I can’t believe my last post was the third. Where does the time go? The rainy season has started here in northern California. We had about an inch of rain yesterday. The rest of the week looks dry through the weekend.

We have had a lot going on as far as cleaning up the nursery. We have several large valley oaks (Quercus lobata) on the property and they have been dropping leaves like mad. Normally I would just let the leaves sit, but you have to get through the walkways so it’s been clean up every day. It also has been raining acorns which if they hit gets your attention. These don’t rake up so well.

We are also re-opening our little gift shop where I have my office, so we are moving the office next door. The gift shop was fun and the only reason we had not kept it open was our attempt to live in the house where it’s located. We’ll after a year of living in a really small place we relocated to a larger home, a few miles from here where Monica and I will be much happier.

The other thing I have come to realize is that I do need to get away from the business a day or two a week. Living at the nursery means living the business 24/7. While there are certainly benefits to being here I also enjoy the fresh outlook a day or two off gives.

That fresh outlook has stimulated some ideas about where we want to take the nursery in the future. I feel that finding a niche(s) that you can own is the way to go in the small garden center business. Trying to please everyone just doesn’t work and if we are going to thrive in this competitive market we have to think “outside the box”. More on that later!

Sorry about not posting sooner. I appreciate the e-mails wondering where I was, and will do my best to keep you informed more frequently. It’s going to be a fantastic year ahead and I would love to share it with you!