If you live in Dry Creek you have undoubtedly participated in some wine tasting events, but when was your last olive oil tasting?  If you haven’t had the pleasure, you will soon as artisanal oil tastings gain in popularity and new outlets open their doors.  Ninety-nine percent of olive oil bought in the United States is imported.  The tiny one percent made in America is mostly from California.  While the Central Valley is planting as fast as it can, the North Coast is making a name for itself for high-end “boutique” varieties.  Among the largest are McEvoy and DaVero.   Colleen McGlynn, co-owner of DaVero olive oil company, whose first harvest in 1994 yielded 25 gallons of oil, is fond of the saying that, “You plant grapes for your kids and olives for your grandkids.”  Still, this specialty North Coast crop now boasts 150 small-scale growers, outnumbering any other county. 

I’ll meet you at “The Best Deli by a Dam Site” I declared to my friend.  “Where?,” he asked.  “You know,” I replied, “the deli, the deli on Dry Creek.”  “Oh,” he responded, looking uncertain.  I tried again, “The store on Dry Creek at Lambert Bridge Road.”

It turns out my companion had never seen the sign that had once declared the Dry Creek General Store to be “The Best Deli by a Dam Site”.  He had moved to the valley sometime after 2001 when Gina Gallo acquired what was a rapidly deteriorating property crying out for the paint job that did away with that picturesque bit of nomenclature.  I hadn’t noticed its absence, probably because the necessary primping and preservation that Gina has done left the structure pretty much like it was in 1881 when it was the local Dry Goods Store for valley farmers.  Necessary restoration has been carefully and slowly accomplished to insure the almost 128 year old store retains its historical roots.  The “Dam Site” reference would have been added in the late 1970’s after construction of the Warm Springs Dam. 

Donna Schaffer came to Dry Creek Valley 17 years ago, refugee from an intense career in advertising in Silicon Valley working particularly for Apple Computer and Intel. She served as Director on the Board of the Dry Creek Valley Association until a few years ago, and during her tenure she created and maintained our first website.

 Donna brought with her from the ad agency a strong bent for graphics, and has been leaning in that direction ever since. Her passion is oil painting, her focus is on two subjects: scuba diving and the finny world, and pastoral landscapes around her beloved home that is now Dry Creek Valley.

by Mary Ann Mayo

“I want you to know that I’ve always used my head for more than holding up my hair,” Angelina declared, having told me how she escaped near decapitation on a run-away horse that was determined to barrel through a barn door never built for a mounted rider. Without the aid of a bridle or saddle she gripped the horse’s mane while tightening her legs around its flanks and with the ease of a practiced Indian warrior slipped to the raging horse’s side, a move that saved that head to be used for many another day.  At 90, there is not much Angelina doesn’t recall about her years in Dry Creek, her work at the Healdsburg Food Pantry, or what is going on politically not only nationally but in the chambers of Healdsburg City Hall.