Sonoma County Farm Trails

Even though they couldn’t have their annual fall festival, SRJC Shone Farm - Santa Rosa Junior College still has lots of pumpkins! Jack-o-lantern, big 40 lb, baby jack-be-little, pie, decorative, etched, decorative and edible Cinderella pumpkinsthey’ve got them all! Order online for curbside pickup tomorrow (Friday) 1 to 4 pm (https://srjc-shone-farm.square.site/s/shop). And check out our Farm Trails Fall Fun webpage (www.farmtrails.org/fall-fun/) for a list of more pumpkin patches and County guidelines for a safe Halloween and Dia de los Muertos!

Crisp fall days call for cozy comforts. Bodega Pastures, an ecological 1,000-acre sheep ranch in west Sonoma County run by Hazel Flett, has a wealth of wool products for home and fiber arts! Choose from a broad range of natural, dyed, and plant-dyed yarns, batting, and roving, for your knitting, weaving, spinning, and felting projects. Or shop for luscious sheepskins as well as wool-filled comforters, mattress toppers, and pillows for healthy sleep. Call 707-327-6816 to order, and visit www.bodeganet.com/BodegaPastures for a peek into ranch life.

Pumpkins and pigs! Tara Firma Farms is open every weekend this month. Visit their organic pumpkin stand (sale this weekend), take a self-guided tour, and stock up on pasture-raised meats. And then...share the pumpkin love with the pigs! Yes, you CAN feed the animals at this farm! Pigs love pumpkins and they love you to feed them. Just give them a little help breaking the pumpkins open, and they will pig out! Farm open for self-serve Saturdays and farm store open Sundays to Fridays 11-5.

Fall is a perfect time to plant your garden, and Hidden Forest Nursery (formerly Sonoma Horticultural Nursery) has an amazing array of shade-loving shrubs and trees on sale. From rhododendrons and azaleas to Japanese maples and more, you can create an oasis wherever you live! Open Fridays to Sundays 9 am to 4 pm. Sale ends Nov. 15.

Hop off Highway 101 at Airport Blvd., and you can’t miss the iconic white barn at Tierra Vegetables Farm. This family farm sustainably grows a veritable cornucopia of seasonal produce, which you can find at the farm stand Thursdays to Sundays. Highlights of the fall harvest are winter squash and pumpkins, dried chiles and corn products, popcorn, and multicolored ornamental corn, plus pantry items like specially made hot sauce. It’s a fun stop where you’ll always find something to inspire new culinary adventures!

This Saturday, Oct. 17, will be the last day the farm stand at Chiatri De Laguna De Santa Rosa will be open this year, 10 am to 2 pm. Offerings include Fuji apples, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers (sweet and hot), smallish eggplant, zucchini, leeks, pumpkins, ornamental gourds, winter squash--butternut, delicatas, and kabochas. However, Farmer Wendy will continue to have produce through at least the end of month so contact her for custom orders with curbside pickup. There will be limited amounts of broccoli and beets towards the end of the month, too!

Exciting news: a farmers' market has opened in Roseland! Mercadito Market at Roseland Village is open Thursdays 12-4pm & Sundays 11am-3pm. Stock up on the season's bounty and enjoy!

Apples for teachers, flowers for school gardens! Through the month of October, local flower farmer & floral designer JoLee Blooms is contributing 20% of every bouquet sale to School Garden Network, whose mission is to create and grow robust school gardens throughout Sonoma County. Treat yourself or someone you love (or both!) to a bouquet of beautiful field-grown local flowers, and help School Garden Network continue its mission of supporting school garden communities that teach our kids the importance of food sovereignty, sustainable agriculture, and healthy eating! Visit www.joleeblooms.com to order.

With a Red Flag Warning in effect in Sonoma County through Friday morning, here are some helpful resources from our friends at the Halter Project

This weekend, Bees N Blooms is opening their doors for their fall open-farm weekend. Come out to see the gorgeous flowers: Marigolds, Dahlias, Celosia, and other favorites are painting the land with an array of colors. Come to walk the lavender labyrinth for relaxation, visit the geese, and catch up on what’s turning over in the flower arcs. For sale at the Farm Stand will be a wide variety of pumpkins, butternut squash, and organic dried beans, all organically grown on the farm. Also shop at the nursery for heirloom Chrysanthemum, Lavender, Rosy Buckwheat, yellow Lantana, Throatwort, and trees, as well as a few fall-winter veggie starts. Plus Sidekick Flowers will have a variety of beautiful flower bouquets for sale as well! Open Saturday & Sunday, Oct. 17 & 18, 10 am to 3 pm.

What's your favorite thing to do with local apples? Eat, bake, can, juice, or all of the aboveyou can find an abundance of apples at Walker Apples! Located on a scenic country road in Graton, their farm stand is open daily 9 to 5. Choose from among the 27 varieties grown on site, and enjoy!

Farm friends! Flatbed Farm has Bee-Well Farms pumpkins at their farm stand this month!

Orange you glad it's pumpkin time?! The beautiful pumpkin patch at Preston Farm and Winery is open by RSVP only Saturdays through October. Book your appointment using the link below, and have fun!