Pre-industrial skills (such as friction fire-making, show at left) are making a comeback at the first annual Buckeye Gathering, an event that has drawn more than 200 neo-primitive students to an isolated hilltop above the Russian River.

The California Buckeye, namesake plant for the event, was chosen as an especially apt symbol of their intentions for the Gathering, says co-organizer Russell Sparks.

Genine Coleman, a co-organizer of the Buckeye Gathering, says it represents the realization of a growing desire to hold this kind of a “skill share” event somewhere in northern California.

Their site selection process finally settled on the Indian Education Center at Ya-Ka-Ama, near Forestville.

Here are some pictures from the gathering: A group decorating a rawhide parfletch, basket weaving materials, Mayan weaving, and the central arbor. Photos courtesy of Genine Coleman and the Buckeye Gathering.

The roots of violent behavior can be traced back to the earliest stages of childhood, even before birth. But steps to shape positive development can also start just as early.

Robin Karr-Morse and her co-author, Meredith Wiley, are now at work on a new book, The Monster in the Closet, that takes a deeper look at the physiology of infant brain development. A key part of the process, Karr-Morse explains, is the gradual maturation of the cortical brain.

When a child’s development is impaired, whether through neglect, abuse, poor diet, exposure to drugs or any other sources, the consequences can sometimes be countered or mitigated if positive interventions become available. But Karr-Morse says their effectiveness varies so widely, it becomes virtually impossible to generalize about outcomes.

Robin Karr-Morse was the featured speaker April 28 at the the annual Blue Ribbon lunch for Child Abuse Prevention month in Sonoma County, an event co-sponsored by the California Parenting Institute and Prevent Child Abuse, Sonoma County.

Work is quietly continuing toward the scheduled 2014 rollout of the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit commuter train, including a series of meetings this week about the designs of the train stations along the route.

 The self-propelled rail cars will each be 85 feet long, and may look something like this prototype, but SMART spokesman Chris Coursey says their interior configuration will be variable.

SMARThas issued a draft of its technical specification for rail vehicles for initial industry review. The document can be viewed on the SMART web site here. Registration with the site is required to access this page; the process is simple, free and open to the public.

The full schedule of station design meetings along the central and southern part of the rail route is detailed below.

Luther Burbank’s greenhouse is an icon of Santa Rosa, but the famed horticulturalist actually did most of his ground-breaking work at another site—his 18 acre Goldridge Farm in Sebastopol.

Burbank is justly renowned for his botanical innovations, but not everything he worked with was a success. In fact, explains horticultural historian Bob Hornback, Burbank also is the source of two highly conspicuous “escapees” that are now ubiquitous in our local landscape, including the one shown here.

The Open House at Goldridge Farm this weekend is part of the annual Sebastopol Apple Blossom Festival, which primarily celebrates the area’s Gravenstein orchards. Hornback says that was one variety of apple that Luther Burbank didn’t do much with, although he did create the later-ripening Winterstein variety (seen in photo).

With hundreds of new fruit varieties, vegetables and ornamental plants and flowers to his credit, Burbank’s farm (including the cottage, as seen in this drawing) was the scene of constant multiple experiments, graftings and new hybrids. During so much required maintaining detailed records, says Hornback, which is something Burbank doesn’t get enough credit for doing.