Muddling Along
February feels muddy and muddling. Changes here on the homestead and the death of a beloved dog have left us discombobulated and not sure what's heads or tails. I think Mercury is in retrograde or some such silliness as well, so things are falling, spilling and banging about. Nevertheless, the rain is wonderful, trees and roses are getting pruned, oxalis is getting pulled, scheduling is coming along and the winter session is slowly rolling forward as the days lengthen bit by bit and spring flower buds blush color.

Bees & Cheese
Our beekeeping mentorships are getting close to underway in the East Bay and the Anderson Valley/North Bay. We have a 1-2 spots left in each location, If you have been thinking about participating, I encourage you to jump now as I cannot guarantee I will be in California another full season. A 10- or 16- month internship is offered for the ridiculously low price of $50-75 per month. Read more here.

As well as the mentorship we are offering a couple classes/events in the Boonville/Anderson Valley area, so if you know folks there or want to make the trek, mark your calendars!

Sunday April 3 Afternoon.
Bees & Cheese: Talk, Tour & Tasting at Groundswell Institute with Ruby Blume & Jim Montgomery.
We'll be learning about honeybees, native pollinators and the issues facing them, tasting honey, mead and homemade goat cheese and taking a tour of the animal systems at the newly formed Groundswell Institute. This is 90% confirmed we'll follow up with details next newsletter.

Saturday April 10 All Day
BeeRepair Intro to Natural Beekeeping location TBA in Boonville.
A full intro to treatment free beekeeping with alternative hive systems. We'll look inside a functional hive and do a spring package installation. These courses will open for registration with the rest of the classes later this month.

Garden Stuff: Weeds & Seeds
Has anyone noticed the massive amount of weeds coming up this Winter? Two years of drought has built up a quite a seed bank. I am finding myself weeding the same spots again and again. At the same time flowers are sprouting up in the same massive quantities, selective weeding of these late Winter volunteers will make a luscious Spring flower show.

Now is the time to drag out your seeds and get them organized. Look for gaps and order new. Anything older than 5 years I toss into a bag to use for seed scattering and guerilla gardening. Towards the middle or end of the month I will start seeding the spring garden in flats or six packs. I usually put these on heat mats outdoors to take advantage of the season's sunlight or with a full spectrum light indoors (a windowsill doesn't work and seedlings will be leggy). Once seeds sprout and get their second set of leaves I transplant into 4" pots and fertilize so the small plants gain strength and vigor before going out out in the wide world of the garden with its spring snails and slugs. Here are a few of my favorite seed sources:

Seed Libraries offer free or shared seeds in public locations. Two local one are Bay Area Seed Exchange (BASIL) housed at the Ecology Center and Richmond Grows.
Seed Savers Exchange. Share seeds with a worldwide network
Territorial. Just a great selection of heirlooms
Peaceful Valley Farm & Garden Supply. Good selection in Grass Valley CA. Includes cover crops and native grasses
Potato Garden Widest Selection of Seed Potatoes
Rare Seeds Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, super glossy catalog of pretty seeds
Horizon Herbs Specialty catalog for medicinal herb seeds, a wealth of information
Seeds From Italy Italian varieties and very generous amounts of seed
Dixondale Farms The onion folks--great deals and a wealth of information

Happy Trails
It is a time of transition and change here as we are saying good-bye to quite a number of our favored instructors. Happy trails to Wakana Kawamura (Miso Making), Grant Marcoux and his wife are on the way to their new spot in Idaho (Knife Sharpening & Tool Care), Jim Montgomery (Urban Goats, Raising Rabbits and Chicken Butchering) has relocated to 190 Acres near Boonville, Giancarlo Muscardini (Food Forests) is en route to Bellingham Washington. Molly Bolt, our fruit tree specialist has moved with her partner to New Mexico, where he has a nursing position. We don't have a pruning class this season but you can hire Jordan Reed (see below) for private lessons.

Farm Tour Dates
We are still looking for locations for each of these tours, but the dates are more or less set.
May 22 Vallejo Benicia: We have several very solid sites and are glad to hear of others to check out
June 11 Berkeley: We have 4-5 solid sites and are looking for 2-3 more
June 12 Community Farming Projects: We have gotten a few responses, but would love to hear about more community farming projects.

Spring Calendar Live Later This Month
We'll be sending out a an extra email this month to let you know the new classes are online and available for registration! This should be sometime around February 17 or 18.