Resident's 'green thumb' is pleasant surprise

A visit with Topaz Ranch Estates resident, Debra Quatrochi, turned into a very interesting experience for me the other day. What started out as a story about emus she has been raising, evolved into a history lesson and one of a visit to her extraordinary botanical garden which enveloped every corner of her home.

When I arrived at the Quatrochi home, there were the emus, or, what was left of the flock she had raised. The remaining six she raised since they were babies would soon be on their way to Oregon and a new home as she had given them to some friends when she made the decision to retire from the business of raising this exotic bird.

Emus are a large Australian bird that cannot fly. An emu stands about 5 1/2 feet high and weighs about 100 pounds. The ostrich is the only taller bird. The emu has brownish-black, thick feathers with two feathers growing from each opening in their skin. The bird's small wings are hidden in the mass of soft feathers which make up their fluffy bulk. Quatrochi showed me abandoned bird nests she had collected from their property and as I reached inside one, the soft downy emu feathers lined the inside of the intricate creation.

Emus have long legs, and are very swift runners, as attested to by Quatrochi when they brought the first birds home a few years ago to start their venture into raising emus. According to Quatrochi, as they were unloading the birds, one escaped and they had to chase the emu, which can travel at approximately 40 mph. They followed the obstinate bird down the road, trying to capture their escapee, as it ran down Topaz Ranch Road and the last they saw of it ... it was exceeding the 25-mph speed limit on Granite by at least 15 mph or better. Quatrochi had been told that they would never go far from the flock and sure enough ... the wayward wanderer soon showed up in the yard where they were able to cautiously corral it back into the large pen to join its mates.

Well, the emus were supposed to be my story, but as Debra Quatrochi invited me into her home to talk to me about emus, I was immediately surrounded by something that held my fascination even more.

As I stepped through the sliding glass door of her Grayhills Road home. I was immediately surrounded with a botanical garden of every house plant imaginable, not unusual I guess, except for the size and the variety of the plants she nurtures. The stories that accompanied each plant as she fussed over them, explaining some of the hopeless wrecks she had rescued from various homes and businesses. Some of the plants had come from the home of Nyles Nation and she could point out every one of them, tell me their botanical name, the care they needed to thrive, the condition they had once been in; they were all like children to her. Quatrochi has a house cleaning business and when Nation had to go to a residential care center before he died, she had been called in to clean the house and get it ready for sale. Plants that would have just gone to the trash by someone else, found their way into the loving care of Quatrochi, thriving as another legacy to Nation in her nurturing hands.

A tour of the Quatrochi home revealed natural wonders of a ficus in her upstairs room, 6-feet tall or better, varietal plants too numerous to mention found loving homes in every corner of her home.

Spattered in amongst this marvelous mass of greenery was an amazing collection of antiques which also captured my attention from all directions and Quatrochi had a history and wonderful story to tell with every piece I admired.

She showed me a find she had made in the Pine Nut Mountains on a quad ride she had taken. Stopping by, what had looked like an old campfire, she found an old burned tobacco can, so destroyed by fire and rust, what every brand or contents it had once contained, totally obscured. But, as she pried off the lid, she found a wet, soggy piece of fragile paper. Carefully she separated the pieces of what was once an old mining claim, basically unreadable as to who had once owned it or the location of the claim but still obvious as to what the document had once been. In the corner of her home was an old roll-top desk with many compartments, which had once been in one of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad offices. When she had brought her prize desk home and started to do restoration on the old remnants of history, in one of the far reaches of a drawer, several documents were retrieved containing the original signatures of Yerington, once owner of the V&T in its heyday.

From every corner of every room in the Quatrochi home, I found myself surrounded in history and an able historian in Quatrochi to tell me intricate details of every piece. I was fascinated and all I can say is I hope she will let me come back to learn more about the wonderful world she has surrounded herself with.

Quatrochi plans to take the gift she has with plants and start a small nursery. She has added a greenhouse to her property and will soon be offering plants and plant care to anyone who wishes to own some of the wonderful varieties she will have to offer. Keep an eye out for when Quatrochi opens her greenhouse up for business. I can't recommend anyone in the area more knowledgeable and with such a vast variety of plants to offer.

n Remember, Saturday, Nov. 4 is the annual Topaz Sagehens Fall Boutique from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Topaz Ranch Estates Community Park building at the end of Carter Way in TRE. For more information about this yearly event call Mickie Joye, 266-1025.

I am writing this story from Williams, Ore. Having a great time and I will be back on Oct. 30 at The Record-Courier. Until then ... keep on keepin' on.

n Jonni Hill can be reached through The Record-Courier at jhill@recordcourier.com or by calling 782-5121, ext. 213, or after hours at JHILL47@aol.com