Love Apple Farms

Weeding Out the Competition

Recently on the farm, we've spent a lot of effort eliminating competition for our beneficial perennials. Or, more simply put: we've pulled lots of weeds! Weeds have long been despised by many, due to their penchant for disturbing the aesthetics of otherwise pleasing gardens. What's worse though, is that they can also hinder the growth and prosperity of surrounding plants. Each plant's success is largely determined by the amount of sunlight, space for roots, nutrients, and water it receives; therefore, the more plants there are in one space, the less of each of these resources they have access to.

And so this is why, armed with spades, shovels and thick gloves, we set out to remove the weeds that are harming the plants that are ultimately most important to us: the edible ones! 

The pesky plants we have our eyes on here at Love Apple Farms include scotch broom, invasive blackberry, bindweed, mallow, and nettle. Each of these is quite different both in appearance and in life strategy. 

Scotch broom is an invasive species in the U.S. that grows in dense stands, and crowds out surrounding plants:

Blackberry plants grow low to the ground, with stems called "canes" coming from a root system that sends up new shoots all over its area. If left unmanaged, these canes can create a tangled (and painful) mess in the garden:

Bindweed can be especially problematic for neighboring plants, as it likes to wrap itself around and strangle them:

See how the bindweed is taking over this lavender:

Mallow is related to the plant that Egyptians first used to create the sugary treat that we know as marshmallows. Don't let its sweetness fool you though; when allowed to mature, mallow roots deeply and can be a nuisance to remove from the ground:

 
Thistle has shallow roots, making it one of the easier weeds to dig up. However, if it isn't removed early in its life cycle, it can get over 6 feet tall, very prickly, and will eventually flower and disperse seeds.  Don't let that happen, as that will only cause you to be pulling out hundreds more next season.

As we continuously strive to create a biodynamic system, we dare not let these pulled weeds go to waste; their journey ends as lunch for our goats, Marty, Lupe and Totes:

 

In the Kitchen with Chez Pim: Ramen from Scratch

Come explore the fabled world of Japanese ramen. We'll start with the noodles - because freshly made noodles are always the best. Then we'll craft three fundamental ramen broths: Shio (salt), Shoyu (soy sauce), and Tonkotsu (pork bones). And last, but never least, we'll make an array of toppings, like braised pork belly, soft boiled shoyu-braised eggs with bright red, runny yolk, and more. This class is going to be so much fun we can hardly wait!

Click on an available date to register:

February 18 (Saturday) 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.  $115  (Two seats left!)

 

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS

Gift Cert holders register by emailing: loveapplefarms.com

Pim is the author of The Foodie Handbook: the (almost) definitive guide to gastronomy (Chronicle Books 2009). Her popular blog, Chez Pim, sets forth her globetrotting adventures –and misadventures- in the world of all things edible, from her own kitchen in Northern California, to the vibrant street-side fares in Asia, and the refined world of Three Michelin Star restaurants in Europe. Raised in a family of foodies in Bangkok, Pim comes from a diverse and wonderful culinary background. Pim's recipes, writings, and photography have appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, and Bon Appetit magazine. The Guardian UK ranked Chez Pim one of the world's 50 most powerful blogs. Fast Company also named Pim one of the most influential women in Technology in 2010.

Workshop is held at Love Apple Farm, 2317 Vine Hill Road, Santa Cruz, CA

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Please review our class cancellation policy in case you cannot attend your scheduled event.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content.

If the workshop dates don't work for you, if the class is full, or if you'd like to request that another class be added, please email us at loveapplefarm@gmail.com to let us know and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Love Apple Farm gift certificates can be used toward classes, seedlings and merchandise and are available for purchase here.

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farm by clicking here.

Holiday Gift Idea: A Really Cool Chicken Coop!

Our personal chicken coop builder, Knox, is quite the go-getter.  Although still a youngster at the tender age of 19, he is a master carpenter and entrepreneur.  He's also someone who really knows his chickens.  He knows what they like.  He particularly knows their requirements in a chicken coop.  That's why Knox has a business that we whole-heartedly believe in: Cool Coops.

These coops really ARE cool.  Extremely well made, cute as can be, they have all the requirements and more a small backyard flock of chickens could want: strong lines, roomy laying boxes, removable perch for easy cleaning, drawbridge type ramp, weatherproof roof, and exterior access to the eggs. 

Oh, and they're not just for chickens!  These can house ducks, rabbits, or do without the stand and it's an awesome dog house too.

We can't recommend these well-crafted coops highly enough.  And Knox tells me he has some in STOCK right now for that special someone for the holidays.  Need the chickens too?  Email me at loveapplefarms@gmail.com and I'll walk you through that process.  In the meantime, get that coop first!  Go to Cool Coops for more photos and pricing.  Tell Knox that Love Apple sent you and he'll probably throw in a little something something extra for ya.

 

Workshop: Nurture with NatureIntroduction to Aromatherapy

Get back to basics and let nature nourish you.  In this workshop, you’ll learn how you can live cleaner, greener and healthier.  Nature has the answers, and working with powerful aromatherapy essential oils extracted from plants can nurture you thoroughly -- body and soul.

You can soothe conditions, boost wellness, care for your face and body, create throughtful gifts, plus clean and disinfect your environment while having fun with uplifting, wonderful aromatics.  Aromatherapy essential oils touch every sense, while providing you with powerful building blocks for well-being.  

In this workshop, we’ll cover eight essential oils, including Lavender, Lemon, Eucalyptus, Geranium, Chamomile, Clary Sage, Rosemary, and Spruce.  A materials fee of $25 is collected in class from each student and pays for a starter kit (2 ml each) of the discussed essential oils.

You’ll have fun sampling the essential oils and testing them in various ways while also learning pertinent scientific/chemical facts.  You’ll also be shown practical and safe ways to incorporate aromamedicine into your everyday life.  We discuss best sources, contraindications and extraction methods, plus dispel some important myths.

This introductory workshop, taught by an internationally certified aromatherapist, is designed to teach you all you need to know to get started with aromatherapy.

Rosemary “Dezi” DeSiervi received her international certification in aromatherapy from Dr. Kurt Schnaubelt of the Pacific Institute of Aromatherapy in June of 2001, and also studied at the Shirley Price Institute in the U.K.  She continues to study with Dr. Kurt, attending his international conferences on aromatherapy where research papers are presented from leading industry professionals. She recently began developing her own aromatherapy products and markets them online at www.myhealingarden.com.   Dezi is a holistic health educator and practitioner and has been teaching a semester-length aromatherapy course at West Valley College in Saratoga, CA, since 2003.

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

February 11, 2012 (Saturday) Noon - 4:00 p.m.  $75

June 24, 2012 (Sunday) Noon - 4:00 p.m.  $75

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

 

Drying Espelette Peppers

Chef Kinch from Manresa Restaurant often requests us to grow new things at the farm each season.  Last winter, he suggested the Espelette pepper for a summer crop.  Known as "Piment d'Espelette," it is very popular in the Basque region of southwest France, where it is hung and dried and turned into a chili powder.  Basque people use the powder in place of black pepper.  Originally from Latin America (along with all other peppers), it was brought to the village of Espelette in the 1500's.  Today, the small town in Southwest France holds an annual two-day festival at the end of October where garlands of peppers are hung from shops and houses in the town and 20,000 people come from all over to celebrate the pepper with a ceremony, marching bands, dancing, and foods prepared with the pepper.

We received a few seedlings from our friend Cindy Bloch in February.  Since it was still too cold to expose them to the outdoors, we grew them on in our greenhouse until May.  We then planted them out on our terraces and boy, did they produce!  Once the fruit turned completely red, we started harvesting them, around September.  When we had a good amount, we began stringing them with a regular sewing needle and thread.

We doubled up the thread and tied a big knot at the bottom.

We stuck the needle through the middle of the pepper stem. Surprisingly, the stem and thread are strong enough to hold up just fine.

Once we got a good amount on the string, we tied a knot to make a loop for hanging.

We hang them indoors, with a nail or hook on the wall. Once the peppers have completely dried, we will send them to the restaurant, where they will be ground into a fine powder.

Looks like we are ready for our own Fete d'Espelette!

This process will work on any hot peppers--habanero, jalapeno, chipotle.

Want to have your own crop of Espelettes to dry next year? Attend our Growing Pepper Transplants From Seed Workshop in January.

An Update On Our Dairy Goats: The Breeding Season Is Here!

To the unfamiliar eye, female dairy goats can look a little masculine: the udder may be a dead giveaway, but their beards and horns give them an appearance few would describe as girlish. Here at the farm we have three females, and most of us had never encountered a male goat before.  But with the milking season drawing to a close the time was nearing for us to breed one of our does, so we took a trip to a local goat farm in search of a suitable mate for our girl Totes (get it, Totes the Goat?  She's totally awesome!).

Dairy goats need to be bred every year to produce milk, but since our goats are new to the farm this would be our first experience with breeding.  Goat expert Sara—owner of four rambunctious billies up at Boulder Creek Goat Farm — walked us through the basics of the breeding process.  The first step is to acquire a “buck rag” to encourage your doe to go into heat.  Male goats have extremely powerful scent glands behind their horns, and when a rag is rubbed across these glands and presented to the doe, the odor alone can have her ready to mate within a matter of days.

 

Just how strong is this odor? Conjure the most intense, masculine smells you can imagine and multiply them by ten.  Standing by the billy goats’ pen it was all we could do not to hold our noses.  If we thought Totes’ beard and horns were manly, they were nothing compared to those of her prosective mate, Manly Man.  The bucks were quite possibly the most testosterone-charged animals any of us had seen.  They raged around their enclosure butting, mounting, and peeing as Sara attempted to get our buck rag properly scented.  In the end though, the smell’s potency paid off: Totes was in heat within a week.  We took her back to meet her new boyfriend in person, and after letting nature take its course, we are now expecting baby goats on the farm this coming March.

Let's hope they are as cute as this little one:

Photo courtesy of Boulder Creek Goat Farm (they give fun goat farm tours!).

Growing Manresa-Worthy Mustards

 

Ever since the average salad shifted from two types of greens to 20, farmers have been growing varieties with increasingly unusual color and flavor.  Mustard greens could not be further from the Iceberg lettuce end of the spectrum—not only do they boast stunning shades of green and purple, but their strong flavor is enough to enliven any salad in need of a bite.

At the farm we grow eight varieties of mustards for Manresa Restaurant: Mizuna, Purple Mizuna, Golden Frill, Ruby Streaks, Ho Mi Z, Red Rain, Pepper Cress and Arugula.  Each week we sow all eight in our greenhouse where they are tended until harvest roughly four weeks later. The weekly sowing process is the most time-intensive step of mustard growing: we generally sow at least two flats of each variety, and have sown up to 22 flats when the need is high. But sowing a single flat weekly for salad greens is simple and rewarding—all you need are square trays, 4-inch pots, good potting soil and a selection of mustard seeds.


To begin, fill your 4-inch pots with your favorite potting soil (we use Gardner & Bloome's Potting Soil) to just below surface level, taking care not to press down on the soil (this can be done by scooping handfuls of soil loosely into the pot and then shaking gently to level).  Next water your soil-filled pots until fully saturated—the soil will compress with the water and you will not have to worry whether your pot is moist after sowing.  Take a liberal pinch of seeds and sprinkle evenly over each pot, and here you can experiment a little with density depending on how large you want your mustard greens to grow.  Finally cover your seeds with a light layer of soil (just until the seeds are no longer visible) and water with very low pressure three times. Cover with plastic until you see germination (usually 2-5 days).  Once the first sprout germinates, remove the plastic and let them bask in the sun (or a very sunny window).  Water when dry, and four to six weeks later you will have a full flat of gorgeous greens to harvest!

You need not pull the plants out by the root.  It'll make for a more sustainable harvest if you simply cut the greens a bit above the soil level with sharp scissors.  They will regrow if they have enough sun and ample water.  Expect one or two regrowths until the greens lose their oomph in their pots.  But if you've timed it right, you should have another batch coming along right behind them!  Don't throw out that soil, though, compost it!

For more information on growing these fabulous greens, and to sow a flat of your own to take home, consider attending Love Apple Farm's Early Spring Vegetable Gardening class coming up in February.

 

New Edition!2012 Month-by-Month Guide toGrowing Great Tomatoes

Love Apple Farms has partnered with Laura Taylor to offer you a fabulous one-of-a-kind guide to growing tomatoes anywhere in the U.S.  The 2012 Month by Month Growing Guide and Calendar goes far beyond being a traditional calendar by following the tomato growing season.  It's color-coded for eight different climates, so that it can be used whether the tomato enthusiast is in Southern California or South Carolina!  It includes delicious tomato recipes, gorgeous photographs and additional tips for the home gardener, both during the season and in the non-growing months.

 

Here is a detail shot of the tips and guidelines jam-packed into this beautiful calendar:

These make wonderful gifts for your friends and family, as well as being an indispensable resource for your own garden.

Just $20 apiece.  The Guide contains two decades worth of tomato-growing expertise.

Click through to order your 2012 Tomato Growing Guide and Calendar today!  And if you have a friend in the San Francisco Bay Area, consider giving them the Guide along with a gift certificate to a Love Apple Farms Tomato Masters or Growing Tomato Transplants From Seed workshop.

To purchase the Guide only:

To purchase a gift certificate to be sent along with the Guide, please email Cynthia at loveapplefarms@gmail.com

In the Kitchen with Chez Pim: Edible Holiday Gifts

Learn how to make delightful salted butter caramels, perfect madeleines, luscious chocolate truffles with armagnac prunes, New Orleans pralines, French gingerbread pain d'épice, alfajores and other delectable, edible gifts that'll make you the toast of the town come this holiday season.  We'll also show you some great packaging ideas so your gifts are as delicious outside as they are inside!

Click on a class date to register:

December 2, 2011 (Friday) 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.  $115  Sold out!

December 3, 2011 (Saturday) 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.  $115  Sold out!

To get on a waiting list for one of these classes or to be notified of a newly-added date, please email us at loveapplefarms@gmail.com

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Pim is the author of The Foodie Handbook: the (almost) definitive guide to gastronomy (Chronicle Books 2009). Her popular blog, Chez Pim, sets forth her globetrotting adventures –and misadventures- in the world of all things edible, from her own kitchen in Northern California, to the vibrant street-side fares in Asia, and the refined world of Three Michelin Star restaurants in Europe. Raised in a family of foodies in Bangkok, Pim comes from a diverse and wonderful culinary background. Pim's recipes, writings, and photography have appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, and Bon Appetit magazine. The Guardian UK ranked Chez Pim one of the world's 50 most powerful blogs. Fast Company also named Pim one of the most influential women in Technology in 2010.

Workshop is held at Love Apple Farm, 2317 Vine Hill Road, Santa Cruz, CA

---------------------------------------

Please review our class cancellation policy in case you cannot attend your scheduled event.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content.

If the workshop dates don't work for you, if the class is full, or if you'd like to request that another class be added, please email us at loveapplefarm@gmail.com to let us know and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Love Apple Farm gift certificates can be used toward classes, seedlings and merchandise and are available for purchase here.

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farm by clicking here.

In the Kitchen with Chez Pim: Pâtés, Rillettes, and Terrines

Many home cooks think that pâtés, rilletes, and terrines are daunting recipes best left to the professional chefs.  Nous vous disons le contraire: we beg to differ!  They are so simple to do in the home kitchen, and the results are so spectacular you might never even look at another store-bought pâté again.  We'll be making the robust French country pate (pâté de campagne), a classic rillette (which we'll make with a local, sustainably-raised rabbit in class but you could do with a chicken if preferred), plus a beautiful vegetable terrine that'll be a great accompaniment to any meal.  We'll also make a scrumptious foie gras terrine.  (Yes, foie gras.  And, no, sustainably raised foie gras is not cruel.  If you're wondering about it we'll invite a discussion in class.)

Click on a class date to register:

December 17, 2011 (Saturday) Noon. - 4:00 p.m.    SOLD OUT!

April 28, 2012 (Saturday) Noon - 4:00 p.m.  $145

To be placed on the wait list for this class, should a seat open up, please email us at loveapplefarms.com

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Pim is the author of The Foodie Handbook: the (almost) definitive guide to gastronomy (Chronicle Books 2009). Her popular blog, Chez Pim, sets forth her globetrotting adventures –and misadventures- in the world of all things edible, from her own kitchen in Northern California, to the vibrant street-side fares in Asia, and the refined world of Three Michelin Star restaurants in Europe. Raised in a family of foodies in Bangkok, Pim comes from a diverse and wonderful culinary background. Pim's recipes, writings, and photography have appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, and Bon Appetit magazine. The Guardian UK ranked Chez Pim one of the world's 50 most powerful blogs. Fast Company also named Pim one of the most influential women in Technology in 2010.

Workshop is held at Love Apple Farm, 2317 Vine Hill Road, Santa Cruz, CA

---------------------------------------

Please review our class cancellation policy in case you cannot attend your scheduled event.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content.

If the workshop dates don't work for you, if the class is full, or if you'd like to request that another class be added, please email us at loveapplefarm@gmail.com to let us know and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Love Apple Farm gift certificates can be used toward classes, seedlings and merchandise and are available for purchase here.

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farm by clicking here.

Workshop: Grow Your Own Bread

Grains, grains, grains!  This class is all about that basic food group:  beautiful wheat, barley, quinoa, amaranth, oats, and rye.  We will talk about how to grow them, how to harvest, process, and store them.  Storing grain can be tricky, but we will teach you fail-proof ways to protect your precious harvest from all manner of pests, varmints, and disease.  We will practice threshing, winnowing, and using a flail, and lastly, we will teach you how to grind your own flour.  Grow it yourself, grind it yourself, bake it yourself!  Take ownership  of this grocery staple and start baking the most nourishing, personalized, locally-sourced loaves on the block.  You do NOT need a lot of land to do this, folk!  Just a little plot will do!

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

May 27, 2012 (Sunday) 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.  $75

-----------------------------------------

Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Workshop: Fruit Trees

In this class, you will learn how to graft and care for all dormant fruit trees.  Though we will be mostly focusing on many different varieties of apples (which are easy-as-pie and bountiful to boot), you will also learn about peaches, pears, cherries, plums, pomegranates, persimmons, and mulberries. 

We will take you on a tour of all the fruit trees growing on the farm and teach you all about year-round care.  Then we will retreat to the gardening classroom and get to work grafting scions onto rootstocks.  Each student will take home three potted rootstocks grafted with his or her choice of scions. 

Fruit trees are a joy in every yard and garden.  Chances are that you have a perfect spot for one.  Make an investment in your yard, your health, and your happiness by planting one this year!

Note:  if you are interested in citrus trees, check out our citrus class here.

ALL CLASSES ARE HELD RAIN OR SHINE!

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

February 19, 2012 (Sunday) 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.  $55  SOLD OUT!

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Workshop: Seasonal Cocktails with Manresa's Jeff Bareilles

We are nothing short of delighted to offer this special holiday class with Jeff Bareilles, Wine and Beverage Director of Manresa Restaurant. 

Jeff will teach us how to prepare base infusions with fresh-from-the-garden ingredients and take us through the process of building drinks around them so that you will be equipped to shake up a knock-out cocktail for any celebration, all year round.  He will also be sharing some of his favorite recipes of the season.  This is a hands-on class.  Each student gets to practice their shaking, stirring, measuring, muddling and uh, sampling!

If you haven’t visited the new bar at Manresa yet, you’re in for a treat!  Already famous for such drinks as the Shizuka (gin, green chartreuse, cucumber, shiso, aloe, and tonic) and the Mountain Tea (apple and pear brandy, black tea, lemon) the bar continues to charm its guests with the joy and spontaneity so characteristic of Manresa's continually changing menu. 

For a tantalizing peek at what other kinds of cocktails Jeff Bareilles has up his sleeve, check out what Inside Scoop SF has raved about.

You must be 21 to attend this class.  All cocktails are sampled!

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

March 27, 2012 (Tuesday) 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.  $115

Please email us at loveapplefarms@gmail.com to be placed on the waiting list or to be informed of when we add another class date.

Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Workshop: Artisan Yarns

If you are a weaver, knitter, crocheter, quilter, or other textile-minded artist, you are going to love this class!  We will show you how to process wool from raw materials using only organic methods and no harsh chemicals.  You will learn how to wash the wool, dry it properly, pick it, card it, and spin it.  You will experience working with three different types of sheep fleece as well as angora wool (which comes from our very own angora rabbit, or “urban sheep”) and practice working with a drop spindle as well as a spinning wheel. 

Simple combed wool can be used for quilt batting.  You can felt it, or spin it, and of course, once it’s spun, you can weave it.  Every student will go home with plenty of fleece, yarn, and knowledge to continue processing their own wool at home.  (Note that we will not cover dying in the class, but may offer it as a separate course in the future.)

Hand-spinning is as peaceful (and addictive!) an art as knitting itself.  It is fun, economical, useful, and extremely relaxing.  If you have had the pleasure of walking into a yarn shop and being overwhelmed with the marvelous arrays of color and texture stacked against the walls, but have not yet experienced spinning for yourself -- you are in for a treat!

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

January 21, 2012 (Saturday) 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.  $75

July 8, 2012 (Sunday) 9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.  $75

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Workshop: Citrus Trees

This class is the sister to the Fruit Trees class, but instead of learning about dormant fruit trees, we will be focusing on citrus trees, which are green all year.  Come learn how to do “green grafts” and learn how to take care of these special trees!  We will also tour the citrus varieties growing here on the farm which include lemons, sour oranges, navel oranges, limes, grapefruits, kumquats, fingerlimes, and texas lemons.  There will be plenty more unique and organic varieties for you to choose from for your own graftings.  Every student will go home with three grafted rootstocks ready for planting and the knowledge of how to take care of them all year round.

ALL CLASSES ARE HELD RAIN OR SHINE!

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

April 15, 2012 (Sunday) 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.  $55

-----------------------------------------

Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

In the Kitchen with Chez Pim: Perfect Pie Crusts

Few things are as intimidating to home bakers as pie crust can be.  Let Chez Pim help you demystify the art and science of baking beautiful crusts.  She will demonstrate several different types of dough for us, including basic pie dough, dough for a sweet tart, dough for a chocolate crust, and dough for a nut crust.  You will gain the confidence to experiment with different fillings and crusts, and never ruin another pie crust again!  

Chez Pim is famous for her pies and tarts, just see what Bon Appetit Magazine has to say about them.  This hands-on workshop will give you ample opportunity to practice under Pim’s watchful eye, so bring your rolling pin and be prepared to finally learn how to roll the perfect dough!

Click on the date to register:

February 4, 2012 (Saturday) 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.  $115

Students should bring to class:

1.  A rolling pin
2.  A pastry board (or whatever board you roll your pastry out on)
3.  A paring knife
4.  A pie plate (Pyrex glass is best, ceramic is also good, but metal will work in a pinch)
5.  A cooler with ice packs to take home your pie

If you missed this class date, shoot us an email at loveapplefarms@gmail.com to request that we add another Pie date.

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Pim is the author of The Foodie Handbook: the (almost) definitive guide to gastronomy (Chronicle Books 2009). Her popular blog, Chez Pim, sets forth her globetrotting adventures –and misadventures- in the world of all things edible, from her own kitchen in Northern California, to the vibrant street-side fares in Asia, and the refined world of Three Michelin Star restaurants in Europe. Raised in a family of foodies in Bangkok, Pim comes from a diverse and wonderful culinary background. Pim's recipes, writings, and photography have appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, and Bon Appetit magazine. The Guardian UK ranked Chez Pim one of the world's 50 most powerful blogs. Fast Company also named Pim one of the most influential women in Technology in 2010.

Workshop is held at Love Apple Farms, 2317 Vine Hill Road, Santa Cruz, CA

---------------------------------------

Please review our class cancellation policy in case you cannot attend your scheduled event.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content.

If the workshop dates don't work for you, if the class is full, or if you'd like to request that another class be added, please email us at loveapplefarm@gmail.com to let us know and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used toward classes, seedlings and merchandise and are available for purchase here.

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Workshop: Grow Your Own Fabric

This class focuses on linen and cotton, both plant-based fibers.  We will talk about the process of growing and harvesting both types of plants.  Then you will get hands-on practice retting, braking, scutching, hackling, and spinning the fibers into fabric.  If you don’t know what those terms mean -- great!  Students of all levels of skill are welcome.  Every student will take home his or her own cotton plants and samples of both types of handspun fibers.  Growing your own cotton and linen can be very fun and extremely rewarding -- imagine responding to nice compliment on your scarf by saying “Thanks, I grew it.”

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

May 12, 2012 (Saturday) 9:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.  $75

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Workshop: Introduction to Biodynamic Gardening

Biodynamic agriculture has been around for closing in on 100 years, thanks to the brilliance of Rudolf Steiner.  Often called the "forerunner of organic farming," biodynamics works with nature, the soil, living organisms and the cosmos in a rich, inter-woven circle of health, fertility, and spirituality.

If you've been interested in how it works, from the earth to the stars, come take our basics course.  We'll introduce you to biodynamics and give you a game plan for how to implement some or all of its tenets into your own garden.  For a full-blown, intensive course in Biodynamic Agriculture, visit our friends at Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California.

ALL CLASSES ARE HELD RAIN OR SHINE!

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

February 26, 2012 (Sunday) 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.  $55
June 17, 2012 (Sunday) 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.  $55

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

In the Kitchen with Chez Pim: Artisanal Marmalades

Chez Pim's marmalade is something of a cult item among those in the know.  Vogue magazine's food writer and renowned gourmand Jeffrey Steingarten calls it "unparalleled."  Pim puts her maramalade up for sale once a year and pretty much sells out immediately each time.  Lucky for us, Pim has agreed to share her secrets in a class here at the farm.

In this workshop, Pim will teach you the fundamentals of marmalade making and her unique take on it.  From start to finish, you'll learn three different styles of marmalade:  the classic, bitter, English style made from sour oranges; a sweeter marmalade made from sweet citrus such as Mandarin or Clementine; and a spice-infused marmalade.

This class will be fun and useful for both beginner and experienced marmalade-makers alike!  Please bring your own very sharp knife and a small cutting board for hands-on practice during the class.

Click on an available date to register:

January 27, 2012 (Friday) 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.  $125

January 28, 2012 (Saturday) 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.  $125 (One Seat Left!)

IF YOU'D LIKE TO BE PUT ON A WAITLIST SHOULD A SEAT BECOME AVAILABLE in a sold out class PLEASE EMAIL US AT LOVEAPPLEFARMS@GMAIL.COM. 

Pim is the author of The Foodie Handbook: the (almost) definitive guide to gastronomy (Chronicle Books 2009). Her popular blog, Chez Pim, sets forth her globetrotting adventures –and misadventures- in the world of all things edible, from her own kitchen in Northern California, to the vibrant street-side fares in Asia, and the refined world of Three Michelin Star restaurants in Europe. Raised in a family of foodies in Bangkok, Pim comes from a diverse and wonderful culinary background. Pim's recipes, writings, and photography have appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, and Bon Appetit magazine. The Guardian UK ranked Chez Pim one of the world's 50 most powerful blogs. Fast Company also named Pim one of the most influential women in Technology in 2010.

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All classes require registration, even for gift certificate holders!  Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Cardoon: Artichoke's Italian Cousin

Students and farm tour participants often ask us, "Why are your artichokes wrapped in blankets?" We reply that they are not artichokes, but cardoons, which are in the same plant family.  The difference is that the stalks are what you harvest from the cardoon (pronounced kar-dune) plant, while the thistle (or flower bud) is what the artichoke is cultivated for.  Cardoons are quite popular in Europe, especially in Italy where they make a delicious cardoon soup, but are rarely used in the US.  The chef at Manresa loves to prepare cardoons, which taste similar to artichokes.  To ensure they are tender, and not fibrous or stringy, we blanch the cardoons in the garden.  In horticultural terms, that means blocking sunlight from the stalks so they end up white rather than green.  This is the same technique used to create white asparagus and white celery. It can be done by mounding soil around the plant as it grows, or wrapping newspaper around with twine, but at Love Apple we wrap floating row cover around the plant a few times and tuck the end in at the top to keep it affixed. We also place a bamboo stake inside the wrap for support. See the difference in color between unblanched and blanched:

Cardoons are a fabulous addition to the garden because:

• They are perennials, so you plant once and enjoy for years
• They are higher yielding than artichokes
• They are unusual, and therefore will impress your dinner guests
• In the summer, they produce beautiful purple flowers
• They can also be great ornamentals, as you only need to blanch them for 2 weeks prior to harvest

Cardoons are perfectly suited for Northern California's climate and are best harvested fall though spring, as they can be bitter tasting if you try to harvest them after they flower in the summer.  Harvest stalks when 1 - 2 feet long.  We just cut them off at the soil level with a serrated knife or hacksaw.  They will then regrow from their root base.  Cardoons prefer full sun, but will tolerate some shade. They can grow 3 to 6 feet tall!  "Giant Roman (Gobbo)" is a great variety from Gourmet Seed.  So get growing and enjoy this bellisimo vegetable!

Workshop: Alternative Proteins

In this workshop, Chef Kathy will share lots of great recipes that feature healthy, non-animal proteins.  We will explore how to combine legumes and grains, nuts and greens into delicious main courses that provide complete protein nourishment. 

She will demonstrate many ways to cook tempeh and tofu, as well as other plant-protein based dishes like: 
- collard quinoa dolmas with a roasted red pepper dip
- tempeh reuben wraps
- an esalen nut loaf with savory sauce. 

You will go home with tons of new tricks and ideas to enrich your plant-based repertoire, and enough recipes to last you many, many Meat-Free Mondays.

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

December 11, 2011 (Sunday) 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.   Sold out!

March 11, 2012 (Sunday) 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.  $55

If you'd like to be added to the wait list or be informed in the event we add another class date, please email us at loveapplefarms@gmail.com.

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Student Testimonial: Jeff Hawkins

We love to hear from our students, and Jeff Hawkins seems to be taking the instruction he received at Love Apple to new heights. Here's his story:

Hi Cynthia,

Our back yard isn't all that big.  It's a typical tract house on a cul-de-sac.  A few years ago I decided to build seven 4' x 4'raised beds to attempt growing vegetables.  Our success was always modest.  Great tasting produce, but not too much yield.  Also, the plants never really seemed to thrive, if you know what I mean.

All that changed after last spring, earlier this year.  I took your summer vegetable gardening class, and from the first few minutes to the very end of the class, I was learning.  I then took your tomato masters class a couple of weeks later with the same result.

Our vegetable garden is quite unbelievable now. With the seeds that we sowed in the summer vegetable class, I now have bush bean plants 3'-4' tall and loaded with beans; four huge and constantly producing zucchini plants, a 4' x 4' bed of lettuces that seem to be never-ending, a 4' x 4' bed of beautiful, tender dark green chard, and a constant supply of green onions and squash.

I also purchased 10 tomato plants from your store in Scotts Valley.  They are all now over 7' tall and are loaded with tomatoes.  Before this, I never had a tomato plant taller than 3' to 4'.

All of this success is due to the techniques of bed preparation, soil amending, tomato cage construction, tomato planting instructions, plant placement and garden design that I learned in your classes.

We also had great success with the potatoes in the 15 gallon pots that you taught us how to do.  Not only was each pot's harvest abundant, but they are the best tasting potatoes also.

Thanks again for all your help.  As always, couldn't have done it this well without you!

Workshop: Holiday Wreaths from Your Garden

 

In this class you will learn how to make holiday garden wreaths using landscape trimmings found in your own backyard!  The wreath is a symbol of continuity and renewal, a leafy green reminder of summer that pulls our homes and spirits through the depths of winter.  Once you master the art of making wreaths, you will be happy to add it to your list of holiday traditions.  

We will explore wreath construction in multiple phases:  base, body, and decorations.  You will start with loose landscape prunings and end with holiday masterpieces!  Incorporating wreath-making into your yearly garden cycle also helps reduce your carbon footprint by replacing store-bought decorations with lovely, handmade ones.  Woody herbs like rosemary, lavender, or bay laurel make especially fragrant and beautiful wreathes.  You will never look at your landscape waste pile the same way again!

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ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS!

 Click on an available date to register:

SORRY, THIS WORKSHOP HAS BEEN CANCELED!

You will be taken to PayPal for payment.  You do not need a PayPal account to register for the class, just a credit card.  

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class.  

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content.  

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here.  

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.  

Cooking with Seaweed: An Ocean of Possibilities

Most of us are familiar with the crinkly, greenish black nori wrapped around sushi rolls, and the delicate, dark wakame that floats in miso soup, but if these are the only sea veggies in your life, you’ve just begun to scratch the surface!  Chef Kathy Cummins will demonstrate vegetables like hijiki, kanten, arame, kombu, and dulse and teach us about the nutritional benefits and best culinary preparations of each.   

You will learn how to make easy sushi rolls with nori, brown rice, and colorful veggies.  Then on the agenda: a seaweed salad with a raw miso dressing, along with homemade gomashio (delicious, nutritious, Japanese salt-substitute blends).  For dessert, we will make a jelly with fresh fruit and kanten (or agar agar), which is rich in calcium, iron, and fiber, and is kid-friendly to boot!  

Seaweed is a sustainable, luscious, and highly nutritious food.  In fact, Shape magazine just named it the "next big super food."  It has been a vital part of the diets of coastal people for thousands of years.  Seaweed is one of the most mineral-rich foods on the planet, containing virtually all the minerals found in the ocean.  They are rich sources of calcium, magnesium, B vitamins, vitamin K, and fiber.  Some even say that seaweed has the ability to rid the body of heavy metals and radioactive residue!   So come spend an afternoon with Chef Kathy and let her teach you easy, fresh ways to incorporate these veggies into your everyday menus.  

 

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

 Class date: December 4, 2011 (Sunday) 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Tuition:  $49

 

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content.

If the workshop dates donʼt work for you, if the class is full, or if youʼd like to request that another class be added, please email us and weʼll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise. They are available for purchase here.

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here. 

Soap Making

Soap!  We use it all the time, but most of us don't think about soap beyond buying it on sale at the grocery store.  But did you know that most commercial soap is made with petroleum-based ingredients like mineral oil, and synthetic detergents which can be harsh and irritating to delicate skin?  In order to avoid using these commercial bars, many people are turning to making their own soap.  But where do you begin?

This beginner's class is for people who are curious about making soap from scratch.  It covers the very basics of soap-making and demystifies the process so that you have the confidence to begin your own soap making practice.  We will discuss the history and chemistry behind the preparation of soap and we will demonstrate both the cold process method of soap making, which relies on internally generated heat for saponification (the chemical reaction of fatty acids and alkali) and the hot process method, which uses an external heat source to speed saponification. 

Some other topics for this class will include:

• Safety -- especially when working with lye (sodium hydroxide)
  
• Materials, supplies, and equipment
• Note taking, measurements, and mixing temperatures
  
• Coloring your soap
  
• Scenting your soap with essential and fragrance oils
  
• Soap molds (you may be surprised to know that you probably already have some items that can be used as molds!)
  
• Insulating, cutting, curing, storing, and wrapping your finished soap
  

You will find that making soap isn't extremely complicated, nor does it have to be expensive.  In fact, handmade soap makes beautiful holiday gifts. 

Please note:  because this class involves working with lye (sodium hydroxide), no one under the age of 18 will be allowed to register.

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

November 5, 2011 (Saturday) 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.  $75  Sold out!
February 12, 2012 (Sunday) 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.  $75 Sold out!
April 7, 2012 (Saturday) 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.  $75
June 16, 2012 (Saturday) 1:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.  $75

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Workshop: Introduction to Bee-Keeping

Did you know that you can keep bees in your backyard?  Most normal-sized yards can play host to a hive of honey bees, and the folks who tend to them enjoy honey, beeswax, royal jelly, and of course, the bees themselves.  In fact, a healthy hive can produce several gallons of lovely, local honey every year. 

These pollinators can be marvelously helpful by making fruits and vegetables more productive.  Here on the farm, we keep bees not just because they help produce richer crops, but also because they are tremendously beneficial insects that are good for our neighbors and surrounding environment. 

Come learn what it takes to keep a busy, productive hive of bees happy!  Learn where to get your bees, how to set up and maintain the hive, and how to protect it from pests and disease.  This is a beginner’s course, so you won’t need to bring any special equipment or supplies.

ALL CLASSES ARE HELD RAIN OR SHINE!

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

January 29, 2012 (Sunday) 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.  $55  SOLD OUT!
March 4, 2012 (Sunday) 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.  $55  SOLD OUT!

May 6, 2012 (Sunday) 2:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.  $55

IF YOU'D LIKE TO BE ADDED TO THE WAIT LIST FOR A SOLD OUT CLASS OR NOTIFIED IF WE ADD ANOTHER DATE, PLEASE EMAIL US AT LOVEAPPLEFARMS@GMAIL.COM

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Workshop: Beverages with Benefits

Teas! Kombucha! Kvass!  Oh, my! 

This class is all about exploring the healthy aspects of alternative beverages using traditional fermentation processes, fruits, vegetables, and herbs.  Chef Kathy will be teaching us how to safely make kombucha and beet kvass, both centuries-old tonics thought to have cleansing effects on the immune and digestive systems.   Both of these fermented drinks are said to promote longevity, keep sickness at bay, and bestow mental clarity upon those who regularly partake. 

Chef Kathy will also show us how to make herbal tea tonics and holiday sparklers that will give your spirits a lift.  Imagine champagne flutes filled with effervescent purple tonics, rimmed with glittering ginger sugar.  Imagine bringing a steaming mug of sweet mint tea to a chilled loved one, or enjoying bottles and bottles of your own kombucha, flavored exactly to your tastes (think blueberries, raspberries, pomegranates, mangos).  The beverage case at Whole Foods doesn’t have anything on these libations! 

This class will arm you with powerful, delicious, immune-boosting tonics, just in time for holiday parties, as well as cold and flu season.  Every student will go home with a nice packet of recipes, their own kombucha starter, and LOTS of inspiration for the season! 

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:
October 16, 2011 (Sunday) 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.  $49

Kathy Cummins is a Santa Cruz chef who specializes in the healthy applications and therapeutic exploration of whole foods.  She has been the senior instructor at Bauman College’s Holistic Nutrition and Culinary Arts department for over ten years.

Bottom photo courtesy of the blog Small Notebook. 

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here. 

What to do about aphids?!

Almost year round, aphids live and eat in our garden.  Here at Love Apple Farms we do our best to manage aphid outbreaks by exercising several non-toxic practices.  We tend to tolerate low numbers of aphids so that aphid predators stay around to keep these pest populations on check.  Spiders, ladybugs, green lacewings and soldier beetles are a few predators that love to prey on these bugs.

To make sure that our garden and animals thrive, we use several preventive methods.

• We give any aphid ridden plant residue to our chickens and goats rather than composting it.  This ensures that the aphids were eaten and not left behind to live. 

 

• We don't plant all of any one crop in just a single location in the garden.  This reduces the risk of losing it all in a concentrated outbreak.

• We have plants that flower year round so that predators have additional nectar to keep them around.

Even with all these wonderful ways to prevent aphids from thriving, aphids can still cause noticeable damage.  You'll likely first notice curling leaves, as aphids tend to cause their host plant to curl their leaves.  Unfold the curled leaf to reveal black (as in the first photo above), red or even green aphids. 

At this point we take action.

• We rub them off with our gloved hand or prune away colonies of aphids.

• We use a forceful stream of water whenever the plants are sturdy enough to take such pressure.  We do it early in the morning to allow crops to dry during the heat of the day.
• We spray Gardner & Bloome's Flower, Vegetable & Herb insect spray – an organic certified liquid to kill them on site and repel future infestations. 

There are many clever non-toxic ways to reduce the aphid damage.  It is more efficient to prevent high numbers of aphids, than try to manage them once you have them.  When an aphid outbreak occurs, then we question what environmental conditions help them to thrive, such as overhead water, protective ants, or an infested neighboring crop.  Any of these strategies will help manage aphids, yet it is also important to be creative and open about which methods would work best in your garden.  Just remember, the one thing that does NOT work: ignoring them!

 

Workshop: Home Sprouting + Sprout Salads

 

This workshop incorporates both gardening and cooking!  You will learn how to sprout various legumes and flowers, and then how to use them to their fullest potential.

Our natural-foods chef instructor, Kathy Cummins, will teach us how we can use sprouted seeds and legumes to make delicious, seasonal, and easy salads.  Sprouts are rich in digestible energy, bio-available vitamins, minerals, amino acids, proteins, and phytochemicals -- all nutrients that are essential for human health.  

Chef Kathy will also demonstrate easy, “fail-proof” ways to sprout wheat berries, lentils, sunflower seeds, and mung beans.  You will learn how to incorporate these delicious sprouts into recipes such as:

    - Crisp mung bean-fennel salad with red onion and cilantro
    - Bamboo-steamed dinosaur kale salad with garnet yams
    - French lentil sprout salad
    - Love Apple Farms Special fresh-from-the-garden salad

You will also be shown techniques to make a raw miso vinaigrette, a strawberry-lemonade vinaigrette, and a raspberry vinaigrette made with homemade raspberry vinegar.

In addition to sharing her treasured recipes with us, Chef Kathy will teach us all about the nutritional benefits of sprouts and healthy salads.  Learn why these “germinated vitamins” are the darlings of whole foods professionals everywhere and empower your body, mind, and kitchen with these new culinary skills!

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

 Click an available date to register:

January 8, 2012 (Sunday) 2:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.  $55  SOLD OUT!

Note:  You will be taken to PayPal for payment.  You do not need a PayPal account to register for the class, just a credit card. 

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Kathy Cummins is a Santa Cruz chef who specializes in the healthy applications and therapeutic exploration of whole foods.  She has been the senior instructor at Bauman College’s Holistic Nutrition and Culinary Arts department for over ten years.

Top Photo courtesy of the blog, The Seasoned Fork

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class.  

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content.  

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here.  

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.  

Student Testimonial: Steve Gehre

We often receive nice feedback from our gardening students about how well they're doing.  When those testimonials are heartfelt, well-written, and come packed with beautiful photos, then we just can't resist sharing!  Here's one we just received last week:

Dear Cynthia:

    It is surreal as in something out of science fiction.  Abundant growth, spaghetti squash and zucchini tentacles (runners) out of control, escaping the elevated garden, reaching through the wire fence, and descending on the cement patio and continuing to reach and stretch with fruit everywhere (35 "visible" spaghetti squash and 18 zucchinis) all from two zucchini plants and one spaghetti squash!!!!!  Unbelievable!

    I planted the same amount with exactly the same space considerations I have always done for the last 40 years here in San Mateo and the results this year are in another category due to your advice.  I believe, even in this lousy year of weather, that your suggestions were solely responsible, i.e., Sun Land compost and 4-6-4- Sustane.  I rototilled both in and have never experienced anything like this.  The enclosed photos do not do justice to what has taken over my backyard, and this despite overcast fog till 11:00 a.m., no good sun, no wind until 5:00 and then the fog rolls back in.  This has meant the tomato plants are growing and are at 6 feet tall now, and finally all the fruit has sent on them but they will be a little late and maybe a little smaller than normal.

    I want to thank you for this prolific (understatement) of a crop.  My neighbors are astonished.  You are the best.  Do you think it was the compost or the Sustane or a combination of both?  Thanks for all your help and your responsiveness in dealing with my periodic queries in a very timely fashion.  This was truly a gardening breakthrough for me!

Steve Gehre, San Mateo

Dear Steve:  Thanks so much for the kind words.  To answer your question, I do think it was the fertility.  And your excellent care!  Cynthia

Hard Apple Cider at Home

Learn to preserve the bounty of your apple trees by making apple cider!  This is a great way to use less-than-perfect or blemished apples and those windfalls of fruit that are the blessings of autumn.  Cider is a way to preserve apple juice naturally using the same fermentation process that is used to make wine.

"...hard cider was the favored beverage of America's founding generation. Beer makers may adorn their bottles with ale-swilling patriots, and aristocrats like Thomas Jefferson may have enjoyed imported wine. But cider was the drink of the people, from farmers to fighting men, and deservedly so. Good cider is light but not boring, complex but not dominating, satisfying but not sating." -- Slate.com

In this class, you will get to see how produce hard apple cider from start to finish.  We will start by pressing cider apples in a hand-turned apple press and then proceed through the stages of fermentation, racking, and bottling.  After this class, you should have the experience and know-how to make your own batches of cider at home, year after year.

If you (or a friendly neighbor) have a tree full of apples or any other fruit, don't let that bounty go to waste!  The skills learned in this class can be used to make a variety of other fruit wines such as plum wine, berry wine, and more. 

Note:  Hard cider is an zero-emissions food product, as no heating is required to make it. We will be using sulfites for a more predictable outcome, but you can make your own cider without sulfites.  Depending on the amount of sugar present in the apples, the alcoholic content of the end product will range from 6% to 11%.

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

September 8, 2012 (Saturday) 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.  $95

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here. 

Workshop: Easy Solar Projects

Ride the renewable energy wave!  This beginner class will provide the basic expertise needed to get a small solar project up and running.  We will look at simple systems including solar electricity, solar water heating, and small-scale wind systems. 

The class will be divided into two parts.  The first section will be a lecture that introduces students to the basic concepts and vocabulary of solar engineering.  The second part will be a demonstration of how a solar-powered light should be installed in an outdoor setting (specifically, our chicken coop). 

Some specific topics covered will be:  building remote solar lighting systems, installing a solar pump for a pond, understanding various panel configurations (including stand-alone and grid-tied systems), solar food dehydrating, solar cookers, micro hydro and micro wind.  Today it is easy to purchase state-of-the-art solar components almost anywhere; more difficulty lies in understanding the design fundamentals.  Come spend a few hours learning the basics from a professional so that you can bring the power of the sun into your yard, too!

Instructor Thomas Wittman has been using solar power in many various forms since 1982 when he lived in an “off the grid” community.  He has also designed, lectured, and built systems for the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

ALL CLASSES ARE HELD RAIN OR SHINE!

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

June 2, 2012 (Saturday) 9:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.  $55

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

In the Kitchen with Chez Pim: Asian Rice + Noodle Bowls

Join this class and learn some delicious, classic recipes that are perfect for chilly fall and winter days.  We will make a seriously addictive Tonkatsu (braised pork) ramen - we dare you to eat just one bowl!  We will learn how to cook a delicious seafood rice in a clay pot, the secrets of the perfect Thai chicken rice (khao mun gai) and finish with a wok-seared rice noodle with chinese broccoli and beef "gravy". The recipes you will learn in this class are eminently adaptable, you'll be creating your own versions of ramen, clay pot rice, and wok-seared rice noodle with a variety of meat and vegetables to feed and entertain your friends and family throughout the year. 

Dishes we make together will include:  

Tonkatsu ramen (braised pork ramen)
Japanese clay pot rice (donabe) with seafood
Thai Khao Mun Gai (chicken & rice)
Rad Na (wok-seared rice noodle with chinese broccoli and beef gravy)

Click on an available date to register:

October 8, 2011 (Saturday) 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Pim is the author of The Foodie Handbook: the (almost) definitive guide to gastronomy (Chronicle Books 2009). Her popular blog, Chez Pim, sets forth her globetrotting adventures –and misadventures- in the world of all things edible, from her own kitchen in Northern California, to the vibrant street-side fares in Asia, and the refined world of Three Michelin Star restaurants in Europe. Raised in a family of foodies in Bangkok, Pim comes from a diverse and wonderful culinary background. Pim's recipes, writings, and photography have appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, and Bon Appetit magazine. The Guardian UK ranked Chez Pim one of the world's 50 most powerful blogs. Fast Company also named Pim one of the most influential women in Technology in 2010.

Workshop is held at Love Apple Farm, 2317 Vine Hill Road, Santa Cruz, CA

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Please review our class cancellation policy in case you cannot attend your scheduled event.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content.

If the workshop dates don't work for you, if the class is full, or if you'd like to request that another class be added, please email us at loveapplefarm@gmail.com to let us know and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Love Apple Farm gift certificates can be used toward classes, seedlings and merchandise and are available for purchase here.

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farm by clicking here.

Order and Chaos

The following post was written by Sara Barbour and originally posted on her new blog, girlfarmkitchen.com:

It was 6:15 on a foggy Friday morning and there I was, crouched over an orange bucket with my hand plunged up to the elbow in icy water mixed with ground quartz.  Next to me Zach and Ross knelt hand-stirring the mixture in their buckets, and eight other apprentices stood silently around us waiting their turn, Cynthia holding the cow horn in which the quartz had been buried for six months.  We were completing the final stage of biodynamic prep 501, a soil preparation used in the biodynamic system of farming that Love Apple is committed to following.  The preparation is stirred and applied at dawn, when the light filtering through the morning clouds can illuminate the quartz mixture as it is sprayed above the plants in the garden.

Biodynamics is the agricultural practice developed by philosopher Rudolf Steiner, and while creating preparations for soil health out of stuffed cow horns and intestines may seem strange to some, when Cynthia told us the quartz prep had to be stirred clockwise and counter-clockwise for an hour to combine order and chaos, it made sense.  In the past two months I’ve been on the farm I’ve acutely felt the balance of order and chaos in my life—the order of milking the goats each morning, eight-hour farm days, and sitting around the kitchen table each night, and the chaos of being thrown into a new place and life where you live, work, eat, and drink with an ever-shifting group of people.  At 6:45 that morning as we stirred, Ellen—the baby of our group at 19, the greenhouse pro from Maine who’s been here seven months—quietly went round and said her goodbyes, and we were still stirring as she left the garden for the last time.  That afternoon we saw off Tory, a two-week volunteer from Manresa who made us breakfast sandwiches and seemed to always have been here, and this week we say goodbye to Phillip, our constant source of new music (listen to this) and amazing grilled food.  There’s order and chaos in all relationships, and in life, Cynthia said softly as we continued to stir, and it made me realize that letting go of people who’ve become such good friends—both on the farm and off it—is a chaos that's never easy to be prepared for.

Part of spraying the soil prep is investing it with energy and positive thought, so as I misted our quartz mixture over the garden beds I decided I would do just that.  I thought of the night before, when Tory made Manresa’s famous garden beignets for farm dinner while we laughed as everyone at the table had to put on their best foreign accent.  I thought of Ellen and Tory and Phillip, the things they’ll go on to do in college and culinary school and landscape architecture, and then I thought of all my other apprentice friends, the people they are now and the people they’ll be after they leave.  I thought of people I love outside the farm, friendships I’ve let lapse as I’ve become more rooted here. Did I feel a little bit corny? You bet. But when I was done I felt as though a bit more order had been restored to the chaos that always comes with saying goodbye.

Goodbye Ellen, Phillip, and Tory!

 

In the Kitchen with Chez Pim: Butter and Other Dairy Delights

Pim has been making butter for VIPs at Manresa for a few years. Called by many as "the best butter in the United States," Pim will share her secrets for making a finely-crafted, artisanal butter with her students at Love Apple Farms. On the roster as well: creme fraiche, fromage blanc, mascarpone, and compound butters (for both sweet and savory cooking).

Click on a class date to register:

October 1, 2011 (Saturday) 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.  $115

Note:  You will be taken directly to PayPal for payment.  You do not need a PayPal account to register for the class, just a credit card.  
 

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Pim is the author of The Foodie Handbook: the (almost) definitive guide to gastronomy (Chronicle Books 2009). Her popular blog, Chez Pim, sets forth her globetrotting adventures –and misadventures- in the world of all things edible, from her own kitchen in Northern California, to the vibrant street-side fares in Asia, and the refined world of Three Michelin Star restaurants in Europe. Raised in a family of foodies in Bangkok, Pim comes from a diverse and wonderful culinary background. Pim's recipes, writings, and photography have appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, and Bon Appetit magazine. The Guardian UK ranked Chez Pim one of the world's 50 most powerful blogs. Fast Company also named Pim one of the most influential women in Technology in 2010.

Workshop is held at Love Apple Farm, 2317 Vine Hill Road, Santa Cruz, CA

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Please review our class cancellation policy in case you cannot attend your scheduled event.

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates on new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content.

If the workshop dates don't work for you, if the class is full, or if you'd like to request that another class be added, please email us at loveapplefarm@gmail.com to let us know and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Love Apple Farm gift certificates can be used toward classes, seedlings and merchandise and are available for purchase here.

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farm by clicking here.

Learning About Biodynamic Farming

Most people have a general idea of what it means to practice organic farming, but here at Love Apple Farms we often field questions related to another agricultural practice: biodynamic farming. Created by the philosopher and educator Rudolf Steiner, biodynamics can seem intimidating at first, but with a few basic concepts under your belt it's easy to understand why we choose to farm not just organically, but biodynamically as well. To this end, we've recently started holding scheduled meetings with farm staff and apprentices to continue our education in biodynamic farming.

We began with a good working definition:  biodynamic farming is a regenerative farming system focused on soil health and the integration of plants and animals (the key difference between a certified organic and a certified biodynamic farm is that the latter must have animals). As a farmer, the principle biodynamic tenets you must adhere to are as follows: you should make your own compost (with the manure from your animals), use the biodynamic homeopathic soil and compost preps, follow the biodynamic planting calendar (a new one is released each year), and save your own seeds. The goal for a biodynamic farm is to become a “closed-loop farm organism,” and each of these tenets helps you move closer to achieving this. (For example, ideally you will feed your animals with food you have grown, and in turn their manure will provide natural fertilizer for your crops.)

Making compost is a key component of biodynamics, and it means that nothing on the farm is wasted—food scraps, animal manure, and even paper products all contribute to healthy compost piles. The homeopathic soil preps are applied to your compost and soil, and as laid out by Steiner, maximize farm fertility (an example is a cow horn stuffed with fresh manure and buried in the ground for six months, after which it is dug up, mixed with water, and sprinkled on the soil). The biodynamic planting calendar uses the phases of the moon to predict when it is best to plant and harvest each of your four plant types: fruit, root, leaf, or flower. Finally, saving your own seeds enables your farm to function as an entirely closed loop and encourages crop adaptation to microclimates.

Here at Love Apple we follow the biodynamic tenets as closely as we can, for although farming biodynamically can be challenging, it is immensely rewarding and leads to optimum soil health. For more information on biodynamics please see our recommended reading list, and you can access Rudolf Steiner’s lectures on the subject here.

Home Preserving: Tomatoes

Who doesn't love a big bowl of pasta with homemade tomato sauce?  Or perhaps spicy fresh tomato and red onion salsa on top of a quesadilla?  How about golden tomato ketchup on your sweet potato fries?   Here at Love Apple Farm, we love tomatoes just about any way you slice 'em, and we won't accept "winter" as a reason to not get our fix.

This workshop will focus on a variety of methods of preserving your hard-earned tomato crop, even if it does come from the farmer's market and not your garden.  A versatile fruit, tomatoes can be stored (if prepared properly) for up to one year - just in time for next summers glut!  Canning safely is always a priority, and we will go over the ways to ensure that your tomatoes will be eagerly awaiting you come January.

We will cover the various different methods of preserving these garden gems, preparing you to meet the season head-on with a full arsenal of tips and tricks to make the most of your tomatoes.

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ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:
September 24, 2011 (Saturday) 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.  $95

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

In the Kitchen with Chez Pim: Day-Off Dinners with David Kinch

Want to know what a 2-Michelin star chef and a world-famous food blogger eat at home?  Better yet, want to learn how to cook those dishes?  Join Chef David Kinch of Manresa restaurant, and Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim, in Day-Off Dinners, a new cooking class series at Love Apple Farms. 

In each class, students receive a tour of the gorgeous new farm just minutes away from Los Gatos.  After harvesting a few choice goodies from our garden bounty, Chef and Pim will then take you to our outdoor kitchen space to share their secrets of cooking at home.  You will learn to craft deceptively simple, delicious recipes, using techniques from two culinary masters made practical in the home kitchen. 

No two menus will be alike.  They will all include animal proteins and feature local and sustainable ingredients. 

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Click on an available date to register:

October 30, 2011 (Sunday) 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. $195 

Note:  You will be taken to PayPal for payment.  You do not need a PayPal account to register, just a credit card. 

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Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Focusing on Perennials

Recently at Love Apple Farms, a lot of our energy has been focused on propagating and planting perennials. In the past year at the new location, we have planted hundreds of lavenders, salvias, yarrow, and dahlias. And we have propagated (aka "created") many hundreds more by seed, cuttings/clones, and division.

Our perennials reduce erosion, conserve water, attract beneficial insects, and smell and look wonderful. And by creating them all ourselves, we've saved thousands of dollars and are able to witness a seed, a bulb, and a stem grow to a flower or shrub. If you'd like to Grow Your Own Perennials, check out our class on July 31st. It's an impressive experience to watch a perennial's growth. Consider our perennial pruning this past winter:

Our rosemary bushes were very leggy--they needed a hard prune to give them a better shape:

And today the plant is healthier and more compact:

This Red Fountain Grass was brown and cut all the way down to the base last February and has regenerated beautiful red feathery blades:

It just feels wrong to cut back our perennials so hard every winter, but look how well they bounce back!

February 2011:

Today:

Home Brewing On the Farm

At the beginning of this summer, the buzz among the Love Apple Farms staff and apprentices was that in July the farm would be hosting its first beer making class. Needless to say there was great anticipation leading up to this past Sunday, when most of us farmers assembled in the gardening classroom with 22 other students to learn how to brew at home.

We weren’t disappointed. Our teacher and expert home brewer Dave Bossie knew his beers inside and out, and his setup alone was impressive—a large keg he’d customized for brewing mounted on an enormous camping stove. He guided us through a brief history of beer making and microbrewing, then gave us a rundown of the basic equipment and ingredients (malted barley, hops, yeast, and water) needed to make our own ale and lager. Of course, we didn’t just learn the difference between these two primary beer styles—we tasted it as well.

While Dave set about brewing an ale in class—a demonstration that began with boiling six gallons of water in the converted keg—we sampled and discussed a variety of styles of beers. Dave and his wife both brew at their home in Ben Lomond, and the beers we tried included their delicious Smash IPA and smoked porter. As he boiled caramel malted barley and added three different types of hops, Dave told us about the many styles of beer he’s made over the years—and the close community of Santa Cruz home brewers who get together to share their latest creations. At the opening of class he’d warned us that beer making can easily turn into an all-consuming hobby, and by the end of the day, full of tasty homemade beer and breathing in the warm aroma of malted barley, we definitely believed him.

Thank you, Dave, for showing us how, and a big shout-out to Seven Bridges Cooperative.  This Santa Cruz home brewing store is a real treasure for us locals!

Learning How to Shape a Bed

When it comes to adding a new bed to your garden (or in our case, on our ever-expanding terraces), shaping is the final step before planting can begin. As we learned the other day, the process can take time and patience, but the steps are simple to follow and the end result is immensely gratifying: a beautiful, raised bed, no wooden box necessary.

The bed you begin with should look something like this: staked, twined, and recently amended. Before you start make sure to have all the tools you'll need handy--a shovel, spade fork, hard rake, and sledge hammer--and if your soil happens to be very dry take out your hose and give it a water.

Step one: hammer in your stakes so they create nice right angles in your bed, firmly rooted in each corner with no wiggle room. Since you'll be wanting the soil in your bed to eventually touch the twine strung around the bed, making sure your stakes are secure and upright is very important.

 

Next re-string your twine around the bed, ensuring each edge is taught and straight. Make a secure knot on the final stake so there will be no loosening during the raking and digging. At this point you can also break up any large clods on the surface of the bed.

Now take your hard rake and sweep across the top of the bed in long strokes, leveling the surface and pushing the soil that gathers on the front of the rake off the edge of the bed. This is the first step of a three-part process you will continue until the soil in your bed touches the twine.

The second step is to take your rake or shovel and firmly pat the side of the bed, packing the soil in and ensuring that your bed will have nice straight sides. It's okay to push hard here--you want the soil to be fluffy on top but nice and solid on the bottom and sides so there will be no caving in.

The third step is to take your shovel and scrape up any soil that did not get packed in on the sides and put it back on the top of the bed. Continue to break up any clods, and repeat the three part process--rake top, pack sides, and scrape up bottom--until your bed is nicely evened out, with firm sides, a smooth top, and the soil as close to touching the twine as you can get. Lastly, give your newly-shaped bed a good water--and prepare your seeds or seedlings for planting!

Love Apple Farms is bringing the farm to organizations!

 
Love Apple Farms is packing up the compost and accoutrements to bring the kitchen garden and the homesteading classroom to you!

 
 
We are expanding our gardening and homesteading curriculum to include in-house classes for organizations.  

If you are offering Wellness, Fitness and Benefit Programs or are supporting personal and professional development in fun and innovative ways, you can now bring Love Apple Farms on-site to inspire, educate and have a darn, good time!

Choose from a list of 47 gardening, cooking and homesteading classes offered throughout the year.

• Classes are bite-sized or longer depending on your organization’s availability:  90 minutes, 3 hours, or day long classes. Both weekday and weekend classes are available.
• For experienced and newbie foodies, gardeners, lovers of DIY and homesteading topics.

Contact us at education@loveapplefarms.com or call 831.566.1591 for more information and a detailed roster and pricing sheet for our off-site classes.

The new program rolls out at the Apple Inc campus in Cupertino, California, on June 28, 2011. Yipee...dirt and technology!



Download Love Apple Farms Press Release

Advanced Cheese-Making

Welcome to the wide, weird world of hard cheeses!  

Have you ever noticed at your deli or cheese counter that almost all of the cheeses have the same ingredients?  Milk, cultures, rennet and salt... That's it!  That's the entire ingredient list for swiss style cheeses, cheddars, feta, havarti, goudas and countless others.  So why are they all so different? 

This class will uncover the methods behind the lovely hard cheeses we all adore.  Whether you've taken our basic cheese-making class or not, this workshop will lay an even more comprehensive foundation for the home cheese-maker, and prepare you for making hard cheeses successfully at home. 

Hard cheeses are not necessarily more challenging to make, but the risk and reward factors are much higher than with a fresh cheese.  Who wants to baby along a wheel of cheese for months on end only to get a disappointing result?  This workshop will go over the reasons behind some common problems, as well as offer strategies, tips and tricks to avoid them. 

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ADVANCED REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED

Available Dates:
    - Saturday, August 6, 2011  (11am - 2pm, $95) 

    - Saturday, September 17, 2011  (11am - 2pm, $95) 

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Please review our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class.

Sign up for our newsletter to receive updates on new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content.

If the workshop dates don't work for you, if the class is full, or if you'd like to request that another class be added, please email us at loveapplefarms@gmail.com to let us know and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used toward classes, seedlings and merchandise and are available for purchase here.

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

 

 

Home Preserving: Pickling

Pickling is a diverse and delicious way of preserving the local bounty.  While most people think of the kosher dills at the grocery store, there is actually a wide variety of methods when it comes to pickled vegetables.  This class will delve into the rich cultural history of pickling while providing students with the foundations to start preserving at home. 

Some methods we will cover in class:
    - Basic vinegar pickles
    - Tsukemono (Japanese pickled vegetables)
    - Sauerkraut
    - Lactic fermentation
    - Spice mixes and custom blending

We will cover preservation basics, equipment, food safety issues and variations on basic recipes.  The workshop will feature home canning techniques as well as fermentation-pickling for long-term storage.  Each student will have the opportunity to get hands-on in the kitchen as well as take home some of the fabulous recipes we'll make in class.

ADVANCED REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED

Available Dates:
    - Sunday, January 23, 2011  (Noon - 4pm, $95) SOLD OUT
    - Saturday, April 23, 2011 (Noon - 4pm, $95) SOLD OUT
    - Saturday, July 9, 2011 (Noon - 4pm, $95)

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Please review our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class.

Sign up for our newsletter to receive updates on new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content.

If the workshop dates don't work for you, if the class is full, or if you'd like to request that another class be added, please email us at loveapplefarms@gmail.com to let us know and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used toward classes, seedlings and merchandise and are available for purchase here.

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Preservando en la Casa: Tomates

¿A quien no le encanta un gran cuenco de pasta con salsa de espagueti? ¿O quizá una salsa de tomate picante con cebolla encima de una quesadilla? ¿O la salsa dulce de tomate con sus papas fritas? Aquí en Love Apple Farm, amamos tomates en cualquier forma. No se va aceptar como excusa la falta de tomates cuando es invierno.  

Esta clase se enfocara en una variedad de métodos para preservar su cosecha de tomate, aunque no venga de su jardín. ¡Una fruta versátil, tomates se pueden guardar (si están preparados apropiadamente) hasta un año- en tiempo para la cosecha del próximo verano! Enlatar seguramente es una prioridad, y aseguramos enseñarles varias maneras de preparación para que sus tomates les esperen ansiosamente cuando venga enero.

Cubriremos varios métodos de preservar estas gemas de jardín. Preparamos a los estudiantes para la temporada de cosechar con un arsenal lleno de consejos y trucos para aprovechar mucho de sus tomates.

Julio es el primer mes para dar la clase, permitiendo les a ustedes que se preparen para la gran cosecha en la área de bahía en California. Si no tiene suficiente tomates en su jardín para enlatar, no consterne, habrá una gran cantidad de tomates en el mercado de granjeros. 

SE REQUIERE REGISTRATION EN AVANCE

Fecha de la clase:

Enseñada en ingles

    - Sábado, el 30 de julio, 2011 (12pm-4pm, $95)

In the Kitchen with Chez Pim: Thai Curries

Do you adore Thai curries?  Many of us love the curries that we find in restaurants all over the Bay Area, but it can be daunting to make a pot of curry from scratch.  If you find yourself stumped by the aisles and aisles of spices at the Asian Market, this class is definitely for you. 

Pim Techamuanvivit is a lifetime curry enthusiast and the namesake of the incredibly popular food blog, Chez Pim. Her expertise runs the whole culinary gamut; from pie dough to rabbit rillette, from marmalades to thai curries, you will be astonished at what this woman knows!

Learn the ins and outs of shopping for the essential ingredients and how to make curry paste from scratch. Pim will show you how to make authentic, delicious Thai curries with the very best ingredients, at the same time demystifying the spice cabinet.  Learn how to tell good store-bought pastes from bad and the best places in the area to find what you need to make a great pot of curry from scratch.  Pim will also teach you how to properly pair wine with a variety of curries, a challenging task for any home cook!  At the end of the class we will sit down and enjoy the curries of our labor together. 

Click on the class date to register:

March 3, 2012 (Saturday) 2:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.  $115  

To get on a waiting list for a class or to be notified of a newly-added date, please email us at loveapplefarms@gmail.com

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

Pim is the author of The Foodie Handbook: the (almost) definitive guide to gastronomy (Chronicle Books 2009).  Her popular blog, Chez Pim, chronicles her globetrotting adventures –and misadventures- in the world of all things edible, from her own kitchen in Northern California, to the vibrant street-side fares in Asia, and the refined world of Three Michelin Star restaurants in Europe.  Raised in a family of foodies in Bangkok, Pim comes from a diverse and wonderful culinary background.  Pim's recipes, writings, and photography have appeared in the New York Times, Food & Wine Magazine, and Bon Appetit magazine.  The Guardian UK ranked Chez Pim one of the world's 50 most powerful blogs.  Fast Company also named Pim one of the most influential women in Technology in 2010.

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The workshop is held at Love Apple Farm, 2317 Vine Hill Road, in Santa Cruz, California. 

Please review our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class.

Sign up for our newsletter to receive updates on new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content.

If the workshop dates don't work for you, if the class is full, or if you'd like to request that another class be added, please email us at loveapplefarm@gmail.com to let us know and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Love Apple Farm gift certificates can be used toward classes, seedlings and merchandise and are available for purchase here.

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farm by clicking here.

The Wonderful World of Dahlias

Often on tours of our farm someone will ask, "What's that for?" referring to our dahlias. We respond, "Because they're beautiful." Although we don't eat dahlias (although the tubers are edible and were probably once used for sustinence), we love their addition to our garden. We sometimes don't get to spend as much time as we'd like planting and caring for our beloved dahlias, because it just so happens that dahlia season is the same time as tomato season. Lucky for us, we had a little help from our friend, Millie, or as we like to call her, the "Dahlia Queen."

Millie was gracious enough to donate some of her and her friends' prized bulbs for us to plant on our hillside outside our pasture fence. Once you get into the dahlia world it is truly fascinating, as there are thousands of varieties (just like the tomato). 

To plant a dahlia, we start by digging a shallow hole, about 4 inches deep. Then we drive a 5 foot, half-inch piece of rebar 2 feet into the ground and add a handful of Sustane (our all-purpose dry, organic fertilizer) into the hole, like so: 

 
Next we mix the Sustane into the soil at the bottom of the hole with our hands. Then we identify the sprout on the tuber and lay the tuber in the hole so the sprout is pointing up and placed right next to the rebar.

(Can you believe that this spud-looking thing is going to turn into the most fabulous flower you've ever laid your eyes on?!)

We add a little soil on top so the sprout is just peeking out of the soil, and water in. Heads up: if you are planting tubers that haven't sprouted yet, don't water them in until they sprout (to avoid rotting) unless you are in a very hot climate, and then you should water lightly.

And voila! With a little sun, a little water, and a little love, this is what becomes of that unassuming tuber:

 

 

Learn more about propagating dahlias and many other wonderful flowers and shrubs at our brand new Perennial Propagation Workshop.

 

 

Home Preserving 101

Summer is the perfect time to hone your preserving skills; the farmer's market and your garden are exploding with squash, green beans, tomatoes and more!  These summer vegetables are prime for preserving, and they offer a ray of sunshine in the dark, rainy months of winter.  

This class is designed for the beginner home preserver as well as those who want to brush up on their skills or are unsure about the safety of certain methods.  We will cover all of the basics from fairly simple tricks and techniques to the more intimidating and involved preserving processes. 

Among the subjects we will cover in class are:

        - Food Safety (your number one priority!)
        - Causes of food spoilage and how to avoid them
        - The right ingredients for preserving
        - Tools of the trade
        - Easy canning methods (jams, pickles and chutneys)
        - Preserving in oil
        - Preserving using simple fermentation
                *this will be a small section of this workshop.  If you are
                interested in this topic, please see our
                Home Preservation: Cultured Foods class.
        - Pressure canning (it's not as scary as you think!)

Click on the date to register:

August 28, 2011 (Sunday) 12:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.  $95

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS

 

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Please review our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class.

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If the workshop dates don't work for you, if the class is full, or if you'd like to request that another class be added, please email us at loveapplefarm@gmail.com to let us know and we'll do our best to accommodate you.

Love Apple Farm gift certificates can be used toward classes, seedlings and merchandise and are available for purchase here.

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farm by clicking here.

Workshop: Grow Your Own Perennials

Do you want to add more shrubs and flowers to your landscape without breaking the bank? Propagating your own perennials is a fun hobby that will reward you with a beautiful ornamental garden for years to come, and at a fraction of the cost!  Once you have the skills, it is easy to do, and less time-consuming than annual gardens.  This knowledge will open you up a whole world of possibilities.  See a pretty flower at your friend's house?  Ask her if you can take a cutting!  Have a perennial growing that you'd like to multiply?  You can do it!

This hands-on class will cover propagation by seed, cutting/cloning, and division. Each student will take home a flat of cuttings in soil, as well as a tray of sown perennial seeds.

 

ALL CLASSES WILL BE HELD RAIN OR SHINE!

ALL CLASSES REQUIRE ADVANCE REGISTRATION, EVEN FOR GIFT CERTIFICATE HOLDERS.

 

More dates coming soon!

 

 

Please read our cancellation policy in case you are not able to attend your scheduled class. 

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive information about new classes, planting tips, free give-aways, and more exclusive content. 

If the workshop dates don’t work for you, if the class is full, or if you’d like to request that another class be added, please email us and we’ll do our best to accommodate you!

Love Apple Farms gift certificates can be used towards classes, seedlings, and merchandise.  They are available for purchase here. 

Check out other classes at Love Apple Farms by clicking here.

Cold, Wet Spring Weather can cause Bacterial Speck on Tomatoes

Well, folks, it looks like we've started down the same road we did last year here in California, and that is two months in a row of unusually cold, wet weather to kick off our tomato growing.  California's summer of 2010 was the coldest in over 50 years.  April and May of 2011 has seen below average temperatures and above average rainfall.

The bad news for us is that tomatoes, as well as their sister plants, peppers and eggplants, are very fussy about their weather.  Hailing from Central and South America, their origins are in much warmer climes.  What does this mean for us poor gardeners trying to baby our tomatoes through inhospitable downpours?   

 

    
For one thing, Bacterial Speck!  It most often occurs in cold, wet weather and we see it a lot when people try to plant tomatoes in February and March.  But even if you planted when you should have this season (April and May), your plants were a lot colder and wetter than they like.  So they could indeed have this "infection."  Here is another photo of a plant-lab-diagnosed Bacterial Speck-infected tomato plant:

 

 

I stress "plant lab diagnosed" because lots of folks are eager to assume they know what pest or disease might be troubling them.  But it is almost impossible to diagnose tomato diseases without a microscope, a degree in plant pathology, and affected plant tissue.  Pests are easier in that you can often see green or red aphids (which can adversely affect tomatoes) and with a 20x hand lens, you can see mites as well.

 

What you can do if you think you've got Bacterial Speck is to spray with a copper-based spray.  Good nurseries should have a version of it in stock.  Closely follow the directions, as you do not want to over do it or have an inaccurate dilution rate.  The good news about Bacterial Speck is that infected plants tend to recover when the weather turns hot and dry.  I see the weather report is showing no rain and temps in the mid to high 70s this week.  Cross your fingers!   

 

If you don't treat Bacterial Speck, and the weather continues to be poor, the developing fruit can be affected as well.  Take a look at how awful this disease can be:

As a last resort, if your plants are looking particularly bad, please come to our sale and get free replacement plants.  We are happy to do that for you.  If you'd like us to answer a direct question about your tomatoes,  contact us at loveapplefarms@gmail.com.  Try to take a photo up close and far away of your plot. 

 

If you'd like more tips on tomato growing, consider coming to one of our Tomato Masters classes, where you'll also learn how to properly plant, fertilize, prune, mulch, seed save and more.

 

Photo credit:  Upper photo from University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture, second photo from California Tomato Grower's Association, and lower photo from University of Minnesota Agriculture Extension Department.