Gardening tips from a wannabe farmer

Dave Rodriguez once told me to fertilize on Halloween and Super Bowl Sunday, and, as I was fertilizing my lawn this weekend, I realized that the Super Bowl used to be played in January.

Better late than never. Chris Gertz tells me to spray every time it rains after Valentine’s Day. Good advice, but I’m lucky if I spray my apricot and peach trees a couple of times a season. I usually have extra copper sulfate and oil, so I spray our roses and Japanese maples, too. Someone should let me know if that is OK, or am I just wasting chemicals.

If you still take Sunday drives, you will notice a lot of walnut orchards are being torn out. Local farmers tell me that the expected price will be below production cost and you will be seeing more and more orchards being taken out. The big question is, what will they plant in their place? I don’t think it will be apricots or peaches.

I don’t think I’m cut out to be a farmer. You can only pray for rain so many times before you lose your faith and start to question your occupation. Name me another industry that makes a product, ships it away, and then waits to see how much they will be paid, or when they will receive a check. Who allowed this situation to become the norm?

When I do a printing job, people will ask about the price. If it is too high, they go somewhere else. If they like the price, I deliver it just before they need it. With farming, what do you do with a crop when no one wants to pay you a fair price for it? Sure, there are years when the price is high and everyone is happy, but when the price is low, what are you supposed to do with your trees? I guess the answer is to take out the orchard and plant something else.

A friend described being a farmer: “We live poor and die rich.”

Meaning that when a farmer dies, the family usually sells the land and never looks back. Some farms have been passed along from generation to generation, the same as newspapers. There comes a time when it just isn’t profitable or there isn’t anyone who wants to continue the family tradition.

I’ve noticed a few For Sale signs around

Beer, wine and how to eat an elephant

Winters Market

ABC License

Recently Winters Market, on the corner of Railroad and Grant, had applied for a license from ABC to sell beer and wine for offsite consumption (Type 20 license). I prepared 15 total questions for the Applicant, the Police Chief and any representative from the High School or School District who might be there to speak to their concerns, but neither I nor any other councilmember got a chance to ask anything.

I know I’m treading a delicate line here since this issue isn’t formally resolved. I can’t discuss the merits of this application nor give an opinion on the issue, but there is a lot of interest in it. The short version of what happened is the owner of Winters Market announced, during the public hearing, that he will be withdrawing the application.

Due to the proximity to the high school, and ABC classifying the town as having an “oversaturation” of type 20 licenses based on their per-capita rule of thumb, the permit question came before City Council.

In general, my default starting position on permit issues is that if you want to engage in legal action or behavior on your property, or in your home or business, you should be allowed to. If there are community concerns about that legal behavior, you should hear them out, present a plan, and, where a permit or license is required, a determination should be made in a way that assesses the risk of the concerns in an objective, unbiased way.

In this case, City Council was asked to make a finding on something called a determination of public convenience or necessity. If you are interested in what that is, there is information in the Feb. 7 agenda packet. Going into the hearing, I also had a general idea of what combination of answers would lead me to support approval and what combination would lead me to reject approval, but I still don’t have answers to them, and we did not get a chance to make any determination.

At the hearing, the applicant stepped to the podium and stated he had just decided to pull his application based on community feedback. To me, it seemed like he made that decision sometime between the moment he was asked if he had anything to say, and when he arrived at the podium.

I hope the applicant didn’t decide to pull his application because he felt he had no path to approval, because that was not the case in my mind. In any event, the item was continued to next month pending official notification that the application is withdrawn. Should the applicant decide to continue pursuing a Type 20 license appli- cation, I echo the mayor’s comments at the meeting that we will be happy to continue the hearing to make a determination on the question.

Pocket Park

The topic of Pocket Park has gotten spicy as of late. Bottom line up front: it is clear to me that we have enough direction from residents on the desired elements in this park, and we decided to bring an item back at a future meeting to create an ad hoc committee of two city councilmembers, city staff, and potentially community stakeholders to develop a phased development plan to finish the park.

There has been a lot of discussions, out- rage, anger, frustration and other forms of public outcry over Pocket Park downtown because we the county, I think more than I usually see. It will be interesting to watch what happens when all of the baby boomers start to die off. Will their children or a grandchild step up and take over the farm, or will the next generation just look at the money and decide to sell?

It isn’t just farmers and newspapers I’m talking about. Look at any small business and see how many are being run by third or fourth generations.

I’ll add that McNaughton Newspapers, owner of the Express, is being run by fourth-generation members of the family, maybe the fifth generation, I’m not sure. So there is always hope that someone will see the benefit of taking on a family business. Cross your fingers and have a good week.

Letters

Thank you for front page article

The students' work on the valentines that you featured on the front page last issue (Feb. 15 edition) was the result of a lot of community support. We want to thank the Winters Joint Unified School District led in enthusiasm by our new superintendent Dr. Rody Boonchouy, Ace Hardware and especially Gino who is ever generous, Winters Rotary for turning out on a Saturday to hoist the scaffolding, the ever-supportive Winters Participation Board members, Kona Ice and Belle Boutique who continue to collect hearts. Without a village, this would never happen. Winters is that village.

VALERIE WHITWORTH

Winters Participation Gallery Chair one Miguel Ruiz had raised on the steps of City Hall in Winters thirty years ago.

Later, we enjoyed some refreshments in the town square, just outside the Almogía city offices. This is the plaza where they celebrate the special town dance festival called the Verdial, an annual celebration that draws people from all over the region. A huge stage is set up at one side of the large plaza and youth perform the traditional dances and music of this region, called the “verdiales.” I imagined something akin to our Festival de la Comunidad, or our Tractor Parade.

The Verdial is a special ancient dance that is similar to the Flamenco, or Fandango, but even older. It is named for the verdial grape and goes back to the times of Moorish origins with Arabic instruments. Las Verdiales is typically celebrated as an annual competition between outlying villages and crowds from all over Almogía attend the festival. The music and costumes are a symbol of their culture and history.

We asked about the “Alcalde” statue we had seen above at the smaller plaza.

“Oh, that word has doble sentido,” (double meaning) the current mayor explained. Alcalde means the mayor of the village, but in music, it means conductor, or director, as well. The stick, he explained, is the director’s baton.

Later, we had a chance to visit other tiny communities from which Winters’ families have sprung. We spent several days driving around

Almería, Lubrin, El Chiva, and El Marchal. All of them represent possibilities of future sister cities. We took names and made a few connections. Something for a future trip, perhaps. When we embarked on this journey, we were not sure if the Almogíans were aware of the sister cityhood, or if anyone here was aware of our town some 10,000 kilometers away. The emails I exchanged with the mayor’s office had been business-like, and somewhat terse. But we can clearly report that Almogía has not forgotten the Ruiz dream: from the street they named for us, to the plaque on the town hall meeting chambers, to the living memories of those we met, the sisterhood with Winters is alive and well.

We were privileged to carry the good wishes from our City Council to theirs. The proclamation we presented says, in part, that …Winters is a community that celebrates its diversity with inclusivity, nurturing care for others and respect for all, and bonding together over community meals, events, music and a little dancing in the streets — like the festivals in Spain … Now, therefore, be it proclaimed by the City Council of Winters that it hereby celebrates and honors its Spanish heritage and the town of Almogía, sending warm regards to its residents and our family members.

Help Wanted

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME

Case Number: CV2023-0044

TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS:

Petitioner: Yousaf Maidanwall filed a petition with this court for a decree changing names as follows:

Present name

Yousaf Maidanwall to Proposed name Matheulla Hadi

T H E C O U R T O R D E R S t h a t a l l p e r s o n s i n t e r e s t e d i n t h i s matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated bel o w t o s h o w c a u s e i f a n y w h y t h e p e t i t i o n f o r c h a n g e o f n a m e s h o u l d n o t b e g r a n t e d A n y p e r s o n o b j e c ti n g t o th e name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted If no written objection is timely filed the court may grant the petition without a hearing NOTICE OF HEARING

Date: 3/14/2023

The Winters Senior Center is seeking funding for equipment and programming.

Mail checks payable to Winter Senior Center Fund to: Yolo Community Foundation, P.O. Box 1264, Woodland, CA 95776

How many Airbnbs are enough for Winters?

In the past few months, our City Council has approved three new Airbnbs in Winters, which will all become part of the local hotel/ motel market.

What is an Airbnb?

Airbnb is shorthand for Air Bed & Breakfast, and they are houses that are independently owned and used as short-term rentals. They are, in effect, mini-motels, where visitors can rent a house for a couple of days, or a week, with no on-site staff present or available.

The owner of the Airbnb house pays a commission to the Airbnb parent company to list their rental on the international Airbnb website.

We now have at least six fully approved Airbnbs in Winters.

And I’ve heard that two more Airbnb applications are expected. The three recently approved Airbnb’s are at at 436 Russell, 205 Main, and 11 E. Main.

Has there been a community discussion about how many Airbnbs will be allowed?

No. Has there been community discussion about the negative impact on housing availability in Winters? No.

Has the City Council

Continued from Page 3 town because we installed a straight walkway bisecting the lot. The agenda item of the park was straightforward but complicated by 17 years of building emotions.

To me, with a few exceptions, what happened in the past is irrelevant to the goal. The simplistic summary is that the property was sold to the city and the seller/local community groups had five years to bring a completed development plan with community input to the city. The document record has several concept drawings and sketches but no complete engineering or development plan. I do see sufficient input though.

The “park” has languished for 17 years, in part due to a lack of money, government bureaucracy, and lack of emphasis from previous city councils (likely due to lack of funding). I don’t say that to assign blame, but to give some context for how we got here. The list of reasons is not supposed to be comprehensive. Resources have not been available to complete the park, no plan is complete, and no direction has been provided yet by any city council to acquire the missing resources.

I may have entered the meeting with a more practical perspective than my four colleagues because I hadn’t even joined the Army, much less moved to town, when this lot was sold to the city. The others all established any restrictions, limitations, or any Airbnb policy at all for Winters? Again, no.

I believe that Airbnbs have a strong negative impact on our community, on our current hotels, and on a majority of our local business. And Airbnbs certainly have a significant negative impact on our local real estate market, both rental homes and homes for sale.

Who benefits from Airbnbs? Airbnbs are a wonderful asset for wealthy families who already own one or two, or maybe even five or 10 homes, and can afford to buy an extra house to convert into an Airbnb shortterm rental. Airbnbs usually generate profits and tax deductions for the owner.

But who is hurt by the growing number of Airbnbs in Winters? It’s the middle and lower-class people who are being hurt because as the number of Airbnbs increase, residents with less wealth will find fewer homes available to purchase or rent, and also see prices rise for those homes still available on the market. Every time an Airbnb is approved, it seemed to have some direct or indirect involvement in the process leading to a little bit of defensiveness, perhaps, which is normal. Their comments all attempted to address the public comments and offline chatter that has recently occurred on social media and in this very paper. I didn’t care about the noise. It’s time to complete the park.

What I heard, at a basic level, is that people are upset that we have no park. Outcry over funding, architectural designs, grants, and even the pathway itself are just the vehicles to carry 17 years of frustration.

We have public input on the desired use and what elements are wanted there. At this point, I feel we are getting caught up with questions like “do we want a round or square stage?” and “should the path be curved or straight?” leaves one less home for locals to live in.

We need to take a breath and focus on the goal.

This is why I cut straight to the common elements of the multiple concept sketches and suggested we stop designing by a committee and form a City Council ad hoc working group to develop an achievable, affordable, phased development plan, that seeks grant funding by phase. Otherwise, we will be having this discussion for another 17 years.

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I don’t know how long it will take, but the park will get done, piece by piece, phase by phase.

If an Airbnb opens on your street, it will not improve your neighborhood.

Transient Airbnb customers never become part of your street or community. Most of us enjoy knowing who our neighbors are. We know that our friends across the street keep an eye on our house when we are gone. We know we can borrow a lawnmower or half a dozen eggs from one of our neighbors. And, as we get to know our neighbors, we make new friends.

But when an Airbnb appears on your street, you lose that community connection. You will never know the people living in that house. Those transients won’t help you, watch out for you, or become your friends. The warm and friendly character of your street and neighborhood is forever changed. And if you live next door, or across the street, from an Airbnb, it gets even worse. Instead of having actual neighbors you know and recognize, you will have a fly-by-night motel right next door, bringing in new transient visitors, day after day, and week after week. We now have two hotels in Winters — the just-opened Fairfield Inn near 505, and the still fairly new Winters Hotel downtown. (And we also have the much smaller Abbey Street Inn.) Each new Airbnb creates financial damage to the hotels.