Tucked away in the Sierra foothills, just north of Nevada City, is the Ananda World Brotherhood Colony. And while many spiritual communities like Ananda often fail after a few years, this one has managed to last for nearly 50 — partly because the advent of online commerce has made it easier for people in rural areas to support themselves.

The wine tasting room at Harmony Wynelands in Lodi was built with a far different purpose. Bob Hartzell, an aficionado of old-fashioned theater pipe organs and former president of the California Winegrape Growers Association, built the hall to house his pride and joy – a 1921 organ that was once installed in the Castro Theatre in San Francisco. The room’s acoustics are specially designed to show off the organ’s commanding sound.

Linda Bottjer is not a psychic or paranormal expert. But through her research online and at the local historical society, she has become intimately familiar with the ghosts of Placerville. They are a mischievous lot, known for rearranging furniture and shattering wine glasses.

It wasn’t long after I got pregnant with my first son that I began thinking about education.

Even though I knew it would be years before my little guy would go off to school, I wanted to start learning about my options. Some fellow parents and I formed the Education Explorers to research different philosophies.

Here are the basics of what we found: