September 19, 2024 • 22 mins
In this episode, Janey welcomes back Rafael Galiano from Park Winters. Rafael and his partner, John Martin, are self-described opposites, but together they purchased the property 15 years ago. Since then, Park Winters has evolved tremendously, thanks to Rafael’s creativity and John’s expertise in hospitality management.
Rafael shares what inspired them to start Park Winters, how it has grown over the past 15 years, and highlights the special qualities that make it so unique. Park Winters is Janey’s “happy place” and is so happy to share the pure magic surrounding Park Winters with you!
About Park Winters Country Estate:
Park Winters Country Estate, is a one-of-a-kind estate featuring dreamy gardens, a historical inn, an elegant white barn and two rustic barns, a chic pool and hot tub, a quaint organic farm, and sweeping views of the countryside. Park Winters serves as an award-winning Northern California wedding event venue, a luxurious bed and breakfast and offers day-visitors unique experiences.
Park Winters Flower Farm is a naturally inspiring setting, the Park Winters Flower Farm invites guests to linger and weave memories into every celebration and experience—from their Flower Farm Pavilion and Farm Bites to their dreamy flower farm and barn. We put care and intention into all that we do by working with the land in harmony with the cycles of nature. The fields are nourished with plantings that invite bees to thrive and songbirds to linger—furthering their commitment to the land.
Learn more about Park Winters here
Learn more about Park Winters Flower Farm here
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Rafael shares what inspired them to start Park Winters, how it has grown over the past 15 years, and highlights the special qualities that make it so unique. Park Winters is Janey’s “happy place” and is so happy to share the pure magic surrounding Park Winters with you!
About Park Winters Country Estate:
Park Winters Country Estate, is a one-of-a-kind estate featuring dreamy gardens, a historical inn, an elegant white barn and two rustic barns, a chic pool and hot tub, a quaint organic farm, and sweeping views of the countryside. Park Winters serves as an award-winning Northern California wedding event venue, a luxurious bed and breakfast and offers day-visitors unique experiences.
Park Winters Flower Farm is a naturally inspiring setting, the Park Winters Flower Farm invites guests to linger and weave memories into every celebration and experience—from their Flower Farm Pavilion and Farm Bites to their dreamy flower farm and barn. We put care and intention into all that we do by working with the land in harmony with the cycles of nature. The fields are nourished with plantings that invite bees to thrive and songbirds to linger—furthering their commitment to the land.
Learn more about Park Winters here
Learn more about Park Winters Flower Farm here
Love what you’re hearing?
Make sure to check out more from Janey:
Store
YouTube
Dig, Plant, Water, Repeat is produced in association with Caloroga Shark Media. Hear other shows from Caloroga Shark along with subscription info and Merch with free shipping here!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Support for this podcast comes from Proven Winners, the plant
brand that gardeners of all experienced levels trust the most
and the brand that I have personally trusted in my
own gardening journey since twenty twenty. Proven Winners selections, including annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs,
and even houseplants, are simply amazing and all are trialed, tested,
(00:22):
and specifically chosen for one purpose and one purpose only
to ensure gardener success. Visit Provenwinners dot com and find
your next favorite plant today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Callarogashawk Media.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hi everyone, Jane here, Welcome back to My Garden and
welcome back to the Dig Plant, Water Repeat Podcast. We
are on part two. We're on location at Park Winters
Country Estate and I'm here with Rafael again. The first
episode we talked about the inspiration that gardening brings. Is
that right, Raphael, he would say, and how gardening has
(01:14):
saved our lives. And I'm so excited for your book
that's hopefully soon to come out about what was the
title of it.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
My Garden Saved My.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Life, My Garden Saved my Life. I absolutely love it,
so I asked Rafael to be on for one more
podcast episode. Because he has to tell the story of
how this beautiful, beautiful farm came about. So how long
has park Winter's been here?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So we have been here fourteen years and thirteen years
open to the public.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Okay, all right, where'd you guys come from?
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So we moved here from San Francisco. And my partner,
John Martin, and I we met in Florida twenty four
years ago. He's from Indiana, American apple pie and I'm
born in Cuba. We're completely opposite people, you really are.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, And I have to say, and I say this
with all kindness, John, you look like you're an American
pie boy from Indiana.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
He's such a sweetheart.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Yeah, he's so nice. He makes me look cynical, you know. Yeah, Yeah,
but he's awesome. He he's got amazing skills at hospitality,
which that's his background and degree in. And I'm a
full blown creative.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
They don't count on me for anything in particular other
than to do the designing and developing and being more
like the creative. Yeah here, but John and his staff
they do an amazing job in providing amazing experiences for families.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah. Yeah, So who's who came up with the idea
of park Winters.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Well, we kind of came up with park the idea together.
There was a place in Hopland north of Center called
the Valley Oaks Ranch and it's where the Fetzer family
grew up. And that place was heaven on Earth and
it had won many awards for They even won a
(03:13):
big award at the Chelsea Flower and Gardens Show for
some of the best organic gardens in the world. And
this was a place that we would go to when
we lived in San Francisco, and we would go two
or three times a year to get our country on.
And I have memories of being on a giant pumpkin
with my friend Sandy, kind of falling off this giant
pumpkin in the fall, and also frolicking in the gardens
(03:35):
with like wine and eating the herbs and having lunch
in the spring or summer. And you know, when you
live in a city and you work in a cubicle
and you've got that life, you know you long to
be out in the country every once in a while,
and the Valley Oaks Ranch was that for us. It's
currently now called Campo Vida, which means Camp of Life,
(04:00):
and it's an amazing place, and I highly recommend that
people check it out because Campo Vida is inspiring and
the perfect family bought it because we were inspired to
purchase it and develop it, and that inspired us to
write the business plan for Park Winners. And in the
(04:23):
process of us coming up with that plan for the
Valley Oaks ranch, and we came up with a whole plan,
but it was purchased, and then John said, well, let's
just keep our dream alive. And six months later, Park
Winners presented itself to us, and Park Winners for many reasons,
was a better matchup for us. It was much more affordable,
(04:46):
and I think geographically in a better situation, better situated
in terms of the access to Sacramento and to San Francisco.
So we have two big markets.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
That are easily accessible.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Easy accessible, and so it's the idea was that, you know,
since John has a degree in hospitality, he always wanted
to have a hotel, and I'm a creative and I
love gardening and I love interier next Year design. So
we've you know, merged our talents together and we provide
(05:25):
people a really cool experience.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
An amazing experience, an amazing So thirteen years ago is
when you guys first opened to the public. How did
it start? I mean, I know I know just from
coming here as a guest that this place has evolved
over time. How did it start? Did it just start
with the inn?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah? So Park Winters is a historic home. It was
built in eighteen sixty five by George Washington Scott and
his wife Emearetta. And it was originally on twenty two
thousand acres and now we're just a skinny ten acres. Yeah,
but it's perfect for what we do. So Park Windows
is a bed and breakfast. That's how we started. And
(06:07):
I always say it's worth staying here just for the breakfast.
Oh yeah, and you just wait. It's just you and
the birds and privacy and it's super heartwarming. Yeah, and
we have four rooms. Our motto here is simple country luxury.
What we call luxury is giving people privacy, very comfortable beds.
(06:28):
All of our linens, towels, and robes are the Frete brand.
And like I said, it's worth staying here just for
the breakfast because it's sensational.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Oh I love it.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
So you have a gorgeous pool here. You have a
gorgeous sunken garden here. I mean, it's just, oh, it's
just a garden dream. Can you tell everybody about some
of the events that you hold here at Park Winters.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yes. So we have some spring events where we'll do
like Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Easter brunches, and we
also do a spring Makers Market, and we're getting ready
to announce our fall Makers Market weekend, so it'll be fun.
And one of the really fun things that we do
(07:18):
that is every we do this s Euray, Saturday and
Sunday is we do pick your own Bouquet experiences. I
love it and it's a thirty five dollars experience and
you get to self tour all the grounds on the
east side and the west side, and then we're serving
tea and playing nice garden music and when you're ready,
we hand you a bucket and clippers and you pick
(07:41):
your own bouquet of the dreamiest flowers that florests want.
Then we package it for you and you take it
with you.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Then you have flowers for like three weeks. So it's
a really cool Can.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I interrupt you and say one thing? Just walking around
the grounds and being able to spend the day here,
you know, is worth more than thirty five dollars. Do
you know what I mean? I just I just want
to make that clear to everybody that like just coming
here and being here in this property is worth it.
And then the fact that you get to cut your
own bouquet and have tea, and you know, the relaxation
(08:13):
in the what do you call this the flower barn?
The flower flower barn is just it's amazing. Sorry, keep going.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I can't wait to show you what we're drying right now.
I'm going to share with you some of our red cotton.
And we have what we call the Southern Row, where
we have a row of cotton and a row of okra.
Oh my, and so we're growing both to teach these
Southern wreath classes. And the wreath is gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
So it's it's fresher.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
You dry it, we dry it, okay, And the okra
pods turn really interesting, like those big dry things I
was showing you. Yeah, and then the spotted conton is
very cool and unusual interesting. Yeah. I can't wait to
show you.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I know, I can't wait to see it. Can you
tell everybody about the fronts between both sides? Because you
kind of have two different sides of the property. One
side is a little bit more formal, one side's a
little bit more casual, would.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
You say, yeah, So the park winner side, which is
where the bed and breakfast is, we have like manicured
gardens and it's much more stately. We say we have
two flavors. That side is the European side, and then
this side of the property is the farmy side. And
the overarching theme and ethos to the farm is that
everything here is recycled, repurposed, and reused. And the theme
(09:33):
and rules started when we moved the flower barn over
to the farm. There was no electricity or running water
back here when we moved this thing nine years ago,
and ever since then, every project that we've done has
to be made of repurposed materials. But that flower barn
has a really cool history in that it used to
(09:55):
be the horse and carriage barn to the main house
are Back in the day, the horse and carriages would
march past the house and into it. And when we
built the event barn, we cut we thought this was
so special that we cut it in three pieces and
moved in here.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
I love it. I love that I didn't know that.
So we're going to take a quick break to hear
a message from our sponsor. We'll be back in just
a second. Okay, okay, all right, everyone, we are back.
We're on location at Park Winter's Country Estate in Winters, California.
(10:33):
I'm with Rafael Galliano and we're talking about the history
and the journey of this an incredible garden area. How
do you describe it? How would you say, Raphael? I
call it a country estate? Is that right?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah? It's a country estate and a flower farm.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Country estate and a flower farm. Can you talk about
the building that has all the dried bouquets wedding bouquets
in it.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yes, that was originally the horse and carriage barn.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And the one further closer to the inn.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Oh okay, I'm sorry, that is the original foreman's quarters.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
The Foreman's quarters, that's what it is. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
And the trend started about thirteen years ago when the
first bride and groom hung their bouquet from the ceiling.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
I just love that.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
We took a photo of them, and then we just
kept the theme going and people take leave their bouquets
and we take photos and it's a really dreamy area
where people can take photos and stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
So people have weddings here. People, This is a venue
where people can rent out and have a beautiful, beautiful,
gorgeous wedding. I've seen them, and oh my goodness, it's
the wedding of dreams. But then there's this tiny little building,
this old old building that almost I mean, it almost
looks like it's going to fall over, but it's not.
(11:54):
And you look inside and there's hundreds, if not thousands
of dried bouquet hanging from the rafters and the walls,
and it's just it has this feeling to it that
is just it's just romance, right, I don't even know
how to say it.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Yeah, it's hard to describe it. But it was a
building built in eighteen sixty five and it was the
original Foremance quarters, and it has a really sweet vibe
to it. And so some people thought we were going
to demolish it, but I gave it a new foundation
and propped it up and preserved it because you just
don't see buildings that are that old anymore, and do
(12:33):
be able to style it with old furniture and have
the multiple photoshoots that we witness it's cool. People love it.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Do you have photo shoots there? Do people do?
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Oh yeah, all the time. People do, like clothing brands, etc.
And that's what they're looking for.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Is it's gorgeous. I mean, that's just perfect. The thing
that I love the most about that place is when
you walk into it. I've taken in a garden tour.
Raphael host garden tours where he will walk around and
guide people around all everything that he's installed here. And
you ended up that you ended that tour in the
foreman's quarters. And one of my favorite things about it
(13:16):
was to see the flower crowns from the what am
I trying to say, the flower girls, flower girls, Yeah,
the flower crowns there and all that kind of stuff,
and it just brings us feeling of just like joy,
just absolute joy in romance.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Yeah, it's so nostalgic. I do love those little flower
crowns because the children bring a lot of joy to
the weddings, and so the scale of these little crowns
and also the hanging lace, et cetera, the ribbon and
the way that room is styled is awesome. And I'm
so glad you like it too.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I love it. It deserves awards, Like it really really
does deserve awards. I love it. Can you talk a
little bit about your garden tours?
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yes, So my garden tours are starting back up very shortly.
They are, yeah, this next week.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
So if you haven't been in your local you guys,
get your tushes out here because it is incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
So you can buy the tickets to our garden toour
on Parkwinters dot com and we do a couple of
them a month, And essentially I walk around and I
share with people the gardens, what's happening in the garden,
and some garden knowledge. And in every tour there's always
people of that are either new to gardening or just
(14:34):
suddenly inspired to go start. And part of my focus
and joy is to inspire people that are new to
gardening and give them confidence that they are doing the
right thing.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
And sometimes you know, you're like a garden therapist because
some people are like lamenting that their perennial plant is
going dormant and they think that they're bad gardeners, and
I have to coach them to say, you know, you're
not a bad gardener. This plant is literally just going
through its cycle. But it'll be back next year, and
(15:07):
it's so fascinating. So when all these plants come back
and the aha moments where people you know, have because
some plants literally disappear, you know, in they're part of
their cycle. But when they come back, they come back
bigger and better, absolutely, and it gives people extra confidence
that they're doing the right thing.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, So you're teaching people to have faith in the
garden and have faith that it'll come back and they're
doing the right thing.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yeah, And many people did that for me. Like if
you catch your garden the person at the garden center
on a quiet day, they'll give you tons of information.
And so I've learned from a lot of gardeners people
that work at garden centers. They'll give you advice on
where to put things. And as you know, like us gardeners,
(15:54):
we always share like cuttings, et cetera. So when people
come on my garden tour, they leave with cuttings and
it's fun because we can all just buy the plants,
but it's fun to propagate them, you know, from cuttings
of your friend's gardens or things I've given them, and
it connects you. And as I walk around I think
(16:14):
of different people because different people have given me plants,
and so I'm sure you can relate to that that
you have things in your garden that people have.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I'm trying to count how many things I have in
my garden from you particularly.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Oh cool.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
I can think about quite a few right now of
things that you actually personally, whether it was a seed
or whether it was a cutting or anything like that.
And it's just it's really it's really shaped my garden.
And I do have to say you are one of
my biggest gardening inspirations that I've met thus far in
my gardening career.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Wow, that's that's huge coming from you. You know. It's
so cool that you know, we met during a garden tour,
you know, and I can't remember how many years ago
that was, but it was three or.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Four or I mean it was it was a long
time ago, you know, and it was just it just
it made such an impact on me and such an
impact on my life. And I know that that's so
funny to say. It's like, oh, this garden tour at
Park Winters, but it really made a huge impact. And
then every time I've seen you since then, you've either
taught me something or inspired me to do something, or
(17:22):
guided my journey in a way that has just really
made such a huge effect. So thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Well, I'm so glad because you know, you have such
a big audience, and it's like a ripple effect. So
whatever you learn or what I learned, and then share
with you and you're teaching other people, so the ripple
gets bigger.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Did you ever think Park Winters was going to be
such an educational place? Did you want it to be
such an educational place?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
In my heart, yes, I've always wanted to do educational
motivational seminars or like workshops, better yet workshops and or
videos on things that inspire people. Yeah, and so yes,
and now that we have the flower Farm, it gives
(18:14):
me more of a platform to do that because we've
been mostly like a wedding an event venue for like
the first ten years, but the past three or four
years since we've had our flower farm now open where
people can come on the weekend and come for brunch,
have eggs, benedict and a Cuban sandwich with fries and
(18:35):
some pizza, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Forget the bloody Mary.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Yeah. Well, I always say that the bloody Mary, and
the French fries are a meal in itself, Yes, are
bloody Mary. The whole mix is made in house and
we try the onions and we also have it comes
with a with a candied bacon stick in it.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
It's literally a meal.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
It's incredible, it's really amazing. So now that people can
come to the farm, they can they can come just
for like a lunch for two and so having to
have a wedding or an event, and a really sweet
thing that we've never planned on, but we've had quite
a few is celebrations of life. There are people who
their family member will have gotten married here and they
(19:19):
had a baby shower as well, and this and that
and then they they took a turn and then they've
people have wanted to have their celebrations of life here.
So we never thought of that.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
But what a wonderful place.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
It really is cool. And like I mentioned to you
in the previous conversation, is that some people in hospice
have requested that this is their last tour, you know,
and we take them in the golf cart. We also
give garden tours to like senior centers, and they come here,
(19:55):
we walk them around and then they have we host them,
we have them have a lunch. Oh I love that
so and we also have car clubs who will come
and have a stop here and then they'll have lunch
afterwards and our pavilion. So it's great, it's it's party winner.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
It's such a fun place. It's such an amazing place.
Tell everybody about the classes you do in the dead
of winter.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Yes, so if you ever need to bring your heart
right down, come this way because we do what we
call dry Floral Experiences. And then all these amazing flowers
that we grow throughout the year, we box them and
we sell them online for people if they want to
do it, you know, cross country, but anyone who lives local,
if you can come to the Dry Floral Experience, you're
(20:40):
literally just weaving dry flowers into this beautiful bouquet. And
the beautiful thing about dry florals at the last several years,
so you can make this beautiful bouquet with dry flowers
that are dried at their peak. And if you're lucky,
if it's a rainy day or a misty day and
you're in there listening to classical music weaving these flower arrangements,
(21:04):
and it's very cathartic and therapy.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
And the rain on the roof it's a metal roof, right, yeah,
I mean it's just incredible. So in the middle of
winter when you just need that gardening fix, that nature fix,
this is the place to be. You will find me here.
You will find me here in the middle of winter. Well, Raphael, huge, huge,
thank you for taking the time to talk about not
only your experience with gardening in the last episode, but
(21:29):
then the evolution of Park Winters in this episode. I
will put all the links for Park Winter's and Park
Winter's Flower Farm in the description of this podcast. A huge, huge,
thank you, my friend.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Thank you. I appreciate you inviting me to be on
your podcast. I'm such a big fan of you.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Oh, I love you. I hope you all enjoyed this
and I hope you all have a chance to get
in your garden today. Thank you so much to my
podcast sponsor, Proven Winners. Visit your local gard and center
today and look for the white containers featuring the Proven
Winner's logo. There's a reason they're the number one plant
(22:07):
brand that gardeners like me trust the most. Visit Proven
Winners dot com for tips, ideas and so much more.
Dig Plant Water Repeat is produced in association with Klaroga
Shark Media. It was written and hosted by me Janie Santos,
with marketing and production assistants from Courtney Clark. Please consider
(22:28):
subscribing and watch us on YouTube or follow us on
your favorite podcast app of choice to get alerts on
all new episodes. And hey, if you like the show,
give us a review and hit those five stars on Apple.
Executive producers are Mark Francis, John McDermott and Janie Santos.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Callarogashawk Media
Support for this podcast comes from Proven Winners, the plant
brand that gardeners of all experienced levels trust the most
and the brand that I have personally trusted in my
own gardening journey since twenty twenty. Proven Winners selections, including annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, bulbs,
and even houseplants, are simply amazing and all are trialed, tested,
(00:22):
and specifically chosen for one purpose and one purpose only
to ensure gardener success. Visit Provenwinners dot com and find
your next favorite plant today.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Callarogashawk Media.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Hi everyone, Jane here, Welcome back to My Garden and
welcome back to the Dig Plant, Water Repeat Podcast. We
are on part two. We're on location at Park Winters
Country Estate and I'm here with Rafael again. The first
episode we talked about the inspiration that gardening brings. Is
that right, Raphael, he would say, and how gardening has
(01:14):
saved our lives. And I'm so excited for your book
that's hopefully soon to come out about what was the
title of it.
Speaker 3 (01:22):
My Garden Saved My.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
Life, My Garden Saved my Life. I absolutely love it,
so I asked Rafael to be on for one more
podcast episode. Because he has to tell the story of
how this beautiful, beautiful farm came about. So how long
has park Winter's been here?
Speaker 3 (01:39):
So we have been here fourteen years and thirteen years
open to the public.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Okay, all right, where'd you guys come from?
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So we moved here from San Francisco. And my partner,
John Martin, and I we met in Florida twenty four
years ago. He's from Indiana, American apple pie and I'm
born in Cuba. We're completely opposite people, you really are.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah, And I have to say, and I say this
with all kindness, John, you look like you're an American
pie boy from Indiana.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Right.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
He's such a sweetheart.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Yeah, he's so nice. He makes me look cynical, you know. Yeah, Yeah,
but he's awesome. He he's got amazing skills at hospitality,
which that's his background and degree in. And I'm a
full blown creative.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (02:26):
They don't count on me for anything in particular other
than to do the designing and developing and being more
like the creative. Yeah here, but John and his staff
they do an amazing job in providing amazing experiences for families.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah. Yeah, So who's who came up with the idea
of park Winters.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Well, we kind of came up with park the idea together.
There was a place in Hopland north of Center called
the Valley Oaks Ranch and it's where the Fetzer family
grew up. And that place was heaven on Earth and
it had won many awards for They even won a
(03:13):
big award at the Chelsea Flower and Gardens Show for
some of the best organic gardens in the world. And
this was a place that we would go to when
we lived in San Francisco, and we would go two
or three times a year to get our country on.
And I have memories of being on a giant pumpkin
with my friend Sandy, kind of falling off this giant
pumpkin in the fall, and also frolicking in the gardens
(03:35):
with like wine and eating the herbs and having lunch
in the spring or summer. And you know, when you
live in a city and you work in a cubicle
and you've got that life, you know you long to
be out in the country every once in a while,
and the Valley Oaks Ranch was that for us. It's
currently now called Campo Vida, which means Camp of Life,
(04:00):
and it's an amazing place, and I highly recommend that
people check it out because Campo Vida is inspiring and
the perfect family bought it because we were inspired to
purchase it and develop it, and that inspired us to
write the business plan for Park Winners. And in the
(04:23):
process of us coming up with that plan for the
Valley Oaks ranch, and we came up with a whole plan,
but it was purchased, and then John said, well, let's
just keep our dream alive. And six months later, Park
Winners presented itself to us, and Park Winners for many reasons,
was a better matchup for us. It was much more affordable,
(04:46):
and I think geographically in a better situation, better situated
in terms of the access to Sacramento and to San Francisco.
So we have two big markets.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
That are easily accessible.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
Easy accessible, and so it's the idea was that, you know,
since John has a degree in hospitality, he always wanted
to have a hotel, and I'm a creative and I
love gardening and I love interier next Year design. So
we've you know, merged our talents together and we provide
(05:25):
people a really cool experience.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
An amazing experience, an amazing So thirteen years ago is
when you guys first opened to the public. How did
it start? I mean, I know I know just from
coming here as a guest that this place has evolved
over time. How did it start? Did it just start
with the inn?
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Yeah? So Park Winters is a historic home. It was
built in eighteen sixty five by George Washington Scott and
his wife Emearetta. And it was originally on twenty two
thousand acres and now we're just a skinny ten acres. Yeah,
but it's perfect for what we do. So Park Windows
is a bed and breakfast. That's how we started. And
(06:07):
I always say it's worth staying here just for the breakfast.
Oh yeah, and you just wait. It's just you and
the birds and privacy and it's super heartwarming. Yeah, and
we have four rooms. Our motto here is simple country luxury.
What we call luxury is giving people privacy, very comfortable beds.
(06:28):
All of our linens, towels, and robes are the Frete brand.
And like I said, it's worth staying here just for
the breakfast because it's sensational.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Oh I love it.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
So you have a gorgeous pool here. You have a
gorgeous sunken garden here. I mean, it's just, oh, it's
just a garden dream. Can you tell everybody about some
of the events that you hold here at Park Winters.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
Yes. So we have some spring events where we'll do
like Mother's Day, Father's Day, and Easter brunches, and we
also do a spring Makers Market, and we're getting ready
to announce our fall Makers Market weekend, so it'll be fun.
And one of the really fun things that we do
(07:18):
that is every we do this s Euray, Saturday and
Sunday is we do pick your own Bouquet experiences. I
love it and it's a thirty five dollars experience and
you get to self tour all the grounds on the
east side and the west side, and then we're serving
tea and playing nice garden music and when you're ready,
we hand you a bucket and clippers and you pick
(07:41):
your own bouquet of the dreamiest flowers that florests want.
Then we package it for you and you take it
with you.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
It's incredible.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
Then you have flowers for like three weeks. So it's
a really cool Can.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I interrupt you and say one thing? Just walking around
the grounds and being able to spend the day here,
you know, is worth more than thirty five dollars. Do
you know what I mean? I just I just want
to make that clear to everybody that like just coming
here and being here in this property is worth it.
And then the fact that you get to cut your
own bouquet and have tea, and you know, the relaxation
(08:13):
in the what do you call this the flower barn?
The flower flower barn is just it's amazing. Sorry, keep going.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
I can't wait to show you what we're drying right now.
I'm going to share with you some of our red cotton.
And we have what we call the Southern Row, where
we have a row of cotton and a row of okra.
Oh my, and so we're growing both to teach these
Southern wreath classes. And the wreath is gorgeous.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
So it's it's fresher.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
You dry it, we dry it, okay, And the okra
pods turn really interesting, like those big dry things I
was showing you. Yeah, and then the spotted conton is
very cool and unusual interesting. Yeah. I can't wait to
show you.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I know, I can't wait to see it. Can you
tell everybody about the fronts between both sides? Because you
kind of have two different sides of the property. One
side is a little bit more formal, one side's a
little bit more casual, would.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
You say, yeah, So the park winner side, which is
where the bed and breakfast is, we have like manicured
gardens and it's much more stately. We say we have
two flavors. That side is the European side, and then
this side of the property is the farmy side. And
the overarching theme and ethos to the farm is that
everything here is recycled, repurposed, and reused. And the theme
(09:33):
and rules started when we moved the flower barn over
to the farm. There was no electricity or running water
back here when we moved this thing nine years ago,
and ever since then, every project that we've done has
to be made of repurposed materials. But that flower barn
has a really cool history in that it used to
(09:55):
be the horse and carriage barn to the main house
are Back in the day, the horse and carriages would
march past the house and into it. And when we
built the event barn, we cut we thought this was
so special that we cut it in three pieces and
moved in here.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
I love it. I love that I didn't know that.
So we're going to take a quick break to hear
a message from our sponsor. We'll be back in just
a second. Okay, okay, all right, everyone, we are back.
We're on location at Park Winter's Country Estate in Winters, California.
(10:33):
I'm with Rafael Galliano and we're talking about the history
and the journey of this an incredible garden area. How
do you describe it? How would you say, Raphael? I
call it a country estate? Is that right?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Yeah? It's a country estate and a flower farm.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
Country estate and a flower farm. Can you talk about
the building that has all the dried bouquets wedding bouquets
in it.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yes, that was originally the horse and carriage barn.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
And the one further closer to the inn.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
Oh okay, I'm sorry, that is the original foreman's quarters.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
The Foreman's quarters, that's what it is. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
And the trend started about thirteen years ago when the
first bride and groom hung their bouquet from the ceiling.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
I just love that.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
We took a photo of them, and then we just
kept the theme going and people take leave their bouquets
and we take photos and it's a really dreamy area
where people can take photos and stuff.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
So people have weddings here. People, This is a venue
where people can rent out and have a beautiful, beautiful,
gorgeous wedding. I've seen them, and oh my goodness, it's
the wedding of dreams. But then there's this tiny little building,
this old old building that almost I mean, it almost
looks like it's going to fall over, but it's not.
(11:54):
And you look inside and there's hundreds, if not thousands
of dried bouquet hanging from the rafters and the walls,
and it's just it has this feeling to it that
is just it's just romance, right, I don't even know
how to say it.
Speaker 3 (12:11):
Yeah, it's hard to describe it. But it was a
building built in eighteen sixty five and it was the
original Foremance quarters, and it has a really sweet vibe
to it. And so some people thought we were going
to demolish it, but I gave it a new foundation
and propped it up and preserved it because you just
don't see buildings that are that old anymore, and do
(12:33):
be able to style it with old furniture and have
the multiple photoshoots that we witness it's cool. People love it.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
Do you have photo shoots there? Do people do?
Speaker 3 (12:47):
Oh yeah, all the time. People do, like clothing brands, etc.
And that's what they're looking for.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Is it's gorgeous. I mean, that's just perfect. The thing
that I love the most about that place is when
you walk into it. I've taken in a garden tour.
Raphael host garden tours where he will walk around and
guide people around all everything that he's installed here. And
you ended up that you ended that tour in the
foreman's quarters. And one of my favorite things about it
(13:16):
was to see the flower crowns from the what am
I trying to say, the flower girls, flower girls, Yeah,
the flower crowns there and all that kind of stuff,
and it just brings us feeling of just like joy,
just absolute joy in romance.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Yeah, it's so nostalgic. I do love those little flower
crowns because the children bring a lot of joy to
the weddings, and so the scale of these little crowns
and also the hanging lace, et cetera, the ribbon and
the way that room is styled is awesome. And I'm
so glad you like it too.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
I love it. It deserves awards, Like it really really
does deserve awards. I love it. Can you talk a
little bit about your garden tours?
Speaker 3 (14:00):
Yes, So my garden tours are starting back up very shortly.
They are, yeah, this next week.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
So if you haven't been in your local you guys,
get your tushes out here because it is incredible. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
So you can buy the tickets to our garden toour
on Parkwinters dot com and we do a couple of
them a month, And essentially I walk around and I
share with people the gardens, what's happening in the garden,
and some garden knowledge. And in every tour there's always
people of that are either new to gardening or just
(14:34):
suddenly inspired to go start. And part of my focus
and joy is to inspire people that are new to
gardening and give them confidence that they are doing the
right thing.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
And sometimes you know, you're like a garden therapist because
some people are like lamenting that their perennial plant is
going dormant and they think that they're bad gardeners, and
I have to coach them to say, you know, you're
not a bad gardener. This plant is literally just going
through its cycle. But it'll be back next year, and
(15:07):
it's so fascinating. So when all these plants come back
and the aha moments where people you know, have because
some plants literally disappear, you know, in they're part of
their cycle. But when they come back, they come back
bigger and better, absolutely, and it gives people extra confidence
that they're doing the right thing.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, So you're teaching people to have faith in the
garden and have faith that it'll come back and they're
doing the right thing.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Yeah, And many people did that for me. Like if
you catch your garden the person at the garden center
on a quiet day, they'll give you tons of information.
And so I've learned from a lot of gardeners people
that work at garden centers. They'll give you advice on
where to put things. And as you know, like us gardeners,
(15:54):
we always share like cuttings, et cetera. So when people
come on my garden tour, they leave with cuttings and
it's fun because we can all just buy the plants,
but it's fun to propagate them, you know, from cuttings
of your friend's gardens or things I've given them, and
it connects you. And as I walk around I think
(16:14):
of different people because different people have given me plants,
and so I'm sure you can relate to that that
you have things in your garden that people have.
Speaker 1 (16:24):
I'm trying to count how many things I have in
my garden from you particularly.
Speaker 3 (16:28):
Oh cool.
Speaker 1 (16:29):
I can think about quite a few right now of
things that you actually personally, whether it was a seed
or whether it was a cutting or anything like that.
And it's just it's really it's really shaped my garden.
And I do have to say you are one of
my biggest gardening inspirations that I've met thus far in
my gardening career.
Speaker 3 (16:48):
Wow, that's that's huge coming from you. You know. It's
so cool that you know, we met during a garden tour,
you know, and I can't remember how many years ago
that was, but it was three or.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
Four or I mean it was it was a long
time ago, you know, and it was just it just
it made such an impact on me and such an
impact on my life. And I know that that's so
funny to say. It's like, oh, this garden tour at
Park Winters, but it really made a huge impact. And
then every time I've seen you since then, you've either
taught me something or inspired me to do something, or
(17:22):
guided my journey in a way that has just really
made such a huge effect. So thank you for that.
Speaker 3 (17:27):
Well, I'm so glad because you know, you have such
a big audience, and it's like a ripple effect. So
whatever you learn or what I learned, and then share
with you and you're teaching other people, so the ripple
gets bigger.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Did you ever think Park Winters was going to be
such an educational place? Did you want it to be
such an educational place?
Speaker 3 (17:54):
In my heart, yes, I've always wanted to do educational
motivational seminars or like workshops, better yet workshops and or
videos on things that inspire people. Yeah, and so yes,
and now that we have the flower Farm, it gives
(18:14):
me more of a platform to do that because we've
been mostly like a wedding an event venue for like
the first ten years, but the past three or four
years since we've had our flower farm now open where
people can come on the weekend and come for brunch,
have eggs, benedict and a Cuban sandwich with fries and
(18:35):
some pizza, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Forget the bloody Mary.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Yeah. Well, I always say that the bloody Mary, and
the French fries are a meal in itself, Yes, are
bloody Mary. The whole mix is made in house and
we try the onions and we also have it comes
with a with a candied bacon stick in it.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
It's literally a meal.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
It's incredible, it's really amazing. So now that people can
come to the farm, they can they can come just
for like a lunch for two and so having to
have a wedding or an event, and a really sweet
thing that we've never planned on, but we've had quite
a few is celebrations of life. There are people who
their family member will have gotten married here and they
(19:19):
had a baby shower as well, and this and that
and then they they took a turn and then they've
people have wanted to have their celebrations of life here.
So we never thought of that.
Speaker 1 (19:31):
But what a wonderful place.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
It really is cool. And like I mentioned to you
in the previous conversation, is that some people in hospice
have requested that this is their last tour, you know,
and we take them in the golf cart. We also
give garden tours to like senior centers, and they come here,
(19:55):
we walk them around and then they have we host them,
we have them have a lunch. Oh I love that
so and we also have car clubs who will come
and have a stop here and then they'll have lunch
afterwards and our pavilion. So it's great, it's it's party winner.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
It's such a fun place. It's such an amazing place.
Tell everybody about the classes you do in the dead
of winter.
Speaker 3 (20:18):
Yes, so if you ever need to bring your heart
right down, come this way because we do what we
call dry Floral Experiences. And then all these amazing flowers
that we grow throughout the year, we box them and
we sell them online for people if they want to
do it, you know, cross country, but anyone who lives local,
if you can come to the Dry Floral Experience, you're
(20:40):
literally just weaving dry flowers into this beautiful bouquet. And
the beautiful thing about dry florals at the last several years,
so you can make this beautiful bouquet with dry flowers
that are dried at their peak. And if you're lucky,
if it's a rainy day or a misty day and
you're in there listening to classical music weaving these flower arrangements,
(21:04):
and it's very cathartic and therapy.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
And the rain on the roof it's a metal roof, right, yeah,
I mean it's just incredible. So in the middle of
winter when you just need that gardening fix, that nature fix,
this is the place to be. You will find me here.
You will find me here in the middle of winter. Well, Raphael, huge, huge,
thank you for taking the time to talk about not
only your experience with gardening in the last episode, but
(21:29):
then the evolution of Park Winters in this episode. I
will put all the links for Park Winter's and Park
Winter's Flower Farm in the description of this podcast. A huge, huge,
thank you, my friend.
Speaker 3 (21:42):
Thank you. I appreciate you inviting me to be on
your podcast. I'm such a big fan of you.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Oh, I love you. I hope you all enjoyed this
and I hope you all have a chance to get
in your garden today. Thank you so much to my
podcast sponsor, Proven Winners. Visit your local gard and center
today and look for the white containers featuring the Proven
Winner's logo. There's a reason they're the number one plant
(22:07):
brand that gardeners like me trust the most. Visit Proven
Winners dot com for tips, ideas and so much more.
Dig Plant Water Repeat is produced in association with Klaroga
Shark Media. It was written and hosted by me Janie Santos,
with marketing and production assistants from Courtney Clark. Please consider
(22:28):
subscribing and watch us on YouTube or follow us on
your favorite podcast app of choice to get alerts on
all new episodes. And hey, if you like the show,
give us a review and hit those five stars on Apple.
Executive producers are Mark Francis, John McDermott and Janie Santos.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
Callarogashawk Media
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