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We run a small, woman-owned and operated Homestead & Nursery in Willow Creek, California. Our Nursery offers veggie starts, culinary, tea, medicinal and unusual ornamental plants, many of them are forgotten heirloom varieties, endangered or rare, and all of them with a story to tell.
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In 2001, we found a piece of heaven nestled in an inland valley of rural Northern California. Panther Ridge lies to the east and at its feet flows the mighty Trinity River. The land opens to the south with plenty of sunshine and a view up the valley. To our west, hugging our backs is Brush Mountain, from which Newell Creek tumbles down our northern border creating an Emerald Forest as she goes.
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We have worked hard with the land, slowly and lovingly restoring her neglected fields. We planted several varieties of strawberries, raspberries, and heat tolerant blueberries, including heirloom varieties, whose stamina and nutrition value surpass that of their hybrid cousins. We have also planted a small orchard of apples, pears, cherries, and peaches. Our annual rotation crop consists of specialty garlic's that are more flavorful than the average store-bought garlic, high in oil content, and many of them quite hot & spicy. Our field also teems with fantastic heirloom tomatoes (that we like to eat like apples) and extraordinary peppers. All our peppers are selected for flavor and spice. We don't just grow a hot pepper for the heat, it's got to have a great fruit flavor too. From our mild anaheim to our 'hotter than a Habanero' pepper the flavors are complex and delicious.
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We have created new gardens and built greenhouses where we grow, tend, and save seed from a myriad of medicinal, culinary, and tea plants, many of them rare and heirloom varieties forgotten from yesteryear's cottage garden. We specialize in hard-to-find culinary herbs, like Curry Plant, Hot & Spicy Oregano, and Bloody Dock. We have also created a line called 'Rita's Rarities' of exceptional ornamentals that are hard-to-find in your average nursery.
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Our greenhouse practices include making our own custom soil blends for all the plants we grow and sell. We tailor the ingredients used in our soils to meet the need of the plants, from the tender spinach start to the winter-hardy thyme, each pot receiving just the right blend of the right nutrients to give the plant a long and healthy life in the pot and a successful transplant into your garden. Our soil blends contain the highest forms of microbial life, natural manures, and plenty of nature's minerals, ensuring the plants are being fed naturally, without the use of chemical fertilizers and sprays.
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We are avid gardeners and are fully aware that plant nuts like us tend to buy more plants than we can get to in a reasonable amount of time, they often spend weeks at home in their pots before they make it into our garden beds. That's why at Flying Blue Dog Homestead & Nursery we take such care in making sure the soil our plants live in won't need extra special attention from you before you get them into the ground. And we do it all in harmony with nature's rhythms in our certified organic nursery. Healthy plants increase the chances of your gardening success, and our diversity of plants ensures that some old-time varieties will live to see another day. Diversity is life, in and out of the garden! Growing happy, healthy, nutritious plants is our focus.