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Gardens & Gumshoes

Amy Stewart stands at her purple front door with the neighbor’s cat in her arms. The flowers alongside the entry seem unable to contain themselves and rocket toward a cloudless sky. Stewart, author of seven books, (four are New York Times bestsellers), makes her home in a yellow Victorian on a quiet street in downtown […]

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The Horsewoman

“Whoa now, stop that!” Sis Bruner is hollering at her horses. Her silver ponytail sways against her curved shoulders as she loads horses into the trailer for the next ride. “Back up girl, come on, Peach.” An Orick native and the daughter of a dairy farmer, Bruner grew up out by the little red schoolhouse […]

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Shell Game

We are skidding through the water of Humboldt Bay, the dock of Coast Seafoods receding behind us as we head toward the oyster fields. It’s a crisp morning, with the gray-blue water and navy sky colluding to form a rim of bright silver at the horizon. “Everyone should know what a good oyster looks and […]

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Life of Crab

In Humboldt County, crab is tradition. A tradition for families gathering around the holiday table, and a tradition for the families whose lives revolve around the harvest season, when the crustaceans are hauled from the cold sea. It’s the morning of opening day and a line has already formed on Dock B at Woodley Island […]

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Keep Paddling

The universe is on Marna Powell’s side. “We were driving along Highway 101 and I looked up and saw this hill and I just pointed at it and said, ‘There, I want to live there.’ The next day that property went up for sale. It had never been for sale before.” The hill was just […]

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Outside Man

These days Don Banducci describes himself as “primarily a hook and gun kinda guy.” Bluff and avuncular, with a penchant for offbeat jokes and a contagious, gravelly chuckle, it’s easy to imagine him exchanging fish stories in front of a campfire or striding, rifle in hand, through a field accompanied by his pack of Springer […]

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