More details on the Sept 8th field trip

From Bruce Blavin, our old Chair: “Our chapter is extraordinarily lucky to be getting  this opportunity to tour a truly inspirational home garden.  The owner has been growing fruit for more then 30 years and has literally hundreds of successful grafts.  He continues to graft and cultivate some of the rarest varieties of fruit trees from around the world.  The citrus collection is truly amazing and there is also a wide variety of Cherimoya, and even a rollinia tree.  He has researched irrigation systems and has also planted a unique ground cover, which is drought tolerant.

His gardening passions extend beyond rare fruit trees and he has put together a world-class collection of Cycads, which he recently added to from a number of private collectors.  There are also chickens, peacocks and other fowl on his property.  The home is in a unique micro climate not too far from the beach and therefore spared the extreme heat and/or frost problems some of us occasionally face.  If you are fortunate enough to make the cut off, be sure to bring a pad and paper.  Our host is extremely knowledgeable and excellent at answering complicated questions.  I never left him  without having learned something new.”

An update on our upcoming plant raffle!

So far Charles Portney has 75 plants picked out for the raffle: Sugarcane, blackberry, babaco, paprika, pepino, nopales, loquat, cape gooseberry… and he is not yet done. There will also be a hefty 5-gallon plant started from Stavros Olympios’ Greek fig tree plus I’m sure contributions from other members. Do not miss this!

Persimmon Tasting

Join the South Coast Research and Extension Center for the upcoming persimmon tasting and plant clearance sale at the UC ANR South Coast REC on Thursday, November 9th, 2017 at 10:30 am.  This is not a CRFG-hosted event but we have graciously been invited.
For more information about the tasting and the special VIP event (pre-registration required), go to http://screc.ucanr.edu/?calitem=376819&g=68933
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Tammy Majcherek
Outreach and Research Coordinator
7601 Irvine Blvd.
Irvine, CA  92618
Phone: (949) 653-1824
Fax: (949) 653-1800

November 11th Field Trip to Cottonwood Urban Farm @ 10 am

From Cottonwood Urban Farm’s website:  “In the winter of 2012, educator and LA native Elliott Kuhn began converting a dusty, vacant plot in Panorama City into a highly productive urban farm. Nestled in the basin of the Tujunga Wash, Cottonwood Urban Farm (CUF) uses creative growing techniques (season extension, intercropping, succession planting) to cultivate a variety of vegetables, fruits and herbs without the use of any large scale commercial farming equipment.

CUF is currently in a transformational phase of becoming a boutique agricultural enterprise that provides a reliable source of locally grown produce to serve the needs of restaurants, chefs and community members concerned with sustainability. With a deep connection to community, education, and ecology, CUF places social responsibility first and has an ongoing contract with a local substance abuse program for youth. The program provides participants with a 10-week ecology course and horticulture therapy through work at the farm.”

The LA Chapter visited the farm last month and came back with glowing reports.  This is the WLA Chapter’s turn.

Read more about the farm here.  Like all field trips, this is for members only please.  No children or dogs.

Field Trip September 9th @ 10 a.m.

Where: Field Trips are for members only.  Please check your newsletter or contact us for the address.

This is the first of our workshop/field trips.  Various members (and perhaps some outside experts) will share their mostly gentle ways of handling invasions.  If you have found a solution that you want to share, definitely let us know and we will slot you in ( no bazookas, please)!

Also, please do not bring samples of your critters to the meeting.  We do NOT want to infest our gracious hosts’ yard.  If you have a problem you want help with, take a clear photo and send to https://www.whatsthatbug.com/ask-whats-that-bug/.  Once you have an ID we can brainstorm at the meeting.

Please DO bring samples of whatever you have ripening right now for our fruit calendar. Also snacks to share and plants to sell would be nice.

As you may have noticed at our last meeting, we have decided to follow the LA Chapter’s lead and substitute the Silent Auction format for Plant Raffles. The selling and then drawing of tickets just became too cumbersome, especially at the Culver City location where we had to be out of the room precisely at noon.  Member Jane Coogan Beer will be supplying us with a handy sign-up sheet for each item.  The minimum starting price will be on it.   If you have signed up for a plant, please listen for the announcements at 11:50 (Last Call) and 11:55 (Auction Closed)  so you can claim your prize if you have won.  If the top bidder doesn’t respond to the Closing Announcement, the item will go to the next highest bidder.

 

 

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