Winter 2019 Publisher's Note
The mountains and valleys of Mendocino County have long been home to rabble-rousers, misfits, and those who choose to do things a little differently. The original native inhabitants of this place endured forced relocation and persecution, and yet they continue to fight to heal and grow their cultural legacy. The homesteaders crafted a hardscrabble living from abundant local resources like logging, ranching, and fishing. The “back to the landers” found off-grid acreage from which they sought to build community, birthing a solar revolution far before it was mainstream. We do it differently here.
It must be something in the air in these parts that causes residents to think there must be another way to do it. Our activist heritage is deep. Independent-spirited homebuilders battled the building department for years, eventually developing “Class K,” a completely innovative way to permit a building—even those made of straw, cob, or patched together with recycled wood.
When Organic Certification was taken over by the USDA and standards began to slip, local food advocates created “Mendocino Renegade” certification, which went beyond organic. Farms that achieve this certification are rigorously peer-reviewed to ensure their crops are grown to the highest biological standards and are chemical, synthetic, and GMO-free. Mendocino Renegade is a tax-exempt, educational working group which helped launch Measure H, a successful initiative to ban GMOs in Mendocino County (learn more on page 25). Fifteen years ago, Mendocino County became the first in the nation to pass such a law. The agrochemical corporation, Monsanto, poured $750,000 of advertising and legal dollars into a campaign to defeat Measure H, but the local activist spirit won out.
I appreciate this local tendency to upend the status quo. As a longtime resident of Mendocino County, I know that visitors can occasionally be startled at the frankness of our dialogue at community meetings, the brashness of our activism, the orneriness of our residents. But I know that this is part of what makes this place so unique. If you want cookie-cutter ideas or groupthink, this is not the place to find it. But if you want mostly vegan southern food (page 6) and fried green tomato sliders that will make you yearn for more, then this is the place for you. If the problems of the day seem insurmountable and you want to see a group of raucous young farmers who are forging a new collective path, then Mendocino County is the right place. If the self-sufficiency lifestyle floats your boat, then get out to our tempestuous coastline and harvest your own salt.
The local ethos is what makes Mendocino County so interesting. So, I choose to celebrate the firebrands, the activists, the vocal curmudgeons. Life would be so much more boring without them. Lord knows the greater world could use some creative thinking to solve some of the daunting global problems. Word of Mouth has collected these stories of people doing things differently to inspire action in the year to come. Let’s get to it.
Holly Madrigal
PS: We sometimes are asked if back issues are available, so we’ve launched the Word of Mouth Year-End Flashback Sale! Available as single issues, year bundles, or the full collection of all 15 issues.
