Happy Winter

Lazaro with the Harvest

Now that December is upon us I can get off the tractor/van/phone and post pictures and talk about the season past. . .and ahead to the future.  In the summer and fall I get to see a lot more of my customers at the market and elsewhere, now that the winter season is upon us these connections get a lot rarer.

Our season lasted until late November and then we were hit by a good frost then some amazing rains, no question about a change in seasons this year!  We have cleared our fields in a hurry and even walking them is a soupy challenge now.  Time to retreat into the greenhouses to grow our winter market crops and plants for next year, and do some needed maintenance and planning in the dry barn.

Coming Soon to Market. . .

I am very excited about the prospects for our winter farmer's markets, my extra hard work in planning and planting in August and September is showing results, our greenhouses are bursting with tasty stuff. We will be at the Berkeley Market on Saturday and many more Saturday's this winter with a happy selection of lettuces, arugula, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, kale, collard greens, snow peas. . .Salsas, Roast Tomatoes, Pasta Sauce, Bloody Mary Mix and dried chiles too!

Making Salsa

We had some great harvests this year, onions heaved the soil out of the beds and peppers of all kinds did really well in the mild summer, lasting deep into fall.  All of the crew did an excellent job this year, we were a smaller team with a lot more experience, we are leaving the farm in great shape for the coming season.  Spring rains delayed our harvest but folks were ready for us, both our wholesale customers and our market regulars bought everything we could  produce.  Our tomato crops suffered a bit but we learned a lot this season and had help from Robert Gilbertson, a  plant pathologist at UC Davis, we should have much better production in the coming years now that we understand more about the Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus that has been vexing us.  Excitement for the prospects of 2013 are buzzing around the farm, early this year and a great indicator of farming morale as we enter into the short days.