June 21, 2009: Livermore Valley Visits

A visit to Alden Lane Nursery in Livermore, an olive ranch and Italian street painting

MGS member Ze’ev Vered presented a lively talk about mediterranean herbs at Alden Lane Nursery. We learned much about cultivation and use of herbs such as rosemary, thymes, savory, oreganos, bay, and mints. Alden Lane Nursery was a delight to browse through until our lunches from Tommie's Deli arrived. We enjoyed our lunches, meeting new friends and admiring the murals on the wall of our meeting room.

Following lunch we drove in a caravan over to Olivina, a large olive tree ranch to learn about olive oil production and enjoy a tasting. The owner and his family turned out to explain the process with a tour of the pressing, cleaning and bottling facilities. This was followed by a tasting of six varieties of excellent oils. Some of us went home with our own bottles of Arbequina, Frantoio, Mission and more.To finish the day a number of us travelled to the Danville Fine Arts Faire to see Italian street painting in action by Cheryl and Wayne Renshaw. Cheryl is a member of our Executive Committee. We are a talented bunch!