THE WONDERS OF NATURE: If you ever need to decompress or take that workaday worked-up feeling down a few notches, you know that watching videos of baby lambs in mid-romp or looking at photos of dandelions swaying in the breeze or catching a clip of a bee calling upon the heart of a bright flower can instantly take you to a calmer place. Even better, though, than photos and clips is standing in that field with the flowers or the lambs or the dandelions on a perfectly puffy-clouded May day. The Farm Trails of Sonoma County want to make that bee-observing, lamb-loving daydream a happy reality, and a reality filled with interesting knowledge about how bees are kept and hens are tended to and plants are watered and horses are cared for and how everything that calls a farm or ranch home thrives. So, for sure, Blossoms, Bees & Barnyard Babies has a fascinating educational component but, there's no doubt about it, when "Barnyard Babies" is in the name you'll want to do some serious cooing and awwwing and look-at-that-ing. And you will, if you make for the farm-dotted paths of the county on...
SATURDAY, MAY 2 and SUNDAY, MAY 3: The big two-dayer covers a lot of territory with a lot of different themes. If you adore cows or bees or the making of cheeses or the cultivation of honey or flower arranging or piglets -- piglets! -- or just about any artisanal or traditional farm-related pursuit, get on the Farm Trails. We almost suggested that mavens of the homespun arts would love this, before thinking about the word "homespun" and if it now feels too nostalgic. But it is nostalgic and modern, both; the making of jam and the raising of chickens thrives on, and is not a vintage scene from a beautiful postcard. To get out and know it is to understand how animals are raised and food is made on a daily basis. These pursuits are not far away from us, any of us, regardless of where we dwell, and learning more from the farmers and vintners you meet is always a positive. As for which places will participate? Oh goodness, there's a bunch: Gabriel Farm, Beekind, Kick Ranch, and Old Seeder Farm are all on the map. Need to plot out your day in the country? Start here. Need to squeal over chicks and piglets? You will not be alone in that, trust. Squeal away, fans of springtime babies.
