This Week’s Fruit

O’Henry Peaches (Battle Contender) The O’Henry has the flavor, size, and crimson blush that makes for a truly memorable peach. It’s elegantly pointed shape slices to an attractive heart shape for striking presentation. Cal Red Peaches (Battle Contender) The beloved Cal Red is in a class by itself and is the “Oh my God” peach! A relatively new variety and a California native, the Cal Red was bred by Uni- versity of California botanist Claron O. Hesse in the mid 1960s. Aptly named for the Golden State, the Cal Red is a beautiful golden peach marked with a gentle, sun-kissed blush. Opal Peaches Yellow-fleshed peaches are more popular in the United States, but the allure of an excellent white-fleshed variety like the Opal can’t be denied. Very low in acid, the Opal’s sweetness comes across two-fold. A beautiful des- sert peach, the Opal has a delicate pink blush to its skin and mild flesh with a hint of vanilla. Summer Fire Nectarines The Summer Fire has a firm meaty flesh that isn’t as juicy as some of our other varieties but is packed with a red wine intensity that makes it a memorable and desirable nectarine. Often with a deeper reddish hue than the Fantasia, the Summer Fire is a variety that’s worth the extra effort it takes to slice and pit a clingstone: its warm yellow flesh is streaked beautifully with red near the pit. Flavor King Pluots A dark-skinned pluot with red flesh, it has an intense rich flavor combined with sweet, spicy tones that are reminiscent of the Santa Rosa. A nice acid bite and firm texture that softens beautifully as the fruit continues to ripen, the Flavor King is amazing out of hand and equally good for baking. Storage Recommendations During the summer season, we recommend keeping two – three days worth of fruit out on the counter top and storing the rest in the fridge to be enjoyed later in the week.

A Note From Farmer Al

Decision, decisions!

Dear CSA Members, There is much hype recently about dry-farmed tomatoes. Somehow, there has evolved the belief that they are superior to irrigated tomatoes. Well, the same can be said of “dry-farmed” fruit. The reason or rationale is that the plant, when water-stressed will go into survival mode and send more nutrients to the fruit and less shoot growth or plant growth. But for the tee-fruit grower this raised the question “what about next-years’ crop?” You see we are not only growing this years’ crop now, but we’re also growing next years’ crop at the same time. All of that “shoot growth” we are growing next year will produce next years’ crop. This scenario illustrates the fruit growers’ dilemma; we constantly have to bring into balance compet- ing necessities and goals in just about everything we do. Do we want sweeter fruit this year, or do we want a bigger crop next year? Do we leave the fruit on the tree longer, to let it get sweeter, or do we pick it less ripe (and less sweet) so we’ll have less losses from bruising and over-ripe fruit? For most growers, the answer is to water the trees more to maximize next years’ crop and to pick fruit greener to minimize losses this year. Here at Frog Hollow Farm we take the path less traveled, the path of greater risk. We water less and pick our fruit riper. The reward is sweeter fruit. When I was a child my father used to say to us, “stay on the straight and narrow path’; an admonishment of virtuous and moral conduct. But now as a tree-fruit farmer, I find myself following an even more twisting and convoluted though still narrow path. This is true in every aspect of farming throughout the year. It begins in Winter with pruning…”should I prune out this branch or that one?” and it continues on a daily basis until the last piece of fruit is picked.