|
Wow! Al
Vogel has an amazing garden, as most of you know by now. Al and Sharon gave it their all, and we really appreciate the
opportunity to learn from such a man of the Earth. Al's garden is a haven for a truly diverse biota, of toads,
lizards, and hundreds of varieties of crops.
Tomorrow at 1:30 at the Chico Grange
Hall, Matthew Martin of Pyramid Farms will be talking about tomatoes, carrots, and many other aspects of his operation. Matt
knows his stuff.
An excellent series of workshops: The Chico Grange is
sponsoring The Farming Roundtable March 18 to May 20. This is an opportunity to give input for the recommendations
the Grange will be making to the City of Chico and Butte County general plans. See www.ChicoGrange.org for details.
There are a couple of articles that I would like to discuss with the class when I present
on March 22. You can find them by going to this website: http://culturechange.org/go.html?354
The first article is about the need for a massive shift to
much more local food production. The second article is by Dmitry Orlov, a Russian-American who witnessed the collapse
of the Soviet empire firsthand, and sees eery similarities in what the USA is now experiencing. I will of course be
talking about gardening tools, but I would like to open the floor for part of the time to everyone's thoughts
about how we can take positive steps toward ecological sustainability, particularly through local small scale food production.
Chico is a community with lots of heart, and we may benefit greatly by having community-centered action plans prepared
for the difficulties of the next few years. I will also be discussing what I see asorganic best practices,
as well as a few tricks I picked up when I farmed vegetables years ago.
The Valley Oak
Tool Company warehouse will be open limited hours starting Thursday March 19. At this time, the inventory is limited
to 56 varieties of Fedco Seeds, Agribon row cover fabric (84" wide), and Hortonova trellis netting (6"x7" grid 59" tall).
I am getting Earthway seeders soon. And of course I will have my wheel hoes and accessories. I have been
talking with a few friends about opening a store for a full line of sustainable gardening supplies, but
so far we don't have a plan. If this concept interests you and you have something to contribute to such a business,
please send me an email.
WAREHOUSE HOURS: Thursday from 4
to 6 PM and Saturday from Noon to 3 PM. Sorry, I won't be available at other times. LOCATION: 633 Orange Street #6. (on the back
side of the tan stucco building at the northeast corner of 7th Street and Orange)
The
next series of the Organic Gardening Class starts Sunday April 19. You will receive a schedule and registration
form via email in the next few days.
Happy Gardening,
David Grau
Valley Oak Tool Company P.O. Box 301 Chico CA
95927 telephone 530-342-6188
|
