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This Week’s Fruit:
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 tart flavor.
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.
Navel Oranges
Twin Girls Farm, 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 sweet flesh that makes them a perfect snack.
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.
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.
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.
A Note From Farmer Al:
Dear CSA members,
So as always, it’s all about the weather! And today it even washed out our beloved “Spring Stroll” event. This is shaping up to be one of the weirdest weather years I can remember. And it’s got me worried about blossoms, bees, and pollination. During pollination, there’s nothing nicer than warm dry weather. Bees like it warm. They move faster, touching down on many more blossoms.
They don’t like cold wet conditions, which is what we’ve been getting since March 1st.
Temperatures also affect growth. Cold temperatures in January and even February would have been good, just what the trees need. But in March, trees need warmth to grow. Our current weather is backward, just opposite of what the trees really need. Three weeks ago the Apache apricots were blooming VERY early, signaling to me that is would be a record early ripening year. I predicted at that time that all varieties would be picking at least two weeks early. But cold weather these last two weeks has slowed everything down. My best guess now is that this years harvest will actually be a couple of days late.
But after 6 years in a row of climate changed irregular weather, I can’t even remember what “normal’ looks like anymore.
All the best,
Farmer Al
