Erica Padilla-Chavez: We are the Food Bank
What is normal? I thought things would return to normal following the three-year Covid pandemic and devastating Santa Cruz Mountain fires. I thought we’d survived the worst. But nothing could have prepared me for the first three months of 2023 and the meteorological disasters...
The trouble with snakes
“ called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’” (Mark 8:34) What does that really mean anyway? I can tell you what it...
From dry to drenched
After more than four years of devastating drought, 2017 saw California receive the wettest winter in more than 100 years.
Center of the Christian map
Memo from Pastor Erickson
This week’s Gospel lesson is about the Baptism of our Lord. In it, you may find the geographical references quite interesting.
Mark tells us that John the baptizer appears in the wilderness along the Jordan River and that folk from the Judean...
Cultivating fruit
One of my favorite passages in the Christian scriptures comes from Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia. Perhaps surprisingly, the reason I love it so much is how not-religious it is.
The passage sets up a contrast between disparate ways we can choose to...
Powerful winds topple trees and power lines, prompt tornado warning
Winds were so strong Saturday night that meteorologists issued a tornado warning on the Central Coast including for Elkhorn and Prunedale, as well as areas around Aptos and Watsonville.
Just after 8pm, some residents reported seeing a “funnel cloud” touch down on the 700 block...
Agri-Culture graduates 30th class
WATSONVILLE—Fall brings graduation to the Watsonville-based, national award-winning Focus Agriculture program, created by the Agri-Culture organization.
A ceremony and reception was held at the Pajaro Valley Historical Association’s Bockius-Orr house on Beach Street in Watsonville for Class 30 of the Focus Agriculture program in early...
Food for power
Three years ago, 18-year-old Cesar Mendoza walked into the El Pajaro CDC Kitchen Incubator with a group of his peers. They were there for a workshop to make vitamin water and to learn how the kitchen ran.
Vital questions about the rail project
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission’s (RTC) $9 million Zero Emission Passenger Rail and Trail project study (ZEPRT) has generated heated debate and confusion.
While the project promises to combine passenger rail and active transit in one sweeping vision, fundamental questions about its feasibility,...
Man arrested for agriculture-related crimes
A Prunedale man was arrested Nov. 26 on suspicion of a lengthy list of agriculture-related crimes including theft of a tractor.
On Oct. 22, deputies...





















