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.

The Decision is Final

The two week appeal period ended at 4:30 yesterday. The concert series has been sanctioned by the County. I believe we now can have confidence that this beloved event will continue for as long as we have the farm and probably beyond.

We are going to get a little break before the extreme heat comes to the region. With the heat, there may be a quick end to the berry season. But this weekend it will still be going strong. Raspberries, blackberries, boysenberries and blueberries will all be ripe for the picking. The hot weather will ripen the corn and tomatoes faster and our first corn of the year will be picked this weekend.

Our cucumber field is producing at a record pace, but the picklers are slow to get started. I have had to hustle wholesale sales to keep the fields fresh and so far I have succeeded. We are picking 800 lbs. per pay.

I haven't had a lot of energy to write lately with all of the farm responsibilities, but I thought is was important to get an update. I have worked 60 straight days, but may take a day off next week which would help me get my second wind.

Farmer Don

Berry Update

It's official. Raspberry season has begun in a big way. All three fields are producing heavily for a big weekend harvest. Except for three tows of an early variety called Malahat, all of our raspberries are the Toulameen variety. Large, strong tasting fruit is the characteristic of this berry. It is the best tasting variety so far. The down side of Toulameen is that is is prone to root rot, but I believe it is worth the trouble.

The cool weather is stretching out strawberries for one last weekend. It has become a hunt, but the rewards are still great.

Blueberries are slowly becoming more plentiful, but the big harvest is still a week away.

I ate by first boysenberry last night, but all of the blackberry varieties seem a week away.

We picked yellow beans Thursday. Our first Blue Lake and French beans will be picked on Sunday. One month early because of our new ground.

The weather this weekend looks beautiful, perfect for berry picking...