CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council this week will consider receiving a state cannabis business development grant and the purchase of a modular building for the Animal Control office.
The council will meet virtually for a closed session at 5 p.m. Thursday, May 7, to hold a performance evaluation for City Manager Alan Flora, discuss with legal counsel a case of potential litigation and existing litigation against PG&E Corp. and a conference with labor negotiators regarding Clearlake Management/Confidential Employees, Clearlake Police Officer Association, Clearlake Municipal Employees Association and Clearlake Middle Management Association before the public portion of the meeting begins at 6 p.m.
Because of the county’s shelter in place order, Clearlake City Hall remains closed to the public, however, the virtual meeting will be broadcast live on Lake County PEG TV’s YouTube Channel.
Comments and questions can be submitted in writing for City Council consideration by sending them to City Clerk Melissa Swanson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. You can also visit the city’s new town hall site and submit written comments at https://www.opentownhall.com/portals/327/Issue_8734 . Identify the subject you wish to comment on in your email’s subject line or in your town hall submission.
Each public comment emailed to the city clerk will be read aloud by the mayor or a member of staff for up to three minutes or will be displayed on a screen. Public comment emails and town hall public comment submissions that are received after the beginning of the meeting will not be included in the record.
On Thursday, the council will issue five proclamations declaring April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month, May 4 as Firefighter Appreciation Day, May 2020 as Military Appreciation Month, May 10 to 16 as Police Week and May 3 to 9 as Public Service Appreciation Week.
In council business, council members will consider a $98,890.43 Cannabis Equity Grant from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development.
A report to the council from Facilities Coordinator/Deputy City Clerk Tina Viramontes explained that the grant is designed to support equitable business development in the cannabis industry.
“The grant will assist in the creation of a cannabis business portal on the City of Clearlake website for cannabis businesses and the community, as well as provide funding to obtain a consulting group to help create and design the Equity Program. The grant will also provide funding to promote community events and meetings with cannabis businesses along with the community to help develop a cannabis equity program,” Viramontes reported.
The council also will consider amending the fiscal year 2019-20 budget to include the grant revenue.
In other business, the council is being asked to ratify and authorize Flora’s purchase of a modular office building for the Animal Control facility at an estimated cost of $37,427.15.
Also on Thursday, the council will consider approving a contract with R&R Pacific Construction for the Austin Park bathroom remodel project
On the meeting's consent agenda – items that are not considered controversial and are usually adopted on a single vote – are warrant registers; consideration of continuation of declaration of local emergency issued on Oct. 9, 2017, and ratified by council action Oct. 12, 2017, in response to the Sulphur fire; second reading and adoption of Ordinance No. 240-2020, commercial cannabis regulatory permit suspension/revocation and appeal process and corrections to Ordinance No. 229-2019; annual rate increase notice from Clearlake Waste Solutions; consideration of continuation of declaration of local emergency issued on March 14, 2020, and Ratified by Council Action March 19, 2020.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – On Monday, the city of Clearlake reopened the City Hall and Police Department lobbies to the public, Monday through Thursday, 8 a.m. through 5 p.m.
City officials said providing essential services in a safe manner to citizens has been the priority and they continue to do so by putting new procedures in place to do business at City Hall.
A new plexiglass barrier has been installed at the City Hall public counter, as well as floor markers allowing a maximum of three citizens within the lobby area to assist in maintaining social distancing, and regular sanitization of surfaces.
The Clearlake Police Department lobby area is also open during regular business hours for a maximum of two citizens at a time.
City officials apologized for any wait times community members may encounter and appreciate their understanding and patience as the city navigates “these uncharted times.”
The city said larger group meetings, including city council and planning commission meetings will continue to be held virtually via Zoom with opportunities for public participation through Open Town Hall and email.
The city continues to provide normal business through phone calls, email and video conferencing by appointment.
Please call 707-994-8201 for questions or accommodations in conducting city business.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lakeport City Council this week will get an update from the county Public Health officer on COVID-19, consider upcoming events and discuss an application for federal grant money to respond to the pandemic.
The meeting will take place via webinar beginning at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 5.
To speak on an agenda item, access the meeting remotely here or join by phone by calling 415-930-5229 or toll-free, 877-309-2074. The access code is 620-529-293; the audio pin will be shown after joining the webinar. Those phoning in without using the web link will be in “listen mode” only and will not be able to participate or comment.
Please indicate in the email subject line "for public comment" and list the item number of the agenda item that is the topic of the comment. Comments that read to the council will be subject to the three minute time limitation (approximately 350 words). Written comments that are only to be provided to the council and not read at the meeting will be distributed to the council prior to the meeting.
On Tuesday, the council is scheduled to get a presentation from Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace on the current progress in containing the COVID-19 outbreak in Lake County. Pace had been set to speak to the council at its last meeting in April but had a time conflict.
In council business, City Manager Margaret Silveira is asking the council to review the application for the July 18 Rhythm & Brews event and other similar events using public areas in light of shelter in place orders.
“Staff is seeking direction in processing and scheduling events using public areas in Lakeport in the upcoming months. Since March 18, Shelter-in-Place orders have been instituted in Lake County to help stop the spread of COVID-19. It is likely that some type of order will continue through the summer months, making it difficult to respond to public requests for events and the subsequent street closures,” Silveira wrote in her report to the council.
Options for the council to consider include denying the Rhythm & Brews event, approving it with staff recommendations, or directing staff to cancel all events scheduled for May through September.
In other business, the council will consider the proposed resolution adopting the Eleventh Street Corridor Multimodal Engineered Feasibility Study and make a recommendation that the Lake Area Planning Council also adopt the proposed Study.
Staff also will ask the council to proceed with the preparation of a Community Development Block Grant application for $70,681 in aid through the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES, Act.
On the consent agenda – items considered noncontroversial and usually accepted as a slate on one vote – are ordinances; minutes of the regular council meeting on April 21 and the special council meeting on April 24; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the Mendocino Complex fire; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the February 2019 storms; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the October 2019 public safety power shutoff; confirmation of the continuing existence of a local emergency for the COVID-19 public health emergency; and receipt and filing of the draft minutes of the regular meeting on April 22 of the Measure Z Advisory Committee.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – This week marks California’s annual “Wildfire Preparedness Week,” and Cal Fire is raising awareness and encouraging families and communities to take a proactive approach in personal wildfire preparedness.
Over the last three years, California has experienced five of the deadliest wildfires and seven of the most destructive wildfires in state history, with more than 3.7 million acres burned, some 34,000 structures destroyed, and more than 145 lives tragically lost.
This year, dry and warm conditions can lead to an increased potential of fire activity.
Since last year, California has been amplifying resources to protect public safety, including the completion of 35 high priority fuel reduction projects. The 35 projects resulted in protecting 90,000 acres by directly treating 12,000 acres.
Additionally, in 2020 Cal Fire plans to directly treat 50,000 acres. Cal Fire is partnering with the California National Guard and other agencies to provide early detection to wildfires throughout California to minimize reaction times and monitor fire affected areas to augment responses if necessary.
Also, Cal Fire will be amplifying resources with the use of technology through the Innovation Procurement Sprint that will help predict potential fire behavior and impact.
Finally, Cal Fire has focused on the procurement of new Blackhawk helicopters that can carry and deliver more water to impacted areas.
“As we continue to deal with challenging times, we want to make sure Californians know we are prepared for this year’s fire season, and also, the importance of them knowing what they can do to prepare themselves,” said Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter.
More importantly, Cal Fire is also ensuring residents know about the importance of educating and preparing themselves and their communities.
For instance, safeguarding their homes through the creation of defensible space by clearing vegetation 100-feet or more away, as well as using fire resistant landscaping to help stop the spread of wildfire, is strongly advised. This is especially important since approximately 25 percent of the state’s population, or 11 million Californians, live in a high-risk fire zone.
Thousands of communities, from small mountain towns to suburbs to large urbanized cities, depend on smart planning and prevention tools such as protective fuel breaks, defensible space around homes and home hardening for their safety and survival. These tools work together to build more fire-resilient communities.
“Preparedness is key to California residents reducing their exposure and risks to destructive wildfires, especially during this pandemic period,” said Anthony Scardina, deputy regional forester for Region 5. “We stand shoulder to shoulder with our wildland fire service partners at the state and local levels to protect our fellow Californians in 2020 and beyond.”
Additionally, Cal Fire is encouraging Californians to access the revamped “Ready for Wildfire” web-based app, which is a helpful resource to use in year-round preparation.
The “Ready for Wildfire” web-based app now takes a personalized approach that includes local alerts, checklists for preparedness, including evacuation plans, and other kits.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The Lake County Sheriff’s Office reported Monday that a Lake County Jail inmate has tested positive for COVID-19.
Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace confirmed to Lake County News that the inmate is Lake County’s eighth COVID-19 case.
Sheriff Brian Martin said his agency got the inmate’s test results on Monday morning.
Lt. Corey Paulich said the specimen that identified the infected inmate was collected on Tuesday, April 19.
Paulich said the inmate is not displaying any symptoms of illness. When the positive test result was received the inmate was placed in isolation to avoid spreading the virus.
The sheriff’s office would not provide further information, citing medical privacy laws.
That includes not releasing information in response to questions from Lake County News about how long the inmate has been in custody and whether that individual came in sick or was infected while in the jail.
Paulich said the sheriff’s office is working with Public Health to determine the source of the infection.
One of Lake County’s previous seven confirmed COVID-19 cases was in a former state prison inmate released back to the county early in April, as Lake County News has reported.
Paulich said the test of the COVID-19 positive inmate was part of a 100-test survey conducted in the jail to determine if the virus could be detected in the inmate population or sheriff’s office staff.
He said all participants were asymptomatic so lab testing was not prioritized, causing the delay in receiving the results.
As of Monday, Paulich said the results of 91 tests have been received and this is the only positive case. Four test results are still pending.
Paulich said the sheriff's office has identified all inmates and staff who may have come into close contact with this inmate.
Following the guidelines of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and in consultation with the Lake County Public Health officer, 17 inmates who had direct contact with the infected inmate are currently in medical isolation, Paulich said.
On March 12, the sheriff's office instituted enhanced measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus in the jail.
Those measures include suspending jail programs and visitation, screening all staff prior to entry to the facility, placing inmates who are in custody for minor offenses on home detention, enhanced medical screening at booking, wearing of face masks by staff, designating bed spaces for isolation and quarantine, among others, Paulich said.
Paulich said the jail continues to undergo comprehensive regular cleaning and disinfecting.
Due to Judicial Council of California rules issued in April that put in place a no-bail rule statewide for misdemeanors and lower-level felonies during the COVID-19 pandemic – which it said was meant to “safely reduce jail populations” – the jail census has dropped.
The jail is licensed for 286 inmates and currently has about 172 inmates, which Paulich said changes daily.
Paulich said the sheriff’s office has implemented safeguards to improve the health and well-being of inmates and employees.
Officials are providing comprehensive education to the jail population and staff on how to reduce chances of exposure and infection, he said.
“We have implemented social distancing, virtual meetings, working from home, as well as paused non-essential meetings, travel and training. We have hand sanitizers, cleaning wipes, face masks and disposable gloves readily available to employees,” Paulich said.
“This is a developing situation and we will provide updates as information becomes available,” Paulich said.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
A comparison of daily deaths in Italy since January 2020 with those over the previous five years there indicates that the fatality rate in that country for those infected with the new coronavirus is at least 0.8 percent, far higher than that of the seasonal flu and higher than some recent estimates.
Extrapolating from the Italian data, University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory data scientists estimate that the fatality rate in New York City and Santa Clara County in California can be no less than 0.5 percent, or one of every 200 people infected.
These conclusions contrast with those of a study posted in April by Stanford University epidemiologists, who pegged the fatality rate at between 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent. An affiliated team from the University of Southern California later in April reported a similar fatality rate in Los Angeles.
“Their final number is much lower than our estimate,” said senior author Uros Seljak, a UC Berkeley professor of physics, faculty scientist at Berkeley Lab and member of the Berkeley Institute for Data Science. He also is co-director of the Berkeley Center for Cosmological Physics, or BCCP.
Seljak says that getting COVID-19 doubles your chance of dying this year.
“If you want to know what are the chances of dying from COVID-19 if you get infected, we observed that a very simple answer seems to fit a lot of data: It is the same as the chance of you dying over the next 12 months from normal causes,” said Seljak.
Current uncertainties can push this number down to 10 months or up to 20 months, he added. His team discovered that this simple relation holds not only for the overall fatality rate, but also for the age-stratified fatality rate, and it agrees with the data both in Italy and in the U.S.
“Our observation suggests COVID-19 kills the weakest segments of the population,” Seljak said.
The paper was posted online last week on MedRxiv in advance of peer review and submission to a journal.
Italy’s deaths twice the official count
The study by Seljak and his colleagues predicts that the true number of deaths in Italy from COVID-19 is more than twice the official figure: around 50,000 people, as of April 18. The country’s official statistics listed more than 150,000 confirmed cases, as of that date, and more than 20,000 attributed deaths.
The difference, the researchers say, is likely due to many deaths among older people that have not been counted in the official Italian statistics. The team found a much higher fatality rate for those over 70 years of age: In Lombardy, a region hit hard by the pandemic, those between 70 and 79 had a 2.3 percent infection fatality rate, while those 80 to 89 had an almost 6 percent fatality rate. Nearly 13 percent of those over 90 died.
In comparison, those 40 to 49 had a 0.04 percent fatality rate.
These differing fatality rates can explain the observed higher number of deaths among younger people in New York City. Because the population there is younger that in Italy, more deaths among young people are expected, despite their lower fatality rate. The researchers predict that about 26 percent of all deaths from COVID-19 in New York City will be among those younger than 65.
The population of Italy, on the other hand, is older, yielding a higher overall fatality rate for the country’s population: 0.8 percent, versus 0.5 percent for New York. Only 10 percent of Italian deaths will be younger than 65.
The team also estimated, based on the predicted fatality rate for those infected with the new coronavirus and the positivity rate for those tested for COVID-19 in New York City, that about one-quarter of that city’s population has been infected with the virus. This agrees with the recent announcement by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo of 21 percent infection.
The team’s predicted infection rate for Santa Clara is around 1 percent, while that for Los Angeles is around 2 percent, based on current mortality rates.
Given known infection and fatality rates on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, the team also calculated an upper limit on the fatality rate for those infected: about twice the lower limit, or 1 percent, for New York City and Santa Clara County.
Uncertainty fueled by lack of diagnostic tests
Uncertainty about the fatality rate for those infected by the new virus, dubbed SARS-CoV-2, resulted from delays in testing, due to a shortage of test kits and testing labs. This left public health officials in the dark about the true rate of infection in the general population, which is needed to calculate what percentage of infected people die.
The Stanford study estimated an infection rate in Santa Clara County of between 2.5 percent and 4.2 percent of residents, whereas the USC study estimated an infection rate in Los Angeles between 2.8 percent and 5.6 percent. Both are much higher than previous estimates, which means the number of confirmed COVID-positive deaths relative to those infected dropped to a low of 0.2 percent.
Based on these studies, some of the Stanford authors have argued that COVID-19 is little worse than the seasonal flu, casting doubt on decisions to mandate shelter-in-place and the closing of many businesses.
“Of course, it (the infection fatality rate) matters, for policy decisions,” Seljak said. “Is this just a bad case of flu, as they would like to claim, or is it something much more serious?”
To answer that question, Seljak and his colleagues mined a previously untapped source of data: the daily death rate for 1,688 towns in Italy between Jan. 1 and April 4 for the years 2015 through 2020, provided by the Italian Institute of Statistics. The excess deaths between January and April of this year, presumably due to COVID-19, can be used to calculate a lower limit for the death rate from the virus.
“The dataset is a treasure trove for statistical analysis of COVID-19 mortality,” Seljak said. “For example, it can give mortality rate as a function of age better than any other data out there, a sad consequence of tens of thousands of deaths from COVID-19 in Italy. With this data, we established that if one gets infected and is above 90 years of age, the probability of dying is at least 10 percent, because that is the fraction of the entire population of Bergamo province in this age group that died. In contrast, the corresponding number for ages 40 to 49 is 0.04 percent, far lower than previous estimates.”
The Lombardy region of Italy, for example, was a viral hotspot, with the province of Bergamo hardest hit: The infection spread to so many people in Bergamo — likely two-thirds of the population, if not the entire population — that it is possible that so-called herd immunity has set in, Seljak said. That means that enough people are immune, at least temporarily, to stanch the spread of the virus among the uninfected.
With essentially everyone in Bergamo infected, and the known deaths since January — predicted to be more than 6,000 out of a population of 1 million — it was easy to calculate the lowest possible infected fatality rate: 0.56 percent.
For Lombardy, the researchers estimated that the lowest possible fatality rate was even higher: about 0.84 percent. They also estimated that 23 percent of the population of Lombardy was infected, as of April 18 — on average, 35 times the number of positive tests in the province.
The team conducted an analysis for all Italian towns that reported daily death data and for all age groups, using a counterfactual analysis: estimating the expected number of deaths daily between January and April 2020, based on the previous five years, and comparing those numbers with reported deaths. The excess is assumed to be due to COVID-19. The researchers employed statistical methods often used in analyzing large sets of data: the Conditional Mean with a Gaussian process (CGP) and a Synthetic Control Method (SCM).
In nearly all towns, the excess deaths in early 2020 exceeded the official count attributed to COVID-19.
The numbers the team came up with are lower limits, the researchers emphasize, since deaths in many Italian towns are not fully up to date.
“Some of my colleagues think that we have been overly conservative, which might be true,” Seljak said. “We have just accounted for the people who have died up until today, but people are still dying.”
The first author of the paper is Chirag Modi, a physics graduate student in BCCP. Other co-authors are postdoctoral fellows Vanessa Böhm and George Stein and research scientist Simone Ferraro of Berkeley Lab and the BCCP, and former Miller Fellow at UC Berkeley.
Robert Sanders writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – State Sen. Mike McGuire will hold a critical telephone town hall this Wednesday, May 6, at 6:30 p.m. for Mendocino and Lake County residents to hear the latest updates on the local and state coronavirus response.
“We’re grateful to partner with Lake and Mendocino counties on this critical coronavirus telephone town Hall,” McGuire said.
“We’ll have the latest, most accurate information from the medical professionals on the front lines on the virus response, stay-at-home orders and what a safe and strategic opening of our local economy would look like. We hope folks can join us for this informative community event,” McGuire said.
McGuire will host the public health officers from Lake and Mendocino counties, the superintendents of schools for the two counties and a University of California physician focused on infectious diseases.
To attend, dial 844-721-7241, enter code 6666128 and follow the prompts. You will be connected to the live town hall via telephone and you will be able to listen to the doctors providing critical updates. The town hall will be limited to the first 1,000 participants.
Email your questions and comments in advance and in real-time during the telephone town hall to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – When the governor of California issued the statewide shelter in place order in mid-March, and nearly all of the state’s public schools dismissed their students for the remainder of the school year, child care providers were placed in a difficult situation.
Considered essential businesses, they were allowed to remain open as long as they followed social distancing precautions and increased cleaning procedures.
The concern was that essential workers in other industries would still need care for their children in order to continue their jobs to support this health crisis.
But it hasn’t been easy for Lake County’s early learning teachers, providers and staff.
Many local facilities watched their enrollment dwindle as working parents lost jobs or were furloughed, and no longer had the need or finances to send their children to child care.
Some parents kept their children at home because they were concerned that their child would contract the virus in a group setting.
More stringent cleaning protocols required implementation, yet owners encountered difficulties in getting basic goods to run their businesses, such as cleaning products and food.
Many facilities had to close.
Carla Ritz, executive director of First 5 Lake, explains, “When COVID-19 social distancing precautions were ordered, 30 out of 31 child care centers in the county closed their doors along with 21 out of 70 licensed family child care homes.”
Support was available in Lake County through a partnership of local agencies dedicated to increasing the quality of child care providers in Lake County.
The Lake County Child Care Planning Council, or LPC, a consortium of agencies and nonprofits, works to build partnerships with individuals and organizations in our community to help meet the child care needs of our communities.
Angela Cuellar-Marroquin of the Lake County Office of Education is the coordinator of the LPC. “We truly are all in this together. Multiple local agencies are working hand-in-hand together during this health crisis.”
Carla Ritz, executive director of First 5 Lake, explained, “First 5 California invests in California's child care system by funding the IMPACT (Improve and Maximize Programs so All Children Thrive) approach to quality improvement throughout the state.”
Ritz added, “In Lake County, First 5 Lake has served as the lead agency overseeing the use of the $853,110 in IMPACT funding that has been invested in Lake County over the past five years, and Lake County Office of Education staff have implemented the program.”
The Lake County Office of Education typically uses IMPACT dollars to fund Quality Rating and Improvement System, otherwise known as QRIS, also headed by Cuellar-Marroquin.
But during this health crisis, QRIS was allowed to repurpose their IMPACT grant funding. This includes incentive stipends for providers remaining open to serve essential workers, materials for programs that are serving new age groups, and materials for sites to distribute to parents to use with children while sheltering in place.
“I think some of the most heart-warming things I’ve seen in this pandemic are those providers who have had to close, yet they are still taking care of their students from a distance,” said Cuellar-Marroquin. “The providers might be closed, yet every week, and sometimes every day, they are on Zoom with their children, or doing circle times via Facebook Live. I’ve even had providers who are closed reaching out to us for take-home materials, because they know their students at home are in need of supplies to keep on track with their early childhood learning.”
The reality though is that providers are still grappling with getting the basic supplies they need to follow protocols.
"Providers in Lake County have been diligent in following all Community Care Licensing rules and regulations related to social distancing and cleaning procedures to best protect the children and themselves. They are finding it difficult to secure cleaning materials, sometimes specific food items and other essential items for their operations," said Jamie Castaldo, resource & referral manager, Rural Communities Child Care, A program of North Coast Opportunities.
Ritz says, “Help is on the way!”
She explains that recently, the First 5 California Commission held an emergency meeting and authorized funding to contract with www.SupplyBank.org to provide relief to providers in need of essential supplies for babies and young children, such as diapers, wipes and gloves, in addition to much-needed sanitation items.
Lake County is expecting multiple shipments from SupplyBank over the next 60 days to meet that need locally.
Quality child care is now becoming an important issue in the reopening of the economy.
In Gov. Newsom’s April 28, 2020 press conference, he said, “Child care is foundational to getting people back to work. If they cannot get the kind of quality child care that they deserve they are less likely to get back to work and jump-start this economy."
Brock Falkenberg, Lake County superintendent of schools and a commissioner on the First 5 Lake Board said, “We know that quality child care is more important than ever now, and organizations such as First 5 Lake, North Coast Opportunities, and the Lake County Office of Education will continue committing time and energy towards helping our parents get back to work, by making quality child care available here in Lake County.”
There are open local child care slots available. Lake County families seeking child care can call the referral message line at North Coast Opportunities at 707-467-3211. Calls are returned within 24 hours.
For families who need financial assistance to help pay for child care, there are a limited number of subsidized child care slots available for essential workers. To find out if you qualify, visit ncoinc.org and complete the waitlist application.
For child care providers interested in becoming a part of QRIS, please contact Angela Cuellar at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . For more information about QRIS, please visit www.lakecoe.org/QRIS .
Find a pretty tablecloth, get out your best china and put on your most elegant hat! Having a proper English tea at home is a fun diversion while being sheltered in place and it can also make for a very special Mother’s Day celebration.
Other than water, tea is the most ubiquitous drink in the world. Its consumption easily equals all the other manufactured drinks on the planet put together – that is, coffee, chocolate, sodas and alcoholic beverages.
In England, tea is both a drink and a meal. The British love their tea, with over 165 million cups of it being served there each year. That’s nearly three cups per day per British citizen.
Tea became popular in Britain in the 1660s via the marriage of King Charles II to a Portuguese princess, Catherine of Braganza, who brought her habit of drinking tea to the British royal court.
While tea had been previously introduced to Britain, it was not yet a popular beverage, perhaps because at the time it was extremely expensive. (Some aficionados even kept their tea under lock and key in specially made tea chests.)
While in her native Portugal, Princess Catherine regularly enjoyed the beverage and continued doing so after marrying and moving to England. The people followed suit and tea remains beloved in Britain to this day.
It wasn’t until the mid-19th century that the concept of ‘afternoon tea’ (that is, tea served with food) came about. As is true with much historical trivia, there are conflicting stories as to how the tradition of English tea came to be.
One story tells of a duchess who found it difficult making it through the long stretch between the light lunch and late supper that were traditional in England at that time.
She asked her servants to bring her sweets and tea in her chambers in the mid-afternoon and enjoyed it so much that it became a daily event. The tradition spread and is now part of English culture.
Another version is that the English brought the Chinese tradition of dim sum, small portions of food served with tea, back to England. Dim sum originated in the Chinese region of Canton, where rural farmers would go to tea houses after working in the fields.
In Cantonese, going to dim sum is usually known as going to “drink tea.” The drinking of tea is as important to dim sum as the food.
Either way, the tradition remains intact today, and having tea is a mainstay of British culture.
In today’s Britain, there are three times that tea (meaning the beverage along with food) is taken.
“Elevenses” is tea and a light snack (say, scones, muffins or biscuits) taken in the late morning during a break from one’s work. Though a relatively new custom – it likely popped up in the 20th century - it’s well ingrained in British society. (If it sounds familiar, it might be because it was mentioned in “The Lord of the Rings” as a hobbit’s third meal of the day.)
“Afternoon tea” is what we typically think of when referring to an English tea. Taken in the afternoon between 2 and 4 p.m., it’s known for temptations such as scones, dainty crustless sandwiches, cookies and the like. Though the food presented may be abundant, afternoon tea is intended to be a light meal.
Afternoon tea emerged as a social event for the well-heeled sometime in the 1830s or 1840s. During the Victorian era, people dressed for the occasion, often donning gowns, gloves and hats.
Though things have relaxed a bit, etiquette surrounding afternoon tea was initially quite strict, with rules on such things as how to handle one’s spoon after stirring milk into tea.
“High tea,” despite its name, originated with the lower classes. This was a hearty meal taken immediately after work because often there wasn’t the luxury of a break for a midday meal. Fare such as cheeses, meats and pies were consumed to sate hunger and served as one’s supper.
Some regions have their own form of afternoon tea, such as the now-famous Devonshire Cream Tea, which consists of scones, strawberry jam and the vital ingredient, Devon clotted cream. As to the beverage, true tea is only from the plant species Camellia sinensis.
The type of tea – whether it’s white, yellow, green, oolong, or black – depends on the processing it goes through after it’s picked.
Tea leaves begin to wilt and oxidize shortly after picking if not dried quickly. During this process, the leaves turn progressively darker as the chlorophyll breaks down and tannins are released. This is known as fermentation, though it’s not a true fermentation caused by microorganisms; rather, it’s enzyme oxidation.
White tea is comprised of wilted leaves that are not oxidized. Yellow tea is the same but is allowed to turn yellow.
Green tea is not oxidized either but is made from unwilted leaves. Oolong tea is wilted, bruised, and partially oxidized, while black tea is wilted, sometimes bruised, and fully oxidized.
Herbal “teas” are more correctly called herbal infusions or tisanes as they don’t contain true tea leaves; rather, they’re made with flowers, fruits, or herbs.
If your mother is with you while sheltering in place, hosting a traditional English tea on Mother’s Day is a special way to give the gift of time to her, not to mention some well-deserved pampering along with a delectable meal.
If not, a gift certificate for a future tea holds promise for an experience to be cherished later.
A traditional afternoon tea (one that is more of a meal than a snack) typically consists of a scone course (think lemon curd and Devonshire cream with scones), an appetizer course (for example, cucumber tea sandwiches with the crusts cut off), and a dessert course (such as shortbread cookies or a trifle).
The recipes included in today’s column are those I created for an English tea culinary class. Each course is represented – scone, savory and dessert – and can serve as a template for your tea or as inspiration for your own ideas.
Most of all, enjoy! As C. S. Lewis, author of the Narnia series, said, “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”
Lavender cream scones
You or a friend may have a lavender bush that can be harvested; if not, culinary lavender is available online or at specialty stores.
2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon baking powder 2 teaspoons dried lavender buds At least 1 cup heavy cream
~ Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
~ Sift the dry ingredients together into a large bowl.
~ Add lavender and blend to distribute evenly.
~ Gradually add just enough cream to form a soft dough.
~ Knead lightly on a floured board, handling the dough gently to retain the air needed for the scones to rise.
~ Roll out to a ½ to ¾ inch thickness and cut into rounds with a cookie cutter or sharp knife.
~ Arrange on an ungreased baking sheet, leaving a ½ inch space between them.
~ Bake for 10 – 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Makes 8 large or 16 small scones.
~ Serve with lemon curd and/or lavender butter (recipes below).
Note: These scones may be made without the lavender, or with orange zest and cranberries in place of it, or with finely chopped walnuts.
Lemon curd
Unused lemon curd may be stored in a tightly covered container in the refrigerator, where it will keep for a week.
3 eggs 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 1 cup granulated sugar Juice and zest (grated rind, yellow part only) of two lemons
~ Beat the eggs into the melted butter.
~ Stir in the sugar and beat until thoroughly combined.
~ Add the lemon juice and zest gradually.
~ Cook in the top of a double boiler over simmering water until thickened, stirring constantly. Allow to cool before using.
Lemon curd may be used atop scones, crumpets, toast, English muffins or cookies. It may also be used to fill tartlets or as a filling for layer cakes.
Lavender butter
Frozen, the butter stays fresh tasting for about a month. In the refrigerator, it keeps for about a week.
¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature 1 tablespoon honey or lavender honey 1 tablespoon lavender, finely ground in spice grinder or coffee grinder
Place the butter, honey, and lavender in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until just combined. Transfer to a sheet of parchment or wax paper. Roll into a 1” wide log. Refrigerate or freeze.
Curried shrimp sandwiches with lemon-dill butter
These tasty bites may also be served as a sandwich. If so, cut off bread crusts and spread lemon-dill butter on both bread slices, or, if open-faced, on one. Thin slices of English cucumber may be added.
½ pound bay shrimp, rinsed and drained well ¼ cup mayonnaise 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (typically about or a bit less than ½ lemon) 1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill 2 tablespoons finely diced fresh red pepper Curry to taste (begin with ¼ teaspoon) Salt and pepper to taste Lemon-Dill Butter (recipe follows) 1 French bread or sourdough baguette Sprigs of fresh dill for garnish
~ Thinly slice baguette and spread slices with lemon-dill butter.
~ Spread baguette slices on a baking sheet and, using broiler, allow butter to melt and slices to crisp and brown a bit.
~ Remove from broiler and cool.
~ When ready to serve, spread a layer of shrimp mixture on bread.
~ If desired, garnish each piece with a sprig or sprinkling of fresh dill.
Lemon-dill butter
This compound butter is also tasty on noodles, salmon or asparagus.
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature Zest of one lemon 1 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (typically about or a bit less than ½ lemon) Salt and pepper to taste and a pinch of sugar
~ Pulse all ingredients (except salt & pepper) in a food processor using a quick on/off pulse until mixture is well blended.
~ Season with salt & pepper to taste and pulse to blend.
~ Makes about ¾ cups.
~ Store in an airtight container in fridge for 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Puff pastry swirls
These savory appetizers are festive and colorful.
1 sheet frozen puff pastry ¼ cup Parmesan cheese (approximate) 1 – 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, drained and squeezed dry 6 mushrooms, stems removed, and diced 1 medium shallot, diced 2 tablespoons butter ¼ cup toasted walnuts, chopped fine Salt and pepper to taste Roasted red bell pepper (or a fresh red bell pepper in small dice) 1 egg, beaten
~ Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
~ Melt butter in pan and add diced shallots. Sauté until they begin to soften and then add mushrooms. Sauté for another minute or so.
~ Add spinach and walnuts and stir to combine. (If using fresh bell pepper, add to mixture.) Cook to warm through.
~ Add salt and pepper to taste. Set pan aside.
~ Roll out puff pastry sheet on parchment paper. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over pastry.
~ Spread spinach mixture over pastry.
~ If using roasted pepper, spread strips over spinach to add a touch of red.
~ Roll up jelly-roll fashion slice into 20 – ½ inch slices. Lay them on parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and brush with egg.
~ Bake 15 minutes or until golden. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Shortbread cookies
Shortbread, a rich, tender and crumbly cookie (called a biscuit in Ireland and the British Isles), originated in Scotland.
2 cups all-purpose flour ¼ teaspoon salt 1 cup (2 sticks) sweet cream butter at room temperature ½ cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
~ Whisk flour and salt together; set aside.
~ Beat the butter until smooth and creamy.
~ Add the sugar and beat until smooth.
~ Beat in the vanilla extract.
~ Gently stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated.
~ Flatten dough into disk shape, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate to chill for at least an hour.
~ Preheat oven to 350 degrees F with rack in middle of oven. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
~ On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a ¼ inch thick circle.
~ Cut into rounds or other shapes using a lightly floured cookie cutter.
~Place on the prepared baking sheets and refrigerate for 15 minutes, which allows the cookies to retain their shape.
~ Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned.
~ Cool on a wire rack.
Makes about 20 cookies, depending on size of cookie cutter.
All recipes by Esther Oertel.
Esther Oertel is a writer and passionate home cook from a family of chefs. She grew up in a restaurant, where she began creating recipes from a young age. She’s taught culinary classes in a variety of venues in Lake County and previously wrote “The Veggie Girl” column for Lake County News. Most recently she’s taught culinary classes at Sur La Table in Santa Rosa, Calif. She lives in Middletown, Calif.
The tornadoes that swept across the Southeast this spring were a warning to communities nationwide: Disasters can happen at any time, and the coronavirus pandemic is making them more difficult to manage and potentially more dangerous.
Each type of disaster could leave thousands of people homeless and many in need of rescue and emergency care.
Dealing with response and recovery from a disaster in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic raises new and unsettling questions. Who is available to respond? What medical assistance can be provided if hospitals are treating COVID-19 patients and there is already a shortage of supplies? Where do we shelter and house evacuees, given the need to keep large numbers of evacuees socially distant from one another? Moreover, the time frame for dealing with this dual challenge may not be measured in days or even weeks, but rather months and possibly years.
As a civil engineer specializing in risk management, I work with governments and businesses to assess enterprise risks, including extreme weather. There are no silver bullets to solving these dilemmas, but there are simple concepts and questions that planners should be addressing right now.
Planning is crucial
With the coronavirus pandemic adding a new layer of challenges and risks, community leaders should be planning in a structured way for how they will deal with worst-case scenarios.
That means asking: What can go wrong? How likely is it? What are the consequences? And what resources do we need to mitigate the risk?
Before this year, few communities seriously considered the need to deal with a pandemic on top of a natural disaster. Their playbooks for responding to a tornado or a hurricane likely didn’t include the need to consider social distancing in emergency shelters or how to get help from other states when a widespread health crisis is underway.
Officials should be asking the key questions again, casting the net wide enough to consider any plausible scenario. Importantly, they should be addressing where personnel, equipment, facilities and supplies can be found and how those resources should be allocated.
With the likelihood that resources normally available from federal agencies and mutual aid agreements won’t be accessible this year, some local communities have started banding together to fill the void.
In New Orleans, Evacuteer, a nonprofit normally focused on helping residents evacuate during a hurricane, has shifted its operations to stockpiling food and supplies, recognizing that the pandemic response has depleted many of these resources.
The Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, a coalition of mayors and leaders, is procuring personal protective equipment for distribution to wherever severe flooding may occur.
Vacant hotel rooms and college dormitories are becoming important sheltering options. When tornadoes hit the Southeast in April, the Red Cross turned to a revised playbook and responded with social distancing in mind. Instead of opening shelters, where the coronavirus could easily spread, it worked with hotels to put hundreds of storm victims into rooms. Its volunteers, normally on the scene after disasters, jumped into emergency response coordination work from home.
The logistics challenge and federal leadership
Without careful, coordinated planning, desperately needed resources can be sent to the wrong locations, leaving the areas most in need of assistance without lifesaving capabilities.
The shortages of testing, face masks and ventilators in areas hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic show how logistical failures can threaten the quality of health care and the susceptibility of hospital workers to harm.
Ideally, disaster logistics management should be a federal role. The federal government has greater access to supplies and the authority to marshal resources. The most effective approach is centralized control of the supply chain and a unified command structure, much in the way the Defense Logistics Agency supports military operations. It requires total awareness of where to get supplies and where they are needed, and the ability to alter traditional supply chains when necessary.
Many case studies illustrate the success of this approach, and the risks of not using it. During the 2001 terrorist attack on the Pentagon, the Arlington County Fire Department quickly established a unified command with other agencies. The emergency crews on the scene knew who was in charge and could coordinate effectively. Conversely, the disorganized response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005 left tens of thousands of people without basic supplies.
Changing how businesses operate
Inventory management is perhaps the most difficult challenge. In our global economy, companies have been overwhelmingly focused on cutting costs to remain competitive.
Businesses respond by keeping inventory as low as possible, relying on the supply chain to make just-in-time deliveries to meet production and service needs. There is little to no adaptive capacity in the system – the excess resources they could draw upon when a disaster strikes.
Creating this adaptive capacity will require a sea change in how businesses operate, with the strategy of cutting costs to the max replaced with a more reasoned approach of being cost-conscious while maintaining a sufficient inventory to meet societal needs.
Now is the time to recognize how to become resilient when confronting multiple disasters simultaneously. There is a famous oil filter commercial in which an auto mechanic, discussing the cost of replacing an oil filter as opposed to the cost of engine repair by deferring that decision, declares: “You can pay me now….or you can pay me later.” Later is no longer an option.
Mark Abkowitz, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of the Vanderbilt Center for Environmental Management Studies, Vanderbilt University
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – COVID-19 and the local response will again be a predominant topic at the Board of Supervisors' regular meeting this week.
The board will meet virtually beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 5, in the board chambers on the first floor of the Lake County Courthouse, 255 N. Forbes St., Lakeport.
The meeting can be watched live on Channel 8 and online at https://countyoflake.legistar.com/Calendar.aspx . Accompanying board documents, the agenda and archived board meeting videos also are available at that link.
Because the meeting will be held virtually, members of the public are asked to submit comments on items to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Please note the agenda item number addressed.
At 9:01 a.m., Lake County Public Health Officer Dr. Gary Pace will present his weekly update on the COVID-19 situation.
At 10 a.m., the board will discuss and consider the next steps for COVID-19 local control.
In a memo on the item, Supervisor Bruno Sabatier is suggesting adding more jurisdictions to a letter submitted on April 21 from the board to the governor that requested local control in reopening the economy while following public health benchmarks.
“This agenda item provides us with the ability to discuss what our next move is with our previous letter and future correspondence as we try to find ways to move forward and loosen the restrictions that are currently in place and obtain local control where we can make the best decisions for us rather than a one size fits all 4 phase action plan that covers all of the state of California,” Sabatier wrote.
In untimed COVID-19-related items, the board will consider a letter to state leaders advocating for county funding needs due to disaster response and lost revenue, a continued discussion of a proposed urgency ordinance that would require members of the public to wear masks at public facilities, and staff reports on disaster response expenses and revenue concerns for the future due to the pandemic.
At 11 a.m., the board will host a discussion, at the request of Supervisor EJ Crandell, regarding AB 626, a law to allow microenterprise home kitchen operations.
The full agenda follows.
CONSENT AGENDA
5.1: Approve leave of absence from 4/13/2020 to 6/12/2020 for Department of Social Services employee David Perata and authorize the chair to sign.
5.2: (a) Waive the formal bidding process, pursuant to Lake County Code Section 38.2, as it is not in the public interest due to the unique nature of goods or services; and (b) approve the agreement between the county of Lake and Adventist Health St. Helena and Adventist Health Vallejo for the fiscal year 2019-20 for a contract maximum of $150,000 and authorize the board chair to sign the agreement for psychiatric inpatient hospital services and professional services associated with acute inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations to clients referred by Lake County Behavioral Health Services.
5.3: Approve corrected late travel claim for crisis supervisor in the amount of $763.63 and authorize the auditor-controller to process payment.
5.4: Adopt proclamation designating the month of May 2020 as Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month in Lake County.
5.5: Adopt proclamation designating the week of May 3-9, 2020 as Law Enforcement Officers Week.
TIMED ITEMS
6.1, 9:01 a.m.: Consideration of update on COVID-19.
6.2, 10 a.m.: Discussion and consideration of next steps for COVID-19 local control.
6.4, 10:35 a.m.: (a) Presentation of proclamation designating the week of May 3-9, 2020, as Law Enforcement Officers Week; and (b) presentation of proclamation designating the month of May 2020 as Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month in Lake County.
6.5, 11 a.m.: Discussion and consideration of AB 626, Eduardo Garcia. California Retail Food Code: microenterprise home kitchen operations.
UNTIMED ITEMS
7.2: Consideration of Letters to Gov. Newsom, to Sen. McGuire and to Assemblymember Aguiar-Curry to advocate for our funding needs for disaster response and revenue loss resulting from the COVID-19 crisis.
7.3: Consideration of an Ordinance Amending Chapter 21, Article 27 of the Lake County Code pertaining to commercial cannabis cultivation.
7.4: Continued from April 28: Consideration of an urgency ordinance establishing temporary safety protocols upon the reopening of county facilities to the public during the ongoing COVID-19 state of emergency.
7.5: Consideration of staff reports on (a) COVID-19 disaster response expenses to date and (b) revenue and expense concerns for the future, resulting from coronavirus pandemic impacts.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
The coronavirus pandemic has set off a global gardening boom.
In the early days of lockdown, seed suppliers were depleted of inventory and reported “unprecedented” demand. Within the U.S., the trend has beencompared to World War II victory gardening, when Americans grew food at home to support the war effort and feed their families.
The analogy is surely convenient. But it reveals only one piece in a much bigger story about why people garden in hard times. Americans have long turned to the soil in moments of upheaval to manage anxieties and imagine alternatives. My research has even led me to see gardening as a hidden landscape of desire for belonging and connection; for contact with nature; and for creative expression and improved health.
These motives have varied across time as growers respond to different historical circumstances. Today, what drives people to garden may not be the fear of hunger so much as hunger for physical contact, hope for nature’s resilience and a longing to engage in work that is real.
Why Americans garden
Prior to industrialization, most Americans were farmers and would have considered it odd to grow food as a leisure activity. But as they moved into cities and suburbs to take factory and office jobs, coming home to putter around in one’s potato beds took on a kind of novelty. Gardening also appealed to nostalgia for the passing of traditional farm life.
For black Americans denied the opportunity to abandon subsistence work, Jim Crow-era gardening reflected a different set of desires.
In her essay “In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens,” Alice Walker recalls her mother tending an extravagant flower garden late at night after finishing brutal days of field labor. As a child, she wondered why anyone would voluntarily add one more task to such a difficult life. Later, Walker understood that gardening wasn’t just another form of labor; it was an act of artistic expression.
Particularly for black women relegated to society’s least desirable jobs, gardening offered the chance to reshape a small piece of the world in, as Walker put it, one’s “personal image of Beauty.”
This isn’t to say that food is always a secondary factor in gardening passions. Convenience cuisine in the 1950s spawned its own generation of home-growers and back-to-the-land movements rebelling against a mid-century diet now infamous for Jell-O mold salads, canned-food casseroles, TV dinner and Tang.
For millennial-era growers, gardens have responded to longings for community and inclusion, especially among marginalized groups. Immigrants and inner-city residents lacking access to green space and fresh produce have taken up “guerrilla gardening” in vacant lots to revitalize their communities.
In 2011, Ron Finley – a resident of South Central L.A. and self-identified “gangsta gardener” – was even threatened with arrest for installing vegetable plots along sidewalks.
Such appropriations of public space for community use are often seen as threats to existing power structures. Moreover, many people can’t wrap their heads around the idea that someone would spend time cultivating a garden but not reap all of the rewards.
When reporters asked Finley if he were concerned that people would steal the food, he replied, “Hell no I ain’t afraid they’re gonna steal it, that’s why it’s on the street!”
Gardening in the age of screens
Since the lockdown began, I’ve watched my sister Amanda Fritzsche transform her neglected backyard in Cayucos, California, into a blooming sanctuary. She has also gotten into Zoom workouts, binged on Netflix and joined online happy hours. But as the weeks stretch into months, she seems to have less energy for those virtual encounters.
Gardening, on the other hand, has overtaken her life. Plantings that started out back have expanded around the side of the house, and gardening sessions have stretched later into the evening, when she sometimes works by headlamp.
When I asked about her new obsession, Amanda kept returning to her unease with screen time. She told me that virtual sessions gave a momentary boost, but “there’s always something missing … an empty feeling when you log off.”
Many can probably sense what’s missing. It’s the physical presence of others, and the opportunity to use our bodies in ways that matter. It’s the same longing for community that fills coffee shops with fellow gig workers and yoga studios with the heat of other bodies. It’s the electricity of the crowd at a concert, the students whispering behind you in class.
And so if the novel coronavirus underscores an age of distancing, gardening arises as an antidote, extending the promise of contact with something real. My sister talked about this, too: how gardening appealed to the whole body, naming sensory pleasures like “hearing song birds and insects, tasting herbs, the smell of dirt and flowers, the warm sun and satisfying ache.” While the virtual world may have its own ability to absorb attention, it is not immersive in the way gardening can be.
But this season, gardening is about more than physical activity for the sake of activity. Robin Wallace, owner of a photo production business in Camarillo, California, noted how the lockdown made her professional identity “suddenly irrelevant” as a “non-essential” worker. She went on to point out a key benefit of her garden: “The gardener is never without a purpose, a schedule, a mission.”
As automation and better algorithms make more forms of work obsolete, that longing for purpose gains special urgency. Gardens are a reminder that there are limits to what can be done without physical presence. As with handshakes and hugs, one cannot garden through a screen.
You might pick up skills from YouTube, but, as gardening icon Russell Page once wrote, real expertise comes from directly handling plants, “getting to know their likes and dislikes by smell and touch. ‘Book learning’ gave me information,” he explained, “but only physical contact can give any real … understanding of a live organism.”
Filling the void
Page’s observation suggests a final reason why the coronavirus pandemic has ignited such a flurry of gardening. Our era is one of profound loneliness, and the proliferation of digital devices is only one of the causes. That emptiness also proceeds from the staggering retreat of nature, a process underway well before screen addiction. The people coming of age during the COVID-19 pandemic have already witnessed oceans die and glaciers disappear, watched Australia and the Amazon burn and mourned the astonishing loss of global wildlife.
Perhaps this explains why stories of nature’s “comeback” are continually popping up alongside those gardening headlines. We cheer at images of animals reclaiming abandoned spaces and birds filling skies cleared of pollution. Some of these accounts are credible, others dubious. What matters, I think, is that they offer a glimpse of the world as we wish it could be: In a time of immense suffering and climate breakdown, we are desperate for signs of life’s resilience.
My final conversation with Wallace offered a clue as to how this desire is also fueling today’s gardening craze. She marveled at how life in the garden continues to “spring forth in our absence, or even because of our absence.” Then she closed with an insight at once “liberating” and “humiliating” that touches on hopes reaching far beyond the nation’s backyards: “No matter what we do, or how the conference call goes, the garden will carry on, with or without us.”