The season that gathers a valley also gathers a neighborhood. As fall arrives, October gives us the first taste of the holiday season, starting with harvest across Kern County. Trucks stacked with bins pull onto Taft Highway before sunrise and the almond hullers run past dark. Table grapes and pomegranates are picked, the first citrus…

With its first residents arriving this fall, Westbridge Seven Oaks is a community in the making, bringing new homes, an established church, a future school and park, and a long-planned trail connection into view. On a map, the Stephan J. DeBranch Memorial Trail reads as a single line, more than three miles from Buena Vista…

As the school year fills the calendar again, Seven Oaks keeps the week’s meals, errands, and stops within easy reach. The first weeks of a school year change the shape of a household. Mornings start earlier. Afternoons fill with pickup, practice, and homework, and evenings bring everyone back together around dinner. The calendar fills with…