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THIS WEEK’S FRUIT
Zee Lady Peach
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood
Renowned horticulturist Floyd Zaiger is responsible for many of our favorite varieties, and the Zee Lady is another Zaiger gem. The Zee Lady is a good sized peach that’s a real beauty, with a vibrant red blush dusted over a warm golden skin. This freestone peach is as great for baking as it is eating out of hand.
Fantasia Nectarine
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood
Quickly becoming one of our best-known and most popular varieties, the Fantasia is a large, tapered heirloom variety. It’s deep golden flesh is amazingly sweet and smooth, and its marbled bright red skin makes for exceptionally beautiful presentation. Like many of our more unique and heirloom varieties, the Fantasia is a far more fragile fruit than most farms will even consider growing. Like the Suncrest peach that often ripens at the same time, the Fantasia is easily bruised when allowed to ripen properly on the branch, but we’re sure you’ll agree that the taste is well worth the risk.
Dapple Dandy Pluot
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood
Playfully called the “dinosaur egg” pluot, the Dapple Dandy has marbled pink and green skin over delicate white flesh threaded with rose. Kids especially love this pluot for its distinctive coloration and the lack of tartness in the skin.
Flavor King Pluots
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood
The best pluot variety we grow! A dark-skinned pluot with red flesh, it has an intense rich flavor combined with sweet, spicy tones that are reminiscent of the Santa Rosa. A nice acid bite and firm texture that softens beautifully as the fruit continues to ripen, the Flavor King is amazing out of hand and equally good for baking.
Opal White Peaches
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood
Very low in acid, the Opal’s sweetness comes across two-fold. A beautiful dessert peach, the Opal has a delicate pink blush to its skin and mild flesh with a hint of vanilla.
A NOTE FROM MARLENE
Dear CSA Members,
Last Friday, we had a “first” at Frog Hollow Farm. As you may remember, last winter we planted nine acres of malting barley in a partnership with Thirsty Bear Brewery and other barley growers in California. Beyond this official partnership, the experience has also created new relationships between Frog Hollow and other local farmers.
The Cecchini family and the newly formed non-profit farm First Generation Farmers helped us with the beginning stages since we don’t have the implements required to plant grain. Christian, who heads the farming at First Generation, got lots of practice on the tractor, seeding the barley.
Over the winter, we watched the barley, monitoring its water needs. While some grains can be dry-farmed, malting barley is a little more picky. Taking up enough water during head (grain) formation is important in getting the best protein levels, and brewers need a specific percentage of protein in the barley depending on what they plan to brew with it. Ron Silberstein, owner of Thirsty Bear, has been a very supportive partner to the farmers in this deal by allowing for a wider range of protein content in the grain. Luckily, our barley tested in the required protein range, which meant we could now harvest!
We got hooked up with the Barns family, who grow thousands of acres of grain in Central California. Their combine was the largest piece of farming equipment I have ever seen! Of course, I insisted on riding inside the combine for the full experience. From the cab, Daniel showed me the basics of harvesting. It is a state of the art machine that even has a computer that can instantly create a map of your yield across the field, yet it still requires a vigilant person at the helm, listening to the subtleties of the engine and keeping an eye on all the extremities.
Frog Hollow’s magical soil was at it again: we ended up with 1.5 – 2 tons of barley per acre, which is an incredible yield!
