Vineyards may dwarf food crops in Sonoma County, but small farms hold the key to future resilience here. How to get there was the subject of an important forum yesterday.

Five years after Sonoma County’s first Food Forum laid the foundation for the county’s Food Action Plan, a second session yesterday focused on the economic forces that challenge farmers and the long-term prospects for sustainable local agriculture.

Hear more from Food Forum participants on the North Bay Report webpage at krcb.org/news. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. You can comment, share and like us there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

Composer Robin Eschner went from drought to blizzard to find inspiration for her latest song cycle.

Inspiration is where you find it. For Robin Eschner, most recently, it was in the deep snow and cross-cultural history of far northern Minnesota.

The two local performance of the John Beargrease song cycle will be at the Glaser Center in Santa Rosa at 3 and 8 pm on Saturday. See the North Bay Report webpage at krcb.org/news. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. You can comment, share and like us there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

Most county workers saw gains in their new contracts, but home health workers remain well short of $15 per hour.

After county workers voted to ratify new contracts last week, it was up to the Board of Supervisors to affirm the agreements at their weekly meeting yesterday. Which they did. Bruce Robinson has details.

There more on this issue on the North Bay Report webpage at krcb.org/news. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. You can comment, share and like us there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

North coast fishermen troll nearby waters for their catch, but most of it doesn’t land on local plates.

Fishing has long been a major industry on the Pacific coast, but surprisingly little of what is caught here winds up on local tables. A new documentary examines that paradox, as we hear today from the filmmaker.

You can see the trailer for On The Sea and hear more from the filmmaker on the North Bay Report webpage at krcb.org/news. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. You can comment, share and like us there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

Education and water issues are critical halfway around the globe, too. So a local NGO is working to help.

Californians have been coping with drought for a few years now. For the Masai people of eastern Africa, water shortages have been a fact of life for generations, one of several needs that a local non-profit is helping with.

Learn more about the Masai people and culture on the North Bay Report webpage at krcb.org/news. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. You can comment, share and like us there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

It's a new lease on life for the Funky Fridays concert series, which has found a new home outside a very old house.

Funky Fridays, a popular series of fundraising concerts in the Sonoma Valley has found a new home for the coming summer season, and it seems that everyone involved couldn't be happier.

You can see who's going to play when at the Funky Fridays concerts on the North Bay Report webpage at krcb.org/news. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. You can comment, share and like us there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

The most famous piece of art ever created in Sonoma County celebrates its 40th anniversary this year.

The Running Fence, Sonoma County’s most iconic artwork, embodied some curious contradictions. It was public art created without public funds, and took ten times longer to erect that it actually stood. Yet despite—or perhaps because of that short physical existence, it lives on vividly, in both artifacts and memory.

Michael Schwager’s talk, “Back to the Land: Running Fence 40 Years Later,” happens at the Sonoma County Museum tonight at 7 pm. You can find details about the event--and the exhibit--as well as hear more from the professor on the North Bay Report webpage at krcb.org/news. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. You can comment, share and like us there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

Substance abuse is on the rise in our region, but resources for treatment are not. That’s a problem.

Substance abuse is growing across California, and in the North Bay—especially among young people—leaving resources for treatment far outpaced. This was the focus of a forum in Rohnert Park yesterday.

You can hear more from her on the North Bay Report webpage at krcb.org/news. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. You can comment, share and like us there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

California voters will likely get another chance to legalize marijuana this fall—and they may not be the only ones.

As popular sentiment for allowing wider use of marijuana continues to grow, a cluster of proposed measures to revisit legalization have been vying for a spot on California’s November ballot. But as the deadline for qualifying draws closer, the field now appears to be narrowing.

You can hear more from her on the North Bay Report webpage at krcb.org/news. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. You can comment, share and like us there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.

A second attempt to ban GMOs in Sonoma County is gathering steam—and petition signatures.

Eleven years after local voters rejected a ballot measure to restrict the cultivation of genetically modified crops in Sonoma County, a new initiative with the same goal is working to win a spot on the ballot next November.

You can hear more from her on the North Bay Report webpage at krcb.org/news. You can also find this and past stories on our new North Bay Report Facebook page. You can comment, share and like us there. Follow the North Bay Report on Twitter @KRCBNews.