Genoa bound

If I was allowed to pick only one thing that was the absolute best thing about the Flower Tree it would have to be the women that I am surrounded with on a daily basis. I am one of the lucky ones, I get up each and every day and look forward to where I will be that day. But since we opened the Red Zinnia, here is how my day starts. I lay in bed looking out the window at the trees and say to myself "ok, today is .........and I am at ......(insert Flower Tree or Red Zinnia here) and I get to play with"................but with most of us now being split between the two stores, it also means that you don't get to "play" with everyone very often.

So this year, we decided to do something a little different to do our planning session for the upcoming Spring season at both stores. Thankfully we have a few months under our belt now at Red Zinnia, and things are going wonderful. We have a handle on the ordering, the wine room is running as smooth as a great Cabernet Franc, and we are blessed to have wonderful people coming in every day. And the reason this is SO GREAT is that spring is coming, and the Flower Tree will soon be consuming us... in a great way of course, but consuming none the less. Back to the planning session. I did some research into taking all of us (9) to the trade show in San Francisco, but costs what they are, I started looking at some alternatives and that is when I remembered an absolutely lovely Bed & Breakfast that I had stayed at in Genoa a few years ago. I reached the owner of this beautiful home, The Wild Rose Inn http://www.wildrose-inn.com/ , and thankfully for us she had the dates available that we needed. We rented the entire house for three days and we were joined by my buddy Melissa from Every Bloomin' Thing in Susanville, and her mom Linda.

I'll let the pictures tell the rest of the story..........

Who would not stop at this sign????..........as you can tell, it was a windy day, but the truck makes great u-turns, and our caravan arrived at our first stop of the day. A little junk/thrift/antique store in the middle of absolutely nowhere, outside Dayton, Nv. We picked up a chrome wine rack for RedZin, and a couple of glasses for our wine later that night. On a trip many years ago we started the habit of looking for weird/unusual/funny/classic glasses to have while on our trip.

The front of a great Basque sheephearders wagon outside Carson City

One of our "finds" of the day. Michelle collects these wonderful old framed poems. They are usually from the 1920's, and we always feel lucky when we find one about freindship, or trees! We gave it to her as a little surprise on our last day in Genoa.

Melissa finds the 1st!! perfect display table for an area she is creating in her store. (I think she headed home with at least 3)

My notes from the Tahoe Ridge Wine Tasting Room. Located in Genoa, we had a fabulouse time with the owner Kathy, and she has agreed to come out for an event at Red Zinnia in April.

The gang at the tasting room.

Statue of Snowshoe Thompson, local hero of Genoa

Moon on the way back to Wild Rose that evening after the tasting. Absolutely breathtaking.

Part 2, tomorrow. On to Gardnerville/Minden and return.

Treat's for your Sweetie

write the love of your life a note and tuck it inside a beautiful journal.......

then give them a book to help them with retirement........

and a bottle of bubbly to go with it

or perhaps the gardener in your life doesn't have this great book yet

and when he/she is finished gardening, how about some fabulous bath salts to soak away the aches from racking.....
or add some humor to the bath.......

maybe some light tunes to play......

or a gentle reminder to stop and enjoy the little things in life......

and something to write those thoughts down in,

the most precious of little boxes to hold that special treat......

sorry........I'm Susan's sweetheart, I'm not allowed to go off the property

make a wish.....If I had a hundred, I would give them all to you.......

Happy Valentines Day from all of us at

Red Zinnia & Flower Tree

and especially.............from Harriet!

The path to work

Yesterday I decided to start walking to work whenever possible. The weather that we have been having has been so incredible. A little on the cool side, but with the sun shining down on your face it feels like mid-spring. My days rotate now between our two stores and I live mid-way between them, so it seemed like a good way to get to both places. The differences in the walks though were measurable. When I leave my house to head to Flower Tree I can immediately get onto the TCID ditch, (for those that live out of our fair town that is the Truckee Carson Irrigation Ditch, which you might have read about during the big flood of last January in Fernley). I continue on that for about a mile of the way to the nursery. It's a dirt packed easement road, with a cement lined ditch alongside it, which is empty of water this time of year. The path starts about 100 yards or so from my back yard, and on the south side is a huge 80 acre parcel that hasn't been developed yet. Monstrous 100 year old cottonwood trees fill the rolling mounds of sage, tumbleweeds and rabbit brush. This morning I found a group of horses grazing on what little grass they could find. My first signs of an early spring arrived on the next corner when I noticed not only the bud swells on the cottonwoods, but the incredible amounts of yellow buds poking their way out on the forsythia branches. The quails scattered as I walked by the sage they were hiding in and the birds were chirping in symphony from every tree I passed. The sage still released it's wonderful aroma from the dew that morning. I live in what would be called a rural area in most parts of the country. Horses and chickens are still allowed in some areas, and most of the houses sit on an acre or more. It's one of the big things I like about Fallon, the openness. I cross the ditch at one point, on the huge steel and wood structure that they use to control the water flow, and then it is onto the busy busy Reno Highway for the last 3/4 of a mile till I get to the nursery gate.

Today I walked from the house to Red Zinnia. Located inside the city limits, in the direct opposite direction as yesterday, our store sits on a nice city lot pretty much right in the middle of town. Our house is about 1/4 mile away from the city limits so I hit the sidewalks pretty soon and proceeded to weave my way through the streets enjoying the early morning goings on. I noticed bulbs popping up through leaves and I visited with a fellow gardener that I ran into. He was pruning back his Bradford pear tree so I stopped and talked with him a little about "forcing" some of the branches in the house for his wife to enjoy. I watched the kids on the playground playing dodgeball, why is there always one child that stands off by him/her self just wishing that someone would ask them to play - talked to many a dog as they greeted me at their fence and arrived at my door just as it was time to open.

I realized that I saw so much more of both of my "neighborhoods" walking than I ever do during the summer when I am on my bike. It was, and will be a great way to both start and end my day. If I see you on the path tomorrow, give me a wave. I'll be the one in the red windbreaker.

See ya soon, Susan

Are You Twisted?

Twisted Oak Winery is coming to town! Our town! Our little space in the universe. Next Thursday night, February 5th, we are thrilled to be hosting Mr. Twisted himself, Jeff Stai. Many of you have been to his winery in Calavaras County - and it is because of you fine folks that we were introduced to their wines. We are converts. Their wines are wonderful. This last week was the start of their annual contest " Take Your Rubber Chicken to Work Week". (You didn't think they got that Twisted name for nothing did you?) You can get all the info for the contest here:

http://www.elbloggotorcido.com/2009/01/take-your-rubber-chicken-to-work-a-theme.html .

We are the proud owners of one of their special plastic chickens from when their rep was here for our winter tasting event out at the Flower Tree this last December. Over the next couple of days we will be making our best effort to capture the true spirit of our Fallon workplaces. Check out their website, and if you think you have a great workplace shot in mind, send it over to them. You might just win a $400.00 bottle of wine!!!!! And the bragging rights.

Don't miss it!

Twisted Oak Winery Tasting

@ Red Zinnia

Thursday Night 6 - 8 pm

FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE

www.twistedoak.com

Rain Dance

"A rain dance is a ceremonial dance that is performed in order to invoke rain and to ensure the protection of the harvest." (Wickepedia)

Growing up in Miami, we learned to plan for the rain. Most months it seemed to arrive in the afternoon just as school was getting out. The huge dark thunderstorm clouds would come rushing in, the lightening would fill the sky, and we would be soaked by the time we reached our destination. We didn't care. It wasn't until I was in junior high school that it seemed to be a problem. I'd have spent the evening before wrapping my hair around orange juice cans, come on.......it was the 60's, and my bangs would be taped down with pink tape. The next day I would head off for school with the perfect hairdo only to have it completely ruined from the rain. My friends and I were of course "too cool" to wear the little plastic bonnet that my mother seemed to always have tucked in the pocket of her London Fog.

At Halloween we would use pillow cases instead of paper bags. This was pre-planning on our part....we had all been witness to the poor friends candy that ended up all over the street because their bag got wet and broke.

When it came time to start driving we had the additional worry of windshield wipers that wouldn't work in a downpour. Memories of my best friend Mary hanging out the right hand side of my 1958 Nash Rambler, pushing the wiper blade to make it go.

Now I enjoy the Nevada rain, so sparse - yet so welcome. The smell of sagebrush after a gently sprinkle. It lingers long after the rain has cleared. The thoughts of all the weeds that will come

popping up and the small little puddles it makes as it tries to make it's way through the cold hard ground.

It looks like we might get some rain this week. Let's all get out there and do the Rain Dance!

Juicing

I am a juicer, big time, but like any habit - good or bad - once you fall out of it it takes a while to get started again. This week I started back up in earnest because of some reading I have been doing about inflammation and juicing. When I was making my morning concoction today I realized that so many of the fruits and vegetables that I love in my juice, I can grow myself. They say that putting it in writing helps to keep a goal, so..... here is one (1) of my gardening goals for this year:

Grow: Carrots, celery, radishes, ginger, beets, parsley, turnips, squash - all kinds, broccoli and cauliflower. If I end up with only carrots and radishes, because after all, I may be just a little busy in the spring, working at the nursery, I will hopefully be able to purchase the rest from the Mewaldt's Organic Farm. Apples and pears will have to come from the store I guess.....organic as well. According to the Stanford Cancer Center, 1 cup of FRESH carrot or celery juice provides most of the same nutrients found in 5 cups of those same vegetables chopped up.

I use a Breville juicer.I've had it for a couple years now, and I love the easy clean-up and the efficiency of being able to put 4 large carrots or a whole apple down the chute. The compost bucket that catches the pulp sits in our kitchen sink all the time for other scraps, and then out to the compost pile it all goes.

Couple of my favorite Juicing Sites / Info and Recipes
http://www.juicing-for-health.com/ http://www.doctoryourself.com/juicing_2.html

http://www.the-natural-path.com/juicing-recipes.html

if you like juicing, and you find yourself up at South Lake Tahoe, make sure and stop at "Sprouts" restaurant. They make the best combo every, called the Flu Fighter! See ya soon, Susan

The Call of the Rake

There comes a time in every young mans life when he must take up the rake. He either enjoys it, or hates it. I am proud to say that my grandson seems to love it, and has all the makings of a fine gardener. The only time a frown found his face was when we had to stop for a few moments to get the required picture. Then it was back to the leaves, the compost pile, and the bugs.



This has been an extremely warm winter so far, and the rolly-pollys are already out in force in our yard. We watched as they scooted across the flagstone, basking in the sun the same as we were. "bug...bu...bu...bug...bu" the words come fast and furious as the little man tries to figure out just what this little thing is that is crawling across his newly raked path.

We filled up the bird feeders for the fifth or so time this week, checked the water bowls, and then found ourselves enjoying some time in sun. Life doesn't get much better than this.

Tomorrow the kids head back east to their home in Maine. There is forecast of below zero temperatures and lots of snow for them. Cash's raking days back home will be coming soon though, and he has the experience now to be a big help to his Mom & Dad.


I'll miss my partner in the leaves. Somehow the bugs just won't hold the same attraction. See you soon, Susan