Growing Gophers and Other Lovely Things

Hi All!
    Well, I must say, our 175 tomatoes are taking off! We
have blossoms and soon – 20 plus varieties of
tomatoes! The carrot harvest was the most successful ever, except that
more than half came out “forked,” which means they look like little
creatures. This is usually caused by rocks in the soil. We sold the
perfect ones
last week. The rest we will eat, or give to our goats, hens and horse.
As you know, our dog Chef loves kale, so he might get a few carrots too!
Some squash, beans, and pepper plants are growing well, others more
slowly. It is always
an education to figure out why.
    A few beets, parsnips,
kohlrabi, radishes, and celeriac are in the ground. Darryl’s hops plants
are starting to grow, as well as the grape plants. Potato plants look
healthy. Garlic tops are drying up, so soon we will harvest them. Lots
of them got eaten by gophers, a common problem here. We have to walk the
fields every morning to inspect traps and set new ones. With gophers,
you have to catch the most recent activity or you won’t get them.Tally
for gophers caught in 2012 so far: 22 (probably more info than you
wanted!)
    Cukes, corn and winter squash will be getting a late
start, not yet in the ground but very soon. Our corn this year is a
unique variety called “Country Gentleman.” This heirloom is known as
shoepeg corn in the South. It has an irregular
pattern of creamy white, slender kernels and is widely regarded as one
of the finest roasting varieties available. Master fishermen find it
makes a superior corn bait. Being open pollinated, we can save the seed
for next year, unlike hybrid seeds.
   This week we will have a few items for sale, like kale, kohlrabi, green
onions ( I promise, Jo!), the last of our coffee, and maybe some beets
and parsnips. Much of our lettuce went to Terra Bella Family Farm’s CSA,
but we will try to bring some Sunday.

     Well, this got a little wordy, but that’s what’s going on here! One last piece of GREAT news – STARR KING’S EGG CSA MEMBERS HAVE DONATED OVER 90 DOZEN EGGS TO THE SOUTH HAYWARD PARISH FOOD PANTRY SINCE SEPTEMBER, 2012! These protein sources are much appreciated! Thanks to all of you who donated!

Chicken Stories

The last couple of days have been eventful for some of our hens. We let them out of the chicken yard in the morning and let them wander all over the farm. Up until recently, the only problem we have encountered has been damage to Renee’s sheet mulching. The hens love to tear up the cardboard while they look for grubs and worms to eat. The hens wander back to the chicken coop by twilight and my routine is to go out after dark and shut the chicken yard gates and latch the hen house door.

Tuesday evening I was out in the “stone fruit” orchard and heard some odd noises, I turned around and saw three hens sitting on top of a weed pile. I guess that they couldn’t figure out how to get out of the orchard (all the orchards and gardens are fenced to keep out the deer). Renee and I grabbed them and brought them back to the hen house. We then decided to count them to see if there were any other girls missing. It turns out that we were two short, one Ameraucana and one Delaware were still missing. Since we don’t count them every day, they could have been missing for a day or two and we would not have noticed, but now that we were aware, we started looking for them. Unfortunately, we came up empty.

Late Wednesday morning, after I returned from dropping off some tomato plants at a friend’s house, we were getting the car ready for Renee so that she could drive down to visit her mom. I opened the trunk to make sure that it was empty and to Renee and my surprise, there was the missing Ameraucana! She seemed no worse for wear, but she was glad to get out of the trunk. As Renee was cleaning up the mess left behind, she gave a little laugh and pulled out an egg! When the car stops running, I guess we can use it as a chicken coop.

I kept looking for the missing Delaware, but no luck. Hopefully it has wandered over to a neighbor’s and will come home in a day or so, but something happened last evening that makes me a bit pessimistic. I was sitting on a stump that is located under some oaks outside our front door, and was watching the hens as they were finishing up their foraging.

After a bit, I noticed that the hens were getting louder and more agitated. Suddenly a hen came running out from behind a shed and right behind her was a fox! I immediately stood up and yelled, and the fox made a quick course change to the left. It was gone before I could take more than a step or two, but I was glad that it did not catch the hen. It’s coat was similar in color to our golden retreiver Chief’s. Although Nathan and Renee have both seen foxes on the property, this was the first time I have seen one here. I now wonder if that fox was responsible for our missing Delaware. I would not be surprised.

COFFEE!

   
   
                
       Green coffee                  Weighing                    Pouring                           Roasting

             
            Checking                             Cooling                         Coffee!
     Last week’s Farmer’s Market was a big success and lots of fun. Thanks to all who showed up!
     On Monday, Darryl, Nathan, and I had the opportunity to witness my brother Dave giving us a coffee roasting demo. We will have pictures of this next Sunday as well as on our blog. We now know the difference between City, Full City, Vienna, French and Spanish roast, as well as the “sounds and speeds” of the first and second cracking stages of roasting! We also learned a few things that we will try to pass on to you. Sweetmarias.com in Emeryville is where Dave buys his organic, fair trade or farmgate green beans to roast. Check out their website. It is an encyclopedia of amazing information on coffee!
    We will have a bowl of  Java Kopi Sunda Vienna and French Roast beans for you to  “see and sniff!” Smells amazing!  Be sure to come by our booth and taste a sample of the Bolivia Cenaproc Full City roast. 
    Produce wise, we will have tons of red and green leaf lettuce (we sold out last Sunday, so we will be sure to bring more this time!) green onions, fava beans, kale, and more.
Happy Eating!