Seasonal, Sustainable and Locally Grown:
Seasonal Plant Nursery Specializing in:
Only Locally Raised & Processed Beef, Lamb, Pork and Poultry
Edible, Native, Drought Tolerant Gardening Consulting Available
Nature's Touch Nursery & Harvest is a specialty plant nursery and local grocery store. They only sell local within California, certified organic, and naturally grown produce. The naturally grown produce has to be grown locally and comes with a soil analysis to guarantee that they are farmed with sustainable practices. Everything that Nature's Touch puts on the shelves comes with research, quality, and the most that they can get for your dollar. They also sell local beef, lamb, pork, chicken, eggs, cheese, milk, cream, yogurt, ice cream and breads. They are an "all in season" produce store. In California, we are blessed to have incredible fresh food all year long -- from berries in the early summer to the citrus and greens in the dead of winter.
Owner Melanie Blankenship (right)
and sister-in-law Theresa (left)
Melanie's story: "Nature's Touch Nursery & Harvest was started in August of 2001. It was started on a whim. Before I opened, I had my wholesale plant nursery in production and was working for Windrose Farm selling plants and organic produce at our local farmers market. I was also filling in for other farmers at market. From Peter Bigsby (Hydroponic Produce),to Judy Schuke (Pear tree Farms and Gardens). Before starting my wholesale plant nursery in 1998, I was the store and nursery manager at Sycamore Herb Farm in Paso Robles. Throughout all my employment, I used my experiences and the courses I was taking to educate myself on sustaining a lifestyle I could create with my own means.
"The whim was because I had learned the importance of supporting and eating local foods, but was finding it hard to do so at our local farmer’s market. With large scale corporate farms running the little hard working farms out of market, I was finding it hard to feed my family they way I had learned to. At this time, sales started to decrease for my wholesale plant nursery. So I started calling around to my customers and asked what I could do to gain the sales back and everyone told me that although my plants are of good quality, they could not sell the produce that my plants produced due to the lack of shelf life, people not knowing what our veggies or herbs were, or not knowing how important is to plant natives into their landscape. So with this in my thoughts, I went out looking to see how I could possibly start a business to educate and to help keep my local growers growing and to help my community understand and have the accessibility to good local plants and food.
"Through this process, Nature’s Touch is keeping a majority of the farmers I set out to help in business. We have also helped start Gold Coast Meats and local meat chicken, and egg producer, Red Branch Nursery which was the wholesale part of Nature’s Touch. Due to the store growing in popularity and the birth of my two children (Cody 5 & Savanah 2), I was finding it hard to keep up with the growing part of the nursery, so I handed it over to my brother and sister-in-law (J.R. and Teresa) to own and operate under the consult of Nature’s Touch.
"Nature's Touch believes in supporting local farmers, organic farmers, and the community. We decided to put together a program similar to a CSA program. The only difference is that we will not be growing the produce ourselves, but will be buying produce from local farmers and farmers throughout California. There are three different baskets available for a weekly pick-up. Each week, these baskets will have a list of all the farmers used, a different recipe, and in-season produce picked within the last 24 hours. Here at Nature's Touch, we believe in eating the freshest food possible and the easiest way to do that is by supporting our local farmers. With the baskets, the customer has the option to add meat, cheese, or other dairy products for an additional cost. By committing to one or more months, there is a substantial savings on each of these options. Please ask us about our special pricing. There is also the option to postpone a week's pick-up or to pick up every other week. Baskets are available for pick-up each Tuesday or Friday, after 11:30 am."
a place where families and kids are welcome.
Meet their warm, friendly, and knowledgeable staff.
You can also become a fan on Facebook and
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One of many vendors at Nature's Touch
Lori Foster, Owner
Spice of Life Special Blends
Hand Crafted, Classic and Unique Blends
All Natural • No Preservatives • NO MSG
Please come in to Nature's Touch
and sample the spices!
From Lori: "I hope that you will try my spices and blends for yourself. Try them in your recipes that you use now and notice the difference. You can use them in sauces, casseroles, gravies, marinades, dressings or sprinkle on meats, fish, pasta, salads, even sandwiches and popcorn. The possibilities are endless.
"I hope that by using Spice Of Life spices and blends you will find a renewed inspiration and create mouthwatering meals for your friends and family to enjoy."
PLEASE PRAY FOR THE SUCCESS
AND PROPSERITY OF NATURE'S TOUCH.
LET'S HELP AND SUPPORT MELANIE BLANKENSHIP
AS SHE IS HELPING OTHERS BUILD AND LIVE HEALTHIER LIVES.
225 South Main Street
Templeton, California
805-434-3062
CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS AVAILABLE:
· Growing an Herbal Medicine Cabinet Garden
· Growing & Producing Food with Nature
· All about Greens
· Get Your Garden Ready
· Kitchen Talk Workshop
· All about Herbs
· Raising Poultry
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