Alicia Funk and Karin Kaufman’s book Living Wild, has recently been released with an expanded selection of native plants.  The eco-friendly book showcases gardening, cooking and medicinial uses for native plants throughout the Sierra Nevadas and California.  I asked the Nevada City authors for some of their favorite local plants.

Alicia wrote that her favorite wild plants in Nevada County are, ”Since I love all of our native landscape, it is hard to pick favorites. But these are a few wild plants that I use regularly as part of trying to live a local, habitat-friendly lifestyle.

California Bay: Wonderful as a spice for winter soups and stews, delicious ice cream made by Treats in Nevada City and as a natural, household cleaner. Make your own cleaner by filling a mason jar with fresh or dried bay leaves and then steep overnight. … Read More »

Fall planting time, for some inspiration, information and lots of choices I stopped by Peaceful Valley Farm and Garden Supply in Grass Valley.  Carolyn Singer recently taught a workshop on Fall Planting, if you missed her class click here for the workshop schedule.  But now is the time to start thinking about fall bulbs, fall seeds and veggie starters and garlic!  Peaceful Valley has donated 1lb of organic garlic to help you get into the fall planting spirit.  Check out this great video all about growing garlic, it’s time to get organized.  Please post a comment on this blog post about your favorite fall plant/veggie/flower and I’ll draw the winner for the garlic on Thursday, October 5th.  Prize can be shipped, so locals and non-locals welcome to comment.

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This year’s Soroptimist International Garden Tour was a amazing collection of special outdoor spaces through out Nevada County.  The gardens ranged from natural no watering flower beds to beautifully manicured lawns and bushes that have matured over the past 50 years.  Most featured waterfalls, ponds, or small pools.  Some had spectacular yard art and others let the brilliant rhododendrons do the talking.  What a treat to be able to see so many different areas of the county and how special each one was.  Hat’s off to the organizers of the Soroptimist International Garden Tour for picking such unique places to visit and a special thanks to the homeowners who participated and did so much work for all of us to see.

And the winner of the fabulous gardening goodies from Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply goes to Veronica Flores. … Read More »

Want to learn how to make cheese?  Prune trees?  Buy a wine making kit?  Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply in Grass Valley offers organic seeds, supplies, classes and more.  Check out their comprehensive website groworganic.com for tutorials and ideas for any number of gardening projects.  Peaceful Valley has been in business since 1976 and is committed to helping Nevada County with their sustainable agriculture, check out their Freshman Farmer blog for an inside look farms, including local farms Four Frog Farm and Willow Springs Farm.

© 2012 InnSide Nevada City