Maybe y’all know this already, but I’m going to say it anyway. Often times, the first zucchinis on a plant come out stupid with the stem end fat and the blossom end all shrunken up. I think it has something to do with pollination (or lack of complete pollination). The solution is to just cut […]
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I woke up sore this morning. And tired. It feels kinda great. The kids and I spent most of this past weekend at my parents’ place, sometimes known as Oven and Earth Farm. My mom bought a big trampoline about a month ago, so now when we’re over there, the kids just rotate from trampoline […]
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I just took a shower last night and noticed that I have a nasty stripe of bright pink sunburn on my back just above the waistline of my shorts. I know this mark well. In my farm worker days, we used to call it the “sunset tan” because it resembled a sunset by starting in […]
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Every spring, I remember just how much I love artichokes. They’re a pain to eat, but boy, do they taste good with that earthiness that’s somehow sweet and bitter at the same time. Henry planted a row of artichokes at my parents’ property (that they lovingly refer to as “The Other Place”) a few years […]
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I had some time to kill this afternoon, so I stopped in to visit my friends in the propagation greenhouse at Gathering Together Farm. The place is bustling and beautiful. So much spring (and summer) in there! radicchio starts endive starts lettuce starts celery starts eggplant starts onion starts got a haircut baby tomato starts […]
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Purple sprouting broccoli is awfully pretty and thoroughly delicious. Our overwintered plants are going crazy right now, producing more than we can eat. You can order sprouting broccoli seeds from Nichols Garden Nursery here.
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The weather this past weekend was pretty incredible. Western Oregon always gets a few early spring days that feel more like summer when every last sun-starved person makes an effort to get outside to bask in the glory. Saturday and Sunday were perfect and very much appreciated. I haven’t left the homestead since we got […]
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It’s harvest time in the greenhouse. We’ve been eating Satsuma mandarins off our own trees for a couple weeks now, and they’re awfully good, especially when considering their provenance. In 2007, Henry ordered 65+ year-old citrus seedlings from Tree Source Citrus Nursery (propagated from varieties kept at UC Riverside via Japan), and he grew them in […]
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These are quite possibly the ugliest apples that ever were, but they’re also rather delicious. One of Henry’s clients (Randy) is a bit of an apple-grafting enthusiast, and he gifted us a couple buckets of ‘Gold Rush’ apples the last time Henry went out to trim the horses. The biggest ones are just shy of […]
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In some ways, California is pretty amazing. Mostly the food and the weather and the striking (non-urban) landscapes. I really like to visit California, but I’m also always really happy to come home. Last Saturday, Henry and I took our annual trip to the Chico Farmers’ Market and then toured around to various farm stands […]
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