WATSONVILLE, CA – AUGUST, 24: Phil Stewart, the global strawberry breeding director for Driscoll’s berries, which controls a third of the world’s berry market, is photographed in a field used for strawberry research in Watsonville, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. Stewart is in charge of Driscoll’s strawberry breeding program and helps create new kinds of strawberries. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group) Some people look at a strawberry and see a thing to dip in whipped cream. For Phil Stewart, it’s different: He sees potential. “There are just a lot of fun traits to play with,” he says. “And cultivated strawberries are just the tip of the iceberg. It’s fun…

Joy Vertz, owner of Drybar in Wisconsin and Illinois; founder of Shoot the Moon Photography. The Franchise: Irvine, California-based Drybar has gained a nationwide following for its signature – and only – service: the blowout. Since 2008, the company has expanded to approximately 150 independently owned and operated shops across the U.S. Clients choose from Drybar’s menu of styling options, ranging from a Classic Blowout to Uptini (aka an updo), all done using Drybar brand hot tools and line of hair products. October 2016: After running her Mequon-based Shoot the Moon Photography studio for two decades, Joy Vertz was considering her next career move. Her husband had suggested she open…

A six-hour standoff between a man armed with a knife and Dartmouth Police ended peacefully on Saturday. On August 20 at about 10 a.m., Dartmouth Police attempted to arrest Jack Bradford Gifford, 20, of Dartmouth Street on an outstanding warrant. While police attempted to arrest him, Gifford armed himself with a knife and barricaded himself inside his home, police said. After several unsuccessful attempts to get Gifford out of the home, police called in negotiators and S.W.A.T. team members from the Southeastern Massachusetts Law Enforcement Council.Still, negotiators were unsuccessful in getting Gifford to leave the residence, so S.W.A.T. members went in. Police say at that time, Gifford exited the home…

Where to find a Tahoe impossibility: “Good food, large portions and cheap prices” This is Concierge Confidential, a series in which we learn about a city’s best-kept secrets from people who specialize the exactly that: long-serving concierges from the best hotels in town. At Edgewood Tahoe Resort, you’ll find a beautiful lakeside enclave that includes new Villa Suites (opening this fall) on the edge of the forest, a Fazio-designed golf course and a full-service spa tucked away in the woods — a place, in fact, that you may not want to leave. But there’s so much to see and do around the lake that we had to ask the resort’s…

We reached out to some of the most experienced mountain bike travelers in the world to find out what they think are some of the best mountain biking places they’ve ever ridden. Their choices range from the trails close to their homes to the most exotic trails on the planet, thousands of miles away. Hans Rey in Iceland. Photo by Scott Markewitz ICELAND “There are so many incredible places to ride around the world, but if I had to pick one ultimate destination, it would be Iceland. It’s an incredibly beautiful country of stunning volcanic landscapes and surreal colors and textures unlike any place on Earth. One of the most…

We photographers generally have long lists of projects we want to do and then we have our bucket list items — those things we can only hope we someday get a chance to shoot. As a nature and landscape photographer , the big three on my bucket list were the Subway at Zion, Fly Geyser, and Yosemite’s Firefall. It took a while, but I got to the Subway with a couple of photographer friends, and a year or two later a friend and I both made it to Fly Geyser. But Firefall was always a tough egg for me to crack. Would the weather be right? Would it be worth…

Photographer Nam Ing died last week after falling from a 300-foot cliff in southwest Oregon while hiking with friends. A passionate landscape photographer, Ing slipped off a trail and fell down a cliff at the Natural Bridges Viewpoint, 20 miles south of Gold Beach on the coast of Oregon. Ing fell from the tremendous height onto shorelines below and onto a heavily rocky area. The local Sherif’s office responded to the scene along with Oregon State Police, Cal-Ore Life Flight Ambulance, Brookings Fire dept, and Cape Ferrelo Fire department. The search and rescue team set up a rope system and lowered a medic to Ing, who was confirmed deceased at…

Image via Disney You might be shocked to find out that Star Wars was not actually filmed in a galaxy far, far away. Instead, to depict all of these different planets you see throughout the movie franchise, they decided to film all of it right here on planet Earth. I also find it funny that Star Wars has planets that are only one thing. In other words, Hoth is completely an ice planet, Tatooine is entirely a desert planet, Dagobah is just one big swamp planet, Mustafar is a planet of volcanoes, and, well, you get the idea. The cool thing about it is that t’s all found right here…