We hope all of you had a comfortable and delicious Thanksgiving. In the spirit of giving thanks, we would like to show our appreciation for such a supportive community by implementing a Unity Church Hill Nursery Customer Loyalty Program, so please stay tuned for details.

With the holidays, so also comes the season of gift-giving. As you are looking for something for that special someone, please keep us in mind. We offer gift certificates, garden tools and accessories such as planters, statuary, bird baths and more. We've taken the hint from Mother Nature that cold weather is on its way and have started the process of moving our retail perennials, ferns, grasses, and shrubs inside our front hoop house to protect them from severe winter weather. We are excited to have this additional retail space available this winter. Most of our plants may be inside, but they are still accessible, so please stop by, explore the nursery, walk through our hoop houses, or as we like to call them "covered classrooms", and learn about native plants here at Unity. (We are open now and through the winter Mon-Fri 8am-5pm). Just be careful... you might end up leaving with some homework.

While you are here, be sure to check out the red twig dogwoods and winterberry hollies, plants that really shine this time of year. The red twig dogwood has bright red branches that contrast nicely against evergreens, native grass backgrounds, or newly fallen snow. The winterberry hollies are deciduous shrubs that reveal their vibrant, colorful berries this time of year and brighten up your winter landscape while also providing food for birds. You may have seen them filled with bright red berries and reaching 6-8 ft tall but did you know that some varieties have yellow, yellowish-orange, or bright orange berries and some are dwarf--only reaching 3-4 ft tall. We had fun growing some of these new varieties ourselves this year.

We are excited to officially introduce Hannah Jensen as our Assistant Nursery Manager. You may have met Hannah this spring or summer when she stepped in and helped when we most needed it during the rush of the Spring planting season and again this summer. Hannah has experience in retail and customer service and with her can-do attitude, she is a great addition to our Unity Team.

We are also happy to announce a new development at the Unity Farm: Sarah Appel, who we introduced last month as our part time food production helper has now joined us as our full time food production manager. We love Sarah's enthusiasm and her desire to farm in a way that matches our own philosophy. I am glad to be able to pass along some of what I have learned over the years with Sarah. 

She has already tackled the fall task of planting garlic for 2021. Next on the list is taking soil samples. We do this every couple of years to check the nutrient content of our soils and find out what nutrients are needed to achieve the right balance for healthy soil life. Based on the soil test results, we will then amend our soils before planting in the Spring with natural mineral and organically derived fertilizers. With Sarah on board, we are looking forward to a bountiful 2021.