Page 58 - Sonoma County Gazette - August 2017

Soil Health = Human Health
thru - Oct 15 ~ Korbel Garden Tour – Tues.- Sun-, 1p and 3p. Planted in the 1880s a magnificent array of colors, textures and aromas. Inquire before visiting. 707-824- 7676. Free, Korbel Winery, 13250 River Rd, 707-824-7676, korbel.com/winery/
thru - Oct 31 ~ Be part of the Rohnert Park Community Organic Garden! Annual fee ($25) you can have your own individual 15 by 15 feet organic garden plot. Contact George, rpcommunityorganicgarden@gmail. com
Aug 3,12, 17, 26 ~ Gardening for Biodiversity - Audubon Canyon Ranch Conservation Center - 9 - 11a. Help maintain native wildflowers in our small urban native garden. Free, registration required, 6:30- 9:30p, ACR Conservation Center, 226 Center St, Healdsburg, Dave Self, egret.org/, david.self@egret.org
Aug 5 ~ Kids Garden Workshop - Sebastopol Library -Free, 11- 12p, Sebastopol Regional Library, 7140 Bodega Ave, 707-823-7691, sonomacounty.libcal. com/event/3330413
Exploring the World One Garden at a Time - Yvonne Horn, travel writer shares slides from around the world, searches out gardens with a compelling tale to tell. Free, 2- 3p, Rincon Valley Library, 6959 Montecito Boulevard, Santa Rosa, 707-537-0162,
Aug 19 & 20 ~ You Can Dig It - Iris Class - hands-on demonstration on how to dig, groom and successfully plant irises! 10a & 2p. No rsvp’s needed. $2. Donation, Russian River Rose, 1685 Magnolia Drive, Healdsburg, 707-433-7455, russian-river- rose.com, info@russian-river-rose.com
Aug 19 ~ Larkfield Community Garden at Maddux Community Garden Work Day -Parking $7, 10- 3p, Maddux Ranch Regional Park, 4655 Lavell Road, Santa Rosa, 707-565-3356
Aug 26 ~ Community Seed Exchange & Class - Class: Wet Seed Processing: Tomatoes, Melons, Cucumbers, 9a-12:30p. Free, St Stephens Church, 500 Robinson Road Sebastopol, CA, Sebastopol, communityseedexchange. org/
Aug 26 ~ The Transitional Food Garden: Summer to Fall by Master Gardener Learn sustainable soil practices, succession planting and winter garden care. Bring your gardening hat and gloves. Free - No rsvp, 10:30a Harvest for the Hungry, 1717 Yulupa Ave, Santa Rosa, sonomamg.ucanr.edu/
SonomaCountyNurseries.com GUIDE for LOCALLY-OWNED Garden Businesses
Aug 26 ~ Master Gardeners Library Workshops - The Transition Food Garden - hands-on tips for making the transition from summer to fall vegetable gardening. Harvest for the Hungry, 1717 Yulupa Ave. Santa Rosa. 10:30 -12:30p
Aug 26 ~ Plant 4 Pollinators - Cheryl Veretto Rincon Valley Library, 6959 Montecito Blvd., Santa Rosa Free 10:30 -12:30p, Free - Please Register online, , sonomamg.ucanr. edu/?calendar=yes&g=43833
Aug 30 ~ Petaluma Seed Bank Veg- Curious Discussing vegan and vegetarian concepts and issues. Delicious nibbles and recipes Free. 6 – 9p Petaluma Seed Bank, 199 Petaluma Blvd. N, Petaluma, 707-773-1336, rareseeds. com/resources/seed-bank-events/, petalumaseedbank@gmail.com
Ongoing ~
Pick Your Own Garden Produce - Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue Garden Club. $20/month / $200/year, come weekly and pick a bag of the freshest
Weds. ~ Luther Burbank Gold Ridge Experiment Farm - Volunteer Work Day, 9 to noon. Luther Burbank Gold
This is the time of year when many of us gardeners, if we’re lucky, have counters laden with about 100 zucchinis and all kinds of other produce pumping out of the garden. It’s probably the healthiest food out there right? Well...maybe. New science is showing how important soil health is for human health and the long-term prevention of chronic illnesses. And many of us don’t have all the minerals we need for truly healthy soil, so we may be shorting our own health.
Dan Kittredge, founder of the Bionutrient Food Association (BFA) and the person who got my wheels turning on soil’s link to health writes on his website: “The saying “You are what you eat,” is from a technical standpoint quite true. Our bodies are made up of the things that we eat, and this is a major reason for the great interest in food and the burgeoning food movement.
Many people have correlated processed foods, adulterated foods, genetically modified foods, and foods that have carcinogens as being negative to their own personal wellbeing. Those who are attentive to these facts have begun to source better quality, more natural, organic, local and other types of foods that perhaps their great-grandparents ate with the understanding that there is an inherent value in simple, natural healthy food.
That’s why many of us garden too.
The only problem with this move towards healthier food is that even though one may be able to buy a bag of organic carrots, or a local fresh tomato, the actual nutrient levels in these crops vary dramatically with farmer, season,
and seed. Some organic carrots are sweet and flavorful and children will fight over them, and some organic carrots have a bitter, woody taste. It turns out that those flavor differences correlate very closely with nutritional differences.
Aug 12 ~ The Traveling Gardener -
PLANT SALES
Aug 11, 12, 13, 19, 20 ~ Plant Sale Occidental Arts & Ecology - Learn about water-resilient gardening. Call to Con rm - Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, 15290 Coleman Valley Rd, Occidental, 707-874- 1557, oaec.org/events/plant-sales/ fall-plant-sale/, oaec@oaec.org
Aug 19 ~ Willowside School Plant Sale Thousands of plants: $4 / 1 gallon container. 15 varieties of Specialty Japanese Maples. No veggies. Usually at the nursery on Tues from 8 -2 welcome volunteers or customers who cannot make it on Sat. Verify we are open before coming. 9-2p, Willowside School, 5299 Hall Rd (entrance on Willowside Rd), Corner of Willowside and Hall Rd, SR, 707-569- 4724, ogusd.org/willowside-nursery
Aug 11, 12, 13, 19, 20 ~ Plant Sale Occidental Arts & Ecology - Learn about water-resilient gardening. Call to Con rm - Occidental Arts & Ecology Center, 15290 Coleman Valley Rd, Occidental, 707-874- 1557, oaec.org/events/plant-sales/ fall-plant-sale/, oaec@oaec.org
thru - Aug 31 ~ Vallejo Home Plant Sale -succulents, deer-resistant, and drought-tolerant plants. Suggested donation of $1 - $5. Vallejo Home, Sonoma Parks, West Spain Street, Sonoma, sonomaparks.org/
Every Wed ~ Luther Burbank Gold Ridge Experiment Farm - Plant Sale9 to noon. Luther Burbank Gold Ridge Experiment Farm, 7777 Bodega Ave, Sebastopol, wschsgrf.org/luther-burbank- gold-ridge-experiment-farm
The term that we have coined to talk about the taste and nutrient level of a particular produce item is “Bionutrient.” As in, what is the Bionutrient level of that carrot? So those carrots that have a delicious flavor have a much higher level of bionutrients than that bitter carrot, and those bionutrients are exactly what your body needs as it builds cells, regulates hormones and manages all of its system functions.
As an example, the average human body contains something on the order of 4 trillion cells. Between 60-70% of those cells replace themselves every 6 months. That means that about 15 billion cells in your body are replacing themselves every day. Each of those cells has a nucleus in it that contains your DNA and each strand of DNA
requires at least 45 separate minerals to replicate itself properly.
The numbers quickly become more
than the average person wants to
spend too much time thinking about,
but the point is that the nutrients in
your food, which is what your body
uses to replicate DNA and build
itself, constantly have a key role to
play in your overall health. As your body begins to find itself without the key minerals it needs to go through its biological processes completely it begins to degenerate, and DNA begins to replicate incorrectly, which can lead to many degenerative age-related diseases.”
The great news for us as gardeners is that the very same nutrients that help our bodies function well also help our plants thrive. So we can boost our health and prevent plant disease, rot, and pest infection at the same time by boosting the necessary trace minerals in our soil. For instance, boron is essential for proper DNA replication in humans and in most soil microbes, so a little
boron could help your tomatoes form better symbiotic relationships with soil biology and help you prevent cancer. What exactly you need to add to your soil depends on soil tests and signs in your plants, but applications of rock dust,
sea minerals, and other trace minerals could be simple and effective health investments...and make your job as a gardener easier.
I could go on and on, but need to keep it to this page for now. I highly recommend you do some reading on the Bionutrient Food Association website at www.bionutrient.org. You can also join our local chapter, which is being run by Daily Actors and friends.
58 - www.sonomacountygazette.com - 8/17