As of this posting, we're up to 17.56" on the rain gauge, approximately one third of our usual rainfall. Last week's high pressure pushed temps into the high 80's for four days straight. We spent the weekend processing fruit. Our mulberries became ice cream and sherbet, the last of the kiwis were blended into sorbet, and two flats of strawberries turned into 16 pints of jam. Today, Meyer lemons and Xinjiang oranges went down to Assembly. Nancy and I went to one of their opening nights, and the food and ambiance are excellent! This spring was busy and productive. Our cover crop is incorporated--though we are not planting any annuals this year on account of the drought. Winter grafts and cuttings are leafed out and taking off. All of the orchards are mowed, and our trees are fertilized. I skirted up the pomegranates a couple of weeks ago and am in the process of re-mulching them. The citrus is in full bloom and full of big smells and buzzing bees. I put together another high definition panorama of our citrus slope a couple of weeks ago for the Citrus Care Workshop I co-taught at the UCSC Farm with living legend Orin Martin. It was a fun going back through old photos documenting our tree's growth and some of the fruit they've produced over the last five years.
The full slideshow is posted here. Enjoy!
