Farm Fresh & Fun! Happy Acres, Paso Robles

Had the greatest time touring... Happy Acres Family Farm with Coy Barnes of The Wine Wrangler during a visit to Paso Robles. 

Read more about my Central Coast sojourn on Alice's Garden Travel Buzz

Happy Acres is a family run Goat Milk Dairy operation that produces the finest artisan cheeses featured in Farmer's Markets and restaurants.

A certified organic farm, they also produce fresh produce and eggs.

Children and their parents delight in touring the property to learn about farming and animal care. You can visit the web site to book a tour!

It's a setting filled with the energetic activity of pigs and dogs, chickens and alpacas, horses and a miniature donkey, along with the 200 or so goats that owner Stephanie Simonin can readily identify by name!

Four women and some younger family members work together milking, collecting eggs, or preparing goats for 4H events and shows. They also create luxurious goat's milk skin care products, another Happy Acres speciality. All are handmade and paraben-free, from moisturizing creams and cleansers to lip butters and lotions in a variety of scents.

Happy Acres Family Farm is located in Templeton, California, a bit south of Paso Robles.

Thanks, Stephanie! The White Tea Ginger Lotion feels wonderful on my skin.

www.HappyAcresFamilyFarm.com

Aah... Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve!

The stunning natural beauty of the

Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve

Photo: Wikipedia Commons

Wildflower season spans the Springtime months, however, the Fall is also a great time to visit this California State Park. Its eight miles of trails wind through western Mojave Desert grasslands.

Watch for critters such as scorpions and lizards, gopher and rattlesnakes, coyote and bobcat.

A Welcome Visitor: U.C. Botanical Garden, Berkeley

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley

Mantis created by Patrick E

Perfume Roses! Russian River Rose Co.

Russian River Rose Company Nursery and Display Garden

Jan and Michael Tolmasoff harvest more than a half-ton of rose blooms -- that's 130,000 intensely fragrant flowers -- from their Healdsburg, California gardens in order to yield a mere 2 ounces of distilled rose oil.

The Tolmasoffs' gardens sprouted in 1980. And over time, the layout evolved into a historical arrangement of roses, starting with species such as Rosa californica, a California native. A tour of the garden begins across the way, in a setting anchored by antique roses of European and Middle Eastern descent, creating extravagant displays

A naturalistic butterfly garden encircles the house's turret, with annuals, perennials and roses coming together to provide continuous bloom. The relaxed planting features irises and calendulas for color and contrast in spring: summertime allies - verbena, cosmos, pincushion flower and echinacea are outlined by a vibrantly colorful border of miniature, own-root roses.

Look for the entry arch, supporting hybrid musks among a bevy of shade-tolerant roses that thrive in Northern California. Tender tea roses boast an area of their own. Jan mentions Etoile de Lyon as one of the most beautiful, recommending it to people looking for an antique rose, but not a once-blooming type.

A compelling element of the garden design: An allee articulated by seven arches 12 feet high and wide entices visitors to stroll through the vineyard to the perfume rose field.

Garden Valley Rose Ranch

It's high summer, when a visit to Garden Valley Ranch is the order of the day.

North of San Francisco in Petaluma, this plant nursery & display garden offers a cottage rental & more. (Photos Courtesy GVR)

'Trollius'

One of the distinctive garden areas at GVR is a delightful mixed border

inspired by the designs of the English gardening doyenne, Gertrude Jekyll.

Columbines, Cardoons & Foxgloves

The Rose Field - 'Climbing Iceberg' Arbors in the background.

Here you'll find landscaped gardens and rose fields

to tour,

either

on your own, or call ahead for a scheduled docent tour.

Garden Valley Ranch is open for touring Wednesday through Sunday, events permitting.

Ph: 707.795.0919 for a schedule of events, information on classes,

or for tour information.

May through September Tour Hours 10 - 5