Dear CSA Members,
Yesterday’s rain swept over the farm rapidly, sending fieldworkers rushing out of the orchard before the roads got too muddy. We got about” of rain, which isn’t much, but at this time of year the ground dries out very slowly, so we won’t be able to get back to our pruning until Monday. But of course, we really need this rain, so we‘re happy about that.
The really good news for us (and you), is the cold temperatures we’ve been getting. Our chill hour accumulations are now well over 220 hours, which is the best in over six years. If this trend continues, it could mean a good cherry crop, which we have all been missing for the last several years.
The goal is to get over 900 hours of below 45 ̊ by the end of February. So yesterday, by about 3:30pm, the storm had moved eastward to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I got on my golf cart and drove through the grass-covered peach orchard that surrounds my house. The cherry orchard, just east of an open field, was lit up by the setting sun to a burnished bronze, glowing against the gray black storm clouds and framed by a full rainbow. A truly memorable sight, and a beautiful ending to a stormy day!
Cheers,
