Easter Lily Land in Northern California

The Easter Lily make a great centerpiece to any Easter dinner surrounded by family and friends. And it’s very likely they were grown right here in Northern California.

The fertile land in Smith River, California, sitting in the very northwest corner of California, is home to less than 900 residents, but roughly 95 precent of the world’s Easter lilies. In fact, five farms owned by four families in the area grow around 14 million Easter lilies each year.

Easter lilies grow on the Palmer Westbrook, Inc., Easter lily farm in the small town of Smith River, California. Smith River is known as the Easter lily capital of the world. Farmers in the costal area between California and Oregon grows nearly all of the Easter Lily bulbs sold in America.(Credit Image: © Robin Loznak)

Easter lilies are a native plant of Japan, but it was in 1919 when Louis Houghton began planting the flower just south of the Oregon border. When World War II started, the Easter lilies from Japan were no longer being imported, giving Houghton an incredible opportunity.

By 1945, the 600 acre area near Smith River had taken the lead in worldwide production of the plant. Today, the small town still reigns supreme as the Easter Lily Capital of the World.

While the Easter Lily looks tropical, it is very much a staple of Northern California. So if you have some Easter lilies as your centerpiece on Easter Sunday, you are truly supporting local business.

How South Africa’s Wine Industry Plans to Survive the Water Crisis - Brendan Lowe

From the article:

South Africa’s Cape Winelands are limping through the third year of a drought whose severity is estimated to occur only once in 311 years. Experts expect vineyard yields in parts of the region to be reduced by as much as 50 percent. But at Paul Cluver Wines, a 2,000-hectare estate in the Elgin Valley, about 75 kilometers southeast of Cape Town, where about half as much rain fell between 2015 and 2017 as between 2012 and 2014, the yield is increasing.

Cluver Wines is also one of 292 grape-growing farms that monitor their irrigation by means of FruitLook, a satellite-based tracking service provided to area farmers for free by the Western Cape Provincial Department of Agriculture. Each week, farmers can log on to a website and see the amount of evapotranspiration, biomass growth, and seven other data points for each pixel of their land, which represents 20 by 20 meters.

“The main angle of [the service] is to increase what we refer to as water-use efficiency,” said André Roux, a drought and water specialist in the Western Cape Government’s Department of the Premier. “The general feeling is that [we’ve seen] 10 to 20 percent water savings. Some farmers indicate [that they’ve had] up to 30 percent water savings.”

As a result of its multifaceted approach, Cluver is not suffering as much as many other wineries.

“It’s like building a bridge—you have to build it for the 100-year flood,” says Cluver. “If you build it for the 10-year flood, it’s going to wash away. If your water use doesn’t take into account the 100-year drought, then you’re going to have a problem.”

Read the full article HERE