Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

Photo Credits

Listening to NPR’s “Science Friday” I enjoyed hearing about this project:

http://www.usanpn.org/

Scientists are attempting to get citizen monitors to record their observations of nature in their region. By using the internet, useful data can be gathered to assist in the understanding of climate change and other phenomenon.

If you are out in nature day in and day out, you should definitely consider signing up!

Chef Roderick Williams of the “New Horseshoe Bar and Grill” in Loomis, CA demonstrated seasonal cooking using local, organic sources at the 2009 PlacerGrown Conference. He explained how, in his experience, using seasonal ingredients results in the freshest and most nutritious meals. Getting to know local farmers provides the added bonus of feeling “connected” and involved in the community. While chopping up the ingredients, he encouraged local growers to just show up at the back door of the restaurant to show him their stuff. He said he often will buy whatever they have and create a Special dish for that same night!

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Here’s the meal he created for those in attendance:

Grass fed Goat (raised by local farmer Dan Macon, Flying Mule Farm http://flyingmulefarm.com/) with Balsamic Reduction

Fennel and Cauliflower Risotto with Sage browned butter

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So delicious and so fresh!

I had the opportunity to represent Peaceful Valley at the 2009 PlacerGrown Conference (Feb. 7 in Lincoln, CA). It was a great event attended by the “who’s who” of small scale agriculture in Placer and Nevada Counties. There were many workshops focused on the following “Strands”, or topics: Community, Getting Started in Farming, Miscellaneous (included workshops on honeybees, producing firewood, and carbon sequestration in agriculture), Farming & Ranching as a Business, Marketing, Interns, and Livestock. Workshop facilitators included Dan Macon, Roger Ingram, Keith Crabtree, Cindy Fake, and Carol Arnold, all very reputable and knowledgeable people involved in agriculture.

Jim Gates (“Meat Jim”), High Sierra Grass Fed Beef

I was especially excited by the Keynote speaker, Micheal Dimock of “Roots of Change” (ROC), a collaborative of people intent on establishing a sustainable food system in California by the year 2030. ROC has a strategy to get critical people and groups working together to establish political momentum, informational links, cohesive vision, and needed grant money. His talk was both intellectual and inspiring; I walked out with a larger view of the complexities involved but hope of the real possibility of a sustainable food system. Check out the website http://www.rocfund.org/, and be sure to endorse the “Declaration For Healthy Food and Agriculture”.

I’d encourage anyone in the Placer/Nevada County area interested in local agriculture to attend next years’ conference!

The day the bare root trees arrived was spectacular! Seeing a truck loaded, front to back, top to bottom with bare root trees was impressionable.

Our Peaceful Valley team unloaded the trees, sorted the dormant “sticks” into their varieties, and healed their roots into sawdust, pre-dampened by the rain, snow, and sleat.

The weather, while it was snowing, added a festive look to the dormant trees.

But as the weather turned to rain, sleat, and hail… well it left much to be desired for those unloading…

Bare root fruit and nut trees are here and they’re flying out our door! Hurry and order your bare root trees and you’ll be enjoying their fruits this summer.

Today, most people probably know that Christmas is a holiday reminiscent of pagan tradition that predated the birth of Christ. What most probably don’t know, is that the Roman holiday for the winter solstice from which Christmas was born was called Saturnalia, and lasted from the 17th through December 25th. This week long festival was marked by widespread civil disorder, laws were written forbidding any person to be brought up on charges for damaging property or injuring another person during this period, and the Roman courts were closed. Furthermore, each year an individual was elected who represented “the Lord of Misrule.” This person was indulged with physical pleasures of all kinds, and it was believed that in order to destroy the forces of darkness in the world, “the Lord of Misrule” was brutally murdered at the end of the celebration.

But this blog entry is instead about a different kind of murder, the murder of poor innocent defenseless trees. The origins of the decoration of a tree for Christmas within the home, is believed to have begun in Germany during the 16th century. Although there is no definitive evidence for an exact population, person, or place that contributed to its creation.

Contemporaneously there are 21,000 Christmas tree growers in the United States, with over 100,000 people employed in the trade. Each year there are approximately 33 to 36 million Christmas trees produce in the United States alone for the holiday. There are another 50 to 60 trees grown in Europe. Originally Christmas trees were harvested from the wild, but today it is estimated that the majority of trees are farmed for use. It takes 10 years for a Christmas tree to grow to the size desirable for sale to the Christmas consumer. Although the temporary forest created while growing these trees is arguably habitat for fauna, the use of heavy pesticides and herbicides negates most of this benefit in the long term.

Besides the fact that one does not receive the bonuses of the lovely smell of a real tree, artificial trees may reduce the destruction of living trees, but do contribute to environmental pollution. Plastic trees are often made of non-biodegradable plastics like PVC or polyethylene and contain lead, filling landfills with toxic chemicals. 80% of artificial trees are created in China, giving support to foreign markets.

To continue in the tradition of not living like the crazy pagans, we should all consider buying a Living Christmas tree like those sold in the Peaceful Valley Nursery. These trees have the benefits of a real tree, ie. Look and smell. None of the drawbacks such as loosing needles on the carpet, polluting the environment, or contributing to waste. You can also name your tree, making it an addition to you family. This new addition, like your relatives who you only want to see once a year, can be put outside for the remaining 11 months. When your living Christmas tree is too large to fit in the living room, it can be planted outside to continue converting carbon dioxide to oxygen, to beautify your yard, and produce shade. Come by our nursery and take a look at our wonderful living Christmas trees and take one home!

As Christmas and Chanukah inch closer to us, us order department people are getting more and more calls from customers looking for that perfect gift.  Here are some great ideas for that gardener in your life:

• As always, your easiest option is the brand new Gift Gard.   Unlike the old, bulky gift certificates, these gift cards feature a beautiful design, are compact and reloadable, and available in any denomination from $10 up to $500.  They are good for any item we carry, and are redeemable online, over the phone or in our retail store.  And as always, each gift card comes with a gorgeous full color greeting card, which can be customized with your holiday message.
• Garden tools are also a great option, and are easy to buy. We offer a wide variety of tools to fit anyone’s gift budget, from inexpensive trowels (starting at just $9.99) to the long lasting, high quality Stockton Heath long handled spades, shovels and forks (around $70). We even have a nice selection of children’s tools and accessories for that “budding” gardener in your life.
•  Still available (but not for long!) are the long time favorites, the Amaryllis Bulb Gift Kits.  These all-inclusive sets come in a sturdy wooden box, making them easy to wrap or ship.
• While we cannot guarantee, at this point, the exact arrival date, our bare root fruit trees are coming back soon!  Choose from over 100 different varieties, including the hard-to-find 3-in-1s!  Imagine the bounty that will be gathered from a tree bearing three different kinds of fruit!
• Speaking of fruit trees, an essential tool for any harvest is the Long Reach Fruit Picker.  This handy tool extends to add almost 10 feet of reach to get those hard to reach apples and pears.

On anything you order, we can include a personalized, hand written greeting card for just $2.49.  Choose from 11 different styles, or trust us to pick one for you.

As always, if you have any questions in picking out that perfect gift, just give us a call.  We are all happy to help, and we always love receiving Christmas and Chanukah cards from our loyal customers…we always have a wall full of well wishes.  We love getting to know our customers on a more personal level!

Happy Holidays from the Peaceful Valley family!

We received our live Christmas trees in the Nursery a few weeks ago. A little instant conifer forest sprouted up after delivery. Little Nordman firs only a foot tall, giant Douglas firs 5 feet over my head, and elegant weeping cedars made up some of the trees in our wood.

It was November, but we had been having the strangest warm weather. I said to myself as sun glared into my eyes, “Only in California would I be untying Christmas trees in SHORTS!”

I’m not complaining. I’m from Vermont. It was great. No slush, no frozen fingers, no snow falling from branches down my neck. Just a little weird.

This Autumn has been a treat for the eyes. The Burning Bush is ablaze & the Scarlet Maple, Crape Myrtle and Viburnums are trying like crazy to compete. The bark on the Paperbark Maple is peeling and giving the eyes something much different to appreciate.We had 3 days of hard frost at the end of October in Grass Valley and I believe it set the colors in motion.

I know they say that colors start changing because of the shortened daylight hours & the chlorophyll is going to the roots, but I do believe the colors are much more vibrant if there has been a good chill at just the right time. This isn’t very scientific, but it has been my observation.  Now we’re enjoying Indian Summer – maybe for the second time, if that’s possible, and the colors have been fantastic! It doesn’t feel right to have temperatures in the 70’s and all this autumn color.

Even the Full Moon for November, the Beaver Moon, seemed exceptional.

Jeweled droplets of rain in moonlight,

fall like silent diamonds bouncing off of trees.

Saturation.

Through the window, the branches are weighed down.

Here in a cave of blankets,

I am in bed next to the warm body of my darling.

Meanwhile everything is dying outside.

Tomorrow  – the Sun will be reborn,

dispelling these last traces of encumbered darkness.

And like the vibrant light shown through sacred beads of dew,

I will awake in the new dawn.