Dear Friends and fellow Gardeners,

So, you want to grow a garden. Well, I'll tell you, the very first thing you have to do is grow that garden in your mind. Ya have to have the want, the need, and the desire.

If you're being forced by your partner, it won't work. If you're trying to keep up with the neighbors, there is trouble ahead. If you're doing it because you feel obligated to the environment, Mother Nature will know and it will be a disaster.

To be a good gardener, forget the green thumb. Ya gotta have the heart, the will and the sweat to make it work. You need a mind that can dream of peach juice running down your chin, recall the intoxicating smell of a rose and all of the delicious flavors from your own vegetable garden. Oh Lord, what I would do right now for a garden-ripe tomato!

Plants know if you love them -- and if you don't, you're in for a whole lot of trouble. In Peter Tompkins book The Secret Life of Plants, he states that people who talk to their plants will cause them to grow better. Well…. I'm not so sure about that. What I do believe is that people who talk to their plants are wonderful dreamers who really love their plants and, of course, they grow better because their every need is met.

For many of us, planting a garden is in our genetic heritage. Just look back a generation or two. Most people were farmers. I always feel sad and sorry to see today's children moving off the farm, but I know that many farmers have a hard life, and I understand their children looking for a better life. It is a sad commentary that our society does not care for and foster the noble profession of farming. If displaced children of farms cannot farm, I hope they can garden. In this fast paced technological world we should honor the roots of our past. Really, if people spent more time in the garden, they would be happier, healthier, and probably live longer.

A few notes on beginning your garden. If it's fruits and vegetables you want to grow, look for locations in full sun. Make sure your water source is reliable and sufficient. Dig a trench 2'-3' deep and observe the soil profile. Correct problems of clay, gravel, and hardpan. Add soil amendments before planting. Start small -- gardens take time. Try not to get carried away with seed catalogs and nurseries. Get to know your neighbor who gardens and find out what does best in your area. Consult many fine books and your nursery person to learn more about the wonderful and fascinating world of the garden.

By TINA ARNOPOLE DRISKILL

Come to the first annual Heartland Conference and Fair and learn everything you ever wanted to know about sustainable agriculture during what promises to be a fun-filled weekend.

The conference is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday June 10 and 11 at California State University Stanislaus Turlock campus and the Double T Acres Ranch and Museum in Stevinson. Sponsors for the event are the Committee for Sustainable Agriculture, Double T Acres and CSUS Extended Education Department and Bio-Ag Center.

Participants can take part in a non-stop selection of talks, workshops, demonstrations, exhibits and family activities at CSUS Saturday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. The list is boundless -- "Dialectic of Violence and Tenderness: The Central Valley Literary Landscape", "Yoga for Gardeners", "Nurturing Children-Nurturing Nature", "The Whole Grain Connection Between Farmers and Bakers", "Growing Great Roses", "Real and Imagined Risks in Biological or Organic Farming", "What are We Feeding Our Children?", "The Time-and Space-Efficient Garden -- That Sustains & is Sustainable", "Seasonal Celebrations on the Farm & in the Garden", "The Future of Organic Agriculture" -- to name but a few.

Saturday morning sessions keynote will be "Working with the Land: Conquest or Partnership?" by Glenda Humiston, USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment. John Jeavons of the Ecology Action Mini-Farm/Research Garden will keynote afternoon sessions with "Fertility, Food, Income, and Community."

CSUS demonstrations and exhibits will include Cambodian, Hmong and Lao ethnobotany gardens, gardening as therapy, attracting nature to your yard, composting techniques, espalier-pruning-grafting techniques, native edible/medicinal plants and many more. You can join the kids in "How Now Cash Cow", kids hikes, building a wormery, square foot field trips, nature journals, a variety of natural arts, Nature's Magic Show and more.

Festivities continue Saturday at Double T Ranch with an Organic Beef and vegetarian barbecue at 5 p.m. Historical exhibits of old equipment and tools will be presented at 4 p.m. and a slide show, "Box Labels-SJV History" will be presented at 7 p.m. The evening will round off with a barn dance to the country rock rhythms of Jordhuga, or at the Caboose Stage, with McTeggart Irish Kitchen Ceili (Kay-lee) Band Irish step-dancing music, both beginning at 8 p.m.

Sunday's activities at Double T Ranch begin at 8 a.m. with breakfast followed by varied programs and demonstrations including "The Changing Nature of the Valley: Tour of San Luis National Wildlife Refuge", "Farming on the Edge", "Tour of Gallo Dairy's Wildlife-Friendly Land Management Areas", "Hands-on Crazy Quilting", "Homeopathy at Home", "Beekeeping", "Organic Sweet Potato Farming", "Pastured Poultry for Homesteads", a seed swap and more.

Chester Smith, former owner of KTRB Riverbank, will present "San Joaquin Swing: A Country Western Music Review, Valley Style" at 10 a.m., and Valtana & "Shake it up!" rock band will play at 1 p.m.

The "young and young at heart" can join in on a cow patty toss, nature games, chicken bingo, arts and crafts, and a petting zoo among other activities.

By GEORGE OSNER

Strawberries have come in season here in Modesto, CA, with a bang, something I look forward to each year. I will put the best of local Modesto strawberries up against the best of anywhere in the state.

For many years, coastal berries have been regarded as the superior product -- Watsonville has its adherents, so does San Luis Obispo. Nope. Modesto berries are even better.

Plump but not huge (I don't like those hardball sized objects that are palmed off as a luxury - generally the taste and texture are consistent with that comparison as well). A red that says "eat me now", and an aroma coming off the box that you can smell at 20 paces, and when you close in on it, it's heady and almost overwhelming. Bite in and the juice is nectar, the berry has a yielding firmness; the overall experience is utterly hedonistic. We have the remains of a half-crate in the fridge now and I'll be having a few more later. Of course they are absolutely "best" just out of the field, or at least at room temperature. These cold ones will also be cut over cereal tomorrow.

The funny thing is, until just a few years ago we had no commercial strawberry fields here. Most of the post-WWII growers (many of whom were second-generation Nisei) had gone out of business earlier because the season is so short here where the summers are too hot for strawberries to continue producing past spring. Now there are strawberry fields all around the periphery of town.

Generally, the rise of this "industry" has seemed to coincide with the settlement in this area of the Hmong. There are large populations of the Hmong in Minneapolis, in North Carolina, in Denver, and in the San Joaquin Valley. Their adoption of strawberry farming was not an accident, nor was it automatic. A far seeing farm advisor, whose name I don't remember, and who died recently, put the package together, went out and recruited and trained the Hmong to this new business.

In Laos, they had lived a nomadic life in the hills. Their ancestors came from Siberia, through China, over the past 1500 years or so, persecuted all the way The Viet Nam war destroyed their territory and so they became refugees here. These folks find a little plot of land, plant berries, put up a roadside stand, and are on the capitalist path. In the process, we are all blessed.

The best strawberries in Modesto? That would have to be the little patch at the southwest corner of Carpenter Road and California Avenue. I can't drive by -- the car just automatically pulls over.

Mmm…time to go have a few!

By DOROTHY S. GRIGGS

2 lbs. raw shrimp in the shell
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
1/4 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup butter (optional)
1/4 cup flour (optional)
1/4 tsp. red pepper
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt (or to taste)
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 tab. chopped parsley for garnish or
1/4 cup chopped green onion