APPLE PIE CONTEST

This is our 3rd Place pie. Jenna brought hers in piping hot from the oven. And after two hours it was still warm. Loved the Crust.
This is our 1st Place pie from Deborah Martin. She was very creative with painting an Apple on top of the pie. It was also very tasty.

After the judging was done, we left the pies out for our customers to taste and share. The boys from the Hardware store made plates of 4 to 5 pieces on a plate to take home.

It was a great sweet treat to start fall with here at the Garden Center.

Saturday was our Apple Pie Contest. We had a great turnout with 15 pies. All very different and all were very good.

1st Place - Deborah Martin - $75.00

2nd Place - Lee Reilley - $50.00

3rd Place - Jenna Cross = $25.00

Composting and Fire safey Workshop

We had a great turnout for our Composting and Fire Safety workshop. Christine and Steve spoke for one hour to explain to everyone about Fire safety and Composting, and how they go along with each other.

As you clean your yards for fall and bring down dead branches, collect leaves, clean out gutter, and create fire safe zones in your yard you are protecting yourself for the upcoming Spring and Summer fire safety. With your yard wastes, you can start your compost pile, and continue to add kitchen scraps, cardboard, most sawdusts, tea bags, citrus rinds, coffee grounds and coffee filters.

DO NOT ADD: Meat, bones and fish, dairy products or grease, dog, cat or bird feces, Sawdust from plywood or treated wood, diseased plants or pernicious weeds such as bermuda grass, ivy, oxalis bulbs or burr clover.

With Fire safety, it is a year round aspect of life in California. We have very different climates.
When winter rolls around and you are getting ready to start your burn piles, here are some tips for you to follow.

1. Maximum pile size 4 foot diameter.
2. Area within 10 feet of outer edge of oile is maintained free and clear of all flammable material and vegetation.
3. Adult in attendance with shovel until fire is dead out.
4. Water supply at burning site.
5. No burning sall be undertaken unless weather conditions (particilarly wind) are such that burning can be considered safe.


Make sure that it is a permissable burn day and no permits are required to burn.

Hope this information is helpful. We had fun at the class. Hope to see you at the next one.

ANNUAL A TO Z SUPPLY GARAGE SALE

This coming Saturday, the 19th. We will be having our Annual garage sale here at the store and nursery. Doors open at 8 am. Hope to see you there

Yesterday evening was our Irrigation workshop. Dan Sr. spoke for over an hour and answered questions regarding drip irrigation and conventional irrigation.

All of our workshopees were very intentive as to what Dan Sr. was speaking about.

We had a good number of regular customers attend our workshop. We love to see them.

Dan Sr.'s demonstration table with anything and everything you could think of. From the smallest emitter to the largest conventional sprinkler that Hunter or Rainbird makes.

WATER FEATURE WORKSHOP

Our water feature workshop went well. Lyn and Steve walked and talked about all the different fountains we have in stock at the Garden Center.
They gave our workshopees some great examples and helpful hints to make one on their own.

From large to small, water features in your yard or small ones in your home help with noise and give a sense of calmness. They attract wildlife and sound wonderful.

Don't forget our next workshop is Irrigation with Dan. Wednesday at 6 p.m. in the Garden Center.

The 15th Annual A to Z Supply BBQ went on without a hitch. We had a great time. Lots of food and plenty of things to do. Here is some of the gang relaxing after eating a great BBQ.
Dan JR or DJ as we like to call him, playing Horseshoes in Dan Sr's backyard. With a 1/2 acre of lawn there was plenty of games to be had.

Jessica Kelly who works in the Garden Center, dropping off her dirt pudding on the dessert table. John Beatty behind her getting ready to have some more goodies.

Terri Rutan, our awesome bookkeeper, with Larry Stallion, Elizabeth Stallion and Loretto Beatty. Enjoying the shade near the creek in the backyard.

The youngest of the grandkids at the BBQ. Left to right. Lucas, Aaron and Becca. They were very tired at the end of the day. But they had a great time running around with the other 15 kids.

As you can see we have filled our shelves with a great Fall seed selection and canning items in stock to keep you going through the fall. We also have Winter Veggie stocks now and a great variety. We also carry Certified Organic Veggies Starts.

The first Voilas of the season. They are such a happy flower. WE love them, it reminds us that fall is just around the corner.

Antique Pansies are April's favorite fall flower.

This is our new addition to the Nursery. She is a Pot lady. We haven't named her yet and she is still missing some details. But we think she has great character.

Everyone have a great and safe weekend. Happy Labor Day.

A to Z Supply and the A to Z Supply Garden Center will be closed Monday.

Lavendar Creme Brulee

This was a huge hit at the Cooking with Herbs workshop. Lyn Muth made Lavendar Creme Brulee. So I thought I would post the recipe on the blog for all to share.....

ENJOY!

4 cups of Heavy cream
1 tablespoon of dried lavender flowers
8 egg yolks
3/4 cups of granulated sugar, divided

Preheat oven to 300`degrees. Butter (6-ounce) custard cups and set them into a glass baking dish. If cooking custards in a metal pan, cover the bottom of the pan witha layer of newspaper to ensure an even temperature on the bottom. Place custard cups ina shallow ovenproof roasting or baking pan.

In a large, heacy saucepanover medium heat, add cream and the lavender flowers; heat just to a simmer. Remove from heat and allow lavender flowers to infusewith the cream for 5 minutes. Strain cream mixture through a fine mesh strainer to remove lavender flowers.

In a large bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar until light and creamy. Slowly add the strained cream to the egg mixture, blending well. Divide custard mixture amoung the custard cups.

Bring the water for the water bath to a light simmer on top of the stove; carefully pour hot water into the baking pan to come half-way up the sides of the custard cups. NOTE: The most common mistake people make in baking a custard is not putting enough water in the hot water bath. The water shoul come up to the level of the custard inside the cups. You must protect your custard from the heat.

Bake 60 minutes for until set around the edges but still loose in the center. The cooking time will depend largely on the size of the custard cups you are using, but begin checking at a 1/2 hour and check back regularly. When the center of the custard is just set, it will jiggle a little when shaken, that's when you can remove it from the oven.

Remove from oven and leave in the water bath until cooled. Remove cups from water bath an refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

When ready to serve, sprinkle approzimately 2 teaspoonss of remaining sugar over creme brulee. For best results, use a small hand held torch. Hold the torch 4 to 5 inches from the sugar, maintaining a slow and even motion. Stop torching just before the desired degree of doneness is reached, as the sugar will continue to cook for a few seconds after flame has been removed.

Serve with some Creme Fraiche and a good cup of Java....

FERTILZING WORKSHOP

Lyn had a great night with our regular group of workshopees.......We had great information to hand out. They got to test their soil at the garden center. Already on the ball for the next workshop, Water features.......


Have a great Labor Day weekend.