Week of February 14th 2011

In This Week’s Box

CSA box filled with oranges, apples, avocados, and a small bag of dried plums.

[box_list]

  • Cara Cara oranges, Valley Center, CA
  • Blood oranges, Frog Hollow Farm
  • Pink Lady apples, Cortland, CA
  • Hass avocados, Watsonville, CA
  • Dried Flavor King pluots, Frog Hollow Farm
  • Navel oranges, Lindsay, CA

[/box_list]

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From Farmer Al

Greetings!

Last week while visiting Pleasanton CSA member Jon Harvey at his mountain cabin on Lake Serene near Truckee, he loaned me the book Water Consciousness. These stunning reports are an indictment of worldwide threats to mankind’s fresh water supply–its quantity, its distribution, and its quality. It is also a call to action, offering attainable short and long-term solutions at every level: personal, residential, industrial, agricultural, regional, national, and international in scope.

Please join me in reading this book and in participating in Frog Hollow Farm’s conversation about sustainability here at the farm-level, in our local and regional ecosystems, and in our food systems. We cannot do enough to educate ourselves and our children about water consciousness and how our food is grown and distributed.

We grow organically, but that’s not enough. We have a long way to go. I feel there are many among you, our CSA membership, who could share your knowledge. I invite the contributions of all our members, as well as their friends, families, and colleagues to help us continue towards the path of true sustainability.

For a quick report from the orchard, the plums and apricots are now at the “pink bud” stage. The flowers are still closed and tight yet swollen. Most years the plums, which are always first, open up into blossom around the 20th of February. This year looks to be right on schedule. This marks the beginning of the most critical, dangerous, and beautiful time of the year for California stone fruit growers…blossom time!

Rain on blossoms can cause “brown rot blossom blight” which kills flowers and reduces a crop, so we’re hoping for dry weather for this period. We’re also hoping you will all visit us here on the farm on Sunday March 13th for our annual Blossom Festival, an event which is free to everyone.

Signature of Farmer Al

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Kimi Owens is Frog Hollow's Customer Care and Marketing Coordinator. She is a strong believer in local and global sustainability and is committed to improving the transparency and communication channels of Happy Child CSA. Questions or suggestions in regards to this website may be directed to her at kimi@froghollow.com or via phone at extension 201.

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