Saarloos and sons- An Idiots Guide to Life - With Keith Saarloos

This one felt like stumbling into a living library… and realizing the book can talk back. I met  Chaplain Linda Palmer  at Good Seed Coffee and within two minutes I knew I’d found one of those rare people who has lived  ten different lives  — and somehow woven them into one purpose. Linda is a community chaplain, a preparedness teacher, a trolley storyteller, a Solvang historian… and an engineer w...

This one felt hidden in plain sight. Right here in Solvang, California, there’s a guy quietly shaping how the world  sounds  — and most people have no idea. Chris Pelonis owns  Lost Chord Guitars , an intimate room built for listening. But that’s just the ground floor. Chris grew up inside  Chris & Pitts BBQ , helped shape how generations remember food, then climbed into music — early exposure...

This one felt surreal. Before  Chopping It Up  was ever a show, before there was a microphone or a Saturday morning slot, there was  Northern Exposure  — and a guy on the radio in Cicely, Alaska who made silence okay. John Corbett played  Chris Stevens , and without knowing it at the time, he helped shape how I think about conversation. Not arguing. Not winning. Just sitting with an idea long enou...

This week on  Chopping It Up , Keith sits down with a true, behind-the-scenes legend of the Santa Ynez Valley:  Pam Gnekow , CEO of  San Ynez Valley Community Outreach —the woman quietly holding the safety net together while the rest of us go about our lives. Pam doesn’t just talk about helping people—she does it. From  Meals on Wheels  to  veteran services , from  domestic violence support  to  e...

This week on  Chopping It Up , Keith sits down with a man who should probably charge him rent for all the space he takes up in his head — his good friend  Robbie Boyd , calling in from the opposite coast with a sharper wit than any TSA agent deserves to deal with at 3AM. This is a special episode. Not because Robbie grew up in Belfast during the Troubles. Not because he once rewired a house with a...

In Part 2 of this episode of  Chopping It Up , Keith picks back up with  Efran Pulido  right where we left off — on MSR Bug in Iraq, at the height of the IED war. Efran walks us through dismantling devices while insurgents watched from the hills, the day he rendered safe a  500-pound bomb  buried in a ravine, and what it feels like to walk down a shut-down highway in a bomb suit with a blinking de...

This week on  Chopping It Up , Keith sits down with homegrown Valley kid  Efran Pulido  — and Part 1 of his story starts a long way from real estate signs and collared shirts. Efran walks us through how his family first came to the Santa Ynez Valley: his grandfather in the  Bracero Program , his dad alone on a horse ranch where Sunstone sits now, ready to hitchhike back to Mexico until no cars cam...

This week on  Chopping It Up , Keith sits down with mason and maker Emily Cody to remember her father, legendary sculptor and back-country builder  John Cody  — the man Keith calls “the Da Vinci of the Santa Ynez Valley.” Emily walks us through John’s wild arc: a dyslexic kid nicknamed  Jungle Jack  building cabins in the woods, a young sculptor carving serpentine in Solvang galleries, and the mom...

This week on  Chopping It Up , Keith sits down with local legend  Johnny Hogan  — the guy who didn’t just grow up at the Alisal, he  shot 60  out there and holds the course record at the Ranch Course. They get into what makes that quiet little strip of fairways and oaks one of the most underrated classic tracks in the country — from its 1950s “dude ranch” roots to ice-block racing down 16, avocado...

This week on  Chopping It Up , Keith sits down with  Eric Steinkamp , the mind (and hands) behind  Feral Future / Feral Foods , to talk about what really happens when you stop eating like a lab rat and start eating like you actually live in the Santa Ynez Valley. Eric shares how his fiancée Carrie literally  read the stars  with astrocartography, pointed at this valley, and how that cosmic nudge t...

This week on  Chopping It Up , Keith sits down with community powerhouse  Lisa Palmer  to dive into the vision behind the  Santa Ynez Valley Community Aquatics Foundation —and why a world-class, two-pool complex right on the high school campus would change lives across the Valley. From  learn-to-swim lifesaving skills  for our youngest to  aqua fitness and rehab  for seniors, from everyday lap swi...

In this one, we sit down with author (and valley neighbor)  Adam McHugh , whose memoir  Blood From a Stone  is a love letter to the Santa Ynez Valley and a raw, honest look at going from  hospice chaplain and grief counselor  in L.A. to  wine guide and storyteller  among our vines. We cover: how grief can become gratitude, why this valley saves souls with big skies and bigger terroir, the punk-roc...

Los Olivos, this one’s for you. Mary Nash (Los Olivos Chamber of Commerce) joins me to spill everything about the  45th Annual Day in the Country —happening  Saturday, October 11 . We talk  why this day still feels like the good kind of chaos , how a town of 1,200 pulls off a festival for thousands, and why the only wrong way to show up is not showing up. What’s inside: 8:00 AM  – Kids Run + Fun R...

Clem Boyleston went from building high-tech solutions to hammering out purpose-built knives you’ll hand down to your kids. We talk Santa Barbara → Santa Ynez migrations, the smell of upturned dirt over the pass, and why the right blade is a  tool , not a trophy. Clem breaks down performance vs. aesthetics, Damascus vs. san-mai (in plain English), chef knives that actually slice, ultralight backcou...

This one hums. Jonathan “John” Firey grew up in an Oklahoma bluegrass family (matching velvet suits and all), turned down basketball scholarships to chase songs in Nashville, became a session ace, and quietly racked up thousands of shows—from the Ryman and the Grand Ole Opry to guitar records that ended up in big-box stores (yep, that haunting instrumental you heard while shopping might’ve been Jo...

Some kids pick a lane. Aidan built a freeway. At 20 years old, this UCLA cello phenom can make a room go silent with a bow stroke—then turn around and free-dive 60 feet in the Channel Islands hunting halibut with a spear. We go from Bach to big water: blind orchestra auditions, chamber rehearsals, and the dream of recording film scores… straight into kelp forests, 🐠 white sea bass runs, 🐙 urchin...

From a shuttered “Buy Wise” in 1966 to the beating heart of the Santa Ynez Valley, this one has it all. Alfred Holtzhoy takes us inside his family’s immigrant-to-owner story—dad a German-trained master butcher who turned a small shop into El Rancho Market, the place where tri-tip became currency, the butcher counter stayed alive, and a quick egg run still takes two hours because you see everyone y...

Wildfire isn’t a  what if  in the Santa Ynez Valley — it’s a  when . In this episode of  Chopping It Up , I sit down with  Dave Gonzales , a man who’s been running toward the flames since 1973. With more than fifty years in the fire service, Dave brings the kind of wisdom you can only earn by standing on the line, reading the wind, and making split-second decisions when everything is on the line....

In this episode of  Chopping It Up , I sit down with KJ Murphy—the man behind the hats on Segundo Street in Santa Ynez. KJ doesn’t just sell hats, he crafts heirlooms. We talk about how a cabinetmaker’s hands found their way into felt and fire, turning a hobby into a craft that’s now part of the Valley’s fabric. We dive into the language of hats: X-ratings, beaver vs. rabbit blends, cattleman’s cr...

🍷 Episode 11 – Brielle Saarloos | Father & Daughter 🍷 In this episode of  Chopping It Up , I sit down with my daughter,  Brielle Saarloos , for a father–daughter conversation about our  Saarloos and Sons Summer Allocation . This allocation isn’t just about wine—it’s about family, legacy, and the stories that live inside every bottle. Together, we walk through each of the wines in this releas...

In this episode of  Chopping It Up , Keith sits down with  Thomas Birkholm , third-generation owner of the iconic  Birkholm’s Bakery  in Solvang. For over 70 years, the Birkholm family has been serving up Danish pastries, cakes, and the legendary  bucket of cookies  that generations of travelers have carried up and down the California coast. Thomas shares the incredible story of his grandfather Ca...

In this episode of  Chopping It Up , Keith sits down with  Ian Palmer , a true homegrown son of Los Olivos whose family has been part of the Santa Ynez Valley for over a century. From his great-grandfather riding a bicycle out of Nebraska in the early 1900s, to raising the iconic  Los Olivos flagpole  that still anchors the town today, Ian’s family history is deeply woven into the roots of this va...

In this episode of  Chopping It Up , Keith sits down with  Tatiana —a woman many of us know from morning coffee runs at Good Seed, but few realize is also ranked  #1 in the world in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Masters 6, Purple Belt) . Tatiana started training less than four years ago, stepping onto the mat during the pandemic with no martial arts background. Since then, she’s dedicated herself to compet...

This week, Keith sits down with longtime friend and Valley local  Adrian Kays —an award-winning trailer editor whose work has helped launch films like  John Wick ,  Longlegs ,  I Saw the Devil , and more. From driving an ’87 FJ Land Cruiser coast-to-coast with nothing but a dream, to answering phones in Warren Beatty’s office, to cutting trailers that get audiences out of their seats and into thea...

Organic strawberry farmer Parker Jones doesn’t just grow fruit—he grows the biggest crop in Santa Barbara County, by hand, under a system stacked against him. We talk about picking 80,000 boxes a week, why the “cold chain” starts in the field, and how water falling on his land legally isn’t his. Parker breaks down labor struggles, foreign competition, government red tape, and what it takes to feed...