Free community party features food, music, shopping and family fun
Loomis celebrates all things eggplant this Saturday, Oct. 7. The festival and parking are free. Courtesy Loomis Basin Chamber of Commerce
Go purple! Here’s a salute to a Sacramento Valley vegetable (or is it fruit?) that doesn’t get its due: The 36th annual Loomis Eggplant Festival.
On Saturday, Oct. 7, all things eggplant will be in the spotlight as the Town of Loomis celebrates its agricultural roots. Hosted by the Loomis Basin Chamber of Commerce, the festival will be held at the Loomis Train Depot, 5775 Horseshoe Bar Road, Loomis. Admission and parking are free.
“Step back to some of California’s rural roots in farming and fruit packing,” say the organizers. “Loomis was the primary hub for regional fruit packing at the historic Train Depot where the Eggplant Festival is held.”
More than 100 vendors and community groups are expected to take part in the festival, open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Sponsors Raley’s and High-Hand Nursery will hand out free eggplants to patrons, while supply lasts.
All cooks are invited to participate in the eggplant cooking contest. Submit your finished dish plus the recipe by 10:30 a.m. Entry in the contest is free with $100 to the winner.
“Eggplant Festival vendors include some of the best food vendors, craftsmen, and artists in Placer County, so plan on taking time to explore, shop, and dine while taking in entertainment on two stages,” say the organizers. “The cooking contest will bring out some tasty treats, all featuring eggplant, with local, fresh craft beer on hand to wash these tantalizing bites down, including Loomis’s own Loomis Basin Brewery and High-Hand Brewery.”
Plenty of family stuff is on tap, too. Check in at the Little House of Eggplant next to the Train Depot entrance and get a full schedule of activities.
Hosted by the South Placer Fire District, a free pancake breakfast starts things off from 8 to 10 a.m. at Firehouse Station 18, 5840 Horseshoe Bar Road, down the block from the Train Depot. That’s followed by a kazoo parade at 10 a.m.; pick up a free kazoo at the Little House of Eggplant.
For details and directions: https://www.loomischamber.com/eggplant-festival/.
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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3
November still offers good weather for fall planting:
* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.
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