It’s the 6th of May. The year is starting to pass and by looking at the garden I can see summer coming on strong. The tomatoes we planted on April 7th have doubled and some have tripled in size in just one month. Three artichokes rise above everything else, but the new weathervan secured to a sturdy 4by4. Weathervanes are normally perched on the highest peak of a roof, but I felt like we needed one at Fiore. There is something about the rooster spinning when the wind blows. Reminds me of  home.

Today was our slowest day in awhile. The rains kept everyone  away. I took a few minutes to take photographs. Two new books arrived via UPS, Milk and Honey by Justin Van Hoy and The Art of Sage Vaughn. I hope you have a chance to look at these two great art books. Sage did the cover art for Justin’s book.

Here are a few photographs from today. With the rain we always move around the outdoor furniture. We found a new spot for one of the community table. Jolyn told Anne that it reminds her of France. We like anything Italian or French so I thnk we’ll keep the table there.

Bread class is full for next week.

Got lots of bread for tomorrow. We hope to see you soon.

Here are a few recent photographs. The garden is starting to grow. The tomato plants have sprouted some flowers and have gained a few inches since we planted on April 7th. We’ll have tomatoes soon. The zucchini and yellow squash seedlings rose from the dirt within 7 days. Looking forward to zucchini blossoms by May.

We have scheduled a bread class in May. Please click on the Classes link for more information. To sign up please stop by the restaurant. We require that you pay in advance for the class.

It has been one week and the zucchini and eggplant have already sprouted. I can’t believe it. So quick. The basil and parsley are doing well and so are the roses.

Here are a few photographs from today.

I don’t get around to writing on this blog often enough, but recently we have added quite a bit to the Fiore garden and patio. It seems every day there is something new. We found an old windmill that reminds me of Iowa.  It gives the garden a farm feel. My goal has always been to create a farm like setting and I think we are getting closer to achieving this.

We’ve added benches, new raised beds, and new planters that I painted with black board paint so we can write on them. Our new employee Sara is our planter artist.

Here are some recent photographs

We had a fantastic planting party today. This year I decided to plant large quantities of the herbs and vegetables that we use in the restaurant. We use a lot of basil to make pesto, but 3 plants only makes enough pesto for one recipe. This year we planted 36 basil plants and over 12 Italian parsley plants. We sowed seeds for zucchini, yellow squash and eggplant. We look forward to making the grilled vegetable piccolo with vegetable straight from the garden. We also planted some flowers and Susie pruned everything in the garden. Thank-you Susie. You did a great job.

Thanks to Rob, Michelle, Benny Anita, Susie, Pattie, Jennifer, Milo and Mia for participating. It was a lot of fun.

Here are a few photographs from the day.

I forgot Easter falls on  Sunday March 31st. Therefore, we will have the planting party the following Sunday April 7th from 10am til 1pm. If you are interested in participating please let us know.

We are having a planting party on March 31st. We’ll be planting our three new raised beds along with our tomato beds. We’ll start at 10:00am and go until 1:00pm. If you are interested in helping out send us an email or respond on facebook.

We’ll be planting tomatoes from Lily Montalvo. She is having a Tomato Fest the day before at her shop on Mission. We’ll also be planting lots and lots of basil. I want to grow and harvest as much basil as possible this summer to use in our homemade pesto. We go through tons of pesto so I need tons of basil.

We might  set up a compost bin also.

If you have the morning free stop by,, but let us know you’re coming.

Here are a few photographs from the week.

We have scheduled a bread making class and a grilled pizza class in February and March. Please click on the link for more details. We may schedule one more bread class for the end of March.

To sign up please stop by the restaurant. Due to the nature of our business we don’t have a lot of time to respond to emails. The classes fill up quickly and sign up is first come first serve.

We now have an hour of Jazz every Friday from 4:00-5:00pm.

We will start spring planting soon hopefully by the end of February. I am thinking about having a Sunday planting day. Let me know if you are interesting in helping out. Send us a message on Facebook.

Here are a few recent photographs.

Winter’s Here

It’s cold outside

but we’re baking bread

hoping for warmer days

When the windows are open

and the sun is straight above

and we’re hiding under umbrellas

complaining that it’s too hot

It sure is cold outside, but when the heat lamps are blazing it’s really not too bad. Remember we have a long oak table that seats 8 or more. So come inside and make some new friends. There’s nothing better than sitting down to a meal at a big long table with friends new and old.

Here are a few photographs from today.