Every Sunday, Steve and I take our wicker shopping basket to the Ojai Farmer's Market. A couple of months ago, I stopped at one of the booths to admire this lovely herb bouquet.
Shawn Fulbright, the woman at the booth, introduced herself as one of the owners of Mano Farm, a local organic produce and seed farm. I recognized the charming graphics on the seed packages. I've seen them in several garden stores. It was such a nice surprise to meet the farmer behind the seeds!
I mentioned to Shawn that I was new to the process of growing vegetables from seed, and she was kind enough to invite me to visit Mano Farm so I could learn about the process. I enthusiastically responded "Absolutely!!!"
Last Thursday, I drove to Mano Farm to get my hands dirty planting seeds!
I have to say that there is nothing better than "hands on" learning.
Shawn and I planted a couple of trays of pepper seeds before heading to the greenhouse, where Shawn watered our newly planted seeds.
Shawn uses these plastic trays divided into small cells for seed planting. We placed two seeds in each cell and covered them with a thin layer of seed starting mix.
The greenhouse was full of trays filled with seedlings of varying sizes.
These lettuces are almost ready to be transplanted into the garden....
Mano Farm is so charming and serene... the perfect place to grow vegetables and flowers.
All of the vegetables were thriving under the warm sun in the fertile soil.
I loved how they mixed flowers and vegetables in the same area.
Sweet peas were starting their ascent...
Hints of Spring color were popping up in the fields.
It was a pleasure to meet Kim, Robert, and Hester (pictured here with Shawn), a few of the wonderful people who help to grow everything at Mano Farm.
If you happen to find yourself at the Ojai Farmer's Market, please visit the Mano Farm booth and support this local farm.
You can pick up some produce and herbs, or some seeds for your own garden....
or a bouquet of flowers for your home!
To learn more about Mano Farm and their mission, please visit their website.
In light of my garden obsession, I've decided to celebrate my birthday in June with a garden tour in England! I've just started my research, but our flight is booked. I plan to document the trip here on Velvet and Linen as well as on Instagram. I'm so excited!!!
During my research, I found this book, The English Country House Garden, by George Plumptre to be very helpful...
If you have any recommendations for "must see" gardens while Steve and I are in England, I'd really appreciate if you would share them in the comment section of this post.
xo
Brooke
