What does it really mean to steward a place? A new local supper series explores the question through conversation, cuisine and an immersive evening rooted in the land and—in its upcoming iteration—the sea.
The Sonoma Sunday Supper Series is a quarterly program curated by Place Matters in partnership with Asombrosa, a 63-acre estate on the outskirts of Petaluma. Each gathering combines place-based conversation with a Sunday supper prepared by chef Stephane Saint Louis of Bijou Restaurant, beverages from Barber Cellars and, weather permitting, a self-guided tour of the property’s forests, gardens and labyrinth.
The June 28 event, titled “Stewarding Place,” focuses on environmental stewardship and features Bill Sydeman, president and chief scientist of the Farallon Institute, alongside Lily Verdone, executive director of the Marin Agricultural Land Trust.
For Place Matters founder Carin Jacobs, the concept of stewardship offered an opportunity to examine Sonoma County through multiple ecological and cultural lenses at once. While one speaker works in marine science and the other in agricultural land conservation, Jacobs said the overlap between those disciplines felt natural given the interconnectedness of the region’s ecosystems.
“The lens for this event is stewardship, which felt tied to pride of place, to legacy and to future generations,” says Jacobs. “MALT was founded in 1980 and the Farallon Institute in 2007. While each organization has a unique history and addresses a particular ecosystem, they are both part of the larger ecosystem of the North Coast, and it felt inclusive to treat the topic holistically, given the interdependent nature of local environments.”
The series also reflects Jacobs’ belief that people often connect more deeply to environmental concerns through direct experience rather than abstract policy discussions.
“I like to say that any place is an amalgam of its built environment, its natural environment and its people,” notes Jacobs. “It is my hope that this series features all these pillars by bringing humans together in real time to both reflect on history and to become part of it. Audiences should be generative as well as passive, creating new ideas and connections where they didn’t exist before. It is this alchemy of unexpected mashups of people and places that excites me in my work.”
That philosophy extends to the setting itself. Rather than staging a traditional lecture or panel indoors, the event immerses guests in the landscape under discussion.
“It’s hard to feel invested in a place if you’ve never experienced it directly through multiple senses,” Jacobs observes. “We’ve tried to curate an evening that brings together social, environmental and cultural constructs for engagement and fosters both understanding and ownership.”
The speakers themselves also emphasize both urgency and practicality.
As Sydeman observes, “Fortunately, the natural environment of Sonoma County and its associated marine realm is relatively healthy and productive, providing a natural aesthetic as well as goods and services to society. We cannot be complacent, though, as major unanticipated changes can occur rapidly, and cause substantial impacts and damages to our precious sea- and landscapes. Regular monitoring of key land and sea ecosystem components is therefore key to sustainability of our remarkable Sonoma County.”
Verdone likewise frames conservation as a series of individual decisions that collectively shape the future of the region.
“Working landscapes don’t preserve themselves—they stay open because farmers and ranchers choose to keep working them, and because communities decide that land is worth protecting,” says Verdone. “Farmland protection happens one family, one ranch, one decision at a time. The landscapes people love are inseparable from the agriculture that sustains them.”
The Sonoma Sunday Supper Series takes place from 4-8pm, Sunday, June 28. Tickets are $150 per person. For reservations and location information, visit placematters-sonoma.com.
