Bay Meadows

We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving weekend filled with family, friends, and delicious food! This coming weekend, however, we hope you can join us for the next class in the DIG IT series – A Garden Holiday Harvest! The class is on Saturday, December 3rd from 1-2pm and we’ll be talking about ways to use your winter harvest during the holidays and answering all of your winter gardening questions. In the spirit of the holidays, we also encourage you to share any extra goodies you’ve harvested from your garden with your neighbors, such as the bounty of citrus, leafy greens, hot peppers, edible flowers, and herbs you see in the photo below! As always, the class is free and open to the public, so friends, family, and fellow garden enthusiasts are welcome.

Speaking of the holidays, one of our favorite gifts at this time of year are gardening books. Whether you have friends or family who are new to gardening or have been digging in the dirt for many years, these titles are sure to please.

Golden Gate Gardening: The Complete Guide to Year-Round Food Gardening in the SF Bay Area and Coastal California – Pam Pierce

The so-called “Bible” for gardeners in the Bay Area, Pam Pierce’s book covers everything you need to know to about growing food from Marin and San Francisco to Palo Alto and Berkeley. It’s an easy read, well organized, and incredibly informative – a must-have for every gardener’s book shelf!

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening – Louise Riotte

Companion planting is a method of gardening that takes advantage of plants’ natural partnerships to protect them from pests, increase production, and boost their overall health. When it comes to this topic, you’ll find there’s lots of myths and bad science out there, but this book cuts through the misinformation and will help you grow an abundance of healthy and delicious food.

Vegetable Literacy – Deborah Madison

Filled with beautiful photography, this is the book for your gardening friends who are also avid chefs. Here you’ll find how to grow, harvest, and store all your favorite vegetables and herbs, as well as delicious recipes for how to cook with them.

The Culinary Herbal: Growing and Preserving 97 Flavorful Herbs – Susan Belsinger & Arthur O. Tucker

Another book filled with beautiful photography, The Culinary Herbal is our go-to book for growing herbs and using them in the kitchen. Each herb is given a brief historical context and tips for growing, harvesting, and storing, as well as their traditional uses in a wide variety of cuisines. What’s more, you’ll find information on commonly known herbs such as parsley, oregano, and thyme, but also less familiar varieties such as fenugreek, stinging nettle, and lamb’s quarters.

Infuse: Oil, Spirit, Water – Eric Prum & Josh Williams

Although not necessarily a gardening book, we love this book about infusions – simple ways to flavor water, oils, and alcohol that impress all our friends when they come over for dinner. Infuse provides you with fun, easy, and incredibly approachable recipes that take advantage of your harvests of fresh herbs and fruit. From cold brew coffees and hangover cures to flash infused oils and mixed drinks, this book has something for everyone!

Happy Holidays and we hope to see you at the next DIG IT class this Saturday, December 3rd!Did you know that Bay Meadows is just a five minute walk or bike ride away from Whole Foods, Starbuck, Peets, Chipotle and other great restaurants on 25^th Ave.   Learn more about all the great walkable amenities that surround Bay Meadows.  San Mateo was named the Best Small Town for Food by Rand McNally. You can discover the local eateries in downtown San Mateo here.