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Fall farm activities Saturday at Soil Born


Soil Born Farms' American River Ranch is kid-friendly. Families can spend Saturday at the Farm this weekend. (Photo:
Kathy Morrison)

Rancho Cordova site hosts day of family fun

The fall weather's still lovely, perfect for a family outing this weekend. And Sacramento-area residents won't have to go far to find a good spot.

Soil Born Farms, the urban agriculture and education project, opens its American River Ranch in Rancho Cordova this Saturday, Nov. 16, for Saturday at the Farm.

The events run 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and will feature music by Doug Newton, plus a variety of free kids activities: creating seed mosaics in the Activity Tent, building fairy and gnome homes in the Enchanted Garden, and making music on the instrument fence in Li'l Sproutville. The site offers plenty of room for kids to play and explore, too.

The Soil Born Culinary Arts team will hold a fundraiser, offering Indian red lentil soup and kale-roasted squash salad served with garlic naan. Their creations will be available at the Farmhouse Kitchen window starting at 10 a.m. until sold out.

Other foods and beverage will be available at Phoebe's Tea & Snack Bar, including baked goods from Old Soul Co. and various pies from Sacramento's Real Pie Company.

Gardeners can find organic seeds, seasonal veggie and flower starts, herbs, fruit trees and handcrafted garden boxes at the Greenhouse Garden Shop. The Farmstand also will be open, with a large selection of farm produce, including herbs, many kinds of winter squash, Pink Lady apples, pomegranates and persimmons. And anyone working through their holiday gift list can browse the garden tools and other items at Milly's Mercantile.

If you like to start your day off with a brisk walk, on Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m. Soil Born also offers a bird walk with naturalist Cliff Hawley. There's still time to sign up on their
website ; cost for the bird walk is $10.

American River Ranch is at 2140 Chase Drive in Rancho Cordova. Biking or walking to the ranch is encouraged. There is parking nearby, but be prepared to walk in; comfortable shoes are a must.

-- Kathy Morrison



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Find our summer recipes here!

Garden checklist for week of July 19

Remember to water early and deeply; your garden depends on you.

* It’s not too late to add a splash of color. Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.

* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, winter squash and sunflowers.

* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before 8 a.m. to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture.

* Water, then fertilize vegetables and blooming annuals, perennials and shrubs to give them a boost.

*Fertilizing flowering plants every other week will extend their bloom. Give vegetable plants bone meal or other fertilizers high in phosphate to stimulate more blooms and fruiting.

* Don’t let tomatoes wilt or dry out completely. Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week. Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more. Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather. Keep an eye on zucchini.

* If your melons and squash aren’t setting fruit, give the bees a hand. With a small, soft paintbrush, gather some pollen from male flowers, then brush it inside the female flowers, which have a tiny swelling at the base of their petals. (That's the embryo melon or squash.) Within days, that little swelling should start growing.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushy plants and more flowers in September.

* Remove spent flowers from roses, daylilies and other bloomers as they finish flowering.

* Pinch off blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves. New leaves have the best flavor.

* Cut back lavender after flowering to promote a second bloom.

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Taste Winter! E-cookbook

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Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series

Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening

WINTER

Is edible gardening possible indoors?

Hints for choosing tomato seeds

Starting in seed starting

Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees

When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

How to squeeze more food into less space

Potatoes from the garden

Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Win the weed war by tackling them in winter

Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables

Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

Ways to win the fight against weeds

FALL

Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden

Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it

Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come

Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying

Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?

Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden

Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden

Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers

Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air 

Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets

Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty

Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?

Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest 

SUMMER

Sept. 16: Time to shut it down? 

Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch

Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning

Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?

Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you

Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water

Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers

July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?

July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty

July 15: Does this plant need water?

July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

July 1: How to grow summer salad greens

June 24:  Weird stuff that's perfectly normal

SPRING

June 17: Help pollinators help your garden

June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests

June 3: Make your own compost

May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?

May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth