I want to give everyone a heads-up that next week, as we always do at this time of year, we will open the registration for the 2013-14 Winter and Main Season CSA membership. I want to remind and reassure everyone that your participation and commitment plays a fundamental role in the health of the Farm; [...]
The welcoming path through the lush green rows of V-trellised Galas had an almost magical feel as the ripe apples glowed red in the afternoon sun. The setting in the middle of our apple orchard for the Discovery Program’s 5th Annual Fundraiser was graced by amazing weather, and all the hard work for this challenging [...]
Yesterday we completed our annual organic certification audit, always a relief since it involves a diverse and organized trail of paperwork and on-site inspections to demonstrate how we meet all the national organic rules and regulations - a list that never tends to get simpler or shorter. We passed with flying colors and I will, [...]
Elisa’s summer vacation is now over, David is back in College, and the summer harvest has reached its peak. Although I resist letting go of summer, the transition into fall has already begun. Besides some early winter squash being ready for harvest and the pumpkins slipping into their orange dresses, the most telling sign of [...]
Breen Lettuce Seedlings Overwhelmed with the amount of harvesting going on at the moment, it's always tricky to stay on top of propagation and planting schedules. Most of our crops are raised from seed, grown into seedlings and hand transplanted when they are large enough to thrive under the more challenging field conditions. [...]
The waiting is over; dry-farmed tomatoes will be in everyone’s share this week. What’s special about dry-farming? First, it doesn’t use much water but more importantly it brings the best flavor out of a tomato. Dry-farming tomatoes is a technique perfected a couple of decades ago by Molino Creek, a farming cooperative situated in the [...]
It’s a dance - I check on crops daily, sometimes even more often, to assess both quality and quantity to project and spread the harvest for our weekly commitments to the CSA, farmer’s markets, and wholesale accounts. A field-walk of course involves a lot of sampling, and right now there is a lot to snack [...]
Last Friday the “Food What” team (see last week’s post) gave us a hand harvesting potatoes, a mix of Yellow Finns, Red Pontiac and Fingerlings. Since we don’t grow enough potatoes to justify investing in a potato harvester we first use a large tractor mounted plow shovel which loosens the soil and lifts the majority [...]
Last Saturday’s Apricot U-Pick mustered an impressive turnout even though temperatures reached the lower 90’s. I was “all smiles” to suddenly have dozens of enthusiastic helping hands lessen the harvest load. Judging from the amount of fruit left on the trees and the final tally of sales, an estimated 1000lbs got picked by members. I [...]
When my family had this season’s first roasted Padron Peppers a couple of weeks ago, the kitchen filled with that familiar, tantalizing aroma and everyone came to the table with a smile to enjoy their irresistible taste and sometimes unpredictable biting spiciness. The Pimento (Chile) de Padron, or Padron Pepper, roasted, then sprinkled with olive [...]
