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THIS WEEK’S FRUIT:
Tarocco Blood Oranges
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. These beauties sweeten and darken in color as the season progresses.
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.
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. TTo read more about Ken Olson, please see previos blog post at http://bit.ly/2grsBOE.
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. They are one of the sweetest variety apples around making them a household favorite.
Pink Lady Apples
Cuyama Farm, New Cuyama, 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.
…all varieties are subject to change…
A NOTE FROM FARMER AL:
Dear CSA Members,
I’m driving my golf cart on a short gravel road out to the edge of the orchard behind my house where I have to stop. I can go no further. The dirt road beyond is glistening with water. Matter of fact, everything…grass, leaves of the redwoods that line my driveway, bushes, sheds…it’s all glistening with the recent rain. Everything is wet. Wet, wet, wet. I look across the glistening, muddy road to the Geddes property with longing. We planted 20 acres of peaches there exactly one year ago this week — the first week of February. Those first days of February 2016 were warm and dry. Beautiful sunny days. Temperatures were in the upper 60’s and low 70’s. Beautiful. The ground was soft and crumbly. A shovel could slide into it easily and would come up full of black, moist, loose earth that would fall apart when dropped onto the ground. Planting trees was easy and so satisfying with the loose dirt packing nicely around the roots of the tiny trees. Everything was perfect and enjoyable.
This year? Everything is difficult. Yesterday I had to have the packing shed team put 7000 trees in our big cold storage room (normally full of fruit in the summertime but empty at this time of year). These trees are ones ordered from nurseries to be planted this year. They’re easy to move because they are in bins packed in sawdust. Putting them in cold storage keeps them from growing. We set the temperature at 40 degrees Fahrenheit and it’s dark so the trees think it’s still winter and will stay dormant.
We’re waiting until March to plant, hoping the ground conditions will once again be perfect for planting. I’m getting very antsy!
Organically Yours,
Farmer Al
