Featured Books & Orcharding Resources

Co-authored by Silver Creek Nursery's own Steph! This book was written for all the wonderful folks who have asked us so many grafting questions over the years! Our online grafting course delves into even more detail, but this book is the ultimate guide to get you started!

This book offers a results-oriented approach to mastering grafting techniques. Whether you’re adding a new branch to an existing tree, crafting a whole new tree from a rootstock, or propagating a beloved heirloom tree, this book is your road map to success.

Susan Poizner, author of Fruit Tree Grafting for Everyone and creator of the online grafting and fruit tree care courses at OrchardPeople.com, is joined by Steph Muma of Silver Creek Nursery to help you transform your garden through fruit tree grafting. In this guide, you will learn:

• How to harvest scionwood in the winter.
• Techniques for cleft, bark, and whip grafting in the spring
• Methods for chip and T-bud grafting in the summer
• Essential aftercare practices for long-term graft success

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced grower, Fruit Tree Grafting for Everyone will empower you to create productive, diverse, and fruit-filled landscapes in your own backyard and beyond.

If you want this item(s) shipped to you and the shipping fees don't seem right, please contact us directly and we'll get a proper rate for you!

The Holistic Orchard: Tree Fruits and Berries the Biological Way demystifies the basic skills everybody should know about the inner-workings of the orchard ecosystem, as well as orchard design, soil biology, and organic health management. Detailed insights on grafting, planting, pruning, and choosing the right varieties for your climate are also included, along with a step-by-step instructional calendar to guide growers through the entire orchard year. The extensive profiles of pome fruits (apples, pears, Asian pears, quinces), stone fruits (cherries, peaches, nectarines, apricots, plums), and berries (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, gooseberries, currants, and elderberries) will quickly have you savoring the prospects.

Michael Phillips has been a huge inspiration for how we run things here at Silver Creek Nursery. From considering the principles of orchard ecosystems to the holistic spray recipe we have listed on our website, his knowledge and insight has been an irreplaceable resource for us.

In The Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments, experimental gardener and author Nigel Palmer provides practical, detailed instructions that are accessible to every grower who wants to achieve a truly sustainable garden ecosystem—all while enjoying better results at a fraction of the cost of commercial fertilizer products. These recipes go beyond fertilizer replacement, resulting in greater soil biological activity and mineral availability. They also increase pest and disease resistance, yields, and nutrient density.

Stella Natura Biodynamic Planting Calendar for 2026.  Working with Cosmic Rhythms.

This beautiful calendar offers advice for when to sow seeds, cultivate your garden and/or farm crop to best enhance their roots, flowers, leaves or fruits. This is based on the Moon’s passage through the constellations of the zodiac. Unfavorable times for sowing are also indicated, to help avoid those inexplicable crop failures.

In addition to planting and astronomical information, the monthly charts continue to be hand-written and accompanied by the thoughtful, inspiring, and informative articles for which Stella Natura has become well-known and appreciated.  Also new this year ~ each calendar now includes a link to a free introductory webinar on its principles and practical application!

Initiated by Sherry Wildfeuer in 1978 and heartfully produced by her since that time, Stella Natura has long been a meaningful part of the biodynamic movement. With insightful and engaging articles about agriculture, cosmic influences, and anthroposophy, as well as meticulously hand-drawn charts that detail dates and times for planting/tending/harvesting various crops based on planetary and cosmic influences, it is a faithful companion to gardeners, farmers, and those seeking a glimpse into the practical application of anthroposophical insight to the natural world. 

Sherry and Spikenard’s Director, Alex Tuchman, have worked mindfully and joyously together on this transition and have collaborated closely on the last several calendars.