Happy 2016 Everyone!
The Monday after New Years is usually back to business as usual—the first working day of the New Year. So here we are with our January newsletter, a few days after the first but right on target to start the new fiscal year. We hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday season full of family, friends, good food and longs nights of deep rest. We also hope that your new years resolutions include growing or raising a portion of your own food and learning something new! Here at IUH we are busy wrapping up last year and starting to think our new season of classes and farm tours. We are looking forward to the predicted rains and the potential for a lush spring garden and renewal of our water table.

2015 pepper harvest

Winter Session
Join us for our winter session of seasonally appropriate gardening topics (Fruit Grafting, Bare Root Selection & Installation, Winter Gardening Essentials, Soil Science for Urban Gardeners) and old favorites (Fermentation Intensive, Herbal Medicine Demystified, Cheesemaking Intensive and Mosaic Making Intensive). As always every class is offered sliding scale. Follow the instructions on our registration page to enroll. We’ll announce our Spring session on February 15 for classes running April 1 through the end of June.

Update on Institute North
Sadly we have lost our North Bay situation and thus the expansion of education and curriculum to the North Bay is on hold at the moment. We are sad about this but hoping to regroup and intensify our efforts to offer a more rural curriculum before too long.

end of the garden and hoop house in our North Bay location

Winter Gardening Tip: Chill hours
Late January is the time when you will start to see “bare root” fruit trees in the nurseries appropriately timed for their planting. For best fruit production is is important to select varieties that will thrive in our mild coastal climate. All temperate zone (non-tropical) fruit needs a resting period of cold to flower and fruit well. This resting period is referred to as "chill-hours." How chill hours are calculated is complex, but generally speaking, they are hours of cold below 45 degrees. The Bay Area is neither cold enough in the winter nor hot enough in the summer for many varieties of peaches, nectarines, cherries and apples (those crisp fall apples you east-coasters love, for example, are impossible to grow here). So when you select fruit trees make sure to check out the chill hours listed on the tag. For the East Bay west of the hills (Richmond, El Cerrito, Berkeley, Oakland) and San Francisco you want fruit that needs 500 chill hours hours or less--the lower the better. There are many varieties of apples, pears and plums that fall into that category as well as a few apricots, cherries and pluots. All figs, most persimmons, pineapple guavas and kiwis will also do well. In the berry category raspberries, strawberries and blackberries will thrive. Blueberries must be the low-chill variety. In Marin County and over the coastal range in Orinda, Walnut Creek and Moraga you may succeed with some varieties that need more summer heat.
Check out the East Bay Horts Lists of Appropriate Fruit Tree Varieties and Berries and Other Small Fruits.
Bay Laurel Nursery also has a nice list of low chill fruit varieties.

Accepting Applications
Have a homesteading passion you’s like to share with the public? Deadline to submit proposals for 2016 classes has been extended to January 15th! Please have a look at Teaching at IUH for details on how to make your class proposal.
Accepting Application for annual 9 month internship program for 2016. This is a great way to support the work of IUH, learn non-profit administration skills and attend many classes. Deadline to apply is February 15. See Volunteering at IUH.
Proposals & Leads for 2016 Urban Farm Tours. We would like to hear about cool home scale farms and homesteads in Berkeley, Vallejo & Benecia, as well as community type farms in Berkeley and Oakland. Please include full name & contact info, a description of the site and features and photos if possible. Use our contact form to inquire.

winter frost decorates a rudbeckia

this drama queen poppy made a splash in 2015