Potato seeds (one of my favorite crops) arrive next week, and the “itch” to prepare the soil and plant is returning once again. Tomatoes, peppers, leeks, basil, and a long list of brassicas are on a staggered sowing schedule to ensure a consistent and regular harvest throughout the year. Due to the dry weather many [...]
Still no rain! With the long-term forecast looking dry and relatively warm it is with some measure of unease that we are sowing our winter covercrops. Usually the first rains arrive in October and supply enough moisture to ensure good germination. This year we might have to assist with supplemental irrigation to prevent the germinating [...]
“...Nature, lying all around, with such beauty and such affection for her children; and yet we are so early weaned from her breast to society, to that culture which is exclusively an interaction of man on man.” - Henry David Thoreau October is here and so are the kids. It’s a popular time of year [...]
Not much time to sit down, reflect and write - all our energy is focused on keeping up with the pace and intensity of the farm. It is as if Mother Nature is aware that these are the final weeks of summer. Galas are hanging ripe for the picking. The first block of winter squash [...]
Our three Tomato U-Pick events have been inspiring and fun. An estimated 500 people visited the farm and picked well over 2 tons of tomatoes – that’s an impressive 4,400 pounds. The seasonal abundance was enjoyed by all, as families explored the farm beyond the tomato patch to pick and taste other seasonal favorites such [...]
Bare root strawberries waiting to be planted. We did it! Yesterday, almost all of the 80,000 bare root strawberry plants got planted by late afternoon, beating the arrival of this week’s anticipated rainstorms. All of us felt a sense of relief and well deserved accomplishment now that next season’s strawberry crop is safely [...]
“Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders.” - Henry David Thoreau, The Dispersion of Seeds. Warm weather, last weekend’s replenishing rain, and days getting noticeably [...]
The long awaited tomatoes are gradually ripening, and as much as we’d like to encourage them to ripen faster the first harvest typically is a teaser and doesn’t yield enough for everyone’s shares. Get your salt shaker out. Our Early Girl dry-farmed tomatoes are almost ready. A wave of new crops is at [...]
The soils that should be saturated from winter rains right now are drying out instead. I notice that the “itch” I get at the beginning of every season to prepare the soil and start planting seems too early. After rejuvenating rains in December, we haven’t seen any precipitation. January should be the wettest month of [...]
Let’s start with the “bad bug” news. The prolonged heat wave we experienced last week may have extended the harvest of dry-farmed tomatoes, green beans and peppers for a few more weeks but on the flipside it also attracted a new exotic heat loving insect pest, a stink bug called Bagrada. This African native has [...]
