By Nancy Stinnett and Gina Locatelli
The Mount Madonna Grange, located on the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds at 2601 East Lake Ave. in Watsonville, is hoping to rebuild a community of resourceful and enthusiastic farmers and gardeners and people interested in local agriculture and food production.
In October, the Grange and its members hosted a Fall Harvest Open House at its hall at the fair grounds. Since then, meetings have taken place on the second Thursday of the month beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Speakers who have participated in the meetings include Rigoberto Aguilar who spoke in January about rainwater harvesting using terraces and ditches on steep ground. He is an agronomist from Honduras and has worked all over the world. Allen Morgan, founder of Santa Cruz Heirloom Seed and distributor for Seed Saver Exchange, spoke in February and shared his experiences with growing heirloom varieties of herbs and vegetables, which include Red Russian Kale, Rocoto Peppers, and Inca Gold Corn from the Amazon.
On March 12, Cesario Ruiz will talk to the membership and guests about the commercial kitchen incubator available now in Watsonville. According to El Pajaro, “The Commercial Kitchen Incubator Program (CKIP) is a food business incubator in a fully equipped, shared-use commercial kitchen facility. The CKIP was created in response to the growing need among aspiring local entrepreneurs wanting to build upon the strong food and farming traditions in our region.”
Join us for our monthly meeting on March 12 at 6:30 p.m., so you too can learn about the abundance of resources for farming and gardening available in our community. Share with like-minded growers and gain knowledge from our talented speakers.
Planning is now underway for a spring event “Seeds and Starts” and will take place at the Madonna Grange Hall, Saturday, April 18 from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. Hope to see you there!