We are in the throws of the season now that the rains have eased up. However, because of the rains we are 3 weeks behind schedule. This puts a lot of pressure on the tractor team as they are the first step in the intricately choreographed dance of farming. They are working overtime right now as they are continually preparing ground for new plantings. We have a lot of our one or two time plantings in the ground like the tomatoes, peppers, summer squash, etc. The tractors have been sowing the dry bean crops the past couple of days, the winter squash still needs to get in the ground and we have one more round of potatoes to plant. Last year we bought Quinoa seed to experiment growing 5 acres of the hugely popular protein packed grain. Unfortunately we were having irrigation issues and weren’t able to plant. This year because we are behind schedule we are finding ourselves backed up against time for the fall rains. Quinoa requires around 120 days from sowing to harvest which is putting us close to October when our first rains begin. Quinoa must be harvested before the first rain or the crop will be ruined. I’ll keep you all posted on the Quinoa experiment!
The crew is hard at work transplanting, sowing, weeding, staking, trellising, harvesting, washing, packing, you name it! The flower ladies are once again growing some of the longest-lasting, prettiest flowers you’ll find yourself enjoying if you are a flower share member or a farmers’ market buyer. Our flower CSA is the largest ever with 50 members this season!
We have started up again at the seasonal Wednesday Castro farmers market in SF and we have been invited to stay year-round at the Ferry Plaza market in SF on Saturdays so come by and say hi to John & Andy! We are also at the College of San Mateo market on Saturday as well as our Sunday markets in Palo Alto, Campbell, Inner Sunset (SF), and Clement ST. (SF). Meet your farmers at any of those markets!