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THIS WEEK’S FRUIT
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.
Murcott Tangerine
Sundance Organic, Oceanside, CA
Murcott Tangerines are known for their rich flavor and deeply hued flesh and juice. Their small size and sweet juice makes them a favorite with little ones.
Hass Avocados
Sundance Organic, 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
Navel Oranges
Purity Organic, Kerman, CA
California Navel Oranges are considered to be the best Navels for eating out of hand. They have a thick skin that is easy to peel, are seedless and have a meaty and sweet flesh that makes them a perfect snack.
Ruby Grapefruit
Sundance Organic, Oceanside, CA
The Grapefruit is said to cross between the Jamaican sweet orange and the In- donesian pomelo, first documented in 1750. Ruby grapefruit was an accidental discovery of a red fruit growing on a pink grapefruit tree.
Albion Strawberries
JW Farms, Watsonville, CA
The Albion is a newer variety strawberry developed at UC Davis. It is ever bearing and usually produces fruit June – October in the Bay Area. Strawber- ries are early this year! The sweet flavor and firm flesh makes the Albion an excellent dessert or preserving berry.
Valencia Oranges
Valencia Oranges – Pleasant Valley Ranch, Springville
Valencia Oranges are known for their very sweet tasting and brightly colored juice. They are one of the most popular varieties used for bottled juices because of this. Their sweet, bright flavor and minimal seed content (1-6 per orange) make them great for out of hand eating too.
A NOTE FROM CHEF BECKY
Dear CSA Members,
There is a compost controversy raging among old guard organic farmers and consumer advocates represented by OCA (Organic Consumer Association) regard- ing the use of manure from factory farms in “organic compost”. One reccent article on the subject was titled: “Waste not, want not; organic agriculture has a dirty little secret”. The reason that ‘organic compost” is in parenthesis is because calling it organic is a stretch. It is sold as organic but most manure available for compost is that from CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) who use antibiotics and GMO feed that is not always “cooked out” in the process of thermophilic compost.
The inherent wastefulness of factory feedlots where feed is brought in and waste taken out creates a huge problem. Where is all that manure to go if it’s not composted? This has been a thorny issue for organic farmers and compost makers for years. In a grass-fed operation, the cows are raised on pasture with a supplement of feed. The cows eat the grass and fertilize it, enabling more feed to grow. It is a cycli- cal process, self renewing. The organic movement has provided a use for waste from CAFOs which would have no other use for it. It would sit in a landfill creating green- house gasses, contributing to global warming. Needless to say, our organic activist friends, compost makers etc, are feeling very betrayed by OCA.
Last week as we were heading out of town for Hawaii, Al was on the phone trying to coordinate communication between Christophe (compost master) and Humberto (our tractor driver) regarding the testing and subsequent spraying of the compost tea that was brewing. It has to be sprayed with 8 hours of completion, but it can’t be sprayed until Christophe gives the green light. He wants to test to make sure that there’s lots of microbial activity so that the trees can more readily absorb the nutrients. Humberto needs to start early so that he can complete the spraying of one batch in one work day. A lot of texts went back and forth as we were rushing to the airport, but it all ended well; Christophe was able to test the batch early and Hum- berto was able to get started right away.
When I hear the issues facing organic agriculture regarding compost in par- ticular, I am so grateful that we have our own compost program. It is well worth the extra management and investment. Buying good “organic compost” was always tricky and never satisfying. Nothing we could buy can comes close to the quality of what we make ourselves. Making our own compost has enabled us to address specific issues like brown rot and replant syndrome. We are not only sequestering carbon but we are making our trees healthy and making our fruit delicious.
