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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
DaSilva Fam, Temecula,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.
Minneola Tangelo
Rucker Homestead, Mecca, CA
The Tangelo is a cross between a mandarin and grapefruit. Its skin is easy to peel and its flesh is a deep orange, tender and juicy with a rich and sweet flavor.
Washington Navel Oranges
Abounding Harvest Mountain Farm, Los Gatos, CA
Washington Navel oranges have skins that are easy to peel, are seedless and have a meaty and sweet flesh that makes them a perfect snack.
Hass Avocados
Eco-Farms, Temecula, 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 FROM FARMER AL
Dear CSA Members,
Another beautiful, sunny January day here on the farm. NOT WHAT WE WANT! But, we might as well enjoy it. Our daughters, Maddie, 11, Millie 9, are now driving the golf cart (my handy-dandy-zip-around-the-orchard- vehicle of choice…I love it!).
They went over to the newly constructed chicken house, the pride and joy of my packing shed crew/carpenter crew, which is painted in classic New England Barn colors of fire engine red and white. Their mission: to feed the pullets. Actually, of the 20 young chickens we’ve raised from chicks we received in November, four of them are roosters. Did I forget to tell you about raising chicks in our garage? The dust! The smell! The floor covered in wood shavings! But, it was fun and worth the mess. Anyway, under the capable mentorship of Marlene and Kristin, our garden gurus, Maddie and Millie did a fine job of raising the chicks from babies to teenagers and now they are “free range” in a fenced area around the little house. The fence is a sturdy chain link to protect the chickens from coyotes, raccoons and foxes.
Yesterday evening the girls went over to put the chickens away in their coop while I picked some greens from the nearby garden. Maddie and Millie with the help of some friends, herded and lured the chickens into the house for the night. Then they decided to go inside and visit with them. I could hear
the chattering and clucking going on for about 15 minutes and then, I turned around and saw them all, girls and chickens both, outside of the coop running around! The kids enjoyed capturing the hens and putting them away so much that they just wanted to do it again!
All the best from the barn yard,
