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THIS WEEK’S FRUIT:
Sanguinelli Blood Oranges
Frog Hollow Farm, Brentwood, CA
Sanguinelli is the latest variety of our blood oranges. The flesh is sweet and ranges in color from orange with dark red streaking to a dark red maroon. Sanguinellis are usually seedless.
Navel Oranges
Olson Organics, Lindsay, 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. To read more about Ken Olson, please see previos blog post at http://bit.ly/2grsBOE.
Fuji Apples
Smit Farm, Linden, CA
Fujis are a cross between Red Delicious and Ralls Janet, an heirloom apple dating back to Thomas Jefferson. They are one of the sweetest variety apples around making them a household favorite.
Pink Lady Apples
Smit Farm, Linden, CA
Pink Lady’s are a cross between the Golden Delicious and Lady Williams. They are 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.
Hass Avocados
Bravocado, San Diego, 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.
Ruby Grapefruit
Sundance, San Diego, CA
The Grapefruit is said to be a cross between the Jamaican sweet orange and the Indonesian pomelo, first documented in 1750. Under its thick, red-blushed skin you’ll find an aromatic, ruby red, juicy flesh with a perfect sweet tart flavor.
Hayward Kiwi
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.
…all varieties are subject to change…
A NOTE FROM FARMER AL:
Dear CSA Member;
Crop Set Report
As we are getting drenched by yet another wet weather system, we begin to see on our trees indications of the coming seasons’ crop. The “Fruit Set Report” is based on observations of a lot of trees which now have fruit “set” on their branches. “Set” meaning that small fruits are definitely there. Some of these fruits may wither, dry up, and fall off if:
1) There are simply too many fruits per branch or
2) The tree isn’t supported by adequate soil fertility or
3) Inadequate soil moisture.
I don’t anticipate any of the above problems this year.
Apricots: All of our 10+ varieties of apricots have been severely devastated by heavy, cold rains of mid-February when they were in full bloom. So expect few if any apricots this year.
Peaches: So far our peach crop looks normal. We just need to prevent the always present powdery mildew spores from causing cosmetic damage, and we’ll be good.
Plums/Pluots: I haven’t been able to evaluate every variety yet, but my favorite, the Flavor Kings, look good. They come into bloom about a week to 10 days after the apricots, so they were not impacted by the water event that damaged the cots.
Cherries: They’re in full bloom right now, so “fruit set” hasn’t occurred yet. But it was the most beautiful bloom I’ve seen for many years. Let’s just say: I’m cautiously optimistic. The “caution” is because of this rainy period coinciding with the full bloom. There won’t be any bees working to pollinate.
Pears: The Warrens are just now past full bloom, and we can see fruit now. A lot more than last year. The other good news is that leaves and now “shoots” (incipient branches) are forming and growing simultaneously with tree flowering. This is our early indication that the warrens may be recovering their vigor. It could be that our “emergency” detailed “bud” pruning of last October has paid off.
We’ll keep you posted,
Farmer Al
