PEF to present Special Screening of Documentary Film “Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age”

In partnership with the film production company, Cinema West and Grant School,
Petaluma Educational Foundation to offer Community Screening Event Thursday, May 12 at 6:30 p.m.

Petaluma Educational Foundation (PEF) is excited to announce we will be hosting a showing of the movie Screenagers: Growing Up in the Digital Age on Thursday, May 12. The screening takes place at Boulevard Cinemas in downtown Petaluma beginning at 6:30 p.m., doors open at 6:00 p.m.

In partnership with Cinema West/Boulevard Cinemas and Grant School along with the film’s production company, PEF will welcome guests to this community event offering a Question & Answer session with fellow attendees following the approximately 60 minute documentary.  Click here to purchase tickets on the Eventbright ticketing page:

Numerous local and national media outlets have featured this film. Here is Screenagers official trailer:

Visit www.pefinfo.com for more information on the Petaluma Educational Foundation contact PEF Executive Director, Maureen Highland, at [email protected] 707-778-4632. Or PEF Student Intern Blake Patrick at 707-778-4632.

Click Here Or Page 2 Below To Learn More About Screenagers

Petaluma’s Canvas Ranch Awarded Grant

FGCF-HeaderOn April 26, The FruitGuys Community Fund, a non-profit that supports small family farms will announce Canvas Ranch as a winner of the 2016 FruitGuys Community Fund Sustainable Agriculture Grant Program. Canvas Ranch is a 28-acre family farm that produces vegetables, fruit, grains and wool.

The funds from the grant will allow them to purchase a grain dehuller to provide dehullling services to local grain producers. This essential piece of equipment doesn’t exist in the area. Grains are a key crop for small farm diversification and sustainability as over-wintering maintains water-holding capacity in soils. Crop rotation helps control pests and disease, and increases soil biodiversity.

Winners-Map-1024x768The FruitGuys Community Fund is committed to supporting small farmers across the U.S. who are the catalysts for environmental and economic sufficiency, sustainability, food safety and food access. This year’s group of applicants was the largest and most diverse to date, with submissions and farming project proposals from all across the US.

From their website:

Canvas Ranch is a 28-acre family farm in Petaluma, CA, started by Deborah Walton and Tim Schaible. Together they produce vegetables, fruit, grains, and wool. Deborah also started a nonprofit, the North Coast Heritage Grain Alliance, to support small farmers pursuing alternative and rotational grain crops for food, beer, and spirits-making. Their $2,500 grant will allow them to purchase a grain dehuller to provide dehulling services to local grain producers. No one in the area owns this essential piece of equipment. Grains are a key crop for small-farm diversification and sustainability: overwintering maintains soils’ water-holding capacity, and crop rotation helps control pests and diseases and increases soil biodiversity.



 

Emergency Preparedness in Petaluma Ca

Photo above from Kumamoto Japan Earthquake Relief Fund

Emergency preparedness is back in the headlines due to the recent major earthquakes in Japan (6.5) and Ecuador (7.8). Many people have been killed or trapped beneath collapsed buildings, power outages have occurred, and hundreds of people have been left homeless. Many Californians may ask, “Can it happen here in the Bay Area?” Geologist have replied that it isn’t a question of IF, but WHEN.  For more information see a previous post “Disaster Preparedness – Neighbors Helping Neighbors.”

San-Fran-EQ-Image
Photo From PetalumaMuseum.com

It is just a coincidence, but the 110th anniversary of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake was last Monday, August 18th. Amateur radio, often called “ham radio,” has consistently been the most reliable means of communication in emergencies when other systems of communications failed or were over worked. In Petaluma, a small group of volunteer amateur radio operators conducted a city wide drill to test their ability to communicate in the event of a disaster that creates an electric power outage. This group, also known as the Petaluma Neighborhood Ham Watch Network, tested their radios using a repeater frequency as well as five simplex frequencies to communicate with ham radio operators in the four quadrants of Petaluma: North, East, South, and West.

Disaster-Preparedness-Neighbors-Helping-NeighborsThe major goal of this group is to: (1) provide simple conversational contact with amateur radio operators in other neighborhoods, (2) establish two-way communication with an amateur radio station located in the local government Emergency Operation Center (EOC), and (3) to provide Internet messaging service for neighbors to distant relatives. The Petaluma NHW Network conducts weekly check-ins on Tuesdays at
8:00 p.m., on 146.910 -88.5, as well as monthly face-to-face meetings to learn more about their radios.

Any local Hams who want to become involved with the Petaluma Neighborhood Ham Watch Network or seek additional information, e-mail Bill Hammerman, KI6GOO, at [email protected] .


What’s Going On In Petaluma Ca This Week? Through April 29th

Petaluma Butter & Egg Days Parade Button Launch35th Annual Butter & Egg Days Parade & Festival – Sat, 10am-4pm: Cow Chip Toss at 10am; Cutest Lil’ Chick at 10:15am; Pre-parade entertainment at 11:15, Kids Parade at 11:30; Main Parade at Noon in historic downtown. 762-9348.

Print“Better Soil, Better Food…A Better World” – Sat., Noon: Presented at Tara Firma Farms. See website for details and ticket information.

30th Annual Spring Antique Faire – Sun., 8am-4pm: Over 160 dealers from across the US, there is something for everyone’s budget. Downtown on Fourth, Kentucky & Western Ave.

Petaluma Bounty Plant Sale – Sun., 9am-3pm: Annual plant sale fundraiser at Bounty Community Farm, 55 Shasta Ave.

Boating at the Barn – Sun., 10am-1pm: Free kayak and row boat rides at the River Heritage Center in Steamer Landing Park (end of Copeland Street). Sign up at the barn. For info call 769-0910.

wilmer_strout_psrr“The Fight over the Railroad in 1870 Petaluma” – Sun., 4pm: Talk by historian Skip Sommer at the Petaluma Museum, 20 4th St. 778-4398.

Petaluma-3-Market-Hi-ResEast-Side Farmers’ MarketTues., 10am-1:30pm: At Deer Creek Shopping Center, 501 N. McDowell Blvd. 415-999-5635.

Petaluma Cinema Series – Wed., 7pm: Lenny Abrahamson’s film, “Room” at SRJC Petaluma Campus, 680 Sonoma Mtn. Pkwy.

Classic Car Cruise-In – Thurs., 6-9pm: Show off your classic cars every Thursday evening. No judging, just enjoy the eye candy.  Fourth and Sea Fish and Chips, 101 4th St. 762-6424.

Elks Host Appreciation Breakfast for Petaluma Police Volunteers

Pictured above is on the left Wayne Wilson Lodge ER and Robert H. Myers Lodge treasurer. Myers is a retired Special Deputy U.S. Marshal. He now serves as a volunteer with the Petaluma Police department. The donation from the Petaluma Elks was in the amount of 1,079.00 raised at the benefit breakfast held at the lodge

A breakfast was held at  the lodge in tribute to the Petaluma Police Volunteer Pro­gram comprised of over 60 PPD members/volunteers (ages ranging from 15 to 93 years old) who donate over 4,700 hours a year to increase the health and safety of Petaluma. The volunteers and their families were treated to a great breakfast and which different members of the volunteer program were acknowledged for their service. The Petaluma Elks served 170 breakfasts to the volunteers and their families.

There are three categories. Volunteers, Chaplains and Interns who perform duties for the Police Department that do not require sworn police officers, such as delivering paper/reports to the County Court House or Petaluma City Hall, driving vehicles for maintenance or update of equip­ment, cars to the car wash, traffic control at events and such. These volunteers receive no compensation for their time spent except that their uniforms are provided by the Police Department.

PDD members have created task force teams that pro­vide year round support inside and outside of the depart­ment. In addition to receiving volunteers from the local high schools, Santa Rosa Junior College, and the greater com­munity (Elks are volunteers too), they have Interns from Sonoma State University who are studying Criminal Justice and Chaplains. The PPD offers Junior Police Camps, Ex­plores Program and a Community Academy in which our volunteers are a major asset.

Around the World in 80 Shots: the Journey of a #Petaluma Travel Nerd

When I stand on the deck of a ship all my problems, all my worries, all my fears simply float away. This Travel Nerd leaves them behind with wake.

I’ve always loved water and especially the sea; I learned just how deep that love runs when I studied abroad with Semester at Sea in the spring of 2012. The voyage took me to 11 countries on three continents and, despite the stress that comes with finding your way in a country where you can’t even read the alphabet, let alone speak the language, and the constant lack of sleep, it was the happiest and freest I’ve ever felt. As written by John Francis in his book, Planetwalker, “There is a certain freedom to walking and pilgrimage.”

Click On Photo To See Full Size

The four months I spent circling the globe and studying aboard the MV Explorer (Semester at Sea’s ship at the time of my voyage) certainly was a sort of pilgrimage. It taught me more then I can possibly put down here, and absolutely more than the rest of my education put together. I know it’s probably the most cliché statement one can make about study abroad, but it’s cliché for a reason. When you’re tossed into a part of the world you’ve never experienced before, and especially with people you’ve never met, you not only get the chance to see yourself clearly, you get the chance to let go of yourself. I stopped thinking about who I was and simply got to be. I was too busy to worry about anything more than catching the right bus, finding my hotel, and simply experiencing everything I possibly could.

Click On Photo To See Full Size

It was on Semester at sea that I also reinvigorated my love of photography. Armed with my then six-year-old DSLR, I did my best to capture the feel of the places I went and the people who lived there. While I saw incredibly beautiful things; the Amazon River at dusk, the sunrise hitting Table Mountain in Cape Town, and colors across the towns and cities of India; I also saw things that were terribly sad, such the shantytowns of Brazil and the results of Dioxin—still present in the youth of Vietnam. These sights strengthened my resolve to not only be a journalist, but to also spread knowledge and do good things with my career.

Click On Photo To See Full Size

As a Petaluma native who went away to college at University of Oregon, my experiences of life and people were wonderful even before Semester at Sea, with memories of hiking in the redwoods, driving out to the coast at 5:00 a.m. to watch the sunrise, and eating some of the best food you can find at local restaurants. Those memories will never change or become any less important no matter how many places I travel to, but traveling did open me up to new ideas and new ways to think about and see the world.

After graduating from UO I’m back in my old hometown, which is as lovely as ever, working odd jobs and doing photography for local publications, but now I have two homes. Petaluma will always be home but even now, roughly four years after the start of my voyage, going to the ocean still feels like coming home—every time.

TurtlesYou can find more of my photo and video work at my website, www.travelnerdphoto.com, which I created myself using Weebly. There you can also find a bit about my travels, as well as gear I recommend for both photography and travel.

VIDEO: Cutest Chicken Dance Ever Seen In Petaluma Ca

Our city is full of charm and wonderful surprises making our Petaluma Downtown a great and memorable place to visit.  If it is not Petaluma Pete playing a piano on a corner or a flash siting of Roller Boy buzzing down the sidewalks we are constantly entertained by pop up street artists. You never know what’s going to happen unless you experience it.

This video of a street artist and the cutest little chicken dance (ever!) is a good taste of our pop up entertainment and the fun you will experience when visiting our historic downtown.  You can’t get more Petaluma culture than the chicken dance played on Accordion accompanied by a young girl who decided along her route through our Plaza to dance to the music.

This is a raw homemade video so give it a second to get squared away – we promise it will make you smile and worth two minutes of your day.


VIDEO: Newborn Piglets at Green Goose Farm

 Large Black Hogs
Large Black Hogs

Green Goose Farm in Petaluma is a small family farm, raising pastured, grass-fed, grass-finished animals for the local community.  In this video they captured their next generation of pigs. These cute little piglets are one day old and they are hungry!

These piglets are first-generation of pure bred Large Black Hog and Gloucester Old Spot.

Gloucester_Old_Spot_Boar
Gloucester Old Spot Boar


NEW PETALUMA STAGE PRODUCTION – POWERFUL WOMEN FROM WITHIN

The talented Petaluma troupe of powerful women who brought you “The Vagina Monologues” last February is proud to present “Powerful Women From Within,” an entirely new and original stage production. This show will take place on Friday, February 19, 2016, at St. John’s Episcopal Church Social Hall located on the corner of 5th Street and C Street. The program will begin at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 and are available online at Brown Paper Tickets – http://bpt.me/2495817 – and at the door.

Powerful Women From Within Petaluma Ca“Powerful Women From Within” is a diverse assemblage of intriguing, inspirational and empowering individual, partner and group poems, stories, portraits and songs written and performed by the actors. Each woman will perform pieces that exemplify her insight on what uplifts and empowers women. An important objective of this event is to educate and connect the local community with the means to join and serve the greater goal of non-violence and women’s empowerment. To accomplish this objective, an integral part of the evening will be an inclusive networking opportunity and the ability for self-empowerment. Various local women centric organizations will be tabling, providing materials, and engaging participants in discussion and information sharing after the performance.

This production is one of many local events sponsored by Guided to Safety, a Petaluma organization whose mission is to promote healthy relationships through community education and resources for the awareness and prevention of domestic violence, teen dating violence and sexual assault. Contact them at guidedtosafety.org.

Contact:

Jerrie Patterson, 707-763-6615

[email protected]

Michael Finney of ‘7 On Your Side’ Features Petaluma’s Chick a Boom Vintage Valentine Day Shoppers

Michael Finney 7 On Your Side ABCIn a ABC feature, Michael Finney addresses spending on Valentines Day.  He follows a Sonoma County couple who decide how they will spend their time and money for Valentines Day.  In this video the couple decides they will shop at Petaluma Ca’s Chick A Boom Vintage shop.

And “Yes” please do spend your Valentines at our great restaurants and enjoy our shops in great historic downtown.