united magazine 2010

© 2010 Luis Barrera PhotograPhy Designwww.uniteDmagazine.org

Magazine

>>>>>>Free 03.03.01.10

on the cover:

meLanieJacoBs“It was a very grass roots effort to get it going” coLusa county Business & visitors center..........P.8

northern caLiFornia

+PLus:gLee FeverLuke miLLers#x anD the countynikki hancock

>>insiDe:

ALL NEW - UNitEd’s BuLLetin BoarDcommunity suBmitteD....................P.9

the goDFather oF auto BoDy

charLie vigianiyuBa sutter Businesses..................P.3

nor. caL PhotograPhersue grauePeoPLe oF northern caLiFornia......P.7

Business ProFiLePremier mushroomscoLusa Businesses.........................P.11

COLUsA COUNtY • sUttER COUNtY • YUBA COUNtY

don’t Forget to fill out your Census form!

Colusa Western days - 3/9 - 3/11

Colusa theatre goes 3d - April 1, 2010

BtheLuisBarrera

Desig

nstu

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RedWhiteBlue_2010_United_Colusa_3.1 copy.indd 1 3/22/10 2:30:37 PM

a note From the eDitorHello everyone,

Well what can i say? Other than by now you can see we got a new look . if you

are new to our publication, i’d like to say thank you for picking up United.

United News Magazine is a community based Magazine featuring unique

content to the magazine as well as featuring the people that make up our

communities.

Established in 2008, United has quickly grown to become a household name in

Colusa County, where it was established. By now United has doubled our circula-

tion. this year we have increased our coverage area and have become United of

Northern California, covering Yuba, sutter, Colusa and Glenn Counties.

While you might find some similarities, you will also see a lot of new and

awesome exclusive content and features. Our content is also reflecting our

new distribution. We have contributors from each of our counties we publish in,

some even as far south as sacramento.

Please visit www.unitedmagazine.org for more information on becoming a

contributor for our publication as well as to view online-only content.

this year we have focused on what sets our publication aside from the rest.

Our content is very personal. Whether you’re reading about Kathy’s thoughts,

Nikki’s Country dating adventures or catching up with My Unfabulous Life,

United is shaped by our contributors who are readers just like you! We invite all

members of the community to submit your special opinion-based editorials. We

continue our “Faces of ..” series featuring people from our across our counties.

this month’s cover is Melanie Jacobs. We truly feel this is the best United up to

date. We hope you enjoy reading about Mrs. Jacobs’ as much as we enjoyed our

interview and photo shoot. For more United visit us online. Have a great month!

WE ARE ONLiNE 24/7 @ www.uniteDmagazine.org

UNitEd CAREs!uniteD magazine is PrinteD

on recycLeD PaPer. visit www.eatrh911.com

to FinD the cLoset recycLing CENtER NEAR YOU!

or reaD uniteD on-Line atwww.uniteDmagazine.org

UNITED

Martha Muñoz-SilvaHair Stylist

530-870-2297Dawn Gonzales

Nail Tech530-320-8885

Ooh La-La Salon & Spa

To schedule your beauty day call Martha or Dawn today!

Walk-ins Always Welcome!3720 Highway 45 • Colusa, CA 95932

$1000 offwhen you schedule your appointments together

(530) 458-2771Ask for Dawn or Martha when calling

only for appointments with Dawn or Martha

Monday-Friday 9am-5pmSaturday 9am-4pm

BtheLuisBarrera

Desig

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this Months Contributors

Nikki [email protected]

Kathy [email protected]

Luis [email protected]

Luke [email protected]

United Magazineby the Luis Barrer design studio437 Market street, suite 3Colusa, CA 95932

[email protected]

Luis Barrera


As a thirteen-year-old boy, Charlie Vigiani, owner of Vigiani Auto Body in Yuba City began his career as a shoeshine boy but soon found shining automobiles was his true calling. In a recent interview with UNITED News Magazine, Vigiani recalled a time as a boy when he asked his father for a quarter. What he got instead was a couple of dollars and a list to take to the corner store.The list contained items young Charlie would need to shine shoes. By the time he got home his father had completed a shoeshine box. “Dad then gathered every shoe in our house and proceeded to teach me the fine art of shoeshine,” said Vigiani.Vigiani made some money and had fun shining shoes, but he recalled one day on his way home he saw a very fast, shiny car. He said he noticed the very nice shine on the car, and the next day he stopped at the auto body shop to get a bet-ter look at it. “The shop owner asked what I needed and the only thing that came to mind was to solicit a shoe-shine,” said Vigiani. Vigiani remembers that the owner was a nice guy that he had a very clean shop. He had a few pairs of shoes in his changing room and he had Vigiani shine them, but it took him a little longer than usual because Vigiani kept watching the man shine the cars. “It was as if it were magical,” he recalled. “He looked like he was enjoying what he was doing,” said Vigiani.Before Vigiani left the shop, the man asked if he could help by sticking his smaller hand between a frame rail and an engine block to undo some bolts. He liked how Vigiani worked, and later asked him if he liked shin-ing shoes or did he want to come to his shop and sweep floors.Vigiani accepted the job and in a short time, he was taking parts off of cars and putting them back on without help.One of his early jobs at the shop was wet sanding lacquer paint jobs for either re-painting or for polish-ing lacquer jobs. Vigiani said that shining things though was where he felt most at home. Even now while Vigiani has a staff for the polish jobs at Vigiani Auto Body, he still enjoys doing the work and polishes a car from time to time.Over the years, Vigiani has owned six different body shops; five in the San Jose Mountain View area. “These shops were designed to build, develop and sell, helping Vi-giani to succeed in the real estate market. “I was able to acquire the properties, install the spray booth, lease the frame machine and build a clientele before selling,” he ex-planed.The ‘build and sell’ operation helped to educate Vigiani in the smooth flow of paperwork and corporate

protocols that are serving him well in his current shop. He said Vigiani Auto Body is the shop he intends to keep. “This is a business that is working,” he said. He said he is fortunate in that the business runs smoothly not matter if he is there or not. He said this is the case because of his talented staff.He said his son Joe is a gifted body man, and his painter Eric Hopkins is an incredible painter. He also cred-its his assistant in the front office, , as being the most organized spe-cial assistant ever. “She knows how to read my mind,” he said.Vigiani shared that on the home front, his girlfriend Heidi is a big support and often brings him new ideas for the business. He added that what he likes most about his business is that it is a symphony of things that need to happen all day and he feels as if he has a front row seat watching and orchestrating challenges from day to day.“People bring us their special and sometimes biggest investments and trust us to make them right for them. He started the business in October 2008 without one single customer. Vigiani said he has been fortunate to watch it grow every month and to be on target with his business goals in his first year.Vigiani is also very active in the community. He is an ambassa-dor for the North Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, a mem-ber of the Kiwanis in Yuba City and hopes to become a Marysville Ro-tarian. He is a member of the lunch chapter at Peach Tree, Dan Ken-nedy Inner Circle Marketing Group directed by Jan Duke and to which he credits his marketing skills.He is a member of the Thursday morning Le-Tip group and the Cali-fornia Auto Body Association. He is the former Feather River Chapter President and he has hopes to join the local Chamber Of Commerce the Lyons Club.“As you can tell I do networking groups and marketing groups.” he said adding that the Kiwanis and the Rotary clubs are in place because it is with these types of groups that he can take an active role in giving something back. He said he is involved with the NVHCC because it is a venue to assist other business owner who may not have the ability to grow on their own.With the auto body shop, he has found that he is connected to many people who at one time or another need his services.From auto detail to collision repair, Vigiani, known as the Godfather of Auto Body, meets the needs of his clients, and hopes to continue doing so at affordable prices for a very long time to come. U

ThE FacEs oFyuBa-sutter

sPeciaL series:

From shinning shows to shinning cars

Charlie VigianionLy in

uniteD

BY LUis BARRERA, [email protected]


FEa

TUrE

page four UNITED

Sankeys

SANKEY AUTOMOBILE CO.

Business: (530) 458-2125

“Located in the Heart of Downtown Colusa”

E-Mail: [email protected] Market Street • Colusa, CA 95932

Toll Free (800) 223-2081

Better than expected. things had been going well between Grant and i. surprisingly well. so well, in fact, that i began to feel a small pang of guilt when i remembered that my intentions weren’t all that great in the begin-ning. i hadn’t believed this guy had a shred of good in him and had listened to the rumors and gossip after all. i had expected him to be a sleaze, that wasn’t exactly fair to him was it?

When Grant asked me to meet his family i was surprised. i didn’t think that was where this had been going. sure we had been having a great time together, but it had only been a few dates spread out over a few weeks. sure enough though, he had asked me to go out to dinner with his sister and her husband. He told me we were going to a restaurant that i had never even heard of. After asking around and discovering that this might be the nicest place i’d ever step foot in, i headed back to the mall.

Looking back.Grant picked me up for our date with six roses in hand – one for each date that we had been on so far. How could i not find that adorable? His sister drove and i tried not to let the mix of hunger and nerves grumbling in my stomach get loud enough to give my emotions away. i chomped on a piece of gum to quell the queasiness.

We sat at a table covered in white linens and i began to feel a little overwhelmed. What if there isn’t anything on this menu i like? i wondered just how out of place i was going to feel in this restaurant. When the boys got involved in a lively debate about baseball, Grant’s sister leaned to me and whispered “if you don’t know what to order to drink when they ask, just ask for a vodka soda with a twist.” i had no idea what that was but felt instant gratitude for her kind gesture. i took that as my green light to follow her every move for the rest of din-ner. When she took the white napkin off her plate and spread it over her lap, i did the same. i watched which forks she used for which foods and did the same. As we left the restaurant after dinner, i leaned into her and mouthed “thank you.” she smiled and said “the boys forget sometimes… not everybody was raised the way that we were. You’re going to be fine. Ready to meet the parents?”

NiKKi HANCOCK’s

s#x anD the countr

yexcLusive to uniteD

NiKKi HANCOCK, CONtRiBUtOR


page threemagazine

MAKE A DIFFERENCE. MAKE HIstoRy.MINUtEs.QUEstIoNs.

Your census form will arrive in March 2010. Don’t miss your opportunity to make a difference. By answering 10 simple questions, you can help improve our schools, roads, hospitals, job-training programs, public transportation and much more.

2010census.gov

Issued August 2009 | Form D-3289


Anyone that’s as big a fan of the TV show “Glee” as I am has prob-ably already rushed out to their favorite local online music store (or certain less reputable hubs of online audio goodness) to snatch up the first two installations of its musical numbers. And for those of you that aren’t fans (yet), for SHAME. Go to Hulu right now and watch it, and enjoy it. The show is a really fun experience, if not for the slightly overdone acting and (yes, I’ll admit it) rather flimsy story line, then for the awesome musical numbers alone.The producers of Glee definitely knew what they were doing when they selected the members of their cast. Most of the main ac-tors on the show are skilled per-formers, making anyone a candi-date for a featured performance: The star quarterback (Cory Mon-teith) singing “Can’t Fight This Feeling” by R.E.O. Speedwagon, the star drama nerd (Lea Michele of “Spring Awakening” fame) belting out Celine Dion’s “Taking Chances,” or the asian-girl-with-a-stutter-but-not-really (Jenna Ushkowitz) singing a charming rendition of “Tonight” from West

Side Story.By far my favorite song of either album has to be the first track, and the first song performed on the show, an awesome version of Journey’s classic-turned-brah-anthem “Don’t Stop Believing.” Watching the culmination of the first episode in this performance was awesome, and definitely got me wanting more from the show. I won’t lie, I’ve been caught at a red light a time or two belting this song out at the top of my lungs. A close second is a song by one of the show’s star guests, the lovely Kristen Chenoweth singing Carrie Underwood’s “Last Name.” This is my next one up for the ka-raoke bars for sure.In the end, if you’re a fan of any of the songs on the track list of either volume, go get BOTH im-mediately. If you’re a fan of the show and haven’t already, hurry up! The renditions of all the tracks are awesome, really fun covers of classic songs, new songs, and one-hit-wonders alike. I, for one, am most definitely one of what all the youngins nowadays are call-ing a “Gleek!”

opIN

IoN

page six UNITED

gLeeFever! new

in uniteD

Keep an eye out this summer!Colusa Certified farmer’s marKet

is baCK starting in may

is baCK!

ColusaBusiness & Visitor’s CenterFarmer’s market

fill up your

groCery bag loCally!

For more information contactMelanie Jacobs at (530) 458-5525

or download the vendor application atwww.colusacountychamber.com

The Colusa County Business & Visitor’s Center

2963 Davison Ct.Colusa, Ca 95932

• Gouda Cheese

• RiCe• beans

• honey

• olives

• blaCkshiRe almonds

• butte view olive

oil

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also...• photoGRaphy

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Commodity Gift baGs

ColusaBusiness & Visitor’s Center

Farmers market

LUKE MiLLER, CONtRiBUtOR [email protected]

UNITEDis now on facebook... visit our fan page for daily post,

some funny, some intersting, some are just too good to miss. Look us under

United News Magazine today!!!!


With a passion for discovery, adven-ture and learning, Colusa County pho-tographer Sue Graue has evolved into a professional and talented photogra-pher after beginning to shoot photos as a hobby in the 1970’s.In a recent interview with UNITED, Graue recalled that she first began taking photos using a Canon 35 mil-limeter film camera.Primarily a self-taught photographer, Graue has also attended photography workshops and receives coaching and critiquing by other photography professionals.“I found I was primarily inspired by having young children at home, and later with landscape, nature, and candid settings with people.While her craft and her talent have grown and evolved from the days when she first picked up a camera, to now and the age of digital photogra-phy, Graue said there was also a time when she didn’t take photos at all.“My camera had broken, and my life-style had changed. It just wasn’t a priority with me,” she said. She didn’t take any photos through-out the late 1990’s.She picked her camera up again in 2000. “Of course it was prompted by the fact that I got a new cam-era,” she said. “I updated to digital in 2004.”In 2007, Sue found she had amassed a large inventory of photos by then; mostly of Colusa County. Then, she was invited to be the first exhibitor at the Colusa Regional Medical Center’s (CRMC) first “Art in Public Places” show.“A hospital board member encour-aged me to participate in this show,” said adding that at first she was re-luctant to do so.“My photography had been a private world of adventure, solace and cre-ativity,” she recalled. “I was reluctant to make it public.”In fact, she admits she seriously thought about not doing the show. She had a month to pick 20 images, get them enlarged and framed. “It seemed like a daunting task and I had not had my photographs profession-ally enlarged before,” she added. In the end, she agreed to do it and she was happy that she did.As she selected the photos for that first show, she said that she was re-minded of what each photo meant to her as she picked it up.“The time spent exploring and taking photos helped me through the grief process during the loss of a family member,” she said. “I found healing and still do in seeking beauty in ev-eryday life,” she shared. “Things catch my eye,” she said.Graue said she spent a lot of time at the Colusa wildlife refuge. “It was very healing there,” she said. Later it became a great adventure. “Every time I visit the refuge there is a sur-prise.”Now, as her talents have grown and her craft has expanded, Graue finds herself in a whole different realm of photography. While she still thrives on photograph-ing wildlife, candid photos and land-scapes, she has again upgraded her camera and has added computer

technology skills. In addition to photography, she mar-kets a line of greeting cards using her photos.Graue said that doing that first show for CRMC was rewarding and trans-formative in that now she has gained an identity as an artist and a photog-rapher.“It was unexpected for me,” she said.Since that time Graue has developed a home-based business offering pho-tos for sale and display. The photos share Colusa County as seen through Graue’s eyes and captured by her camera. Sue Graue Photography offers pho-tography of landscapes, wildlife, can-did event documentation, people & pets and high school senior portraits. She prefers to shoot primarily out-doors. Graue said her goal is to earn at least a portion of her income through pho-tography and so far there is encour-agement to continue.She is employed at CRMC as proj-ect coordinator/community relations, and she commented that her position there has afforded her more opportu-nities to photograph people. When photographing a person she said she is allowed to capture the unique person in that image. “It is a timing thing,” she added. “You see the genuine self of the person in that mo-ment.”Graue’s cards are available at David-son Drugs & Stationery, Red’s Cook-house, Louis Cairo’s, and by word of mouth. “I give them away some-times like Mrs. Fields did her cookies,” she said.Her photographs were featured on the 2009-09 Frontier telephone di-rectory and will appear on the 2009-10 issue as well. They also appear in the Colusa County Business & Visi-tor’s Guide and CRMC’s “Healthlink” newsletter. Her work has also ap-peared in Bay Area art shows. Her entry of a cattle branding day photo won the people’s choice award at the Annual California Rural Health Asso-ciation Conference in Sacramento. Graue said although she never in-tended to grow a business, and that the photos where who own private world, it seems to be happening. She has been working locally and discovering what people like. She is gradually expanding into internet sales. But for Graue and her pictures, she said she still takes photos of what in-spires her. “I may be driving along and if I’m inspired by an image, I’ll stop,” she said. “Some shots are a once in a lifetime opportunity,” she said. Graue’s catalog of photos includes shots of things that no longer exist in Colusa County. “It is a matter of being in the right place at the right time,” she said adding that she doesn’t capture the image, the images capture her. “If I can inspire others that’s good with me.”For more information contact Graue at PO Box 394, Colusa, CA 95932 or by email at [email protected]. U

northern caLiFornia through a Lense

Sue Graue

ThE FacEs oFnorthen caLiFornia

sPeciaL series:

onLy inuniteD

BY KAtHY CRAiGO, CONtRiBUtOR


Melanie Jacobs

oN

ThE c

ov

Er

As the Executive Secretary for the Colusa County Business and Visitor’s Center, Melanie Jacobs is Colusa Coun-ty’s first impression to our county’s tourism. Upon entering the Visitor’s Center, Mel-anie Jacobs greets every guest with friendly service and the comprehensive knowledge about our county, as well as the county wide events and organiza-tions in Colusa County.“It’s really the first stop to many visitors to the county,” said Jacobs in a recent interview with United Magazine. “We have about 300 guest that stop by the center on a monthly basis.” Jacobs ex-plained that the Visitor’s Center is also a one stop shop for locals who would like to promote their businesses and learn about local organizations in the county. The Business and Visitors Center is lo-cated at Colusa Industrial Properties and is funded through a USDA grant and “it’s the Colusa County One Stop’s contribu-tion to Agri-tourism.” The Business and Visitors Center also houses the offices of Colusa County’s Economic Develop-ment Corporation as well as the Colusa County Chamber of Commerce. Prior to working at the Business and Visitors Center, Jacobs had extensive experience and knowledge in Colusa County’s agriculture. She previously

worked for TNT Fresh Cuts as well as Premier Mushrooms. She says that her previous jobs have “allowed her to meet a lot of people very fast,” which in return allows her to stay networked with the community. Last year Jacobs was the driving force behind Colusa’s only certified’s Farmers Market. “It was a very grass roots effort to get it going,” explained Jacobs. The weekly market attracted many vendors and featured fresh produce, specialty chees-es, handmade crafts, fresh baked bread as well as information booths on local organizations. Jacobs said she was pleased with the fruits of her efforts last year and her goals for the 2010 Colusa Farmer’s Market are to “attract more people to come and view all the won-derful things that are locally and region-ally grown.” Jacobs said that one of the rarest items she has found grown locally are kiwis. Also for 2010, Jacobs added that she hopes to see “a higher participation from non-profit organizations around the county at the farmers market.” She also expressed her interest in having a variety of entertainment and vendors with “hot foods” to attract more people to the market. Jacobs has also help established the “Colusa County Bounty.” The year

round commodity retail center is located in the Visitor’s Center, featuring locally produced items such as honey, cheese, rice, olives, almonds, beans as well as local photography by Sue Grau. “We have gift bags available,” commented Jacobs, who has recently seen an in-crease in the demand of these local commodity bags. She also added that the products are sold at close to whole sale price. “We are not looking to make money off the products, we want to promote the growers and the county,” she added. Being the first contact for visitors, Ja-cobs commented she would like to see an improvement in the way commu-nication is shared in the county. “We want to promote as much as we can, but we need the information from the community.”Every day, Melanie Jacobs is making lasting impressions in our visitors and in local businesses in her efforts in uniting the community though the Business and Visitors Center. For more information on Colusa Coun-ty’s Business & Visitors Center, Colu-sa’s Certified Farmers Market or Colusa County Bounty, contact Melanie Jacobs at 530-458-5525 or stop by the Cen-ter located at 4963 Davison Ct, Colusa CA, 95932. U

BY LUis BARRERA, [email protected]

Melanie JacobsExecutive secretary - Colusa County Business & Visitor’s Center

ThE FacEs oFcoLusa county

sPeciaL series:

onLy inuniteD


page threemagazine

Bulletin BoardUNITEDMagazine

Church Dayat the park!COLUSAMarch 28ththe Farm show

WOW!

this is your bulletin board! - Fill it up. submit your photos and important community dates to [email protected] our bulletin board also gets blasted through our e-mailed data base twice a month! *Our bulletin board space is limited and it’s available on a first come first served basis.

3

Save the date:CRMC’s

Ride for LifeApril 24th

• Free Refills on Large Popcorn and Large Fountain Drinks• Now Serving Straw Hat Pizza* (by the slice, weekends only)

For more info visitwww.colusatheater.com

530.458.5777

TechnicolorThe Colusa Theatre Proudly Presents

Starting April 1st(Select Films) 3D

Colusa CityFirefighter PanCake

Breakfast

YUMMY!March 27th

Must Attend:Colusa Rural FirefightersComedy NightMarch 27th

Must Attend:Colusa

Western DaysApril 9th - 11th

Sheriffs Town Hall Meeting

COLUSAMarch 22th


page ten UNITED

Colusa Industrial PropertiesServing Colusa County & Northstate Agri-Business

50 Sunrise Boulevard - Colusa, California 95932(530) 458-2118 - Fax: (530) 458-2110

E-mail: [email protected]

311 5th Street(530) 476-3663

Stop by Monday - Friday 6:00am to 4:00pm Saturdays 7:00am to 2:00pm

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430 Market Street, Suite AColusa, California 95932Office: 458-3704 www.kathycraigo.com

Kathy Craigo Media Consulting

NetworkingNews ReleasesEvent Planning & PhotographyHR Service Consulting NewslettersAD Design & Placements

Colusa County One-StopCareer Resource Center

Your Workforce Connection

Let us connect you with:The Right Employee• Resume Assistance

• Employee Recruitment & Screening• Internet Job Announcements

• Customized Training• Supplemented Payments

to Train Employees

The Right Job• Labor Market Information• Job Placement Assistance

• Skills Upgrading• Internet Job Search

Colusa1Stop.orgConnect With......

Colusa One-Stop144/146 Market Street

(530) 458-0326 Fax: (530) 458-0335

Beduhn Business and Tax Service

436 Market StreetColusa, CA 95932

(530) 458-2197Gail A. Beduhn E.A. - Owner

Enrolled Agent B.S. Accounting

UNITEDis now on facebook... visit our fan page for daily post,

some funny, some intersting, some are just too good to miss. Look us under

United News Magazine today!!!!


Premier Mushrooms L.P., es-tablished in Colusa CA in 2007, is now one of the largest employers in the county, occupying 20 acres at Colusa Industrial Park (CIP) and employing about 140 people. The mushroom farm produces approximately 185,000 pounds of mushrooms each week. White, crimini and portabella mushrooms are grown in 48 growing rooms and are available at SaveMor, Raleys, Nob Hill, Bel Aire and Gro-cery Outlet.Since the beginning of produc-tion, Premier Mushrooms owner operators have made efforts to become a part of the Colusa community and bring benefits to the county and its citizens. In re-cent years Premier Mushrooms has contributed $1 million month-ly to the county through county taxes, payroll taxes, wages, local revenue and numerous dona-tions. In addition Premier contrib-uted $50,000 to the Colusa High School stadium project which paid for the facilities snack shack, do-nated compost to the local com-munity garden project, sponsored free sodas and hot dogs for kids at the Colusa County Fair, and supported a number of youth or-ganizations.Premier Mushroom continues to advance toward being a com-pletely “green” company. Pres-ently Premier Mushroom is a non-discharge facility; recycled ingredients such as cottonseed meal, gypsum, wheat straw and pasteurized dry poultry waste make up the compost, and the water from the facility is reused in the production of its compost. Additionally, all of the mushroom waste generated at the farm is used in the composting process. Producing renewable energy is the next “green” step in line for Premier Mushroom accord-ing to John Ashbaugh, manag-ing partner of operations Plans are currently being researched to implement an alternative energy source such as an anaerobic di-gestion system, solar system, or cogeneration system that would produce reusable energy capable of providing most of the farm’s energy needs. Anaerobic diges-tion is a biochemical process in which particular kinds of bacteria digest biomass in an oxygen-free environment resulting in the pro-duction of “biogas.” Ashbaugh added, “This solution would pro-duce alternative energy using our compost as fuel.”The Premier management team is comprised of the Flores broth-ers, known both nationally and in-ternationally in the mushroom in-dustry. They have over a century

of combined years of experience in growing mushrooms: Manu-al, growing manager, Fernando, processing and warehouse man-ager, Jose, farm manager, Fidel, substrate manager, and Ramon, harvesting manager. The Flores brothers expertise and commit-ment are helping produce the fin-est quality mushrooms.Ashbaugh commented that qual-ity control is extremely impor-tant in the production of Premier Mushrooms. “The growing and processing operations follow GAP and GMP guidelines as a proac-tive approach to ensure the safe-ty and quality of our product,” he said. “Quarterly audits are con-ducted by the Department of De-fense and we are registered with USDA and FDA.”Likewise, equal attention is paid to providing safe working condi-tions for all its employees and to protect its customers, visitors, or persons residing on or near com-pany property from any unusual health or safety risks. While there may have been pre-vious issues concerning odor at the site, Premier Mushrooms has taken great care in upgrading the facility to provide an odor reduc-tion air system. The facility’s compost wharf area is totally en-closed preventing escape of inte-rior air and odors while forcing the wharf air through two bio-filters that cleanse the air and mitigate odors. According to information provided by Premier Mushrooms L.P., the odor impact minimiza-tion plan has been developed to provide guidance to on-site per-sonnel in the handling, storage, and removal of compost-like substrate materials in accordance with the California State Code of Regulations. Premier Mushrooms is dedicated to being not only a profitable company, but to be-ing good neighbors as well. The company has established a tele-phone information line, which is available 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. When residents have questions or comments of any kind connected to the mushroom farm’s operation, they are invited to call [530] 458-8600. An operator will document the call-er’s concerns, questions or com-ments, and the information will then be forwarded to Ashbaugh. All inquiries will be reviewed and responded to in a timely manner.Premier Mushrooms is firm in its commitment to enhance Colusa County by providing substantial revenue, support the community and provide a model state-of-the art mushroom facility that is both efficient and environmentally friendly.U

Business ProFiLePremier Mushrooms

onLy inuniteD

John AshbaughManaging Partner of Operations

BY KAtHY CRAiGO, CONtRiBUtOR


(530) 458-8844 • www.colusacasino.comWe’re easy to find! Just 3 miles north of Colusa on Hwy 45!

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united magazine 2010

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