Follow
THIS WEEK’S FRUIT
Tarocco Blood Orange
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
A beautiful orange to deep red flesh is revealed when you slice open a Tarocco. The flesh of the blood orange is firmer and more dense than an orange and its flavor is a little more tart.
Pink Lady Apple
Cuyama Farm, New Cuyama, CA
A cross between the Golden Delicious and Lady Williams, the Pink Lady is a crisp and juicy apple with a tart finish. Pink skins and a creamy white colored flesh that resists browning make this an excellent apple for salads and slicing.
Fuji Apples
Cuyama Farm, New Cuyama, CA
Fujis are a cross between Red Delicious and Ralls Janet, an heirloom apple dating back to Thomas Jefferson.
Hayward Kiwis
Chiechi Farm, Live Oak, CA
Originally known as the Chinese gooseberry due to its Chinese origins. Hawyward Wright, a New Zealand nurseryman propagated his plants by grafting, and they eventually became the preferred cultivar of growers due to their sweet flavor and thin skin.
Cara Cara Oranges
Cousins Organic Citrus, Orange Grove, CA
A medium sized red fleshed, seedless navel orange. Cara caras are a low acid orange that makes the flesh sweeter and more complex than most navels. Creamy in texture, nutty in flavor, with a small to medium seed. The Hass skin is easy to peel and darkens from green to purplish-black as it ripens.
Page Tangelo
Abounding Harvest Mountain Farm, Los Gatos, CA
The Tangelo is a cross between a mandarin and grapefuit. Its skin is easy to peel and its flesh is a deep orange, tender and juicy with a rich and sweet flavor.
Algerian Tangerine
Abounding Harvest Mountain Farm, Los Gatos, CA
This tangerine’s skin is a beautiful red-orange hue and is so thin that it peels very easily. Inside the fruit is succulent and very sweet.
Hass Avocados
Sundance Organics, Oceanside, CA
Creamy in texture, nutty in flavor, with a small to medium seed. The Hass skin is easy to peel and darkens from green to purplish-black as it ripens
A NOTE FOR FARMER AL
Dear CSA Members,
Fog
Fog has returned to the Central Valley! This is good because it keeps the day time highs (temperatures) low, helping to accumulate these precious winter chill hours we need, especially for cherries. We haven’t had a decent cherry crop in three years because of warm winters. So far this has been yet another warm one till now.
Every day I walk through the cherry orchards and examine the buds. They’re actually starting to fatten up (called “bud swell”). This is a very concerning condition. Cherries are always the LAST of our fruits to bloom. It’s just an- other indicator of climate change creating more uncertainty for agriculture.
On the other hand, it’s been really great weather for our winter garden, as the greens continue to grow vigorously, soon to become the delicious new menu items being offered at the Frog Hollow Farm to Table Café at the Ferry Building. Becky and I are also very much enjoying the winter bounty at our own evening dinner table … two kinds of kale, several varieties of mustard greens, spinach, chard, purple and green cabbages, arugula, lettuces, turnips and daikon radish, celery, etc. The list goes on… The fava beans look really good. In fact, just yesterday I was visiting my old friend and long time CSA member Narsai David who lives in Berkeley. He always plants fava beans in his front yard, and I’ve always admired them. But now they look a bit wimpy compared to our own robust bean patches.
Our plan for the winter garden program is to expand it to several acres, maybe by next winter, so we’ll be able to offer all of these delicious veggies and greens to all of our CSA members.
