Darling Ducklings

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We've had the ducklings out on the lawn the past couple of days. They were quite unsure of themselves at first, but were splashing happily by the end of their session today. Enjoy!

Another Week, Another Harvest...

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If you're in Santa Cruz and looking for dessert, you picked a good week. We delivered a case each of Buddha's Hand Citrons and Yuzus to Ristorante Avanti today. The Penny is fashioning a Yuzu flavored ice cream as well. They are also working their magic on a couple of cases of Owari Satstuma Mandarins. The scoop is that last week's kiwi ice cream is off the hook too. It should be in the bins by next week or so. In addition, be sure to ask for fresh Meyer Lemon lemonade and keep an eye out for our Bearss Limes if you visit The Picnic Basket when they re-open this weekend. 

In other news, it's been cold and dry around here lately. An arctic blast brought us lows of 34 degrees a couple of nights ago. Brrrrrrrr deluxe, but we're grateful that there was no damage to fruit or trees. Psyched to get back to the mid-60's by the weekend. Our ducklings have doubled in size over the past 7 days. We had to replace all of the shavings in their brooder this morning because they went a bit bonkers and repeatedly toppled and dumped their quart sized waterer last night. We stepped them up to the two gallon waterer after the renovations.

Fuzzy and warm thoughts to all!

Colors of Fall & Winter

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Our fall flew past in a blur of orange leaves and orange persimmon pulp.  Winter's rains (27.88" to date) have brought us bumper crops of citrus.  We harvested two cases of Hayward Kiwis and the season's first case of Meyer Lemons for the Penny today.  Our mandarin harvest begins next week with the Owari Satsumas.

We also picked up a half dozen, downy yellow, day-old Pekin ducklings from Metzer Farms this afternoon.  The sounds of their sweet 'peeps', pecks and fluttering are filling our living room as I type.  It's hard to believe these tiny balls of fuzz will be laying large, white eggs by Summer Solstice!

Wishing everyone a Bountiful and Blissful 2013!

'Wonderful' Pomegranates!

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Our Organic 'Wonderful' Pomegranates are ready for harvest! The 'Wonderful' cultivar is prized for its large, dark red arils. This summer's heat has ripened them to sweet perfection. The Pomegranate is highly valued in many cultures and known for its health promoting properties. 

We are selling them for $2.00/lb--approximately $1.50 each-- or $17.50 per 10 lbs for those interested in juicing and making syrups and sauces.  They are available for pickup/delivery locally, and we are able to ship within the continental United States. (Wholesale orders of more than 50 lbs will receive an additional price break).

Please Contact Us to place your order and enjoy this seasonal, healthful fruit. 

Summer Summary

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Our summer simply flew by this year. Its most lasting legacy is our Recipes page, which catalogs the past 15 weeks of CSA boxes. The truth is that we were often too busy to take photos, and there's so much in my mind that isn't in the above slideshow, but c'est la vie.  We had a terrific season this year right up until our well ran dry! 30" of rain last winter (much of it in 5" bursts of runoff) proved inadequate to recharging the cracks and fissures that feed our current well. In order to save our fruit trees, we were forced to end the CSA a few weeks early this year. A huge thank you to all of our CSA members, who supported us through this ordeal. Your kind words and encouragement mean the world to us.

We've got our fingers crossed and our palms pressed together for a wet winter, but in the meantime, we were forced to dig a supplemental well.  Pipes and conduit are laid; wires are pulled; all we need is a pump, which arrives tomorrow. The new well appears to be a gusher, and we're quite hopeful that our old well will recover along with groundwater levels this winter, so that this doesn't happen again.

In the meantime, we've begun our winter citrus harvest. We delivered a case of Buddha's Hand Citrons to The Penny last week, so look for that flavor soon. We made ice cream from them ourselves a couple of months ago, and I also candied one yesterday. The taste is out of this world: pungent, sweet, old-fashioned delicious! Our pomegranates are a couple of weeks from being ready, and the kiwis a few weeks behind them. We have outstanding crops on the trees and vines respectively. Our citrus and avocados are heavily laden as well.

We had .27" of rain last weekend, but another high pressure ridge is rolling through this week.  The mercury is projected to visit the low nineties on Wednesday and Thursday. Our annual beds are thus on a bit of a holding pattern until a significant storm rolls through, enabling us to incorporate this season's crop residue and sow our cover crop into moist soil.

As our CSA members know, we partnered with a farm in the Upper Sacramento Valley to put our own label of handpicked, Organic olive oil this summer. It will be available year round for both shipping and local delivery. The oil is from the mid-season harvest on 80+ year-old Mission Olive trees. It is green enough to be excellent raw--on salad, in dressings, etc.--but buttery enough not to have the bite or aftertaste that limit the cooking potential of early-season harvested oils. We use it exclusively at home and are continuously impressed by its scope and versatility. Please contact us directly to place an order.