Sonoma County’s second annual “Eco-Friendly Garden Tour,” sponsored by the Sonoma County Water Agency and many partner organizations, is this Saturday (5/19), 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Ten water-saving gardens throughout the county will be open to visitors during this free and self-guided tour. Homeowners and professional landscapers involved with the gardens will be on hand to answer questions.

Nathanson Creek Preserve, a project of the Sonoma Ecology Center, is the only Sonoma Valley garden on this year’s tour. Located a few blocks from Sonoma Plaza at 29 East MacArthur Street, the Park is composed of native plants common to the Sonoma Creek Watershed: oak woodland, valley grassland, chaparral, moist valley grassland, riparian, sage scrub and wildflower meadow.

A notable feature of the Park is the storm drain energy dissipator and mini detention basin. Stormwater runs off to a wet meadow rain garden. Pathways built with drain rock below and along walkways facilitate runoff infiltration, while a vegetated riparian buffer zone filters and captures sediment.

Other eco-friendly features of the park include drought-tolerant plants, erosion control measures, and permeable surfaces.

Other gardens on Saturday’s tour are located in Sebastopol, Santa Rosa, Windsor, Cotati, Rohnert Park and Novato.

Registration is required for the Eco-Friendly Garden Tour. After registering, you will be emailed a link that allows you to download the tour guide and maps.  To register and learn more, visit the website.

View our earlier article about the opening of Nathanson Creek Preserve.

Silicon Valley pioneer George MacLeod at his Kenwood ranch. (Jeff Kan Lee / PD)

Whether you missed the Echelon Gran Fondo or were part of the crowd on Saturday, you might enjoy the helicopter and still photos of the crowd, the after party and riders motoring their way along back country roads and past Sonoma Valley vineyards.

Take a peek at SR17 Productions’s helicopter shots here and New Media That Matters photos here.

Catch up on your reading when you stock up on books at the spring Friends of the Library Book Sale on Thursday and Friday (5/17-18), 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m., and Saturday (5/19), 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. This is the first book sale since the library made its temporary move last summer, so it will be much bigger than usual. 755 West Napa Street, Sonoma. Entry is free; books, DVD and CDs, videos are $1-$2. Information: 996-5217.

Honor two of Sonoma Valley’s exceptional volunteers when you attend the Old Bags Luncheon in Celebration of Women on Friday (5/18), 11 a.m.-3 p.m., at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa. The event includes the Old Bags Silent Auction (bid on 200+ designer purses new and old), as well as the celebration of volunteers Patricia England and Valerie Pistole. 100 Boyes Boulevard, Sonoma. Tickets: $100. Information/tickets: 935-5077 or gjacquez@svh.com.

Learn everything you ever wanted to know about raising “backyard chickens” when you attend Chicken-ology at Sonoma Garden Park on Saturday (5/19), 10 a.m.-noon. Nick Rupiper, who runs Sonoma’s Fowler Creek Farm, will lead the class with his assistant, Ross Cannard. Together the two men care for more than 1,000 hens and their eggs. Among items of discussion: the right chicken breed for you, requirements for a chicken coop, and an overall take on what hens need. 19996 7^th Street East, Sonoma. Cost: $10-15. Information: 996-0712 x.113 or sonomaecologycenter.org.

Seize the rare chance to hike through Bouverie Preserve on Saturday (5/19), 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Bouverie is known for its magnificent spring blossoms, which are at their height this month. You’ll walk with a small group and be paired with a trained volunteer while exploring the varied Bouverie terrain. 13935 Sonoma Highway, Glen Ellen. Walks are free (but donations welcome). Information: egret.org or 415-868-9244.

Waiting for Team Garmin to arrive at the Sonoma plaza.

Getting ready to ride.

Rest stop at Fremont Diner.

Raffle tickets for the quilt will be on sale at Sunday's breakfast.

It’s an “all-you-can-eat” extravaganza this Sunday (5/13), 8 a.m.-noon, at the annual Glen Ellen Fire Fighter Association’s Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast. The price: $8 for adults and $5 for kids from 4-17 (younger tots eat for free). Funds raised go for a good cause: updating the department’s aging fire equipment.

On Sunday’s menu: hotcakes, sausage, bacon, fresh strawberries, cantaloupe & honeydew melons, and other goodies.

This breakfast always attracts a huge turnout, so come early. And, as insiders advise, come hungry.

In addition, the Ladies Auxiliary will be selling their notorious Mimosas and Fizzes (profits will be used to purchase a Holiday gift next December for each volunteer fire fighter).

While you’re there you can pick up a Quilt Raffle ticket. The quilt in question, described by someone who has seen it as “sumptuous and rich,” will be raffled off at the annual Glen Ellen Village Fair in October. Raffle tickets will continue to be sold at Glen Ellen events until then, and on the day of the Fair itself (10/14).

The Fair raises money to support the Glen Ellen and Mayacamas Fire Departments, the Dunbar Elementary School, and other Glen Ellen charitable organizations.

The Mother’s Day Pancake Breakfast takes place on Sunday (5/13) at 13445 Arnold Drive, Glen Ellen. Fee: For more information, contact the Glen Ellen Fire Department at 996-9266.

Marcia and Gary Nelson

Thirty years ago, Gary and Marcia Nelson made an emergency visit to Sonoma Valley Hospital with their three-month-old son Justin.

“He was saved from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome by the physicians in the SVH ER,” Gary Nelson said in a press release. “Marcia delivered him to the hospital barely alive, blue. Having the emergency room so close saved him. We have never forgotten how fortunate we were to have this hospital nearby.”

On Thursday, the Nelsons returned the favor, pledging $3 million for a new Emergency Center at the hospital, scheduled to open in 2013.

“The Nelsons have made a truly historic contribution to the hospital,” said hospital CEO Kelly Mather in accepting the pledge. “Nothing could be more valuable to us right now than this demonstration of confidence in the hospital’s future. We are overwhelmed with gratitude and excitement.”

In making the gift, Gary Nelson said, “The SVH Emergency Room is a critical and essential service to all of us in this community. When a health crisis takes place in our valley, we need a state-of-the-art ER with the equipment and staff required to save the lives of our friends and families.”

Justin now lies in London with his wife, Maria, and their one-year-old daughter, Alexandria. He is finishing his education there at the Royal Veterinary College.

“One can argue about many healthcare issues in the U.S., but on a day-to-day basis, we need to serve the young, the old and everyone in between in our valley,” said Marcia Nelson. “This is a worthy investment.”

The Nelsons are the founders and major shareholders of the Nelson Family of Companies headquartered in Sonoma, one of Northern California’s leading human capital and staffing firms.

Beautiful Places' co-founders Patrick Smith and Liza Graves. Photo: Jeff Kan Lee/PD

By SUZIE RODRIGUEZ / Sonoma Valley Correspondent

In January, television viewers around the nation were transfixed by the Sonoma Valley mansion that served as the base for homeboy Bachelor Ben Flajnik and his bevy of bachelorettes.

And on June 8, HGTV’s “House Hunters on Vacation” will feature three more equally gorgeous Sonoma Valley homes.

All four are among the 29 high-end Sonoma Valley rentals represented by Sonoma-based BeautifulPlaces, most of them second homes of wealthy owners who benefit financially from renting the home when it’s not in use. Nightly rent ranges from $795 to $2,750, and worldwide, the company represents about 250 homes in France, Costa Rica, Italy and the Caribbean.

Patrick Smith and his wife Liza Graves founded the company in 2002 after holding top-level positions in the business world for a combined 40 years. Both were serious travelers long before they met and came to enjoy staying in furnished homes rather than hotels.

“My family traveled a lot when I was a child,” Graves said, “and we always stayed in rentals.”

After marrying, the couple continued renting homes when they traveled.

“It’s a great way to spend time with friends and family,” Smith said, “and to also experience the destination as a local would.”

When the Silicon Valley tech bubble burst around 2000, Smith had to close Dream Logic, the Internet startup he served as CEO.

“I started thinking, ‘What do I want to do next?’” he said.

Shortly afterward the couple and  their twins, who are now 13, moved to Bennett Valley. Smith’s quest became more specific: “What can I do next that brings together all of my interests and talents — travel, real estate, marketing, food and wine, technology — and allows me to work from here rather than in San Francisco or Silicon Valley?”

Graves had 15 years of marketing/sales management experience, including a job as senior vice president for a Charles Schwab division, and a stint on the board of the California Tourism Industry Association.

The couple looked into opportunities in the travel market, and soon enough they were studying the vacation home market.

“I started looking in wine country at housing inventory built in the late ‘90s, early 2000s,” said Graves. “That’s when new wealth gave an uptick to second-home ownership. We figured a lot on the high end must be available to rent.

“People want to use their second homes, but renting it part of the year can offset carrying costs such as utilities or the pool service.”

To the couple’s surprise, there was no developed option for a luxury rental vacation home market here.

“Companies that did offer such homes,” said Graves, “were operating more from a real estate perspective than a hospitality model.”

Added Smith, “One thing led to another, and we decided to go for it. Here it is 10 years later, and we’re making a go of it.”

The economic downturn has shortened stays, but it also has helped BeautifulPlaces increase the quality of its portfolio. Homeowners who might not have considered renting a second home saw the benefit after losing a substantial percentage of their net worth.

Graves said the couple is drawn to “homes with charm and character, inspiring views and settings, a quintessential wine country feeling, and a certain ‘je ne sais quoi.’”

Over the years they have turned down many more homes than they have accepted, for reasons that include not enough privacy, being too close to a road, outdated kitchens and bathrooms, or too much clutter.

In Sonoma, their typical customer is affluent, a food and wine enthusiast and in the 40-70 age range (although they are seeing more affluent 30-something couples).

The majority are couples traveling together, sometimes in celebration of a major milestone. Others include multi-generational and nuclear families, girlfriend and guy getaways, and potential second home buyers. Top origin markets are California, Texas, Florida, New York, Chicago and the United Kingdom.

Smith points out that guests “bring substantial amounts of money to the Valley, spending it freely on food, wine, spa treatments, furniture, clothing–you name it. Wine, in particular, is a big beneficiary. We have guests who order $15,000 worth of wine before they even get here, then buy more to ship back.”

BeautifulPlaces also caters to “epicurean travel enthusiasts,” people who want experiences as well as accommodations. It employs a concierge who gives restaurant recommendations, arranges activities and in-depth wine consultations, and more.

“People want to explore their passions as they relate to a particular part of the world,” said Smith. “Here in Sonoma Valley it’s the natural bounty of food and wine.”

“We give them insider access to people or places that an ordinary traveler might not know about,” said Graves. “If they’re thinking about collecting wine we’ll introduce them to an expert who can help them build a fabulous cellar. If they like to cook, we’ll arrange for them to cook side-by-side with a private chef.

“And if they need us at two in the morning, they can call us. We give a level of service that, frankly, nobody else does.”

Smith cites an English couple who had booked a two-month Sonoma visit. Since they planned on doing a lot of cooking, they wanted their rental to have a ready-to-pick tomato garden when they took up residence two weeks later.

“We scrambled for a week or two,” Smith said. “We were able to find heirloom tomato plants that were already blooming, and got them in the ground with herbs and a few other things. By the time the guests arrived a lovely chef’s garden was waiting for them.”

Another time guests hired a private chef to prepare their Christmas Eve family dinner. Unfortunately, at 4 p.m. on December 23, with a 26-pound turkey waiting, the oven in the high-tech kitchen stopped working.

“We jumped right in,” Graves recalled, “and were able to get a professional stove delivered the next morning. A lot of people would have thrown up their hands and said, ‘It’s 4 o’clock on December 23 and there’s not a damn thing we can do about it!’ But we fix the problems.”

BeautifulPlaces is growing and, says Smith, “just starting an investment road show, looking for capital to expand our offering and grow the business in a logical and organic fashion.”

Although they aren’t ready to give details, Graves said they want to expand into other destinations.

“It’s fantastic to be able to have a second career as entrepreneurs,” she said, “to leverage our work experience and passionate interests to be involved in this exciting industry–and to do it right here in Sonoma Valley. And it’s exciting to build a brand from nothing into a company that’s recognized routinely as a top luxury travel company.”

Added Smith, “We want to become the world leader in this niche of the vacation rental world.”

Cookbook author Paula Wolfert of Sonoma has won a James Beard Foundation Award for her latest book, “The Food of Morocco” (Ecco Press, 2011).

Paula Wolfert

The ambitious tome, four decades in the making, is regarded as the definitive guide to Morocco’s cuisine, culture and people. It took home the prize in the International category.

The cookbook includes recipes from Wolfert’s first, 1973 cookbook, “Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco,” plus a raft of fresh recipes illustrated by sumptuous, color photosraphs.

“My husband, Bill, calls this book ‘The keystone in the arch of my career,’ ” Wolfert said. “I say it brings my work full-circle.”

In the foundation’s Restaurant and Chef awards, Nancy Oakes’ Boulevard in San Francisco was named Outstanding Restaurant in the nation. Oakes and her husband, Bruce Aidells, live part-time in Healdsburg.

For a complete list of winners, go to jamesbeard.org.

Learning and having fun at a Science Camp circle in 2011

The Sonoma Ecology Center will hold six Science Camp sessions this summer, running from June 11 through July 27.

Each week-long session takes children into the outdoors—either at Sonoma Garden Park or Sugarloaf Ridge State Park—where they can discover an interest in science and nature.  Children will participate in hands-on, interactive experiments, explorations, and adventures. They’ll also make new friends, develop new skills, and work with professoinal educators and naturalists.

Each week’s camp has a theme rich in science content, eco-friendly arts & crafats, fun games, and natural and organic snacks. The themes and session dates are:

Water Warriors Camp at Sugarloaf Ridge State Park

Session I: June 11-15 and Session II: July 9-13

Campers will spend a week as junior scientists exploring Sugarloaf Ridge State Park. Activities include monitoring water quality and creek temperature, studying aquatic insects and aquatic food chains, and learning about the flora and fauna found in the local creek ecosystem. Camp days will also consist of games, arts & crafts, singing, and storytelling.

Birds, Bugs, and Slugs at Sonoma Garden Park

Session I: June 18-22 and Session II: July 16-20

Campers will explore and learn all about the natural world at the Sonoma Garden Park.  Activities include birding, insect investigations, garden explorations, natural arts & crafts, and garden-themed games. Camp days will also consist of gardening, making garden snacks, singing, and storytelling.

Harry Potter Science Camp at Sonoma Garden Park

Session I: June 25-29 and Session II: July 23-27

Campers this summer can join the Hogwarts Sonoma School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where they will study ‘Herbology,’ ‘Potions,’ and ‘Care of Magical Creatures,’ play Quidditch and other wizarding games, search for gold in the Enchanted Forest, and tackle the Sorcerer’s Stone Challenge.  On the first day of camp, campers will be sorted into houses by the Sorting Hat/ Camp closes with an End of Term feast.

Camp sessions, which run from 9 a.m.-3 p.m., are offered to children ages 6-12. The cost is $200 per session for Sonoma Ecology Center members, and $240 to non-members. A limited number of scholarships are available.

For more information, contact Vidya Quigley at 996-0712 x. 107 or vidya@sonomaecologycenter.org.