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New Family Farm of Sebastopol, California, was one of six farms awarded grants in April 2013 from The FruitGuys Community Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives. An outgrowth of the company’s Farm Steward Program, the Community Fund gives resources to small farms for sustainable agriculture projects that contribute to environmental and economic health. As the song says, everything
by Jeff Main of Good Humus Farm, Courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Image courtesy of Good Humus Produce With the passing of the 2013 equinox a few weeks ago, and all the warmth and wetness of the last week or so, everything on the farm has finally decided that it will go with: It’s Spring! And with that decision
By Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop When I first heard the term “food safety” I knew that even the term itself was a problem, representing an approach to our food that calls lettuce bathed in chlorine “safe” and lettuce with a speck of dirt on it “contaminated.” Now, a few years later, years
From Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop In April of 2013, we wanted to let folks learn a little bit more about the people who work at Full Belly Farm, so we interviewed one of the crew members who irrigates the crops, Arturo Gaxiola. Full Belly: First, please tell me a bit about your job at FB.
Farming with Heart By Heidi Lewis The main ingredient in good vegetables, says farmer Jim Durst, is soil: “Feed the soil, and the soil will feed the plants.” Jim and his wife, Deborah, have been farming their land at the mouth of the Capay Valley in Yolo County, CA, since the 1980s. Jim caught on to organic farming as a
Have you ever been browsing in an antique store and found a wooden box with rakish teeth on it? It could be a hand cranberry rake, a farm implement of yore. Possibly the same kind that farmer Brian Ruesch of Ruesch Century Farm uses today on his tiny organic cranberry farm. Brian calls his Vesper, Wisconsin farm the “world’s smallest
In Fall, you can’t miss the explosion of roadside color that is Hale’s Apple Farm as you drive along Route 116 just north of Sebastopol, CA. The riot of piles of brilliant gourds can cause the unwary traveler to swerve. The best pull over for a better look. Orange and white pumpkins of all sizes; butternut, acorn, speckled swans, and
Image courtesy of Good Humus Produce, Capay CA by Jeff Main of Good Humus Produce, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop OK. Can we finally stop and say summer is finished? We have crossed what we assume is the finish line still standing, wobbly and exhausted. Looking around, we notice that we have crossed several starting lines while approaching this
No, it’s not a new TV series—Marty’s “angels” are Angelcots, a special variety of apricots grown exclusively by Marty Maggiore and his family in Brentwood (Contra Costa County), CA. Every year, at some point during stone fruit season, The FruitGuys crates across the country feature these light, cream-colored apricots with a bit of blush and a heavenly flavor. The Maggiore
Courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop 8/6/12 The mystery white peach orchard was so prolific – both high yielding by the sheer number of fruit but also by size – this year that we are sun-drying some of them this week. They ripen quickly off the tree and have to be picked firm to prevent bruising. We picked all of
Lee Walker has been farming with his family in their Graton, CA, apple orchard his whole life, except for a tour in the army and a few years playing pro baseball. Lee has kept growing Gravenstein apples through both the thick and the thin-skinned times of the apple business. “We’ve been seeing for a long time that if we could
By Jeff Main of Good Humus Produce, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop In August of 2012, we had the Peach Party, our midsummer thanksgiving to all the bounty that comes our way, year after year. Then Monday morning, amid tears and hugs, we sent our daughter Claire off to her last year at Cal State Monterey. Monday saw the
From Riverdog Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop July 2, 2012 Summer crops are beginning to fill the fields and coolers; pallets of beets and greens are sharing space with summer squash and potatoes. White peaches are ripening for the pick, and most of the onions are already in storage. On the tomatoes, corn and melon front, we are
Image courtesy of Full Belly Farm, Guinda CA By Paul Muller of Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Sunday Mornings start the week in a relatively quiet and reflective time here at the belly. We can sleep in – usually about 7 am or so – start slow, sip rather than gulp a cup of coffee, and
From Good Humus Produce, courtesy of Capay Valley Farmshop From the Luxemburg Gardens in Paris to England’s Blenheim Palace to the imperiled orchards of Brentwood and Gilroy, California’s finest apricot has had a long journey. Whether you call it the Blenheim, the Royal or, covering all bases, the Royal Blenheim, this petite but sublime variety, compensates with great taste for
by Annie Main, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Image courtesy of Good Humus Farm, Capay CA When I am unsure what to write about I always take a walk around the farm-it is an easy place to get motivated just seeing what is happening in the different fields ”…well I came back to the office a bit empty this
From Riverdog Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Image courtesy of Riverdog Farm, Guinda, CA May 7, 2012 Mild weather and sunshine have boosted crop growth in the field and in the greenhouses. Peppers and celeriac transplants arrived last night from Headstart Nursery in Gilroy that will go into the ground this week. It is warm enough during the
Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm, Courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Resting in a prominent corner of our farm, under a native black walnut tree, there’s an enormous Allis Chalmers crawler tractor. This is one of those yellow tractors that were built in the ’40s and ’50s, weighing up to 70 tons, with huge engines, and big blades that
By Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Years ago, when I was studying at the University of California, I noticed that there was research being done on “organic” agriculture with results that proved it to be not viable. Upon closer examination, it turned out that the researchers had compared plots of carrots, one treated
From Riverdog Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop 4/2/12 It’s getting close to tomato transplanting time. The plants, all 80,000 (about 9 acres) of the first seeding, have been ready to go from the tray into the fields for about 2 weeks but the rainfall has delayed the transplanting. That’s ok – we need the rain! If it isn’t
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