Home and Garden Digest, Sept. 3: DIY Solar Projects workshop at Love Apple Farms
Garden Co. marks 25 years with saleThe Garden Company Nursery and Gift Shop in Santa Cruz is celebrating its 25th year as an independent, family-owned business.
To celebrate the milestone and thank the community for its ongoing support, The Garden Company is holding a weeklong sale culminating in a weekend of speakers and activities at the nursery on Sept. 10-11. For more information, visit The Garden Company at 2218 Mission St, call 429-8424 or visit www.thegardenco.com.
DIY solar projects focus of workshop
Love Apple Farms in Santa Cruz is hosting its first Easy Solar Projects workshop, 2-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24.
This class provides the basic skills needed to get a small solar project up and running, from implementing solar-powered lighting to installing solar pumps for backyard ponds. The class will also discuss design fundamentals and where to buy solar components.
The two-part class includes a lecture on the basic concepts and vocabulary of solar engineering, and a demonstration of how to install solar-powered lights in an outdoor setting using Love Apple Farms’ chicken coops as the project.
The workshop will be led by Thomas Wittman, who has been using solar power in various forms since 1982. He also has designed, lectured and built systems for the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at UC Santa Cruz.
The workshop will be at Love Apple Farms, 2317
Vine Hill Road. The class is $55. Visit www.growbetterveggies.com.DIG event centers on homesteading
Eager to start homesteading in your urban or suburban lot? Wondering how to fit everything into the small space? A DIG Gardens workshop and book signing set for Sept. 10 with Urban Homesteading’ author Rachel Kaplan aims to teach the elements that make up a homestead and how to combine them in whatever space you have. The free session will offer basics in permaculture design, as well as some basic DIY projects.
Kaplan is a Bay Area-based homesteader, psychotherapist and educator. She lives on a small homestead called Tiny Town Farm with her family, their chickens, rabbits and bees.
The Urban Homestead Design Lab starts at 2 p.m. DIG Gardens is at 420 Water St. in Santa Cruz. Call 466-3444 or visit www.diggardensnursery.com.
Kaplan is also having a book signing at the Capitola Book Cafe at 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11. The cafe is at 1475 41st Ave. Call 462-4415 or visit capitolabookcafe.com.
Antiques classes coming in Los Gatos
Bob Bortfeld, owner of Vintages of Los Gatos, is teaching a class this fall on antiques and collectibles in conjunction with Los Gatos Recreation Department.
The six-week interactive classes will be organized around different antiques and vintage collections. Topics for the sessions are: special collections; silver objects; porcelain and pottery; vintage jewelry; and ephemera. Each session will discuss the history of the topic, styles and materials, plus the basics to be able to decipher the age and provenance of an antique. Each class will end with a chance for attendees to show their own antiques and collections.
The class will be 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays from Sept. 27 through Nov. 1. at the Los Gatos Adult Recreation Center. Call 408-207-4904 or visit www.lgsrecreation.org.
Wilder history day shows ranch life
Learn about life on the ranch by participating in a family living history day at Wilder Ranch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17.
Activities and demonstrations include draft horse wagon rides, branding, hand-made tortillas, ice cream, tasting baked goodies from a wood burning stove, roping skills and lawn games.
Wilder Ranch is two miles north of Santa Cruz on the coast side of Highway 1 at 1401 Coast Road. Call 426-0505.
Sept. 11 dinner aids farm apprentices
Support the training of new organic farmers and gardeners by attending the gourmet “farm-to-fork” field dinner at the UCSC Farm on Sunday, Sept. 11. The event supports scholarship funding for the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems apprenticeship program.
The dinner features a five-course meal created with organic ingredients from the UCSC Farm and Garden and other area farms and ranches.Tickets are $125 each. Call 459-3240 or visit www.casfs.ucsc.edu/farm-to-fork-benefit-dinner.
Singer marks 160 years, seeks stories
Singer Sewing Company is celebrating its 160th anniversary by inviting consumers to share their Singer stories online at www.mysingerstory.com and find out more about their own vintage machines.
Visitors to the website will be qualified to win an anniversary sewing machine to be released in January that mirrors machine designs of the past while incorporating the latest technology features.
The website includes a feature that allows people to learn where and when their old machines were manufactured by entering a serial number.
The patent of the first Singer sewing machine by Isaac Merritt Singer was issued on Aug. 12, 1851; the 160th celebration will continue through August 2012.
Love Apple lends Habitat a hand
Chef Stephen Beaumier of Quince in San Francisco will create a farm-to-table dinner Oct. 2 at Love Apple Farms in Santa Cruz as a benefit for Habitat for Humanity’s newest affordable housing development in Scotts Valley.
A farm tour led by Love Apple’s Cynthia Sandberg starts the event, followed by an al fresco dinner at communal tables set among the vegetable gardens.
Habitat for Humanity Santa Cruz County has built 34 homes over its 22-year existence.
Tickets are $200 per person. Visit www.habitatsc.org or call 831-469-4663 for details.
Filoli’s fall festival Oct. 1 in Woodside
Filoli welcomes the public to the historic site’s annual Autumn at Filoli Festival on Saturday, Oct. 1. Activities will include live music, docent-led nature hikes, fall art projects, puppet and magic shows, face painting, and outdoor games and activities for kids. The festival, 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., also includes fruit tasting of rare heirloom pears, apples and grapes from Filoli’s orchard.
Admission is $20 for current members of Filoli; $25 for nonmembers; $5 for children ages 5 to 17; and free for children 4 years and younger.
Visit www.filoli.org or call 650-364-8300, ext. 508. Filoli is at 86 Cañada Road.
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Only Ed 