Dear CSA Members,
This last week raced by in a blur. We did get all the picking done that I spoke about in my last note. Our picking crew lead by Antonio, was amazing, working 10 hour days and moving from this orchard to that in rapid response to each change of orders from me “el patron”.
As I approach them out in the orchard I can hear them from a distance…laughing, singing, telling stories and kidding each other.
The only crop we fell behind on was, as usual, the pears. We did lose some fuit on the ground because the Warrens give us zero tolerance; the moment the fruit matures on the tree, it drops, especially if the wind picks up a bit higher than the normal 5-7 mph we get here every afternoon. I groan inwardly when I see those big, beautiful perfect pears lying on the ground. But, nonetheless, this year’s crop is, while not a record, still about 15-20% bigger than last year! This should keep us in pears right up into the holidays.
The big news this last week were the Cal Reds. Our biggest crop ever, even though we had pulled out 2 acres of older trees last fall. This large crop is due to the high production that came off the trees planted, just three years ago in 2012. It was fallow for 8 years when the previous owners ripped out the apple orchard to build a house. When we first planted those trees, they got off to a very slow start; the trees seemed stunted in their first months. It wasn’t until we started to add our compost, humic acid and other amendments that they started to take off. Within a year they were lush and vigorous and had the appearance of trees in their third or fourth leaf, not their first! This is just another testament to the necessity our compost program; not only does it address the nutritional needs of the trees to combat disease, but it also increases fertility. And that ultimately iwhat it’s all about.
Cheers!