What is on Melanie’s Mind

What should have been a simple freezer repair turned into a crash course in California regulations, refrigerant bans, rising costs, and why so many small businesses are struggling to survive. While federal restrictions are easing, California continues adding layers of mandates that make repairing equipment harder, more expensive, and nearly impossible for independent businesses to keep up with. If you’ve wondered why local food costs more and family businesses are disappearing — this is part of the reason why.

We say we support local food—but our dollars tell a different story. While small farms and processors fight to survive, convenience and “cheap” continue to win. If we don’t rebuild from the ground up, there will be nothing left to stand on.

Everyone wants local, clean, traceable food—until it’s time to pay for it or prioritize it. The truth is, we’re losing the very infrastructure that feeds us… and most people don’t even see it happening.

We’re being squeezed from every direction—and the hardest part isn’t just regulation or cost… it’s watching consumers say one thing and support another. If we don’t wake up now, this system doesn’t come back.

Warm days don’t mean it’s time to plant. At Nature’s Touch, we teach growers to read the soil — not the sky. Because true success starts below the surface.

At Nature’s Touch, we believe the best pest control isn’t chemical—it’s natural. With beneficial insects from Rincon-Vitova Insectaries and simple tools like cinnamon, you can protect your plants while building a living, balanced ecosystem.

  It used to be simple. You woke up, cracked an egg into a pan, and never once asked how it got there. At first, the changes came dressed as progre...

For many years, Nature’s Touch Nursery & Harvest looked like what most people expect when they walk into a nursery or farm store a larger build...

International Women’s Day  A Reflection Today I celebrate the journey of being a woman who has chosen to live with her hands in the soil, her voic...

To every politician, every policymaker, every attorney drafting another regulation from behind a polished desk in Washington This is not a policy b...

There was a time when food was judged by smell, by taste, by the way it felt in your hands. A crooked carrot meant it grew around a stone. A blemis...

Americans are not short on opinions but we are increasingly afraid of accountability. Somewhere along the way, calling out bad behavior became “me...

There was a time not long ago when a quiet movement was growing. Across towns, coastlines, and back roads, people were beginning to ask questions a...