This Week’s Fruit:

Summerset Peaches Bright yellow with hardly no blush to speak of, the Summerset is a freestone that boasts a bold flesh that has a strong peach flavor. Sweet and juicy but with a tart, acidic bite, it makes for a nice contrast as a follow-up to the extremely sweet Cal Red. The Summerset has a nicely firm texture that freezes well and is a favorite of ours to bake with. August Fire Nectarines The August Fire brings our nectarine season to a close beautifully. They’re both elegantly shaped and rich in flavor, with deep red skin and warm orange flesh. Emerald Beaut Plums A freestone plum, the Emerald Beaut is a delicate green that turns golden with a hint of a blush. It has a firmer texture than the Santa Rosa with a crisp almost crunchy mouthfeel. One of our most hardy fruit, the Emerald Beaut just gets sweeter and sweeter without losing texture as it ages. Emerald Beauts are available mid to late September. Hosui Asian Pears The Hosui is popular in both Japan and in California. They have a rougher,thicker skin than other Asian pears with flesh that while still crunchy has a more melting mouthful, making the texture combination when eaten out of hand spectacular. Very juicy and sweet with a milder pear taste, their round shape and beautiful golden hue make them ideal for presentation with a distinctively Autumnal feel. Flame Seedless Grapes Firm, large, and sweet the Flame Seedless are one of the most popular varieties in North America. Enjoy these out of hand or try them in green salads, chicken salads, or fruit salads.

A Note from Farmer Al

Dear CSA Members, Mt. Diablo is burning, a fiery reminder that Mother Nature is still in control. Yesterday afternoon, a blazing hot 100 degrees, the sky was strangely darkened by a mushroom cloud of brown and black smoke making it feel a lot like the day of the solar eclipse last year. Early this morning I went outside when it was still dark and Mt. Diablo was glowing red all along its southern slope, looking very volcanic, with flames towering above the ridges. But here on the farm it is quiet. With most of the fruit now picked, that daily sense of urgency has subsided and the pace is slower. The “ground team” is busy irrigating the thirsty trees, which are now forming buds for next year’s fruit. The “tree team” is trimming off (pruning) branches to reduce next year’s crop load. And all hands are working to make compost. The “packing shed team” is sorting boxes, saving the good ones to re-use for our pears, and shred- ding the rest to add carbon material to our compost. And Christophe, our mad-scientist molecular-biologist, is knee-deep in vermi-compost…his latest project. Vermi compost is worm com- post. We use red wriggler worms and our worm count is somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000 worms plus. Our job is to take him lots of fruit, shredded boxes, horse manure and any other organic material to feed his babies. Apparently they will eat anything and everything, turning garbage into Black Gold, the richest of all composts. So while Mt. Diablo burns, life here on the farm smolders with inten- sity and bio-diversity, all to nurture these trees to give forth their sweet treasures next year.