A NOTE FROM FARMER AL
Dear CSA Members, The weather dominates everything on the farm. There is neither debate nor complaining about it. The rain is good, needed, and vital. We are all thankful for it. Just before last week’s rain we were able to harvest our Tarocco blood oranges, and Meyer lemons, but since then, field operations have come to a stand-still…….no pruning, no compost production, and no mowing. No field work at all. This is the only downside of all this rain. It means no work for the men, so they must make do with even less than their already meager earnings. But not a word of complaint have I heard from them! As for the compost, we fortunately turned all ten piles just before the heavy rain last week. So it’s in good shape, with every pile heating up nicely and decomposing well. I just recently got a soil test report from Greg Young, our agronomist, and it confirms that we are in fact achieving our goals with the compost. The 2001 Apricot Orchard (our Goldensweet variety) has risen in SOM (soil organic matter) from about 4% three years ago to a very excellent 7.5% SOM. Our winter garden tested at a phenomenal 14.5% SOM, which may be one reason the greens we’re harvesting there taste so delicious. Today I took a walk through the garden. Everything was vivid, radiating green energy and beauty. It’s something I love to do on these dark, damp, dreary days of winter. Just spend some time being in the winter garden. Happy Holidays to All,