Mouthful: A paradise for artisan cheese lovers

Mark Your Calendars: The California Artisan Cheese Festival is coming up next Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Petaluma. There are farm and creamery tours, meals, seminars, cooking demonstrations, pairing demonstrations, book signings, chef competitions and the grand finale, the grand tasting on Sunday afternoon.

Explore all the options and sign up for those that beckon at artisancheesefestival.com.

___

West End Farmers Market Opens with Extended Hours: This Sunday at 9:30 a.m., the beloved West End Farmers Market opens for its 2015 season. The market wraps up at 2 p.m.

Highlights at this year’s grand opening include a dragon dance by the Redwood Empire Chinese Association, which will kick off the market at 9:30 a.m.

Chop’s Teen Club will be on hand with their Awesome Pretzel Cart, too, and will return on March 29, April 12 and 19 and May 3. The Jellyrolls will perform on the North Bay Hootenanny Stage.

Among the returning and new vendors are Blue Leg Farms, Singing Frog Farms, Sonoma Swamp Blues, Gypsy Girl Sausage, Sonoma County Meat Company, Goodman’s Jewish Deli, Gaga Cafe and many more.

The market takes place adjacent to the DeTurk Park and Round Barn on Donahue St. between Boyce and Decker Streets. Neighbors are encourage to walk or ride their bikes, though there is a plenty of nearby parking if you’re coming a distance.

___

St. Patrick’s Day Fun & Feast: Next Tuesday, March 17, marks St. Patrick’s Day, with lots of options for enjoying yourself all day long. Festivities actually started nearly ten days ago, with an early dinner fete at Tara Firma Farms in Petaluma on March 7.

This Tuesday’s options include live music and Irish-y things to eat at Murphy’s Irish Pub (464 First St. East, Sonoma) from 3 until 10 p.m. There is no cover charge. Ruth McGowan’s Brewpub (131 E. First St., Cloverdale) will be celebrating throughout the day, too, though as of press time there were no specific details. Beer, anyone?

Stout Brothers Irish Pub and Restaurant (527 Fourth St., Santa Rosa) will be serving America’s classic version of Irish food, corned beef and cabbage, throughout the day.

If you are an early riser, you might want to join in Healdsburg’s annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which starts at 7 a.m. at 420 Healdsburg Ave. John & Zeke’s Bar will serve coffee in the parking lot starting at 6 a.m., where you can snag a cup and a comfy place to watch the parade. Starting at about 3 p.m. or so, the bar will serve corned beef dinner.

As always, Ms. Mouthful’s advice is to check your favorite hometown cafe, pub or bistro first and if you don’t find a suitably celebratory meal, start driving. Carefully.

___

Got dachshunds? The Apple Blossom Parade is coming up on April 18 and there is still time, if you hurry, to join one of the more popular groups, “Dachshunds on Parade.”

Dozens of long and low pups and their owners follow organizer Nan Waters of Sebastopol, with humans in the year’s dachsie t-shirt and many of the dogs in costumes that match the year’s theme. There’s a tradition of the oldest dachshund being at the front of the line. Last year’s honoree was, if memory serves, 18 years old. The group frequently takes first place in the Novelty Division.

This year’s theme is Magic Dachshunds, in honor of the parade’s overall theme of “A Magical Time.”

There is no entry fee to join in but all adults must purchase (and wear) an official t-shirt, which range in price from $16 to $21, based on size and style. This is the reason for the rush; t-shirts need to be ordered quite soon.

Costumes for pups are optional.

If your pup is wagging his tail in excitement, email Waters at nanwaters@hotmail.com or just show up for the first practice, this Sunday, March 15, at 4 p.m. at the Analy High School track so that you may order your shirt. You can pick up your shirt on the final practice, April 12, or you can ask that it be mailed.

___

Party at Sebastopol Guild: On Sunday, March 15, the Sebastopol Grange Hall fills with Celtic melodies and Irish aromas, all part of Grange fundraiser to support upgrading of the increasingly popular facilities. Doors open at 4:30 p.m.

At 6 p.m., you’ll enjoy a seasonal feast, with corned beef and sauerkraut sliders, roasted corned beef and braised cabbage, roasted root vegetables with herbs, parsley potatoes, butter lettuce with Dubliner cheese and green apples and dessert.

Cost is a suggested donation of $12 to $18; beer and wine will be available for purchase.

Music, dancing, sing-a-longs and more continue throughout the evening and everyone is invited to join in. f you know you want to join in the fun, email peachfigpear@gmail.com.

___

More Market News: On Saturday, the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmers Market celebrates St. Patrick’s Day this Saturday, March 14, with special nibbles from market nibbles.

Berkman’s Spices of Santa Rosa will have Irish “Bacon” and Cabbage Chili. There will be soda bread by Crumb Hither, cookies from Cookie . . .Take a Bite and shamrock macarons from Dominique’s Sweets, along with live Irish-inspired entertainment. Berkman’s Spices will have copies of its chili recipe available, too.

The market, which takes place in the west parking lot of the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts (50 Mark West Springs Rd.) from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday.

___

Heads up, gardeners: On Saturday, March 14, Shed hosts a free workshop on making biodegradable paper pots for planting. It takes place in the pantry at 11 a.m. and all you need to do is show up.

If you’d like to stick around the a workshop with Michael Thiele on “Honeybees for Life,” you’ll need to pony up $30, which is best done in advance to secure your sport. To do so, visit healdsburgshed.com.

___

Badgers? In Sonoma? Yes, m’dear, we have badgers, an animal that is so rarely seen that we’ve been told many times that there are none locally.

But it’s not true. The American badger lives among us, despite the popularity of dachshunds, bred, in part, to hunt the badger’s European cousins.

On Saturday, March 28, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. naturalist Susan Kirks presents a talk and presentation at Salmon Creek Falls Environmental Center (1935 Bohemian Highway, Occidental). Kirks will explore the badger’s life cycle, habitat and range, seasonal activities and more and present research by the Paula Lane Action Network, a Petaluma-based nonprofit group working to conserve the American badger’s habitat and preserve the species.

The talk, part of the Bodega Land Trust 2015 Walks and Talks Series, is $10 for adults and $5 for children. Space is limited so if you want to attend, email walks@bodegalandtrust.org.

Michele Anna Jordan has written 19 books to date, including the new “More Than Meatballs.” Email Jordan at catsmilk@sonic.net. You’ll find her blog, “Eat This Now,” at pantry.blogs.pressdemocrat.com.