🌱 After 31 Years, Nature’s Touch Is Returning Home to the Farm
🌱 Nature’s Touch Nursery & Harvest: Returning to Our Roots 🌱
After many wonderful years serving our community from 225 S. Main Street in Templeton, Nature’s Touch Nursery & Harvest will be closing our retail location and moving all operations back home to the farm.
While our storefront chapter is coming to a close, this is not the end of Nature’s Touch it is a return to our roots and the beginning of an exciting new chapter.
Nature’s Touch began in 1994 with a simple mission: to grow healthy plants, healthy food, and help connect people back to the land. What started as growing and selling herbs, vegetables, and California native plants at farmers markets throughout California slowly grew into something much bigger than I ever imagined.
In 1999, Nature’s Touch opened its first storefront at 140 7th Street in Templeton. For ten years, we grew alongside our customers, helping families learn to garden, grow food, and reconnect with where their food comes from.
In 2009, we moved to 225 S. Main Street in Templeton, where Nature’s Touch Nursery & Harvest continued to evolve. Over the years, we expanded beyond plants into fresh food, local meats, eggs, honey, educational programs, and community outreach. Together, we weathered droughts, economic challenges, changing regulations, and a rapidly changing food system.
Today, after more than 30 years, I am choosing to focus on what first inspired me to start this journey being a better farmer, teacher, steward of the land, and community member.
Going forward, Nature’s Touch will be moving back to the farm and becoming more mobile. We are currently developing several weekly pickup locations, pop-up markets, and “Meet Me” locations throughout California to continue serving our customers.
The exciting part? I am continuing to farm and plan to increase production both on our own land and neighboring properties. This transition allows me to focus more on growing food, raising livestock, educating others, and helping strengthen local food systems.
Nature’s Touch will continue to offer:
🌿 All-Organic California-Grown Harvest Basket Subscriptions
🌿 Seasonal Plant Nursery Selections
🌿 Fresh Farm Eggs
🌿 Local Meats & Raw Pet Food Options
🌿 Honey
🌿 Coffee
🌿 Educational Resources & Community Support
I will also be expanding my availability for private classes, consulting, and hands-on experiences including:
🐝 Beekeeping
🌱 Gardening from Soil to Table
🚜 Farm & Food Production Guidance
📋 Understanding Regulations & Compliance Requirements
🐓 Raising Poultry, Livestock & Rhea
🌾 Seed Saving
♻️ Composting
🕯️ Tallow & Lard Rendering
🧼 Soap & Candle Making
👩🍳 Private Chef Experiences in Your Home
My goal is simple: to continue helping people grow, raise, harvest, prepare, and understand healthy food for both humans and pets while supporting agriculture throughout California.
To everyone who has supported Nature’s Touch since 1994 whether you purchased a single plant, attended a class, bought local food, shared a conversation, or simply encouraged me along the way—thank you. You have been part of this journey, and I am deeply grateful.
The storefront may be closing, but the farm is growing.
The mission remains the same: helping people reconnect with their food, their land, and their community.
📞 Phone: 805-712-3478
📧 Naturestouch@sbcglobal.net
🌐 Nature’s Touch Nursery & Harvest
naturestouchnurseryandharvest.store
🌐 Creston Valley Meats
crestonvalleymeats.com
Stay tuned for announcements regarding pickup locations, pop-up events, classes, harvest baskets, and new opportunities to learn, grow, and share in the harvest.
This is not goodbye.
This is Nature’s Touch returning home to the farm, where the next chapter begins.
With gratitude,
Melanie Blankenship
Nature’s Touch Nursery & Harvest & Creston Valley Meats