TDN Newsletter: 2010 Holiday Review

December 17, 2010 Holiday Greetings, Fellow Gardeners! It's hard to believe this is our final dispatch of the year - yet, here we are, staring at the New Year, incredulous that 2010 is rapidly coming to a close... It's been an amazing year filled with wonderful people, great press, and participation in special events such as the Pasadena Showcase House, the Hydroponics Conventions, "HomeGrown Culver City", The Beverly Hills High School Garden, and of course, our beloved Farmers Markets and Planting Classes.

A definite 2010 highlight was achieving our CCOF Organic Certification in August! After researching, it seems we are the ONLY Certified Organic All-Edible Nursery in the Los Angeles area. It does require effort and discipline, but we're proud that our customers can trust what we sell. 1st ANNUAL NURSERY SALE & HOLIDAY FOOD DRIVE Another important event for us was the 1st Annual Nursery Sale & Holiday Food Drivewhich we held last Sunday. We had a great time! The turn-out and sales were very good, and we collected 150 lbs. of food donations and two hundred dollars for the L.A. Regional Food Bank, which has seen a 62% increase in demand since the beginning of the Great Recession. We look forward to building on these totals at future events! _________________________________________________________________________

Whew!! This year we offered more than 125 varieties of Organic Seasonal Vegetables, 30 or so Culinary Herbs, more than a dozen Edible Flowers, and 52 varieties of Heirloom Tomatoes! We also sold a ton of Blueberries, Strawberries, and Deciduous & Sub-Tropical Fruit Trees...and the recent addition of Semi-Dwarf Citrus and "Little Cado" Dwarf Avocado Trees proved to be a good idea, indeed!

LOOKING AHEAD: And while we're still in the midst of cool-season crops, our wheels are turning for Spring's New Offerings. There will be 16 new Heirloom Tomatoes replacing 16 which will bow out for the season. We'll have the big Tomato Page on our website completely updated in January. We already have one Tomato order from a customer in upstate New York! We can't even ship her until early May because of her climate, but she wanted to get her order in, just the same! Love the enthusiasm! For those of you whom we met at Showcase House, we're sorry to report that we are not planning to return in 2011. It was a very difficult decision, but it is such a tremendous commitment - one which we don't think we can manage again as we are so much busier now than a year ago. We do hope to participate in other Garden Tour events, though, and will keep you posted as things develop. We're also working on plans to hold an Heirloom Tomato Sale & Food Drive here at the Nursery in early Spring, once again benefiting the L.A. Food Bank. Watch for a date announcement soon! _________________________________________________________________________ HOLIDAY MARKET SCHEDULE: Saturday, Dec. 18th - La Canada Flintridge Farmers Market Sunday, Dec. 19th - Westlake Village Farmers Market Christmas Day - Market is closed...Merry Christmas! Sunday, Dec. 25th - TBD Saturday, NEW YEAR'S DAY - La Canada Flintridge Farmers Market Sunday, Jan. 2nd - Westlake Village Farmers Market Also, we'll be in town in case you need anything...just call 323-422-3835! _________________________________________________________________________ NEW PLANTING CLASS SCHEDULE POSTED! The January thru March Planting Class Schedule is now up on the website! We've reached the 1-year anniversary of teaching these Classes, and we still love them. Please join us for one soon...and don't forget, they are a great -and green- way to celebrate a Birthday, Bridal or other special event party! Feel free to contact us with your ideas. That's it for now - except to sincerely wish you all a lovely Holiday Season and a Happy, Healthy New Year...filled with love, joy, and great organic harvests! We thank you from our hearts for all the support, fun, and learning you've brought our way this year, and look forward to even more of the same in 2011!! See you soon, Jo Anne, Alex and the "Two Dogs", Jake & Lalo Trigo

TDN Newsletter: October 29th, 2010

October 29th, 2010 *IMPORTANT MARKET SCHEDULE CHANGES* Dear Friends: First off, news about our Market Schedule: We are sorry to tell you that we will no longer be in the Larchmont Village Farmers Market. We will instead be in the Market in Westlake Village on Sundays. We've tried for more than a year to obtain 2 tent spaces in Larchmont, but it has never been available, so our set up is always crowded and not very user-friendly. For those of you who have bought from us at Larchmont, don't worry: we live very near by, and will be able to see you by appointment here at the Home Nursery. Many of you have already been here before for Classes or to pick up something we may have run out of at the Market. We're sad about the move, but it's time. We will continue in our Saturday Farmers Market in La Canada Flintridge as usual. We are planning a "pre-sale" of Heirloom Tomatoes in mid-March, so please watch the Newsletters for information about that. We've posted photos from the new Beverly Hills High School Garden (along with an article in the Beverly Hills Weekly paper) and photos from the HomeGrown Culver City (which was a HUGE success) event on our Facebook page...you can see them here: Beverly Hills High School Garden Facebook Photo Album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=253776&id=210983548488&ref=mf HomeGrown Culver City Facebook Photo Album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=254817&id=210983548488&l=ae7357b507 That's it for now. Have a fun Halloween, and we'll see you soon! Jo Anne & Alex P.S. We still have a few spots open for Monday's EarthBox Class! Join the fun!

TDN Newsletter: October 22nd, 2010

October 22, 2010 Dear Gardening Friends,

We have been in a whirlwind here at Two Dog... first and foremost, we wanted to let you know that our weekend schedule has changed (for just this one weekend)... ON SATURDAY, we will participate in the first annual Home Grown Culver City event from 9am until 5pm. It's a great family-friendly opportunity to learn about gardening, worm composting, backyard chickens, bee-keeping, canning & preserving and more! The best part is that proceeds go to Beyond Shelter who, since 1988, has been helping homeless families with children get into permanent housing and employment. Join us if you can; workshops will be held throughout the day, and the event is FREE! ON SUNDAY, the Larchmont Farmers Market is canceled due to the annual Larchmont Village Street Festival. We will therefore participate in the Westlake Village Farmers Market where we'll be demonstrating proper planting of the EarthBox. If you're out that way, please stop by! CLICK HERE FOR DIRECTIONS

The Los Angeles Times is doing a story about Two Dog Organic Nursery!! Between their reporter and their incredibly hard-working photographer, they spent more than 4 hours here this week! The article will appear in the Home Section of the paper, as well as on their website! Needless to say, we're very excited (and grateful!) There will probably even be photos of Jake & Lalo!! The piece should appear NEXT WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 27th. Yay!!!!!!

Beverly Hills High School just awarded Two Dog a large order to kick off their brand new school garden! Many thanks to our Larchmont customer and English Teacher, Julie Goler, who paired us up with their charismatic Chef, Darrel A. Smith, whose Culinary Arts students will manage the garden. We'll deliver the 6 flats of veggie and herb plants next Monday and provide a quick planting lesson...photos to follow!

On Oct. 13th, we were happy to host the lovely ladies from the Little Gardening Club of Pasadena for a Nursery Tour. Toni McCreary met us at the Showcase House and booked the date for Fall. We had a great time, and some of them signed up for an EarthBox Planting Class on Nov. 1st. If you have a group that you think would enjoy a Nursery outing, please contact Jo Anne at 323-422-3835.

Lastly, the Hydroponics Convention, GROW 2010, turned out great! Our plants were a hit, and we were invited to also do plants for the Maximum Yield Hydroponics Show in Long Beach 2 weeks later! We're hoping to supply display plants for many more vendors in next year's shows. Here are a few photos our our peppers and lettuces in the big hydroponic systems. Amazing technology!

The Planting Class Schedule is up to date...come join us, and expand your gardening horizons! Fall Veggies are going strong so don't delay on that cool-season garden. We'll miss you this weekend, but we'll see you soon!

Happy Gardening! Jo Anne & Alex 323-422-3835

TDN Newsletter: November 19th, 2010

NOVEMBER 19th, 2010 Two Dog Organic Nursery Newsletter Greetings Gardening Friends! Fall is really here now, and things are hoppin' at the Nursery! Many of you noticed that our article came out in the L.A. Times newspaper last Saturday. It was a slightly edited version, but between that and the online version, it has generated more than 865 "hits" to our website since it first appeared! Thank you, L.A. Times!!! CLICK HERE TO READ THE L.A. TIMES ARTICLE _________________________________________________________________________

PLANTING CLASSES! Our Classes have been filling up and are oh, so much fun...just 3 more before New Years! Last Monday, we had a full house for the Red, White & Blue Potato Class. We'll be selling what we have left of our Certified Organic "Seed" Potatoes (Colorado Red, Yellow Finn and Blue Viking) and "Seed" Garlic (CA Early White & Music) at the Markets this weekend...get there early (yes, rain or shine), as they're selling fast! CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS FROM THE NOVEMBER 2nd PLANTING CLASS _________________________________________________________________________ MEETING ROSALIND CREASY Jo Anne got to meet the foremost expert on Edible Landscaping, Rosalind Creasy, at last weekend's Growing Home event at the Huntington Gardens (Two Dog donated a nice herb & edible flower "garden" for their raffle). She graciously signed a copy of her brand new book, Edible Landscaping, just released, which we are selling at the Markets. Two nights before the event, Jo Anne emailed her just to introduce the Nursery and to say what fans we are, and to her astonishment, Rosalind "Ros" wrote back! She opened with "Hooray for what you do!"...needless to say, we were very excited!! CLICK HERE TO READ THE L.A. TIMES BOOK REVIEW OF EDIBLE LANDSCAPING We also just received copies of Rosalind Creasy's fantastic children's gardening book, Purple Potatoes, Orange Tomatoes- a perfect Holiday Gift for the littlest gardeners in your life! And don't forget the other children's classic, Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots by Sharon Lovejoy...the illustrations are utterly charming! _________________________________________________________________________ SPEAKING OF GREAT HOLIDAY GIFT ITEMS... We are offering our Herb & Edible Flower "gardens" (with optional raffia bow & gift card); you can select your plants, or as one La Canada Mom-to-be did, just let us select what works beautifully together. For all the cooks and gardeners on your list, it's a great idea...and Certified Organic as well. Please see us at the Markets or call for more details: 323-422-3835. _________________________________________________________________________

We just received a shipment of 78 EarthBoxes...now completely OMRI-listed! Not even the "big box" stores have them. And as a bonus, they now include a RED mulch cover -along with the customary 2 black ones- which studies conclude increase yields on strawberries and tomatoes by 12-20%. Last year, many of you purchased EarthBoxes as Holiday Gifts, as well as Gift Certificates for EarthBox Classes...what a fantastic idea! Watch for the Jan-March Planting Schedule on the website coming in December. We're now carrying the Smart Pots in 2 sizes: 10-gallon and 20-gallon...they are selling like hotcakes! Our first round of beets (which we've been bringing to the Market to show off) is about ready to harvest in the 10-gallon, and our potatoes and garlic are growing happily in the 20's. If you need to ship a gift, these are perfect! They fold down and don't weigh much. And they're reusable for years to come! Black Gold just came out with a new product which we nearly sold out of in the first week: 1 cubic foot bags of OMRI-listed Garden Compost. It has been flying out! So rich, yummy - and convenient! We'll have it at the Markets this weekend, and we've just ordered a full pallet as back up! _________________________________________________________________________

This is a photo of the first Chioggia Beet and Ya Ya Carrot we harvested the other day!! The carrots were a little "baby" still, but so good! Here's a favorite Recipe of ours for "Roasted Fall Vegetables"...it's very exciting that this year, nearly everything called for here will come from our own garden! Yay!! Try this soon; it's scrumptious and makes a gorgeous presentation! BHHS CULINARY ARTS RECEPTION We attended the Annual Culinary Arts Reception at Beverly Hills High School earlier this week and had a chance to see "our babies" growing beautifully in their new raised bed gardens! We were proud! And the students in Chef Darrell "DAS" Smith's class put on a gastronomic extravaganza which could rival any great restaurant in L.A. Fantastic job, guys! Here's the High School Librarian's assessment of the food and the garden: "The food was simply fantastic. I'm a picky eater, and I loved everything. The students were professional, hard-working, proud, and a pleasure to dine with!...Julie, it was wonderful meeting your planting contractor! I'm amazed how fast the plants have grown - signs that they were planted with love and care." -Karen B. _________________________________________________________________________ SPEAKING OF FOOD... Thanksgiving is nearly upon us. Even though these are very difficult times for many, there are always things to be so grateful for... for us, one of them, of course, is your patronage! Here are some lovely thoughts on the subject, courtesy of Roots of Change, a great organization dedicated to food security and justice: CLICK HERE TO READ THE ROOTS OF CHANGE ARTICLE ON THANKSGIVING _________________________________________________________________________ HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO "HORTICULTURIST OF THE YEAR", YVONNE SAVIO! And last but certainly not least, Happy Birthday to Yvonne Savio, fearless leader of the U.C. Master Gardeners Program, "Horticulturist of the Year", and the woman whom we call the "Center of the Gardening Universe in Southern California"! She has been a great source of information and support, and we could never say enough kind things about her and her work. Here's a nice story about Yvonne in a recent issue of the Pasadena Star: CLICK HERE TO READ THE PASADENA STAR ARTICLE ON YVONNE _________________________________________________________________________ Gotta get outside and load the truck now...see you at the Markets, Happy Thanksgiving, and thank you for supporting Two Dog!! Jo Anne & Alex