SUBSCRIBER RESPONSE
I received a long, thoughtful email from a pair of subscribers who felt my opinions on California’s Workers’ Compensation were way out of line.  They felt quite strongly that I was using this newsletter to make a one-sided argument.  Out of respect for them, I have included some of their comments, hopefully kept within their intended context:  

    As a service provider to many workers comp clients we feel obliged to comment on your one-sided diatribe in last week's newsletter.
    While we certainly appreciate the problems facing small businesses in dealing with an increase in workers comp costs it should be pointed out that for the first four years of the system's existence rates actually decreased and that increases which had been announced (and now will not go into effect) put the rate at about the same as it was five years ago.

    While we have no love for the politicians it should be noted that the health insurance bill they passed was tied to the reform in Workers Compensation which was also enacted.

    We are not happy with some of the changes made and will probably see our fees cut so that we are reimbursed at a rate that in some cases does not even cover the time spent with a patient.

    Finally it's not fair to say that workers have not benefited from rate increases. Last year alone, injured workers who were unable to perform their jobs saw a $100/week increase in benefits until they were able to return to work.

WHOLE LOTTA SHAKING GOING ON
Today was just a bit more chaotic at Terra Firma than most Mondays.  In a rather rare concurrence of nuttiness, we started harvesting both the pistachio orchard and the walnut orchard at the same time.  Although we don’t actually harvest either crop ourselves…

All nut crops in California are harvested mechanically, which explains the continuing expansion of almond, pistachio, and walnut orchards in the San Joaquin Valley as farmers seek crops with reduced labor (see last week’s comments about Worker’s Comp).  In fact, nut orchards are curiously peaceful places for most of the year, as compared to our vegetable fields.  If you set up a webcam in a walnut orchard, it would lose out in the ratings war to the one focused on a single blade of grass growing.  Once a week, an automated sprinkler system would come on, much the way that most lawns in California are now watered.  Every two weeks or so, a tractor driven by a single worker would mow the weeds between the trees.  And once every two years, a man in crane-like contraption would be seen moving through the orchard, pruning branches here and there.  He would be followed by a tractor pushing the branches out of the orchard.

But once a year, nut orchards become a hive of rattling, humming, blowing and raking.  The equipment is all very specialized, and very expensive, so we contract the job out to farmers who specialize in nuts.  The trees are literally shaken by a tractor with a long, hydraulic powered arm that grabs the trunk and vibrates hard enough to be felt 100 feet away.  Walnuts and almonds fall on the ground.  

Behind the shaker comes the sweeper, similar to a street sweeper, that sweeps and blows the nuts into a windrow between the trees.   A group of rake-wielding workers follows behind, carefully removing branches from the windrow and adding any nuts that the sweeper may have missed.  Finally comes the harvester, a miniature combine pulled behind a tractor that lifts the nuts off the ground with a belt, then past a powerful fan that blows out the leaves and any empty-shelled nuts.  The nuts get dropped into bins on wheels that another tractor pulls out of the orchard when full.  The whole operation makes a lot of noise and dust, and then is over in a flash.  Pistachios are shaken onto tarps connected to a crazily long tractor that reels them in and then empties them onto a conveyor belt .

Pistachio harvest is a slower, less dusty operation, but no less choreographed.

After harvest, walnuts and pistachios are taken away to a facility that removes their skins, or hulls, and then dries them.   Almonds are dried on the ground for a week before being harvested and hulled.  At this point, the in-shell pistachios whose shells have split are roasted and boxed.  

Finally, we truck each load of walnuts, almonds, and unsplit pistachios to a second facility (a different one for each nut, of course), where they are shelled,  boxed up, and briefly frozen to prevent spoilage.

BURNT UP IN THE BAY
If public radio got it right, today was the first day of the year that it was hotter in the Bay Area than in Sacramento.  Up here, we’ve had more than enough triple digit days for the year, and we’re ready for them to end.  But I’m sure there are folks in the Bay who feel the same way about fog and cold breezes.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could trade back and forth?  

Meanwhile, we will be paying attention to the weather down there and Hector will be keeping the cooler on our refrigerated truck running all day as he does his deliveries, as long as temperatures stay high down there.  Unfortunately, once the boxes are delivered, there’s not much we can do to control the temperature of the produce.  You will want to pick up your CSA box on the early side during this time of year, especially if the heatwave continues for another two weeks — when we expect to begin cutting baby greens.  A pretty good rule of thumb might be this:  If you could wear shorts in the morning comfortably, you’ll want to pick up your box as early as possible.

IN YOUR BOXES
Cherry tomatoes do well at times of year when the bigger tomatoes don’t — early and late in the season.  For the rest of summer, we never seem to have the time to harvest them anyway — they are so small and take so much time to pick compared to the big, heavy heirlooms.  Our fall planting of cherry tomatoes is in high gear right now, so Medium and Large boxes get a basket today, and Small boxes will get their turn next week.  And Mediums and Larges will get their share of pistachios.

Bartlett pears in today’s boxes are riper than they were two weeks ago, but may still need to be ripened outside the refrigerator for a few days before softening up to your preference.

Thanks,            Pablito