Strawberries are Rippening

An unusually cold spring has delayed our strawberry harvest by two weeks. Each day the fields show a little more color. This weekend a scattering of ripe berries will be ready. Enough for a good dessert, but not the mother-load. I expect the following weekend of the 17th - 19th to be excellent, potentially perfect timing for our Berry Jam weekend. We will begin sunset closures midweek. Weekday evenings are perfect for picking berries and the quantities are better. The persistent morning marine clouds often burn off by late afternoon, making startlingly beautiful summer evenings. The late beginning of the strawberry season also means a late ending; as I expect strawberries will still be around on the unheard of July 10th date.

Although at times it has been a brutal spring to farm, I'm starting to see a potential for a good season (just a little late). Because I am fortunate to have some dry ground on the hillsides, I have managed to get in a normal succession of plantings. Only peas have suffered -- this year we will only have one harvest -- last year I planted four. This year the tomatoes look better. You may remember that last year we lost our first planting to the June 5th record rainfall. So, even though it is cool, it is dry. These are perfect conditions for berries.

I haven't blogged in a long time. I write daily in my journals but the blog has taken a back seat. I'm thinking that shorter entries might make me more consistent. So, I'm going to try again. There is so much interesting stuff going on at the farm. I feel the blog has the potential of sharing the ups and downs of the farm experience. I just need to stick with it.