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Soil Born hosts Halloween on the Farm

All sorts of fall family fun at this unique seasonal celebration

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED OCT 26, 2022

The Soil Born Farmstand will be open Saturday during the Halloween at the Farm celebration. Kathy Morrison

It’s Halloween Saturday down on the Farm! And this local celebration comes with all sorts of nods to nature – including real bats and snakes.

On Saturday, Oct. 29, Soil Born Farms’ American River Ranch – Sacramento’s oldest continuously working farm – will host Halloween and fall nature fun for all ages. Hours are 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Admission is $5 per person, payable at the ranch’s turquoise “Info Tent.”

Designed for youth ages 4 to 14, “Halloween on the Farm” packs a lot of fun into one morning.

“Show off your Halloween costumes and explore the Spooktacular Youth Garden for all kinds of fun including animal explorations and tracking, scavenger hunts and games,” say the organizers. “Effie Yeaw Nature Center, Sacramento Splash and Save the Snakes will have creatures of all sizes and shapes for your family to see. Create natural Halloween decor for your home. Make acorn owls, autumn leaf butterflies and corn husk dolls. Decorate pumpkins for an additional fee. It is sure to be a treat!”

Other highlights include the Bat Hollow Maze (a Soil Born tradition for all ages), solar telescopes and live music with the Millington Strings.

At 10 a.m., naturalist Cliff Hawley will present a free talk on “Bats, Owls, Crows and Hawks” at the Sacred Circle.

Shawn Harrison, Soil Born’s co-director will lead a “Regenerative Agriculture Farm Tour” at 9 and 11 a.m., discussing how the America River Ranch grows crops while revitalizing the land. It’s also a great opportunity to see this unique Sacramento gem.

For early birds, take a guided bird-watching walk along the American River and around the ranch with Hawley. Fee is $15 with proceeds supporting the American River Ranch Restoration and Development Fund. Register here: https://soilborn.org/events/bird-walk-102922/

As always on Saturdays, Soil Born’s farmstand will be open with fresh locally grown produce. Orders may be placed in advance online (though 9 a.m. Thursday) with scheduled pick-up on Saturday morning.

During the Halloween celebration, Phoebe’s Tea and Snack Bar will offer drinks and treats. A “Farmhouse Kitchen Pop-Up Brunch” will start serving frittatas, pancakes and black bean chili at 9 a.m.

This Saturday also is the last day to buy plants from Soil Born’s Greenhouse Garden Shop and Fruit Tree Nursery (open 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.). Soil Born is known for its great selection of fruit trees that have proved to do well in Sacramento.

Don’t forget to visit the native plant demonstration gardens, created by the Sacramento Valley chapter of the California Native Plant Society.

Soil Born’s American River Ranch is located at 2140 Chase Drive, Rancho Cordova.

For details and directions: www.soilborn.org.

-- Debbie Arrington

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

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