Editor’s note: This story is part of Good Times’ annual Home & Garden 2019 magazine. Read the full issue here. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands? After 20 years in business, Refugio Ortega isn’t sure exactly how many succulents, cacti, flowers, herbs and other plants are currently growing at his overflowing namesake Watsonville nursery. What the patriarch…
Articles
Yuzu and Rose Updates Ancient Indigo Dyeing
Editor’s note: This story is part of Good Times’ annual Home & Garden 2019 magazine. Read the full issue here. Kaitlin Bonifacio stumbled upon indigo dyeing on a trip to Japan. Originally planning to tour a sake brewery, she found herself in very different company—a group of longtime textile dyers a short distance away. “I went…
A Guide to Upside-Down Gardening
Editor’s note: This story is part of Good Times’ annual Home & Garden 2019 magazine. Read the full issue here. I am never going back to right-side-up gardening ever again. There’s no reason why I should. When I planted my tomatoes upside down a month ago, I knew they would die. I felt guilty even attempting…
Alibi Interiors Reinvents Repurposed Wood
Editor’s note: This story is part of Good Times’ annual Home & Garden 2019 magazine. Read the full issue here. Moss and lichen on a picture frame are the kind of details I never knew I wanted. This was probably also true for local husband-and-wife makers Chris and Paige Curtis, who started Alibi Interiors seven years ago.…
An O.G. Cannabis Enthusiast on New Weed
Editor’s note: This story is part of Good Times’ annual Home & Garden 2019 magazine. Read the full issue here. Let me pull out my razor blade and whittle on this hash block while I tell you whippersnappers about the then and the now of weed. I was born in the deep south—Bakersfield. I started…
Best Of Santa Cruz County 2019
Road rage, succulent overload, and some next-level local comedy: Welcome back to GT’s annual tribute to the best, worst and weirdest that the community has to offer with Best of Santa Cruz County 2019. BEST OF 2019 WINNERS: ARTS & CULTURE | COMMUNITY | FOOD & DRINK | HEALTH & RECREATION | MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE | SHOPPING & SERVICES BEST OF 2019 EDITORS’ PICKS: Best Happy People…
Santa Cruz Gives 2018 Open For Business
The fourth annual Santa Cruz Gives holiday giving campaign is now live at SantaCruzGives.org. Fundraising ends right before your Champagne or Martinelli’s Sparkling Apple Juice toast at midnight, December 31, 2018. Check out the 33 nonprofits and their Big Ideas for 2019 that have been selected for the first (and only that we know of)…
Cosmo D Cooks Up Gourmet Edibles
Editor’s note: This story was first published in ‘Dilated Pupil,’ an annual magazine about student culture in Santa Cruz. David Brissenden used to hate edibles. But the chef and owner of local cannabis food company Cosmo D’s Outrageous Edibles has come a long way from the stale weed brownies that first soured him on the…
Your Place Farm-to-Table’s Chef Art Russell
[Sponsored] “The way I stay active, as I was taught long ago, is to read one new recipe every day,” says Chef Art Russell, owner of Your Place Farm-to-Table in Santa Cruz. “It gets the juices flowing. It’s part of my routine.” Chef Art started working in restaurants when he was 12 years old in…
Music and Arts Festival Redwood Mountain Faire Returns June 2 & 3
[Sponsored Post] The Redwood Mountain Faire is a remarkable music and arts festival in the Santa Cruz Mountains, an easy drive from anywhere in the Bay Area. The 9th annual festival features 22 bands on two stages, juried fine arts and crafts, great children’s activities, local microbrews, Santa Cruz Mountain wines and ciders, great food —…