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Minneloa Tangelos
Twin Girls, Dinuba, 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.
Murcott Tangerines
Twin Girls, Dinuba, 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.
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.
Hass Avocado
Churchill Orchards, Ojai, 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.
Star Ruby Grapefruit
Rainbow Valley Orchards, Temecula, 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.
Navel Oranges
Twin Girls, Dinuba, 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.
….all varieties are subject to change……
A Note from Farmer Al
Dear CSA Members,
My report from the field: wet, muddy, cold. All trees are now at some stage of bloom, the time of highest risk for this year’s crop. The ideal weather would be dry, sunny, warm, which would stimulate growth.
So, let’s look at each crop status, by variety.
Apricots
- Apache – no crop due to 8 hours of freezing temperatures on just formed fruit on February 24th.
- Kettleman- avoided the February 24th freeze by not yet having developed fruit.
- Golden Sweets – Very erratic bloom. Too early to predict a crop, but I’m not optimistic.
Cherries
- Royal Tioga, our newest variety will probably have a crop. This variety was developed by Zaiger Genetics to have much lower chill hour requirements than Brooks or Rainier.
- Rainiers – Probably ok. Our most reliable cherry!
- Bing & Brooks – Not enough chill to set a crop.
Peaches – In full bloom now, looking really good.
Nectarines – In Full bloom, however, the success of the crop will depend on our ability to control thrips (small insect that damages fruit). And Thrips control depends on our ability to get into the orchard with our tractor) to spray the thrips(we use a biological material approved for organics). Right now, that’s not happening.
Plums & Pluots
- Santa Rosas are one of our most reliable fruits. It always succeeds and satisfies.
- Dapple Dandys had an amazing bloom as it always does. Can’t see any fruit yet.
- Flavor King. Beautiful full bloom, but definitely requires cross-pollination. Bees are best, but we always blow on “purchased” pollen as an insurance policy.
- Emerald Beauts. This laggard bloomer always drags its feet to flower, not a bad strategy to avoid the early March “madness.”
Warren Pears – Just now coming into bloom. To get a crop the flowers MUST be cross-pollinated, either by bees or by us blowing pear pollen, bees don’t work well in windy weather. And our vehicles can’t get into the orchard in muddy weather to blow pollen. If this weather doesn’t change soon, it will be a very light crop.
Pink Lady Apples – Not even close to blooming yet.
I’ll know a lot more by next week. Stay tuned.
Farmer Al
