A good time was had by all
Dear CSA Members,
Thank you to those of you who came out to the farm for our fall harvest celebration. Even though the temperatures wereup over 90 degrees, over 150 members, friends and family came out to picnic, pick apple and listen to music.
Early in the event Molly and her crew made olive branch crowns for the FHF staff and then made beautiful dream catchers with the stripped branches and yarn. The kids loved it and crowded around the table most of the day. All the while members ate their picnic lunches to the sound of bluegrass music by Leslie, Jordan and Adam. In the packing shed, Chef Anna gave a wonderful cooking demo of a kale and apple salad, using our pink lady apples, lacinto kale, hazelnuts and the farms’ pomegranites and olive oil. She showed everyone how to skin hazelnuts and knock the pomegranite seeds out of the pomegranate skin. It was very informative and delicious. The salad was refreshing and very beautiful; dark green kale chiffonade and apple match sticks that had turned a bright pale green from the chlorophyll in the kale, lightly toasted and skinned hazelnuts, then, bright red pomegranate seeds and pecorino cheese scattered over all. We will be growing kale on the farm this fall and winter so Anna and I have been working to incorporate all these amazing veges with our fruit products to create recipes for the shop and for our blog. We are very excited about the garden that Marlene with the help of Kristen, is creating on the farm. Christophe and Monique gave a talk about the compost program that have created here at the farm. He discussed the differences between our composting program and that of Recology in San Francisco which is a huge urban project that takes the compost from the city and takes in to a vast area in Vacaville and sorts and makes compost of all the city’s waste. Our project is much smaller and more highly monitored and more tailored to the needs of our orchards. Christophe also discussed the benefits of vermicomposting (worm compost). Christophe encouraged everyone to make their own compost as much as possible as it is so important for increasing microbial life and adding the nutrients in the soil that will increase resistance to disease for the plants. We are composting all our unsaleable or unusable fruit, kitchen waste, and orchard prunings. We are thrilled with the work that Christophe has done at Frog Hollow Farm. We believe that our fruit quality (high brix), and the health of the trees, (virtually no brown rot) is a direct result of the great work he and Monique have done here. So indeed, it was a celebration of a great summer season that has past and of a new wonderful fall season that is upon us. Best, Farmer Al and Becky