Placer Farm & Barn Open House

Our orchard is part of this year's Placer Farm and Barn Open House.  We are one of 14 sites that will be open on Sunday, Oct. 14th with tours and activities to celebrate the county's agricultural heritage.  At our orchard from 10-5 we'll have fruit tasting and demonstrations on how to make hoshigaki and vodka persimmons.  Visitors will be able to see our horse and chickens as well as a mini-donkey named Alice and a mini-mule named Coco.  There will be a straw bale maze for kids to play on and a pumpkin patch where you can pick your own pumpkin.  The fruit stand will be open and people can go on tours of the orchard. 

We're also having a raffle to raise money for donations to the Placer Food Bank.  Funds raised will help us buy surplus fruit from local farmers that will be donated to the Food Bank.  Prizes include a pound of hoshigaki, 10 lbs. of mandarins and a gift certificate to our fruit stand. 

Twin Peaks Orchard will have jam for sale from their orchard in Newcastle.  Placer County Master Gardeners, the Placer Food Bank, 4-H, Wayne's Herbs, and the Granite Bay Girl Scouts will also be at the orchard with information tables. In the afternoon, Anatoli will be working with his bees in the apiary and visitors can go and watch. 

Presentations:

Hoshigaki:  The Ancient Art of Drying Persimmons:  10:30, 1:00, 4:00
Watch as Tosh and Toshio peel, hang, massage and explain the steps to making hoshigaki.
 

Orchard Diversity Above and Below Ground: 11:30, 2:30

Learn about Otow Orchard's sustainable practices to encourage biological diversity while growing fresh produce without synthetic chemicals, presented by Julie Steele. Julie's projects include worm composting, soil drenching, and compost tea.

Making Vodka Persimmons: 12:30, 3:00

Learn how we treat our hyakume persimmons with vodka to sweeten them. 

Orchard Tours:  11:00, 3:30