a practical snake costume for Halloween. How would you move around? You’d have to slither across the floor and the ground everywhere you go. So maybe instead you could be a snake priest or snake priestess—a magic conjurer wearing snake-themed jewelry and clothes and crown. Maybe your wand could be a caduceus. I’m nudging you in this direction because I think you will benefit from embodying the mythic attributes of a snake. As you know, the creature sheds its old skin to let new skin emerge. That’s a perfect symbol for rebirth, fertility, transformation and healing. I’d love those themes to be your specialties in the coming weeks.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): “I need my sleep,” proclaimed Sagittarian comedian Bill Hicks. “I need about eight hours a day and about ten at night.” I don’t think you will need as much slumber as Hicks in the coming nights, Sagittarius. On the other hand, I hope you won’t scrimp on your travels in the land of dreams. Your decisions in the waking world will improve as you give yourself maximum rest. The teachings you will be given while dreaming will make you extra smart and responsive to the transformations unfolding in your waking life. Halloween costume suggestions: dancing sleepwalker, snoozing genius, angel banishing a nightmare, fantastic dream creature.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Recently, my mom told me my dad only spoke the Slovakian language, never English, until he started first grade in a school near Detroit, Michigan. Both of his parents had grown up in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but immigrated to the United States in their youth. When I related this story to my Slovakian cousin Robert Brežny, he assured me it’s not true. He met my dad’s mother several times, and he says she could not speak Slovakian. He thinks she was Hungarian, in fact. So it’s unlikely my dad spoke Slovakian as a child. I guess all families have odd secrets and mysteries and illusions, and this is one of mine. How about you, Capricorn? I’m happy to say that the coming months will be a favorable time to dig down to the roots of your family’s secrets and mysteries and illusions. Get started! Halloween costume suggestion: your most fascinating ancestor.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): My Aquarian friend Allie told me, “If a demon turned me into a monster who had to devour human beings to get my necessary protein, I would only eat evil billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.” What about you, Aquarius? If you woke up one morning and found you had transformed into a giant wolf-dragon that ate people, who would you put on your menu? I think it’s a good time to meditate on this hypothetical question. You’re primed to activate more ferocity as you decide how you want to fight the world’s evil in the months and years to come. Halloween costume suggestion: a giant wolf-dragon that eats bad people.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Do you value the feeling of wildness? Is that an experience you seek and cultivate? If so, what conditions rouse it? How does it feel? When it visits you, does it have a healthy impact? Are you motivated by your pleasurable brushes with wildness to reconfigure the unsatisfying and unwild parts of your life? These are questions I hope you will contemplate in the coming weeks. The astrological omens suggest you have more power than usual to access wildness. Halloween costume suggestion: whatever makes you feel wild.
Welcome to the newest Manresa Bread store, opening Nov. 7 in a petit 300 square-foot facility at 330 Ingalls St. between the Surf City wineries and New Leaf Market. The newest in the Manresa Bread ecosystem is being detailed as I speak to founder Avery Ruzicka, who just happens to live a few blocks from the new home of outrageous pastries, renowned breads and ultimately some irresistible grab-and-go items.
“I’m so excited, because I live on the Westside,” says Ruzicka, who admits that she “likes to stay busy.” Those of us who have either made the drive over the hill to Los Gatos to snap up some of Manresa’s impeccable breads, or who have become addicted to the carrot spice muffins, almond croissants and kouign Amann have reason to rejoice.
Ruzicka, whose bakery idea was born in chef David Kinch’s 3-star Michelin kitchen, has grown the organic-intensive bakery into five Bay Area locations in the past eight years. All the Manresa baking is done in one large commissary, and then quickly distributed to the brick-and-mortar shops as well as retail outlets at 5pm each morning. “We make all of our products overnight and into the early morning,” she says. “And it makes sense for us to be on the Westside because we already deliver to Verve and to Venus—and also just because I love the Westside.”
Open daily from 8am until 3pm (or until sold out), the latest Manresa spot will also offer fresh-from-the-oven levain loaf, sourdough baguettes and 100% whole wheat loaf, all made from Manresa-milled flour.
“It’s gonna be great,” Ruzicka predicts. “As the year evolves, there will be seasonal specials. We always have our mainstays, but the pastries will change on a seasonal, typically quarterly basis.”
The energetic entrepreneur will be on hand personally at the new store. But she’s also in the midst of opening a new store in downtown Los Gatos, “right across from the movie theater and the Apple store.” For the new Santa Cruz store on Ingalls, “it will be a grab-and-go situation. In the spring we’ll probably expand into breakfast sandwiches, and other savories. But not yet, just because of all the things in front of us right now. Can’t do everything at once,” she says with a chuckle.
Ruzicka says her personal favorite Manresa Bread is the 100% whole wheat sourdough. “You know, we mill our own flour, so that’s something I’m really proud of,” she says. “My team does such a beautiful job with the fermentation. It has a beautiful tender crumb, and it’s not too dense like so many whole wheat breads. I just love that a lot.”
Goodbyes and Hellos
Auf wiedersehen to Tyrolean Inn, for 47 years a touch of Bavaria under the redwoods in Ben Lomond. I’ve consumed many plates of Schnitzel and potatoes up there. Perhaps its day was done … I’m not surprised that Malik Williams has closed his Aptos eatery so quickly, given the exorbitant prices and turquoise risotto. Such a shame to see hard work and money down the drain … The Alderwood group plans to open something new in the former Snap Taco space, as well as more Flashbirds up in Scotts Valley and out at Pleasure Point to match the one they’ve got serving fried chicken sandos in Abbott Square. Love the Flower Bar’s croissants, btw (yup, they’re part of the Alderwood empire, too).
