We seek tiny, micro-sized homesteads growing and raising organic natural fruits and vegetables, poultry, eggs, fowl, goats, herbs, flowers. heirloom seed, rare seed, organic seed, plants, soaps, oils, vermiculture, worm farming, worm compost. Made in Pahrump.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Go Green: Greening Your Home Basic Tips
We are now living in an era where pollutants are affecting every part of our lives. Our homes are longer a safe sanctuary from toxins in the air, household items, furnishings, and renovation products. Homes that are plagued by toxins and chemicals can significantly increase the risk of health conditions such as cancer, asthma, heart disease, skin conditions, allergies, respiratory illnesses, and reproductiptus, rosemary, or sage.
ve disorders. Chemicals may also end up in the environment where they pollute groundwater, contaminate the soil, and harm plant and animal life.
Millions of consumers are now searching for earth friendly natural products that will improve the health of their homes. When choosing an earth friendly and natural product, it is important to read the ingredient label. Any product that contains a chemical additive means that is has been chemically treated during processing Chemical additives can include: Sulfates (Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate), Parabens (Methyl-, Propyl-, Ethyl-, Butyl-), and Petrochemicals (petrolatum, mineral oil, paraffin). Formaldehyde is another dangerous chemical added to many products. Eco-friendly ingredients include grain alcohol, coconut or other natural plant oils, and plant-oil sanitizers such as eucaly
There are many products that can significantly reduce the number of toxins and chemicals in your home while making your home healthy and efficient with green remodeling tips and clean air:
1. “Eco-Friendly” Paints are manufactured to contain fewer volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are chemicals found in regular paint that are released in the air. “Eco Friendly” paints are usually made from recycled paint or vegetable dyes and minerals. Some recommended sources are listed below.
“Eco- Friendly” Flooring includes bamboo, cork and linoleum. These types of flooring are inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and highly sustainable. Linoleum is 100% natural and 100% biodegradable.
2. Green Furniture means buying furniture that is sustainable and environmentally friendly. Green furniture will not contribute to pollution and helps decrease deforestation.
When choosing green furniture, always look for pieces that have been constructed with certified sustainable wood. This is wood that comes from a sustainable resource instead of the rainforest. Furniture made from reclaimed wood is another option. Reclaimed wood comes from excess wood left from industry and structures. Bamboo is another great green choice. It grows quickly and is very versatile. It can be used for bedroom furniture, flooring, tables, chairs, patio furniture… and much more. Vintage furniture, or second-hand furniture, is another green alternative
3. Natural Air Purifiers clean the air in your home without the use of chemicals or manufactured items. Beeswax candles are known to clean the air naturally emitting healthy ions and do not contain any chemical additives. Household plants are a great choice because they absorb polluted air. Placing Solay Salt Crystal Lamps throughout your home will ionize the air and keep it clean plus Solay salt lamps last indefinitely, reducing their impact and use an energy efficient 15 watt bulb.
4. Organic and Earth Friendly Furnishings such as pillows and shower curtains. Earth friendly and healthy ingredients in such products include organic and natural unbleached cotton, organic wool, shredded rubber latex pillows, and organic hemp. Try to avoid foam products, platics and synthetic materials as much as possible as those not only have been treated with chemicals that pollute our air and water, but they off gas, so you, your family and pets keep breathing that in and reducing your air quality.
Because so many consumers are looking for natural products to improve the quality of their homes, many companies look for ways to claim they are natural when they are actually not. The key to understanding if the product you have purchased is truly natural is to make sure that you have done your research, read the labels and ingredients and talk with the manufacturers or representatives of the product, so they can further explain the process and why it is an earth friendly and sustainable product.
Going green these days is easy. You no longer have to settle for products or services that are not modern or hip. Many designers in the fashion world, furniture, and home décor are using green and sustainable materials and creating beautiful products.
More green tips for green living are coming soon.
ve disorders. Chemicals may also end up in the environment where they pollute groundwater, contaminate the soil, and harm plant and animal life.
Millions of consumers are now searching for earth friendly natural products that will improve the health of their homes. When choosing an earth friendly and natural product, it is important to read the ingredient label. Any product that contains a chemical additive means that is has been chemically treated during processing Chemical additives can include: Sulfates (Sodium Lauryl/Laureth Sulfate), Parabens (Methyl-, Propyl-, Ethyl-, Butyl-), and Petrochemicals (petrolatum, mineral oil, paraffin). Formaldehyde is another dangerous chemical added to many products. Eco-friendly ingredients include grain alcohol, coconut or other natural plant oils, and plant-oil sanitizers such as eucaly
There are many products that can significantly reduce the number of toxins and chemicals in your home while making your home healthy and efficient with green remodeling tips and clean air:
1. “Eco-Friendly” Paints are manufactured to contain fewer volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are chemicals found in regular paint that are released in the air. “Eco Friendly” paints are usually made from recycled paint or vegetable dyes and minerals. Some recommended sources are listed below.
“Eco- Friendly” Flooring includes bamboo, cork and linoleum. These types of flooring are inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and highly sustainable. Linoleum is 100% natural and 100% biodegradable.
2. Green Furniture means buying furniture that is sustainable and environmentally friendly. Green furniture will not contribute to pollution and helps decrease deforestation.
When choosing green furniture, always look for pieces that have been constructed with certified sustainable wood. This is wood that comes from a sustainable resource instead of the rainforest. Furniture made from reclaimed wood is another option. Reclaimed wood comes from excess wood left from industry and structures. Bamboo is another great green choice. It grows quickly and is very versatile. It can be used for bedroom furniture, flooring, tables, chairs, patio furniture… and much more. Vintage furniture, or second-hand furniture, is another green alternative
3. Natural Air Purifiers clean the air in your home without the use of chemicals or manufactured items. Beeswax candles are known to clean the air naturally emitting healthy ions and do not contain any chemical additives. Household plants are a great choice because they absorb polluted air. Placing Solay Salt Crystal Lamps throughout your home will ionize the air and keep it clean plus Solay salt lamps last indefinitely, reducing their impact and use an energy efficient 15 watt bulb.
4. Organic and Earth Friendly Furnishings such as pillows and shower curtains. Earth friendly and healthy ingredients in such products include organic and natural unbleached cotton, organic wool, shredded rubber latex pillows, and organic hemp. Try to avoid foam products, platics and synthetic materials as much as possible as those not only have been treated with chemicals that pollute our air and water, but they off gas, so you, your family and pets keep breathing that in and reducing your air quality.
Because so many consumers are looking for natural products to improve the quality of their homes, many companies look for ways to claim they are natural when they are actually not. The key to understanding if the product you have purchased is truly natural is to make sure that you have done your research, read the labels and ingredients and talk with the manufacturers or representatives of the product, so they can further explain the process and why it is an earth friendly and sustainable product.
Going green these days is easy. You no longer have to settle for products or services that are not modern or hip. Many designers in the fashion world, furniture, and home décor are using green and sustainable materials and creating beautiful products.
More green tips for green living are coming soon.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Shadow Mountain Quilters
Date: Thursday December 23, 2010
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Repeats: This event repeats every week.
Location: Varies, see notes and phone number
Notes: The venue and start times vary and are subject to change, often. Call 1-775-910-2355 first for information.
1st & 3rd Thursdays, Ruud Center, 9 am, 160 and Basin
2nd Thursday, Pahrump Library, 9:30 am, 372 & East
4th & 5th Thursdays, Methodist Church, 9 am, 372 & Pahrump Valley Bl., across from Big O Tires
Time: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Repeats: This event repeats every week.
Location: Varies, see notes and phone number
Notes: The venue and start times vary and are subject to change, often. Call 1-775-910-2355 first for information.
1st & 3rd Thursdays, Ruud Center, 9 am, 160 and Basin
2nd Thursday, Pahrump Library, 9:30 am, 372 & East
4th & 5th Thursdays, Methodist Church, 9 am, 372 & Pahrump Valley Bl., across from Big O Tires
Friday, August 27, 2010
Villa Locale: seed to table dining
By CHARLENE DEAN
PVT
There’s only one word to describe Joe Muscaglione and it is enthusiasm. Muscaglione is one of the owners of Villa Locale, the newest restaurant to open at 670 W. Basin Ave.
He is enthusiastic about anything in regards to organic gardening, organic wine and beer, chemical-free meats, eggs and produce — and most of all — Pahrump.
Muscaglione, and his mother, Lucia Sangiorgio, have been in the restaurant business upwards of 20 years in New Jersey. Muscaglione, as a young man, worked in his mother’s restaurant and took it upon himself to travel to their native Sicily to learn the restaurant business. He returned to continue his career as a wine director, a restaurateur in his own right, and has experienced kitchens of the most famous celebrity chefs in the business.
Both Sangiorgio and Muscaglione had sold the restaurants back east, and relocated to Las Vegas where Muscaglione has co-ownership of a wine import and distribution business. He relocated his family here in 2007 and began sustainable, organic farming.
“The concept of the restaurant is to bring the product fresh and without chemicals to the table, and do it here,” said Muscaglione. “If roasted eggplant with tomato sauce is on the menu, we’ve picked the vegetables and herbs that morning and brought it to the restaurant. You will eat it either for lunch or dinner.”
“At home, everything we do feeds some other part of the farm,” said Muscaglione. “Nothing goes to waste.”
Muscaglione said he doesn’t consider himself as a “go-green” person, but said, “If you take from the Earth, you have to give back to the Earth.”
He said the family invested in worm farming, or vermiculture. The worms make castings which are added to the compost to enrich the soil, which feeds the plants that in turn, provide scraps to start composting again. In between, there are animals to be fed, which also contribute to the composting and nutrition of the soil. “I’m amazed at what we can grow here,” Muscaglione said. “We have herbs, flowers and fruit and nut trees, and heirloom vegetables whose seeds have been in my family for over 100 years, and it all does so well here.”
What the family farm can’t provide, Muscaglione said he either gets the product from Whole Foods in Las Vegas, or he buys from local, licensed growers.
He’s looking for certified farmers who make cheeses and can provide meats for the restaurant.
“The more I can get locally, the better I’ll like it,” Muscaglione said. “It’s a community partnership.”
Being well-connected from his travels and business contacts, Muscaglione has plans to take Villa Locale beyond Pahrump. Celebrity chef dinners, wine dinners and tastings and interactive media meetings are just some of the activities planned for the restaurant.
Starting Monday, and for the next two weeks, Muscaglione said the restaurant will be open for lunch only, gradually adding breakfast and finally dinner. He said reservations are three weeks out.
Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday right now.
Call 751-5830 for more information and to check on extended hours.
PVT
There’s only one word to describe Joe Muscaglione and it is enthusiasm. Muscaglione is one of the owners of Villa Locale, the newest restaurant to open at 670 W. Basin Ave.
He is enthusiastic about anything in regards to organic gardening, organic wine and beer, chemical-free meats, eggs and produce — and most of all — Pahrump.
Muscaglione, and his mother, Lucia Sangiorgio, have been in the restaurant business upwards of 20 years in New Jersey. Muscaglione, as a young man, worked in his mother’s restaurant and took it upon himself to travel to their native Sicily to learn the restaurant business. He returned to continue his career as a wine director, a restaurateur in his own right, and has experienced kitchens of the most famous celebrity chefs in the business.
Both Sangiorgio and Muscaglione had sold the restaurants back east, and relocated to Las Vegas where Muscaglione has co-ownership of a wine import and distribution business. He relocated his family here in 2007 and began sustainable, organic farming.
“The concept of the restaurant is to bring the product fresh and without chemicals to the table, and do it here,” said Muscaglione. “If roasted eggplant with tomato sauce is on the menu, we’ve picked the vegetables and herbs that morning and brought it to the restaurant. You will eat it either for lunch or dinner.”
“At home, everything we do feeds some other part of the farm,” said Muscaglione. “Nothing goes to waste.”
Muscaglione said he doesn’t consider himself as a “go-green” person, but said, “If you take from the Earth, you have to give back to the Earth.”
He said the family invested in worm farming, or vermiculture. The worms make castings which are added to the compost to enrich the soil, which feeds the plants that in turn, provide scraps to start composting again. In between, there are animals to be fed, which also contribute to the composting and nutrition of the soil. “I’m amazed at what we can grow here,” Muscaglione said. “We have herbs, flowers and fruit and nut trees, and heirloom vegetables whose seeds have been in my family for over 100 years, and it all does so well here.”
What the family farm can’t provide, Muscaglione said he either gets the product from Whole Foods in Las Vegas, or he buys from local, licensed growers.
He’s looking for certified farmers who make cheeses and can provide meats for the restaurant.
“The more I can get locally, the better I’ll like it,” Muscaglione said. “It’s a community partnership.”
Being well-connected from his travels and business contacts, Muscaglione has plans to take Villa Locale beyond Pahrump. Celebrity chef dinners, wine dinners and tastings and interactive media meetings are just some of the activities planned for the restaurant.
Starting Monday, and for the next two weeks, Muscaglione said the restaurant will be open for lunch only, gradually adding breakfast and finally dinner. He said reservations are three weeks out.
Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday right now.
Call 751-5830 for more information and to check on extended hours.
-
- HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT – Hank Maglia, left, of Frei Brothers Reserve, and Joe Muscaglione, vice president of BEVI Beverages and part-owner of Villa Locale, both provided wines for the invitation-only open house held recently at the new restaurant. Villa Locale is located at 670 W. Basin Ave.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Villa Locale, New Restaurant In Pahrump Plans 'Seed To Table' Menu
Made in Pahrump is proud to introduce - Villa Locale
Mediterranean inspired, Italian focused and locally farmed:
Villa Locale opens on Basin Ave
Locavore: (New Oxford American Dictionary's word of the year) "someone who seeks locally produced food".
'Farm to table' restaurants are sprouting up sporadically around the country, but it is a new restaurant in the Mojave Desert that is taking the locavore concept one step further by planning a menu that will be 'seed to table' focused. The new Villa Locale, opening in July, is located in the midst of the desert, equidistant between Las Vegas and Death Valley in the town of Pahrump, NV.
The idea began in 2007 when veteran east coast restaurateur Lucia Sangiorgio, known for her award-winning Sangiorgio's and Foro Italico restaurants in northern New Jersey, took a trip out west to see her children. She decided to explore the region and became enamored with the nearby Pahrump Valley. She says, "I was visiting their Fall Festival and simply fell in love; I looked around and saw tremendous potential for something very special." Lucia relocated to Pahrump and became active in the local food community, racking up several first place ribbons for her home-baked breads and organically-grown Italian Long "Cuccuzza Longa" Squash, which she cultivates from heirloom seeds originating from Mezzojuso, Sicily.
"Within months of moving to the desert I knew that I needed to share this food with others" says Lucia. With two well-respected restaurants under her belt that generated a celebrity following during their tenure, the idea of starting a new restaurant exclusively focusing on locally grown and produced ingredients in a radically different location was a challenge she was ready to tackle. Lucia convinced her son Joe Muscaglione and family friend Michael Power to join her in creating a restaurant that would highlight the area.
It was this vision that inspired Joe to purchase a small homestead in Pahrump. The group began organic gardening - planting fruit and nut trees, vegetables, herbs and flowers - and sustainable farming. "I was blown away by the incredible diversity of what we were able to grow in the desert, the quality is superb with intense and complex flavors," explains Muscaglione. Power, who organically farmed and brewed beer as a hobby in his native Australia adds "Because of the extreme climate, the plants go through tremendous stress, which concentrates and intensifies the fruit. We are also using chemical-free, untreated artisan well water to nourish everything we farm."
"The menu will change daily according to what's in season and available" says Joe. "We have a very long growing season, so some of our crops are available year-round-making our supply far more consistent than in other locations."
The 1.5-acre homestead features multiple types of basil, mint, cilantro, parsley, lemon balm, dill, fennel, chamomile, sage, thyme, broccoli, broccoli rape, carrots, beets, celery, cucumbers, artichoke, cardoons, peas, fava beans, green beans, eggplant, zucchini, grapes, apricots, plums, apples, cherries, pears, figs, pomegranates, lettuce, cantaloupe, watermelon, olives and much more.
Any foodstuffs needed for the restaurant not home-grown will be sourced from nearby farms and businesses.
With a long history of restaurant successes and a passion for food and farming, Sangiorgio, Muscaglione and Power believe they are creating something very special that diners will want to experience. Villa Locale's proximity to Las Vegas, less than one hour by car, makes the restaurant easily accessible to tourists and locals alike looking for a true locavore experience.
Villa Locale will be located at 670 Basin Ave, Pahrump, NV. The restaurant will seat 24 inside and 24 outside.
About Lucia Sangiorgio
Lucia Sangiorgio owned and operated the award-winning Sangiorgio's Ristorante in Hudson County New Jersey from 1976-1985. After Sangiorgio's, Lucia opened Foro Italico which became known as one of New Jersey's premier Italian restaurants. Wine Spectator magazine honored Foro Italico with their "Award of Excellence" several years in a row. Among her loyal diners were Shania Twain, Whitney Houston, the cast of the Sopranos, players from the Giants, the late Abe Vigoda and many others. After leaving the restaurant business in NJ, Lucia continued to study and celebrate food by enrolling and completing a pastry course at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. Today, Lucia lives in Pahrump where she works with her partners on the opening of Villa Locale.
About Joe Muscaglione
Joe Muscaglione started his love affair with food at Sangiorgio's Ristorante, working in the kitchen and dining room. Inspired, he decided to move to Sicily where he spent five years with friends and family intimately learning the restaurant business. Upon his return, Joe worked as the Wine Director at Babbo in New York City for his friends Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali. He has also apprenticed in kitchens with David Bouley, Charlie Trotter, and life-long friend, Zod Arifai chef/owner of the venerable BLU restaurant in Montclair.
Joe was the chef/owner of Trattoria Mezzojuso where he received New Jersey Monthly's "Best New Restaurant" award his first year and "Best Italian Restaurant" two years in a row. He relocated to Las Vegas where he was named Beverage Director for TAO Groups and opened TAO Asian Bistro and TAO Club. Currently, he is the Vice President of BEVI Beverage -a small importer and distributor of boutique wines and beers and is working with his partners on the upcoming opening of Villa Locale.
Mediterranean inspired, Italian focused and locally farmed:
Villa Locale opens on Basin Ave
Locavore: (New Oxford American Dictionary's word of the year) "someone who seeks locally produced food".
'Farm to table' restaurants are sprouting up sporadically around the country, but it is a new restaurant in the Mojave Desert that is taking the locavore concept one step further by planning a menu that will be 'seed to table' focused. The new Villa Locale, opening in July, is located in the midst of the desert, equidistant between Las Vegas and Death Valley in the town of Pahrump, NV.
The idea began in 2007 when veteran east coast restaurateur Lucia Sangiorgio, known for her award-winning Sangiorgio's and Foro Italico restaurants in northern New Jersey, took a trip out west to see her children. She decided to explore the region and became enamored with the nearby Pahrump Valley. She says, "I was visiting their Fall Festival and simply fell in love; I looked around and saw tremendous potential for something very special." Lucia relocated to Pahrump and became active in the local food community, racking up several first place ribbons for her home-baked breads and organically-grown Italian Long "Cuccuzza Longa" Squash, which she cultivates from heirloom seeds originating from Mezzojuso, Sicily.
"Within months of moving to the desert I knew that I needed to share this food with others" says Lucia. With two well-respected restaurants under her belt that generated a celebrity following during their tenure, the idea of starting a new restaurant exclusively focusing on locally grown and produced ingredients in a radically different location was a challenge she was ready to tackle. Lucia convinced her son Joe Muscaglione and family friend Michael Power to join her in creating a restaurant that would highlight the area.
It was this vision that inspired Joe to purchase a small homestead in Pahrump. The group began organic gardening - planting fruit and nut trees, vegetables, herbs and flowers - and sustainable farming. "I was blown away by the incredible diversity of what we were able to grow in the desert, the quality is superb with intense and complex flavors," explains Muscaglione. Power, who organically farmed and brewed beer as a hobby in his native Australia adds "Because of the extreme climate, the plants go through tremendous stress, which concentrates and intensifies the fruit. We are also using chemical-free, untreated artisan well water to nourish everything we farm."
"The menu will change daily according to what's in season and available" says Joe. "We have a very long growing season, so some of our crops are available year-round-making our supply far more consistent than in other locations."
The 1.5-acre homestead features multiple types of basil, mint, cilantro, parsley, lemon balm, dill, fennel, chamomile, sage, thyme, broccoli, broccoli rape, carrots, beets, celery, cucumbers, artichoke, cardoons, peas, fava beans, green beans, eggplant, zucchini, grapes, apricots, plums, apples, cherries, pears, figs, pomegranates, lettuce, cantaloupe, watermelon, olives and much more.
Any foodstuffs needed for the restaurant not home-grown will be sourced from nearby farms and businesses.
With a long history of restaurant successes and a passion for food and farming, Sangiorgio, Muscaglione and Power believe they are creating something very special that diners will want to experience. Villa Locale's proximity to Las Vegas, less than one hour by car, makes the restaurant easily accessible to tourists and locals alike looking for a true locavore experience.
Villa Locale will be located at 670 Basin Ave, Pahrump, NV. The restaurant will seat 24 inside and 24 outside.
About Lucia Sangiorgio
Lucia Sangiorgio owned and operated the award-winning Sangiorgio's Ristorante in Hudson County New Jersey from 1976-1985. After Sangiorgio's, Lucia opened Foro Italico which became known as one of New Jersey's premier Italian restaurants. Wine Spectator magazine honored Foro Italico with their "Award of Excellence" several years in a row. Among her loyal diners were Shania Twain, Whitney Houston, the cast of the Sopranos, players from the Giants, the late Abe Vigoda and many others. After leaving the restaurant business in NJ, Lucia continued to study and celebrate food by enrolling and completing a pastry course at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. Today, Lucia lives in Pahrump where she works with her partners on the opening of Villa Locale.
About Joe Muscaglione
Joe Muscaglione started his love affair with food at Sangiorgio's Ristorante, working in the kitchen and dining room. Inspired, he decided to move to Sicily where he spent five years with friends and family intimately learning the restaurant business. Upon his return, Joe worked as the Wine Director at Babbo in New York City for his friends Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali. He has also apprenticed in kitchens with David Bouley, Charlie Trotter, and life-long friend, Zod Arifai chef/owner of the venerable BLU restaurant in Montclair.
Joe was the chef/owner of Trattoria Mezzojuso where he received New Jersey Monthly's "Best New Restaurant" award his first year and "Best Italian Restaurant" two years in a row. He relocated to Las Vegas where he was named Beverage Director for TAO Groups and opened TAO Asian Bistro and TAO Club. Currently, he is the Vice President of BEVI Beverage -a small importer and distributor of boutique wines and beers and is working with his partners on the upcoming opening of Villa Locale.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Now in our garden
Here are some pictures taken around our gardens on Saturday, May 8th, 2010
Apricots
Fava beans. These do better planted late fall for early spring crop.
Lettuces
Mint
Artichokes. Off to a great start again
Garlic
Arugula flowering/ Snow-capped Mt Charleston in background
Plums
Spinach
Parsley
Grape Vine
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
7th Annual Benefit Trail Ride
Spirit Therapies is hosting their 7th Annual Benefit Trail Ride:
Date: Saturday May 1, 2010
Registration: 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Ride Begins: 10:00 Sharp
Location: Badger Pass Trail, Cottonwood Trails System, Red Rock Canyon OFF STAR ROUTE 160 (2nd parking lot to the left as you are going "over the hump to Pahrump")
Riders must bring their own horses, NO STALLIONS PLEASE!
Fee: $35.00 (tax deductible) includes breakfast, lunch, one raffle ticket. Free T-
Shirt for early sign-ups.
Fees may be paid on the day of the event but must be paid via cash or check. Fees may also be paid on-line at www.SpiritTherapies.org via pay pal.
Entry blank may be downloaded from the web site or contact Laurie Willmott, Executive Director for an entry blank or any additional questions you may have.
OR: just pay the fee as a donation to Spirit Therapies, enjoy breakfast, lunch, raffle and auction, some good company and a good time!
All donations are put back into the therapeutic horseback riding program for individuals with special needs, including our military/veteran hero program.
Hope too see you there!
Laurie Willmott, Executive Director
Phone: 219-1728
email: horsemom59@hotmail.com
Date: Saturday May 1, 2010
Registration: 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM
Ride Begins: 10:00 Sharp
Location: Badger Pass Trail, Cottonwood Trails System, Red Rock Canyon OFF STAR ROUTE 160 (2nd parking lot to the left as you are going "over the hump to Pahrump")
Riders must bring their own horses, NO STALLIONS PLEASE!
Fee: $35.00 (tax deductible) includes breakfast, lunch, one raffle ticket. Free T-
Shirt for early sign-ups.
Fees may be paid on the day of the event but must be paid via cash or check. Fees may also be paid on-line at www.SpiritTherapies.org via pay pal.
Entry blank may be downloaded from the web site or contact Laurie Willmott, Executive Director for an entry blank or any additional questions you may have.
OR: just pay the fee as a donation to Spirit Therapies, enjoy breakfast, lunch, raffle and auction, some good company and a good time!
All donations are put back into the therapeutic horseback riding program for individuals with special needs, including our military/veteran hero program.
Hope too see you there!
Laurie Willmott, Executive Director
Phone: 219-1728
email: horsemom59@hotmail.com
Sunday, April 18, 2010
CHICKEN REVIVAL | City-dwelling poultry lovers have created a growing market
By Diane Dietz
The Register-Guard
Appeared in print: Sunday, Apr 18, 2010
________________________________
After 20 years in retail, Bill Bezuk didn’t need a market analysis to recognize a business opportunity.
Then-store manager at Barnes & Noble — after long management stints at The Sports Authority and REI — Bezuk was positioned to detect a topic of growing interest among his customers.
“It seems like every day or so we had people coming in and looking for books like The Backyard Farmer and how to raise chickens and organic gardening,” Bezuk said.
To Bezuk, 45, who was ready to try something new and something hands-on, selling chickens to city folk seemed like a lucrative niche.
So he pushed his “business casual” wear to the back of the closet, put on a bluework shirt and carpenter’s pants and began turning an old auto shop at 5th Avenue and Washington Street into a novice-friendly chicken supply shop: The Eugene Backyard Farmer.
He hopes to ride the urban chickenkeeping wave for four or five years, experiment until he perfects the merchandising formula, and then launch a chain.
“The timing is right for this,” he said. “The trends are obvious. It seems like everybody I know has chickens or knows somebody who wants chickens. Or wants to get chickens.”
Hatcheries confirm the trend that Bezuk detected.
Beginning in 2007, the demand for chicks in urban areas has increased as much as 20 percent a year, growers say.
“Historically, any time the economy has been bad, poultry has always been good,” said Bud Wood, president of the Iowa-based Murray McMurray Hatchery.
Murray McMurray is a leading shipper of retail-bound chicks, hatching 1.7 million annually.
Wood said he can’t stay ahead of the demand. “Right now, if you call in and place an order, it would be four to six weeks out before we could fill it,” he said.
In Oregon, Woodburn High school teacher Peter Porath started a hatchling wholesale operation, Oregon Peeps, after he lost his job in 2007. He sold 12,000 chicks his first spring, and he’s on pace to deliver 45,000 this year, he said.
Salem chicken activist Barbara Palermo said the chicken fervor is driven by economic fears.
“People are getting laid off, losing houses and losing jobs,” she said. “They want to hang on to what they have. A lot of them remember their grandparents telling them, ‘It’s chickens that saved us during the Depression.’ It’s much the same situation now.”
Backyard chicken raising may resonate with the public’s economic anxieties, and it’s certainly a hobby with a return. However the return is more likely to be nutritious than monetary — after the cost of equipping the urban flock is factored in.
“If you look at how much an egg costs you, it’s not break even,” said Mike Lengele, owner of Diess Feed and Seed on West 11th Avenue, who sells chicks by the hundreds through the spring hatching season.
The locavore movement
A spate of books and films is also driving the backyard chicken craze by raising doubts about industrial food sources, including “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” “Food Inc.” and most recently “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual.”
“The urban chicken is rising because of the organic, healthful lifestyle,” Wood said.
Chickenkeeping appeals to people who want to be sure the hens that lay their free-range eggs have really seen the light of day. They want to know the birds are treated humanely and their food isn’t tainted with antibiotics or hormones, according to the clean-food literature.
And fresh eggs taste better, their advocates say.
Oregon State University Extension officials were shocked in March by the response to their “Backyard Barnyard” chicken-raising seminar. “Our first class got out-of-hand. We had over 75 people,” organizer Linda Renslow said. “We couldn’t accommodate all of the people.”
So the extension scheduled a May 8 repeat, and already has 47 names on the waiting list.
Chicken chic
In recent months, chickens have hit the nation’s trend centers. The September New Yorker featured: “The It Bird: The return of the back-yard chicken.” A top read this year is “Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer,” about author Novella Carpenter’s spread on an abandoned lot in Oakland,
“Martha Stewart (on April 2) had an entire segment on raising chickens. So if Martha is doing it, everybody should be doing it,” Bezuk said.
Chickens exhibit sufficient varieties of color and form to give home decor fashionistas free range. In west Eugene, for example, Diess Feed and Seed offers 12 different breeds.
“One week (customers) have got to have Rhode Island Reds,” Lengele said. “The next week, oh no, they’ve got to have speckled Sussex or they have to have the black Australorp. We couldn’t keep enough buff Orpingtons for a while, now we’ve got 15 of them still here. Martha Stewart rants and raves about a certain chicken and everybody has to have one of those.”
The loci of chicken passion in Eugene-Springfield is in the Friendly area, where the neighborhood chicken group has 36 members. The group is planning a second annual tour of coops on May 1.
“Just within the last five years, people have really started to consider growing their own food, raising their own chickens,” said Friendly resident Anne Donahue. “There’s always folks who have done it for much longer than that, but it’s really now become more popular.
“If you were out for a walk, you’d probably hear somebody’s chickens wherever you are in the Friendly area neighborhood.”
Chicken power
Urban chicken farmers are asserting themselves politically at all levels of government. They’re pushing for a bill in Congress (H.R. 4971) to create an Office of Urban Agriculture within the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make sure that urban farmers get a cut of the agency’s $146 billion budget.
Closer to home, in Salem, legalizing chickenkeeping within city limits has become a major topic in the May 18 mayoral race — after the city council turned down urban farmer hopefuls last fall. Chicken advocates rate the candidates on a scale of chicken-friendliness.
“Our efforts made the front of the Wall Street Journal. You don’t get bigger than that, you just don’t,” said Palermo, who is spearheading the campaign for Salem’s chickens. “There are so many chicken lovers out there. You can’t believe.”
The Gresham City Council legalized chickenkeeping in December, but the Beaverton City Council has declined to do so in recent months. The to-keep-or-not-to-keep debate was settled some time ago in Eugene-Springfield. Springfield allows residents to keep four hens; Eugene allows two.
Eugene chickenkeepers, however, say two hens is not enough to feed a big family, and the city should raise its limits.
They have the ear of Mayor Kitty Piercy, who sees urban homesteading, including “micro livestock,” as a way to increase food security.
In the meantime, city nuisance officials enforce the number only when neighbors complain.
Golden eggs?
Bezuk wasn’t the first to see a business opportunity in the urban chicken niche.
Landscape architect Robert Litt opened his Urban Farm Store in Portland, offering garden and chicken supplies, in February 2009 — and he outgrew his space within a year. The demand for chickens took him by surprise.
“It’s become pretty common here in Portland. It’s become a movement with staying power,” he said.
Since then, entrepreneurs from other cities, including Bezuk, have visited the store to get his advice.
Bezuk initially sought outside funding for his Eugene start-up.
He wrote up a business plan, figuring he had the retail trends on his side. And he knows retail: How to produce a 50 percent margin and increased inventory turn rate and reduce shrinkage; how to manage customer relations, merchandising, conflict resolution, budget management, display, inventory control, profit and loss; how to how to hire, train and motivate staff.
In his view, it was an impressive package, Bezuk said, but bankers didn’t buy it.
“I was turned down four times,” he said. “I know how successful I’m going to be, but I can’t quantify it for a banker.”
Two months ago, Bezuk quit the top job at Eugene’s Barnes & Noble store to give his around-the-clock attentions to the new venture — now funded by his life savings. He declined to disclose the sum.
Since then, he has barely had time to sleep as he transformed the old auto repair shop, filled the shelves, built a demonstration chicken coup and nursed a wholesale order of 100 peeps — White Rocks, Production Reds and Cinnamon Queens
Although bleary eyed, he was cheered by the passersby who stopped to chat when his sign went up, even before the store’s April 10 opening.
“They’re passionate about chickens,” he said. “They love them. They give them names and they take care of them. They feed them well.”
The Register-Guard
Appeared in print: Sunday, Apr 18, 2010
________________________________
After 20 years in retail, Bill Bezuk didn’t need a market analysis to recognize a business opportunity.
Then-store manager at Barnes & Noble — after long management stints at The Sports Authority and REI — Bezuk was positioned to detect a topic of growing interest among his customers.
“It seems like every day or so we had people coming in and looking for books like The Backyard Farmer and how to raise chickens and organic gardening,” Bezuk said.
To Bezuk, 45, who was ready to try something new and something hands-on, selling chickens to city folk seemed like a lucrative niche.
So he pushed his “business casual” wear to the back of the closet, put on a bluework shirt and carpenter’s pants and began turning an old auto shop at 5th Avenue and Washington Street into a novice-friendly chicken supply shop: The Eugene Backyard Farmer.
He hopes to ride the urban chickenkeeping wave for four or five years, experiment until he perfects the merchandising formula, and then launch a chain.
“The timing is right for this,” he said. “The trends are obvious. It seems like everybody I know has chickens or knows somebody who wants chickens. Or wants to get chickens.”
Hatcheries confirm the trend that Bezuk detected.
Beginning in 2007, the demand for chicks in urban areas has increased as much as 20 percent a year, growers say.
“Historically, any time the economy has been bad, poultry has always been good,” said Bud Wood, president of the Iowa-based Murray McMurray Hatchery.
Murray McMurray is a leading shipper of retail-bound chicks, hatching 1.7 million annually.
Wood said he can’t stay ahead of the demand. “Right now, if you call in and place an order, it would be four to six weeks out before we could fill it,” he said.
In Oregon, Woodburn High school teacher Peter Porath started a hatchling wholesale operation, Oregon Peeps, after he lost his job in 2007. He sold 12,000 chicks his first spring, and he’s on pace to deliver 45,000 this year, he said.
Salem chicken activist Barbara Palermo said the chicken fervor is driven by economic fears.
“People are getting laid off, losing houses and losing jobs,” she said. “They want to hang on to what they have. A lot of them remember their grandparents telling them, ‘It’s chickens that saved us during the Depression.’ It’s much the same situation now.”
Backyard chicken raising may resonate with the public’s economic anxieties, and it’s certainly a hobby with a return. However the return is more likely to be nutritious than monetary — after the cost of equipping the urban flock is factored in.
“If you look at how much an egg costs you, it’s not break even,” said Mike Lengele, owner of Diess Feed and Seed on West 11th Avenue, who sells chicks by the hundreds through the spring hatching season.
The locavore movement
A spate of books and films is also driving the backyard chicken craze by raising doubts about industrial food sources, including “The Omnivore’s Dilemma,” “Food Inc.” and most recently “Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual.”
“The urban chicken is rising because of the organic, healthful lifestyle,” Wood said.
Chickenkeeping appeals to people who want to be sure the hens that lay their free-range eggs have really seen the light of day. They want to know the birds are treated humanely and their food isn’t tainted with antibiotics or hormones, according to the clean-food literature.
And fresh eggs taste better, their advocates say.
Oregon State University Extension officials were shocked in March by the response to their “Backyard Barnyard” chicken-raising seminar. “Our first class got out-of-hand. We had over 75 people,” organizer Linda Renslow said. “We couldn’t accommodate all of the people.”
So the extension scheduled a May 8 repeat, and already has 47 names on the waiting list.
Chicken chic
In recent months, chickens have hit the nation’s trend centers. The September New Yorker featured: “The It Bird: The return of the back-yard chicken.” A top read this year is “Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer,” about author Novella Carpenter’s spread on an abandoned lot in Oakland,
“Martha Stewart (on April 2) had an entire segment on raising chickens. So if Martha is doing it, everybody should be doing it,” Bezuk said.
Chickens exhibit sufficient varieties of color and form to give home decor fashionistas free range. In west Eugene, for example, Diess Feed and Seed offers 12 different breeds.
“One week (customers) have got to have Rhode Island Reds,” Lengele said. “The next week, oh no, they’ve got to have speckled Sussex or they have to have the black Australorp. We couldn’t keep enough buff Orpingtons for a while, now we’ve got 15 of them still here. Martha Stewart rants and raves about a certain chicken and everybody has to have one of those.”
The loci of chicken passion in Eugene-Springfield is in the Friendly area, where the neighborhood chicken group has 36 members. The group is planning a second annual tour of coops on May 1.
“Just within the last five years, people have really started to consider growing their own food, raising their own chickens,” said Friendly resident Anne Donahue. “There’s always folks who have done it for much longer than that, but it’s really now become more popular.
“If you were out for a walk, you’d probably hear somebody’s chickens wherever you are in the Friendly area neighborhood.”
Chicken power
Urban chicken farmers are asserting themselves politically at all levels of government. They’re pushing for a bill in Congress (H.R. 4971) to create an Office of Urban Agriculture within the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make sure that urban farmers get a cut of the agency’s $146 billion budget.
Closer to home, in Salem, legalizing chickenkeeping within city limits has become a major topic in the May 18 mayoral race — after the city council turned down urban farmer hopefuls last fall. Chicken advocates rate the candidates on a scale of chicken-friendliness.
“Our efforts made the front of the Wall Street Journal. You don’t get bigger than that, you just don’t,” said Palermo, who is spearheading the campaign for Salem’s chickens. “There are so many chicken lovers out there. You can’t believe.”
The Gresham City Council legalized chickenkeeping in December, but the Beaverton City Council has declined to do so in recent months. The to-keep-or-not-to-keep debate was settled some time ago in Eugene-Springfield. Springfield allows residents to keep four hens; Eugene allows two.
Eugene chickenkeepers, however, say two hens is not enough to feed a big family, and the city should raise its limits.
They have the ear of Mayor Kitty Piercy, who sees urban homesteading, including “micro livestock,” as a way to increase food security.
In the meantime, city nuisance officials enforce the number only when neighbors complain.
Golden eggs?
Bezuk wasn’t the first to see a business opportunity in the urban chicken niche.
Landscape architect Robert Litt opened his Urban Farm Store in Portland, offering garden and chicken supplies, in February 2009 — and he outgrew his space within a year. The demand for chickens took him by surprise.
“It’s become pretty common here in Portland. It’s become a movement with staying power,” he said.
Since then, entrepreneurs from other cities, including Bezuk, have visited the store to get his advice.
Bezuk initially sought outside funding for his Eugene start-up.
He wrote up a business plan, figuring he had the retail trends on his side. And he knows retail: How to produce a 50 percent margin and increased inventory turn rate and reduce shrinkage; how to manage customer relations, merchandising, conflict resolution, budget management, display, inventory control, profit and loss; how to how to hire, train and motivate staff.
In his view, it was an impressive package, Bezuk said, but bankers didn’t buy it.
“I was turned down four times,” he said. “I know how successful I’m going to be, but I can’t quantify it for a banker.”
Two months ago, Bezuk quit the top job at Eugene’s Barnes & Noble store to give his around-the-clock attentions to the new venture — now funded by his life savings. He declined to disclose the sum.
Since then, he has barely had time to sleep as he transformed the old auto repair shop, filled the shelves, built a demonstration chicken coup and nursed a wholesale order of 100 peeps — White Rocks, Production Reds and Cinnamon Queens
Although bleary eyed, he was cheered by the passersby who stopped to chat when his sign went up, even before the store’s April 10 opening.
“They’re passionate about chickens,” he said. “They love them. They give them names and they take care of them. They feed them well.”
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