What’s Growing This Week:   Summer squash (All)  Strawberries (All)  Apricots (All)  Onions (All)  Cherries (All) -# New Potatoes (All)  Arugula (M,L) Green garlic (M.L)  Kiwis (L)

 Pablito.... 

A DIFFERENT KIND OF WEATHER
I know I spend a lot of time discussing the vagaries of the weather here at the farm.  But believe it or not, we probably spend even more time around here discussing an even more fascinating subject:  microclimates.  At this point, I know a certain number of you just went “Ooooh!  Microclimates!”.  Some others immediately turned to page two.

One of the coolest things about being a farmer is that you get to spend time thinking about and keeping track of the weather in different places within a few miles of each other, and it’s actually part of your job.  At Terra Firma, we farm in roughly four different locations, all just a few miles apart but with subtle but distinctive geographical features that give them different microclimates.

Our office and packing shed are located at the farthest west of the locations, where we grow most of our winter vegetables.  Many of you have visited this location on Farm Day.  It is a hidden spot along the banks of Lake Solano, on a finger of riverbottom land that sticks out of the Blue Ridge mountains and their foothills into the larger Sacramento Valley.  It is surrounded on all sides by hills of varying degrees of steepness, and Lake Berryessa is just four miles upstream.  The hills protect this farm from much of the gusty north wind that buffets Winters proper in the spring and fall, but also keep out the cooling Delta breeze.  The effect of this lack of air movement is to make the farm warmer during the summer, both during the day and at night — but not as warm as the hills surrounding it, since the cooler air slides downhill towards the lake.  The slightly higher elevation above the valley floor, and narrowness of the floodplain here also tend to keep the fog out during the winter.   The lack of fog, combined with the lack of air movement, make it colder here on fall, winter, and spring mornings when frost tends to form.  Thus, our fields here get frost early in the fall and later in the spring than either the hills surrounding them or the valley proper.

 The hills above this location are home to our citrus orchards, at about 225 to 350 feet above sealevel.  Although the soil on these hills is poor — eroded and rocky — the microclimate makes it the safest place to plant orange and grapefruit trees, which can be damaged by temperatures below 30 degrees and killed by 20 degrees.  The difference that 50 feet makes was dramatically illustrated during the freeze of 1998.  At the base of the hills, an 8 year old orange orchard was killed back to the roots by temperatures below 20 degrees. Up fifty feet or so, the trees survived easily, although any fruit still on them was damaged somewhat (also depending on location).  Fifty feet farther up, a few orchards on the highest hilltops survived completely unscathed, even their fruit.

The hilltops are also almost always above the fog line, so on days that are chilly and gloomy down below the trees bask in winter sunlight.  This makes a big difference in sweetness and in the time in takes to ripen the fruit.

Just three miles east of our winter farm, further into the valley, is the field where we grow our tomatoes and other summer produce.  This farm is often shrouded in fog on winter days when the other farm is sunny.  Our ability to cultivate or plant during the winter depends not only on dry weather, but sunshine.  We try to avoid growing crops here that absolutely require a mid-winter cultivation — such as garlic.

In the spring, though, this location has a great benefit over the winter vegetable farm.  Its location further into the valley ensures that on many still nights, a breeze picks up from the north or south sometime past midnight.  This air movement is crucial to keeping temperatures above 32 degrees — the point at which our early planted tomatoes would be damaged by cold.  On nights in March and early April, we have recorded temperature differences of as much as 15 degrees between this farm and the winter vegetable location.  Only once in 8 years have we had to turn on the sprinklers to protect the plants from frost.  This has given us the ability to plant tomatoes earlier in the spring with less risk.

And despite this nighttime breeze, the spot is protected enough to warm up nicely during the day, when locations further east in the Valley are chilled all day by the Delta breeze.

So it is that nature gives us these three different microclimates, all in one small area.  If we wanted to spread out even farther, the area around Dixon enjoys cool evenings well into summer — maybe we could extend the strawberry season.  Oh, and oh course, just 25 miles over the hills to the west, Napa enjoys chilly fog even into July when our nights are steamy.  The Capay Valley, just 20 miles north, is both hotter in summer and colder in winter.  And...

IN YOUR BOXES Apricots are here, as predicted (for once).  The Red Cloud  variety is a meaty variety that is tasty eaten raw, but also wonderful when cooked — retaining both its texture and color.  The trees are over forty years old, and are loaded with fruit, so we hope to have these ‘cots for three to four weeks. All in all, it’s likely to be a fruity June.  Cool weather has, in fact, given the strawberries a new lease on life and we hope to picking them for at least two more weeks.

Apricot Bonsai

Greens are mostly taking the week off, as I warned last week — the hot weather having brought them all to maturity too quickly.  We hope to have one last batch of spinach and/or arugula in a week or two. With the box a little short in the vegetable department, we are thrilled that our first new potatoes have arrived a little ahead of schedule. .

. The Yukon Golds in your boxes today were dug on Monday, their skins just barely set.  These potatoes will quickly turn brown on the surface and soften, so use them quickly, and keep refrigerated in a plastic bag until you do.  I recommend roasting them until just  tender — which won’t take very long.  June will probably be a month a little heavy on the potatoes, given the relative dearth of other veggies.  However, for potatoes, these are about as light as they come.  There’ll be Fingerlings, too, in a week or two.

Thanks,

   Pablito

Recipes............................

Apricot Custard Tart —  From Deborah Madison’s Local Flavors
Make a tart shell:  Sift together 1 C. plus 2 T. flour and 1 t. sugar, then work in 1/2 C. butter with a blender or your fingers until coarse crumbs form.  Add 1/2 t. vanilla extract mixed with 2 T. ice water, then shape the dough into a dish.  Slip into a plastic bag and chill for 15 minutes.  Press into a tart shell, then bake at 425 until lightly colored — about 25 minutes.
Combine 3/4 C.  sugar and 1 1/2 C. water in a saucepan, bring to a boil, and stir to dissolve.  Halve 12 apricots.  Crack several of the pits, remove the kernels, and add to the syrup.  Poach the apricots in the syrup in 2 batches, until barely tender — just  a minute or two.  Gently lift them into a colander and drain over the pan.  Boil the syrup until reduced by half.
Beat 1 egg and 3/4 C. heavy cream together.
Arrange the apricot halves in the tart shell, cut sides up.  Pour the custard over the fruit and bake until the cream is set — about 25 minutes.
Brush the fruit with some of the syrup.  The rest can go over pancakes or be used to sweeten iced tea.
 

Produce 101: preparation & storage  CHERRIES in this week’s boxes come from CCOF certified Everything Under the Sun, our neighbor here in Winters.  If you want some more, you can find Bill and his cherries at the Saturday Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market.

Vacations & Billing Inquiries
We need seven days notice before a vacation hold or other change of service.
Contact Valerie through voicemail at (530) 756-2800, or e-mail Goldenbell@aol.com

Account Balance Inquiries The account sheet is hiding under the sign off sheet each week with your account balance on it.  Mid month I've been e-mailing statments, so if you're not getting it send me an e-mail requesting to be added to the list. To be able to read the statements you need to be logged in as an administrator on a PC, and virus programs may corrupt the file.

MAILING ADDRESS:
Terra Firma Farm
P.O. Box 836
Winters, CA 95694
(530) 756-2800
www.terrafirmafarm.com
Goldenbell@aol.com
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