Crop & Field Notes

Italian Parsely seedlings break up the brown soil with rows of green.

Nearby to the parsely are rows of Fennel, their wispy shoots reaching up toward the sky.

The lettuce crops have been bountiful this spring, and these rows of Green and Red Butter Lettuce are no exception.

A nice, healthy Basil plant just about ready for harvest.

We have three crops of Summer Squash all at various stages. The one pictured here is ready for harvest, so there’ll soon be squash for the shares.

Still small, these are one of the other crops of Summer Squash.

These French Breakfast Radishes are pushing their shoulders up out of the soil, letting us know it’s almost time to harvest them.

The Cucumbers are sizing up, while more blooms means the harvest will continue for a number of weeks.

Potatoes – little jewels of the earth – are just a couple of weeks away from being large enough to harvest.

Though potatoes are a root that grows in the ground, the plants also produce lovely blossoms.

A Broccoli head, peeking out from its nest of leaves, will be ready in about two weeks.

The first Golden Raspberries of the season, these are just a teaser since the rest of the berries are still very green – about three to four weeks away.

The Red Raspberry vines are loaded this year – all their blossoms have made the bees very happy.

While the raspberries are still weeks away, the Strawberries have been producing for about a month now. We had some initial difficulty with soft spots from the rains, but the plants are sizing up nicely and will be ready for our first U-pick on June 4th.

These young Santa Rosa plums will have turned purple and be ready for harvest by mid-June.

Tomato seedlings were transplanted before one of the recent rains. We dry-farm them, so their roots are following the water down into the soil, and their delicious fruit will be ready in about 3 months.

Pepper seedlings are sown at the same time as tomatoes. The first peppers will also be ready around the end of July or beginning of August.

The Apples are ready to be thinned (this cluster will be thinned to just 2 or 3 apples), which helps them reach a decent size. These Fujis won’t be ready until the end of Sept. or beginning of Oct.

Two days a week, after the harvesting is done, we set up in the barn to pack our CSA Shares full of the goodness the Farm provides.

It seems strange to have to irrigate in January yet there were only a couple of brief rain storms in November and December and none this month, so using groundwater is a must if we’re to have anything to harvest in the coming weeks.

These rows of carrots are where cherry tomatoes were growing just a few months ago. Some of you may remember them from our Tomato U-picks.

This field was full of pepper plants in the summer, while the field beyond was full of dry-farm tomatoes. Now there are rows of cilantro, onions, carrots, and purple top turnips in the near field, with chard in the one beyond.

Though the fields in the first photo were being irrigated with sprinklers, drip irrigation is becoming more necessary to help conserve precious water.

In summer, this field grew a mix of herbs, peppers, and tomatillos. Now it is full of greens, including a variety of pok choi (in the near ground) that made it into some of last week’s shares as a substitute for a couple of other veggies that came up short.

These year-old raspberry canes that were lush and green in summer are getting pruned back.

This was a field of 2-3 year old raspberry canes. They’re gone now, and the rows are full of recently transplanted greens. Some have been covered to protect them from colder night time temperatures.

Berry canes are not the only thing getting pruned this month, so are apple trees like the old Newtown Pippin pictured here.

While some apple trees on the farm grow without guidance others, like the Fujis pictured here, are espaliered – trained to grow along wires that support the weight of the apple crop and make harvesting easier.

Near the trees pictured above are next season’s strawberry fields – the farm plants over 80,000 strawberry starts at the end of the year in preparation for the April-Oct fruiting season.

Cover crops are sown in between the rows of these espaliered Royal Gala apple trees. At the end of the crop’s growth cycle, it will be disc-ed in to provide nutrients during the time the apples are growing.

These fields are a patchwork of recently plowed ones, current season rowcrops, and cover crops.

Green and red cabbage tough out the colder weather, slowing their growth (CSA members may have noticed the decrease in size of some items in their shares) and producing sugars, making them sweeter than cabbage grown in the summer season.

Next to the rows of cabbage are ones of kale. The Lacinato pictured here is being harvested for CSA shares. We leave the plants in the ground, harvesting just the leaves to prolong the life of the crop.

Bolting broccoli plants lend a splash of color and brightness to the muddy brown fields.

A little further along, rows of green garlic for upcoming shares are bordered on the right by a field of cover crop.

This field of cover crop leads up to an orchard of Newtown Pippin apple trees. This variety of apple was grown extensively in the Pajaro Valley for use in Martinelli’s apple cider.

Windfalls in the orchard provide food for over-wintering birds.

More cover crops are nearby, with rows of raspberry canes beyond (where the white buckets are). The small orchard to the left are apple trees that have been grafted.

Red-tailed and -shouldered hawks are a common sight at the farm. On gopher patrol, this one is perched high in a dead pine overlooking the fields.

During winter, mushrooms, like these boletes, are common in the wilder sections of the farm.

Recently cultivated and formed rows are ready for transplants.

Just like the rest of the farm’s fields, the Farm Discovery fields are plowed, ready for new crops to be planted by future farmers.

The apple trees still have some leaves, though they are yellowing as the days grow shorter. The green band in the middle of the row is a sprouting cover crop.

Farmer Juan, on the right, making his rounds. He carries a shovel with him to cut drainage ditches where there is standing water.

The near portion of the field in front of the row of corn stalks is filled with a cover crop.

Looking from the other direction back toward the corn stalks, the near rows contain young leeks, garlic, and cilantro.

Tractors using the road create ruts that fill with rainwater. The mud created is deep, sticky, and clings to boots.

This field of chard and kale will soon be plowed then planted with a cover crop to recharge it for the next main season.

Not all the farm’s roads have standing water in them, yet they remain muddy and slippery.

The white row covers protect fragile crops like lettuce from the worst of the rain and from future frosts.

A view from the other side of the fields, with an area of cover crop in the foreground.

In January 2013 this portion of field was flooded, and now there are rows of raspberries and a corner of our community strawberry field.

A little over two weeks ago, this field was being plowed. Now it’s full of transplants, crops that will be ready for harvest within the next month or so.

The chard in this field was transplanted about three weeks ago. Back in December, it was full of cauliflower wearing a frosty coat.

The chard has a competitor – purslane. Though edible, purslane is considered a weed and can quickly take over a field if left unchecked.

These blackberries also went through the December frost – so thick in between the rows it looked snow.

Two weeks ago this field was just freshly formed rows. Now it’s full of winter squash. The white leaves are the original ones from the transplants, dusted with clay to hinder pests like flea beetles.

This field of first year raspberry canes was last summer’s community tomato field. And before that, in March 2013 it was full of cover crop.

Hungarian Yellow Wax Peppers

Padron Peppers

Dry-farmed Early Girl Tomatoes

The rows in the foreground are covered in “remay” tunnels that protect crops, in this case lettuce seedlings, from frost.  The rows to the right in the middle field are planted with cauliflower, while the rows on the left, being sprinkled, are planted with radishes and Japanese turnips.

Well protected from damaging frost, the lettuce seedlings under the remay are thriving .

More mature cauliflower plants were sprinkled the evening before since water remaining on the leaves protects the plants by absorbing cold, creating an insulating blanket of ice crystals which keeps the plant’s temperature from falling too low.

This close-up, and the one below, of the cauliflower leaves shows the patterns the frost creates.

The cold weather slows growth and the plants create more sugars, which freeze at lower temps, to protect themselves. This is why winter veggies often taste sweeter than summer ones.

It got cold enough to freeze some standing water in a low patch of the road.

This garlic shoot is doing its best to shrug off some flakes of frost.

The frost is so thick in this blackberry row it almost looks like snow.

Frost rimed blackberry leaves.

These Brussels sprouts made it through okay, and will be all the sweeter for it.

The Lacinato (Dino) Kale has its own frost blanket. Notice how the leaves have been harvested yet the plant has been left to continue to grow. The harvest is extended by leaving the plant in the ground longer.

All puffed up against the cold, this hummingbird takes a sunbath on one of the Farm’s Meyer lemon trees.

Pictured here is a field of summer squash from a previous post on July 9th. It’s changed dramatically in just a few weeks.

This is the same field from the opposite direction. The squash leaves are almost completely covering the ground, and the plants are full of flowers and small squash.

The squash are tucked in, hidden under the leaves at the base of the plants. They grow quickly, and this particular squash will be ready for harvest in just a few days

This zucchini is growing in a field nearby the one above.

Lush and green, this is a field full of winter squash and cucumber plants.

While the winter squash are only just beginning to produce blossoms, the cucumbers are already on their way to being ready for harvest. Here’s a small pickling cucumber that will be in someone’s box soon.

The cucumber above just needs to reach this size for harvest.

Plants have wills of their own. This dino kale, looking healthy and strong, is a volunteer that came up in the middle of a field of leeks.

Bees bees bees. We can never have enough of them here on the farm. Whether they are feeding on an invasive thistle…

…pollinating a squash blossom…

…visiting a California Poppy…

…or making sure our blackberry vines produce berries, we love them.

In fact, there are now some permanent hives on the farm. These were placed here, and are managed by, friend-of-the-farm Patrick W.

Summer is a colorful time on the farm. Even the poison oak puts on its red dress.

Much preferred, though, is the red of our dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes. Are you ready for the U-Harvest on Saturday, Aug 24th?

While the Early Girls are already being put in the shares, with the August heat upon us it won’t be long before these Heirloom tomatoes will be ready for harvest, too.

In contrast to last year, this season has been a good one for our cane berries. Recently harvested, this blackberry row still has lots of ripening berries.

There are many patches of wild roses on the farm. This time of year, wild rose hips are adding their own bit of red to the landscape. Cup of tea anyone?

Sweet Lipstick Peppers peek out from under leaves in the pepper fields.

Though the apricot trees no longer have any fruit on them…

…they still bear small jewels. Protective sap balls form where a branch’s bark cracked or sustained some kind of damage.

Our Concord grape vines have been quietly working away…

…creating jewels of their own that will be ready for harvest in late September.

An obscure fruit, the quince are just starting to turn yellow and give off their wonderful fragrance. Difficult to use, these don’t appear in the shares very often, instead they go to Happy Girl Kitchen to be turned into quince candy and membrillo.

There are a number of hedgerow projects on the farm. This row was recently planted near the Heirloom tomato field.

The hedgerows contain native plants, like this penstemon…

…and this other variety of penstemon, too.  Their flowers are important attractors for pollinators.

What would a farm be without animals and other wildlife. This rooster is in with one of our pastured flocks. Though hens will lay eggs without a rooster, having one can help since they announce intruders, herd or lead the hens into the coop at dusk, and dole out any tasty morsels as evenly and fairly as possible (at least, a good rooster does so).

This is one of the goat kids born earlier this year. The kids are growing fast, and they’ve already become noisy teens bleating “hello, don’t you want to feed me?” as anyone walks past their enclosure.

Our farm dog, Chella, takes it easy in the shade on a hot day. She’ll be up all night chasing away coyotes from the hens and deer from the fields, so she deserves a good rest.

And speaking of wildlife, here’s one of our summer helpers, Noah, flying his chard flag high while doing his happy chard-dance.