Sunday RoundUp: How does her garden grow?
Growing food, a farewell to sustainability expert Richard Heinberg, running for local office, and a correction about why you should always call 911 first in case of emergency
The Grange’s Dena Allen is building food resiliency from the ground up
By Kavya Krishnamurthy
Dena Allen has always known the value of growing one’s own food. “I remember having a garden as a kid with my parents, and as a grown-up, every house we lived in that had a yard, the garden just kept getting bigger and bigger.”
Her current home in Sebastopol, where she lives with her husband, has 14 garden beds, pollinators in front of the house, and a bundle of fruit trees they inherited when they bought the property.
“So my husband, Tor, he’s the potato farmer…The joke is kind of that he grows the potatoes, and I grow everything else. He likes the thrill of digging them up out of the soil. It’s like a treasure hunt.”
She grows rhubarb, tomatoes, winter squash and most toweringly, sunflowers. “I had them last year, and they just kind of seeded themselves!”
Allen’s home garden is large and prolific, producing far more than she and her husband can eat. So she came up with a way to make use of the surplus.
The Produce Exchange
Eight summers ago, Allen and her friend Carol Henderson approached the Grange to ask about trading extra food from home gardens.
“We said, ‘Hey, can we have a produce exchange? You know, there’s a lot of people like us that grow extra things, and sure, we give them away to family and friends and donate them and stuff, but I don’t grow peppers, and maybe somebody else does.’”
The idea was just a seed until the pandemic came. “People were really hungry for socializing, and more people gardened in the summers of 2020 and 2021.” From there, the produce exchange established itself as an institution.
There is a set pattern every year. In February, there is a citrus exchange, where people can bring citrus, greens, winter squash and seeds. The April spring exchange is for plant starts, produce, seeds and herbs. May through October is the regular season for produce exchange.
Allen explained, “We just set up tables in the shade at the Grange, and people trade. Usually there’s something left over, so we can bring it to the Senior Center or the Sebastopol food pantry.”
Upcoming dates for the produce exchange are July 28, August 11 and August 25 from 5 pm to 5:45 pm.
The Virtual Farm
Another project Allen has been working on is called a “virtual farm.” The farm is “virtual” because it’s decentralized—made up of the large gardens of several Grangers that, in theory, could add up to a small farm.
“So far it’s just been mostly social,” Allen said. “We did a couple things where we had a potluck and talked about gardening. Whoever’s house it was, we showed the garden off and talked about what we can do as gardeners to promote more gardening and things like that. We also have taken our own harvest and made a community meal for the Grange a couple times.”
Allen said that the virtual farm could use some more participation, but largely speaking, “It’s just kind of a social concept place to share ideas and whatever else we have.”
Gleaning survey
In the spirit of sharing, some of the virtual farmers came up with an idea for a home garden survey during a conversation at one of the potlucks. Allen explained, “If you look at the county Ag report, the information you get of what’s grown in the county is all commercial stuff. What shows up at the top is everything that makes the most money, which goes like wine, dairy, something like that.”
She was curious about how much produce home gardeners were growing, and because she couldn’t find any data, she and others at the Grange made a Google form to begin collecting information.
“The first couple years, my friend and I took it so seriously. We were weighing everything all summer that we were bringing in from the garden. In just my garden alone, it was over 4,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables.”
The second year of the survey, Laurel Chambers from the County took notice of the project. She offered her support and brought in statisticians who helped optimize the survey questions for analysis of responses.
The 2025 report is available here. It mostly collects data from West County, but for 2026, they are trying to get even more zip codes to participate in the 2026 survey.
In addition to tracking the amount of produce grown in home gardens, the survey also asks for qualitative information on what resources people need to support their home gardening. Based on these answers, the Grange was able to start a list of community resources that includes where to find free seeds, compost and learning opportunities.
The intention isn’t simply to support home gardeners, but to strengthen food resilience for Sebastopol and surrounding communities: “Part of local food security has to do with the food you can grow and eat and share and sell right in your own community that is not disrupted by supply chains or climate change,” Allen said.
“The central thing is food security, community, feeling good.”
Richard Heinberg, 1950-2026
Richard Heinberg, world-renowned author and educator, musician, artist, and husband to Janet, passed away on July 19, 2026, at the age of 75, from pancreatic cancer. He was the award-winning author of 14 books and known the world over as an expert on sustainability issues. A former professor at New College in Santa Rosa, Richard served a…
Correction: Seriously, just call 911
After our story on e-bikes and eMotos this week, we heard from Evonne Stevens, the executive director of REDCOM Fire & Medical Dispatch, who was concerned that we had published REDCOM’s business number as an alternative to calling 911. She explained that the business number we originally printed isn’t always staffed and has no location capability.
“We want our message to the community to be simple and clear: If it is an emergency — call 911,” Stevens said.
In the highly unlikely situation that 911 is busy or no one picks up, she said you can call the REDCOM emergency number at 707-576-1365, but she begs you, “Always try 911 first.”
Run for the Sebastopol City Council
The city sent out an email yesterday, July 25, encouraging folks to run for city council. There will be three open seats on the Sebastopol City Council in the November election. Those seats are currently held by Councilmembers Sandra Maurer, Jill McLewis and Stephen Zollman. Thus far, Maurer is the only one to have pulled papers and declared her intention to run again. Zollman wrote the Sebastopol Times on Friday, and said he is bowing out: “Jim and I decided that I will not be running again.” We haven’t heard back from Mayor Jill McLewis about her plans.
Act now, don’t wait
November may seem like a long way off, but the deadline for filing as a candidate closes next week on Friday, Aug. 7, at 5 pm. (If one of the incumbents does not file by the deadline, the filing period will be extended to August 12 for non-incumbent candidates only.)
The email from the city urged people to apply ASAP.
Candidates are required to make an appointment to receive nomination papers. An appointment to file nomination papers is also required.
The City highly recommends filing as early as possible to ensure that documents are complete and all signatures are valid and sufficient in number. Waiting until the end of the filing period could result in the inability to secure the required number of valid signatures for nomination, which would preclude the applicant from running for office.
Former City Council Member Sarah Gurney, who served on the council for more than 16 years, notes that “There is a lot to do before the Aug. 7 deadline: an appointment at City Hall, candidate statement, gather [nomination] signatures to qualify for no fee, then campaign materials if there’s an election.”
You don’t need to be an expert, just a smart and thoughtful person willing to put in the work
According to yesterday’s email from the city, “City Councilmembers help establish City priorities, adopt the budget, make policy decisions and represent Sebastopol on regional issues. You do not need to be a government expert to consider serving. Councilmembers bring many different professional, volunteer and life experiences to the role.”
Eligibility Requirements: Candidates must 1) be at least 18 years of age; 2) be a registered voter in the City of Sebastopol at the time nomination papers are issued and remain a registered voter in the City of Sebastopol throughout your term if elected; and 3) not be disqualified from holding office under the California Constitution or laws.
City Clerk’s office hours are Monday through Thursday from 7 am to 5:30 pm. City offices are closed on Fridays. The only exception will be the deadline day—Friday, Aug. 7—when the office will be open for filing appointments only.
More information about eligibility, filing requirements and required appointments can be found on the Elections and Voting page of the City’s website.
Run for your local school board
The filing deadline for candidates for local school board elections is August 7. Serving on a school board can be challenging, some say thankless, but it is a very important role to fill. Here are some of the openings in local districts:
West Sonoma County Union High School District (WSCUHSD)
Covering about 320 sq. miles, this high school district serves about 1,500 students—and includes Analy High School and Laguna High and the Academy of Innovative Arts at the El Molino campus. Its board members are elected by area, and three of those seats will be up for election this fall.
Area 1 (light red). Shawn Chernila, who has served one term on the board, will not be running again.
Area 3 (gold). Longtime board member Jeanne Fernandes is undecided about running again for this seat.
Area 5 (purple). Lewis Buchner is running again.
Find information about the WSCUHSD district election.
Sebastopol Area Elementary and Middle Schools
Some of these districts make it easy to find information about how to run for the school board (i.e., they put it on their websites) and others don’t.
Sebastopol Union. There are three open seats. No one has filed yet, but incumbents Lisa Bauman, Jonna Thomas and Deborah Drehmel are expected to run again. Learn more.
Twin Hills. The three incumbents—Rebecca Houghton, John Moise, and Jeff Harding—have already filed to run again. Contact for more information.
Oak Grove. Board seats are elected by area, and there are open seats in areas 1, 3, and 4. Learn more.
Forestville, Gravenstein and Harmony school districts all have three board seats open, and no one has yet filed. Contact them for more information.
Guerneville. Three board seats are open, and one incumbent, John Kornfeld, has filed. Contact for more information.
Monte Rio. Two full-term seats and two short-term seats are open. Contact for more information.
Week of July 20-25
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