Opinion

California farmers and food processors grow and produce a bounty of fresh fruits, vegetables and nuts utilizing the highest food safety, environmental and labor standards in the world. Consequently, the food produced is of the highest quality for consumers and a source of great...

To the Editor: As I picked up a copy of Monterey County’s publication, “The County of Monterey: 175 Years, A Brief Look at Our History,” I was looking forward to perhaps learning a little more about our county. Once I got to the page about railroads,...

As the first column of a new year on the ol’ Gregorian Calendar, one could hold the expectation that the tradition of making resolutions, presumably of personal betterment, containing a goal or goals. The history of this tradition is fascinating, and if you are...

Greetings on the last day of 2025. And what a year it has been. As I look back on this year, I think about what those of us in our senior years, that being anyone 70 years old and up, have seen happen in...

To the Editor: Thanks to the Rustler for publishing last week’s letter explaining why a group of concerned people gathered Friday night at the King City sign. We were standing against increasing authoritarianism in our government, and the dismantling of many services regular people rely...

“I didn’t know her,” the preacher said. “But if I had known her, I’m sure I would have liked her.” I raised one querying eyebrow at my husband. We are at his aunt’s funeral in Watsonville. (Is it a funeral service if the person...

They were the best of friends from a very young age. Though quite different — my sister was very bossy and her friend very sweet and accommodating — they were the ying to each other’s yang. I’m sure sister frequently got a good telling...

When you are crawling toward 24 years of marriage and over 26 together, the fireworks are not always going off, unless the neighbor decides that the Fourth of July cannot come soon enough. You are mostly like two comfortable-ish chairs, grumbling about the thing...

Because yesterday, Tuesday, March 19, was the Equinox, that happily makes this morning the first day of Spring and a long-established ritual assigned to this time of year is Spring Cleaning. In keeping with this What-Stays-What-Goes protocol, I have scrapped all my scraps. There...

For decades in the Salinas Valley, the short-handle hoe, known as “El Cortito,” was used for weeding and thinning rows of crops that kept farmworkers stooped over for long hours each day. Workers were only able to stand and stretch when they reached the...