Seasonal Tierra Vegetables

Early June Greenhouse Activity

2011-06-10T07:01:00.000-07:00

Lettuce, ready to find a home in the great outdoors! Getting so big in the greenhouse it is a chore to get water to the roots...the umbrella of the plant can often be obtrusive when trying to water, additionally, the roots begin to dominate the soils capacity to absorb water and the plants dry out much faster. These flats of lettuce are on their way out, following recently transplanted flats of celery and, of course, the hundreds of chiles an tomatoes plated out earlier this spring.

Cabbage? I didn't even check...if not cabbage, broccoli. This stuff comes in waves throughout the farm as Lee and Wayne try to always keep it available as staple crops. In fact, this is what we were sowing again this week. The stuff we seeded this week will be the fall harvest and some of it will go into winter, for example the brussels sprouts. Other crops seeded this week include another succession of lettuces, cauliflower, cabbage (lots of sauerkraut to come!), broccoli, romanescos, etc...All of that sea-green stuff. All of this is done according to the moon phase and we were in a hurry this week to get seeds into soil while the timing was right.

An overview of celery to plant out in coming weeks. The Thanksgiving crop? Perhaps. Planted too early the celery will flower as it is a biennial and reacts to temperatures that are too low. Planted too late it will never mature prior to fall/winter frosts. We have a good time trying to get the perfect celery specimen to harvest each season. It is one of my personal favorite growing experiments. Not to mention the tiny seed size. It is a challenge to drop just one seed per cell, one must focus very hard or else thin later on which can prove to be a lot of extra work.

Number one all around assistant Dominique and her side kick, Marisol, work hard to drop seeds in soil, organize flats, follow instructions from Lee, brew soil to fill flats, water greenhouse during high afternoon temperatures, etc.... This is a nice shift from the farm stand, the CSA, the commercial kitchen and all the other places Dominique had divided her energy for the farm these days....not to mention she is trying to invest time and energy into her own farming adventures this season! If there is one thing for certain, farming offers way too much work all the time. If you could do ten things at once, you might be able to get to it all...

Barn Construction Photo Tour, Early June

2011-06-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

The second story is going up, the barn is getting its full vertical girth...it won't be long now. The further along the construction goes, the more tangible the use of the barn seems a reality. Viewing perspectives and spaces as they are brought together on site is like a dream manifested and it is wonderful to come along for periodic barn tours with Wayne. This view is what you might see coming towards the farm from the Fulton/Airport intersection, it is the "front" as you would pull into the farm.

A similar perspective as above, but further back. Omit the weeds in the foreground....the rhubarb and nopales never seem to get quite the attention as other needy annual crops.

With early spring brassicas and the Chandler strawberries in the foreground this is another look at the "front" of the barn. The left parallels Airport and the cluster of trees left of the barn is where the existing farm stand is located. Following completion of the barn, the farm stand will move to the right exterior of the barn. This will be a timely migration for the farm stand as freeway construction will impact the historic location when Cal Trans makes it up here to the Fulton/Airport phase of their work.

Another close up of the front. Again, the farm stand/sales area is planned to be on the lower right where you see dirt piled in this image. The central portion of the barn is designated for CSA packing and other work spaces. Up top, storage! This farm could never have enough of that! Grains, onions, garlic, winter squashes, you name it! A "lift" will be employed to get these crops up through a second story entrance on the opposite side. The large harvest bins will then stack and store crops, safe from rain, thieves, pests, etc...

Another front view...I hope one day I can squeeze some flower crops into this front crop area. It would look nice!

And this is the opposite perspective finally. Facing to the southeast, nice spring crops frame the foreground of this image as the tractor passes by the barn on it's way to pick up plants for transplanting. Soon it will travel no further than the barn where the primary activity area will be concentrated.

And here are the views from within...this is looking out towards the area the previous photo was taken from. This is where the upper level will have a doorway for "lifting" crop bins. The broader frame you see around the existing window cut out will become a larger opening, allowing large white harvest bins in for long term storage. Additionally, a small exterior patio space will be added, allowing for optimal human vantage point of overall farm views to the north.

Another of the same opening, head on. In the foreground of the farm field below are strawberries and tomatoes...chiles to follow. Well planned this season to have the cash crops and customer favorites nearby!

This interior perspective is a look into where the farm stand will "store" itself overnight and on rainy days. Sales will be conducted for the most part on the exterior of the barn here, but the set up of the sales operation will now be able to pack away on this lower east side of the barn rather than the storage shed at the existing stand that has honestly become a sentimental archaeological investigation of the last ten years of business operations and farm fun!

A lot of changes lie ahead! It is exciting for everyone involved and the support throughout the process has been so greatly appreciated. This could not have been possible without the help of so many, a truly magnificent example of the community coming together to support their local farm. Soon it will be time to indulge and enjoy this grand new tool, shelter, storage and work space.

Good thing it didn't get demolished, huh?

Transplanting Celery

2011-06-09T06:45:00.001-07:00

Look how long and tall these baby celery plants are....more often they are about half this height when they are move out of the greenhouse to find new home in the field for the season of growth. This is a prime example of a "leggy" plant, or something that has been greenhouse grown. It may remind you of a nursery plant that looks big, lush and green, but also seems to lack the strength and vigor of a more hardened off specimen that might better endure the challenges of nature that the outdoors is bound to introduce. Either way, these plants were going into the ground yesterday. Lee could only hope that the next few days of environmental conditions would not damage the perfect little celery plants, loved and coddled for weeks in her greenhouse. Celery is always a focal point as it is a nice staple for the CSA....additionally, Lee is always trying to time the harvest to correspond with Thanksgiving (good in stuffing and other harvest season recipes).

Here the celery is placed in a bed just north of the chiles. If you walk far enough into the field you will find them and may observe their progress along with all else. This is just one of many phases of planting, we were working in the greenhouse with a younger generation of plants yesterday too.

Lee and Jose follow the tractor driven by Pablo here. An attachment that draws duel furrows in the bed as Palo slowly drives creates space for the plants to be inserted quickly in the ground, soil falling back over them as the tractor proceeds forward. Transplanting at Tierra is one of my many favorite activities to observe...mechanically efficient on a small/large farm scale versus the back breaking methods I might employ in my own garden.

Signs of Spring

2011-02-16T06:48:00.000-08:00

Foundation poured

2011-02-04T06:25:00.000-08:00

Good weather equals busy times for everyone....planners, farmers, operators, and farm dogs alike. The foundation for the barn created a lot more work for everyone than initially anticipated...

Note the sweet pea trellis made out of recycled drip tape in the foreground. A great re-use of old plastics around a farm...I love it when Pablo does this. I'm sure it will be beautiful!

Creating a foundation

2011-01-31T05:42:00.000-08:00

Dry weather permits dirt work, thank goodness for that little false spring that occurred for the second half of January. Otherwise, this farm turns into a marsh, very rarely permitting vehicle, tractor not to mention heavy equipment onto it's heavy and rich soils. Now a foundation is being built for the barn skeleton that resides in patience nearby, ready for reassembly. Lost is it's old home, now a construction site for Sutter Hospital so changed I would not recognize the location where I wandered about picking blackberries last summer if I did not know better. We are changing history and landscapes right now....pay attention.

Scorzonera

2011-01-09T09:49:00.000-08:00

What's in season? Here you go....another fun and BEAUTIFUL root. Scorzonera, AKA black salsify, is coming out of the Tierra field right now. And it is not only us, I noticed other farmer's vending scorzonera in our area this last weekend. Follow this somewhat dated link to a Mother Earth News article that will educate you further on this seasonal root vegetable.

Barn Migration

2011-01-08T08:34:00.000-08:00

The barn is migrating it's way down the road to the Airport Blvd destination in pieces now....piles of old redwood layered more recent refurbishing=quality structural materials waiting to be reconstructed on site. Cross your fingers the field dies up enough to allow a foundation to be established for all this business! As usual, a farmer's life revolves around weather.

The season of winter is upon us...don't miss it

2011-01-07T11:03:00.000-08:00

A typical array of Tierra goods that might be available this time in the season is shown above....this was actually Dominique's purchase last season prior to her joining the staff and committing her time and energy to the success of the farm. Included is one giant parsnip, a colorful carrot array, sunchokes, puntarella, romanesco, Sangre de Toro beans and perhaps a few beets squeezed into the back drop.

While this is a tough time in the season that always includes failures and items missing that you may desire (perfect spring lettuces or luscious summer Seascapes), it is also a time of unique bounty that must be enjoyed now before it is time to move on to other seasonal spring bounty (for instance, asparagus is not far away) and while the plants are in their winter prime. This includes items such as the chicories, or hearty winter bitter greens. Yum both raw and cooked, it is hard to get enough of these. They will not remain when warmth kicks in in another month or two. Enjoy them now! Dried beans will store, but this is a darned good time to make use of them when other things are lacking. We are thankful to have carrots remaining in stock as long as we do not sell them all and as long as they hold under wet and freezing soils....I think the deer have even started demolishing the carrot tops to some extent, the challenges never end. Pretty soon it will be time again to try the cardoon, a seasonal stalk that takes like artichoke, but looks more like celery. The winter squash do not hold forever and now is the time to enjoy storage crops like these and onions and potatoes before their storage time is up! Brassica plants like broccolis, kale, cabbages will eventually want to flower and set seeds, destroying their edibility for the most part, so these almost must be enjoyed throughout the winter period.

Brussels, celery root, parsnips, beets, and dried beans. To some it may seem like the dark period in farming, for me it is hard to begin to choose....

Enjoy your winter veggies, they are waiting to be harvested for your tables!

Christmas Field Status

2010-12-23T13:52:00.001-08:00

Flowering cabbages and kales are the way to ensure off season floral influence in a winter garden. Lee planned this splash of color back in summer time when she first sowed their seeds....rewarding now during the season of puddles, plants frosted to death and carpets of green grass. When the sun hits the purple of these plants, not even a rainbow could draw your eyes away from their deep purple glow. Immediately to the right of the plants in this photo is the recently graded foundation area for the upcoming barn re-construction....chances are the purple cabbages could be in danger if they fall in the path of construction!

Broccoli frosted! Sometimes it gets too darn cold out here in Sonoma County even for the cold hardly crops. Brassica family plants tend to take the frost with more ease than their flowers....that portion which we so desire as edible including broccolis and cauliflowers. A frosted floret may turn translucent, brown or yellow, and quite simply ugly and for the most part inedible. Eventually it will rot and die off. It is unfortunate that many of the tasty brassica florets have been hit by frost, but others have not. This is where the benefit of crop diversity kicks in. Some lose and others win.

And sweet peas have emerged in time for the Christmas Farm Report. Thank goodness care was taken to sow them at the appropriate moment in fall...exactly when this was I am unsure as I was absent, but perhaps late October to early November? These tiny seedlings are located front and center right out the backside of the farm stand for easy harvest access and full consumer appreciation. A second spring sowing will occur right next to them for an extended harvest and bloom time. I think many of us fell in love with the sweet flowers last spring if we weren't already. I know I certainly cut and sold a ton and look forward to seeing what the season to come will bring. We did save the seeds from last season's crop, of course, so variety and beauty ought to be comparable to last season.

Removal of roof and walls

2010-12-16T19:26:00.001-08:00

Barn Moving

2010-12-13T19:08:00.000-08:00

This big, white barn will one day down the road house storage, an improved farm stand and much more for Tierra Vegetables. The first step have finally been taken to disassemble the barn for transport from it's current site on Mark West Springs/River Road all the way down to the farm field at Airport Boulevard (really just a few miles north, but a long ways for an entire barn to travel). Stay tuned as the excitement and progress continues!

Hauling in the chile harvest

2010-10-10T06:16:00.001-07:00

It's that time of year again....the chiles and peppers have finally ripened and loads of them are now available in their freshest form at our markets, or have been given as a component of the CSA. Not only do our chiles circulate to all of these places, but a grand number of them also make the trek a few miles north to the commercial kitchen off Shiloh Road in Windsor. Here they are cleaned, chopped and prepped for storage in a number of ways including chile jam, hot sauce, dried chiles and chipotles, specialty blends like Mole, chile powders, you name it. Lee is always trying something new and innovative, often reaching back into traditional cultural techniques and recipes to bring the modern day consumer something either they have never tried or something that fills them with nostalgia.

Enjoy your fresh chiles while they are here. It has been a shorter season than normal all around....who knows when the frost might sneak in and rob us of all these summer fare that we are spoiled with right now. Even when it does, you can be sure Tierra will have chiles for you year-round in one form or another.

Summer Cover Crop

2010-10-05T05:45:00.001-07:00

A beautiful summer cover crop of buckwheat is peaking right now....it would be the ideal time to till it in right now as it goes from flower to seed and has maximized the amount of organic material it will provide to the soil. Not a nitrogen fixer like cool season legume cover crops, buckwheat is a hearty and vigorous summer cover choice and Tierra has an excellent stand of it right now. Despite the fact that it will now start turning from flower to seed and then be likely to turn into a weed in this portion of the field in future seasons, Wayne cannot bring himself to till it under quite yet....

I caught him in action here...he is pointing out the beneficial insects that are all over this habitat. Tiny wasps, honey bees, you name it. Certainly the bad bugs are present too, but when an area of activity is discovered like this, it sure is tough to rip it out from under all those who are depending on it and enjoying it. Therefore, the buckwheat stays for now.

Popcorn and Dent Corn

2010-10-03T06:34:00.001-07:00

It looks a bit like yellow sweet corn, but the kernels are larger, flatter, have a slight dent on their outer surface (hence the name dent corn) and have been left to mature to a dry, storage state. This yellow corn is intended for yellow corn meal. From this point on it will be left to dry in the field a bit longer, then threshed off the cob when someone has time to do it. Then the loose, dry corn will store until periodic milling creates corn meal and polenta all winter long. See if you can get your hands on some yellow this season, last year local farm supporting restaurant Rosso Pizzeria consumed nearly the entire crop in order to fill their menu and serve their customers. We couldn't complain, but a few of you did when seeking a traditionally hued corn meal.

Then there is the popcorn. There is a visible difference between this corn and the former. Small and hard kernels that burst when provided the right conditions, versus the large and smooth dent kernels shown above that are obviously much better suited for flour processing.

So many types of corn are out there. No wonder scientists have gone crazy trying to modify the genes into the next best thing. Corn crops also cross pollinate readily on their own. On the farm they are kept in separate blocks to ensure this does not occur as we like to keep consistent strains of the heirloom types chosen to grow and save the seed for future corn generations on the farm. This season there are blue, green, yellow and pink cornmeal crops on their way to harvest any moment. The red popcorn is out there and perhaps a few stalks of blue (this was less successful). Is is a fun time to take a stroll in the field to observe the corn in it's mature state. You are always welcome to do just that.

Bean Cleaning

2010-10-02T06:54:00.000-07:00

Tis the season to clean the beans. It is unfortunate that so much happens at once during harvest time. There is really time for nothing but harvest if you want to chase all the things that need tending in the farming world. Wayne is focused in on the beans right now. Mature, harvested, field dried/cured and collected in bins ready for cleaning now the beans are ready for their final stage of processing. The threshing equipment knocks them out of their dried pods, then preparing the beans for cleaning and size sorting.

This here is the Hutterite Bean. It doesn't look so bad, but there is plenty of unwanted material as it is poured into the hopper for cleaning here. Just imagine all the years and hours of cleaning beans by hand before Tierra invested in this timing saving equipment. Some crops just need a little mechanical assistance.

This is the sorting tray that not only removes unwanted debris, but also size sorts as it goes.

And the highly desired Tiger's Eye Bean. If anything ever got attention for it's looks, this would be proof. I imagine this could be my only chance to see this bean before it sells out this fall and winter. Right now there is plenty though and it looks like eye candy as usual.

Time to indulge in the bean harvest! The only challenge is making room for it in your menus along with all the other summer bounty while it lasts. October is the prime moment to enjoy it all before rain hits and short days creep in upon us.

Harvey's Bean

2010-10-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

Haricot Tarbais

(Harvey’s bean)

Origin: Well known in the southwestern region of France and the city of Tarbes near the Spanish border, this bean might be referred to as the “holy grail of beans” by some folks.

This bean was given to us as seed by a long time customer named Harvey in 2009, hence the name Harvey’s Bean. The 2010 crop is our first with many more to come.

Cooking: Traditionally used in cassoulet recipes (and suggested by Harvey himself), let your imagination run wild.

Blogging on hold

2010-09-12T06:24:00.000-07:00

As I have done before, I am again removed from the farm for a time as I have gone traveling to work elsewhere for a temporary project. My alternate profession as an archaeologist tends to lure me away from Sonoma County on occasion, a wander lust travel bug sets in and off I go....

This is not a time to let this blog die with it's plethora of existing info. Please browse the topics covered in past season's via the keyword tabs on the right hand side of the page. There is plenty to learn about the farm and it's products and operation even if it isn't a momentary update.

Additionally, as those who remain at the farm send photos or info my way that is blog-worthy, new posts may pop up here and there.

Wish me luck as I wander the environment with an eye for historic preservation down here in north Santa Barbara County....farm studies on the side to pass on ideas and info to my favorite farmers back home (yes, I hold a strong opinion always that Tierra is one of the best in practice, diversity, availability, and more).

New topics will kick in when I return. I always do.

Farming With The Wild

2010-09-05T07:52:00.001-07:00

Look closely and you will note the slender and graceful presence of local reptile assistance on the farm, the garter snake. This particular guy is hunting and subsisting amidst the Nothstein Dent corn (that is your yellow corn meal corn, much of which is likely to be snatched up by Rosso Pizzeria who adores it for their polenta dishes). Scenes like this are indicative of the healthy system and ecosystem alive on the farm. A living soil has worms, a healthy environment contains a diversity of organisms, nature and food production co-exist in harmony at the farm on Airport Boulevard.

Nematode Treatment: Round 2

2010-08-11T06:58:00.001-07:00

We started into a second round of applying beneficial nematodes last week. What is this mystery product safely secured away in re-used canning half pints? The tiny nematodes that none of us could ever see with a naked eye are hanging out in this clay medium as they await their application into the field which requires very moist conditions. As I understand it the nematodes literally swim to their intended feeding sites (cucumber beetle larvae, we hope!) and require a very moist soil medium in order to do so. This is how they appear in transit as we prepare the timing and fields for fertigating (applying with our watering systems for efficiency) them into our schedule. Upon our initial application, we discovered manual application with a sprayer to be extremely tedious for the scale of the farm. Applying the beneficial nematodes in conjunction with the watering systems was really the only practical solution.

Wish us luck. It will benefit you all too as it will increase productivity and quality of produce if we succeed in decreasing the numbers of cucumber beetles. Unfortunately, the population of the
bad little green lady bugs is so intense on our site that we are prompted to invest in this second treatment and perhaps once more even before the season is done. The problem is that we provide these guys such an incredible environment for survival with great places to live and feed!

Marrow Fat Bean

2010-08-08T07:18:00.001-07:00

Wondering when the Marrow Fats might come into season? Here is the latest news....they are sizing up, but still quite green. It won't be long, but it is not time yet. That last sentence could be applied to anything you are seeking in anticipation at the farm....it will be ready any moment, but we aren't certain enough to say when, and then suddenly it just appears and you have to be ready for the moment in the season. That is what is so exciting and special about this localized and seasonal food stuff.

We wish we could always have Marrow Fats for you, but if we did, would they be as exciting when the harvest finally occurs? I always have a tough time during fresh shell bean season due to the overabundance of things I would like to eat all at once. We have entered the season of great bounty and I can only suggest to try a little of everything each day and thoroughly enjoy the productivity that enriches your life from your incredible local farm and committed farmers.

Marrow Fats coming soon....stay tuned.

Marrow Fat Beans are supported by Slow Foods in addition to all you customers.

The Sign Across the Top of the Shed

2010-08-02T06:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a small story of those things that people like you do to make the farm a better place.

This is Gerry, posing with her recent work. See all that color overhead, brightening the Tierra Vegetables sign over our farm stand shed? Thanks to Gerry, this is now a much more cheerful space within the farm stand atmosphere.

And here are Gerry and Evie stopping for a cooperative pose, featuring the recently completed sign. But is it complete? Gerry has piece-worked this project over the last few weeks, diligently appearing a few afternoons a week to paint a pepper here and a few flowers there.

And so rarely pictured in my own blog, here Gerry and I share a photo-opp. with the shed painting. This was a real cooperative feat as Gerry often painted right amidst my packing and work spaces. We worked together wonderfully to accomplish our specific goals. The history of this sign goes back a ways, I'm not sure how far. It has been incomplete for some time, often provoking interest in on-looking customers as to when it could be completed beyond the pencil sketch of beautiful vegetables. This is how it was when the original customer who developed it left it behind. Gerry stepped in and invested her time, energy, resources and creativity to make the most of it for all to enjoy, highly crediting the originator of the sign all the while. An ergonomically challenging task, she decided she was finished as most of the space was filled and it just hurt her body to keep at it!

Note some of the detailed imagery including peppers, corn, dry beans, and strawberries.

Golden jars fulls of honey with little honey bees, little hot chiles, and deep red tomatoes that Evie thinks look like really good tomatoes....

And the right hand side has a floral effect, likely somewhat inspired by the flowers I have scattered throughout the stand this season. Note the white beehives hanging out in the upper right in a ghost-like manner. Gerry really tried to capture the overall picture of the farm in her representative images.

We thank her tremendously! This are the kinds of touches that people bring to the farm that really make it special. Filled with hard work, creative energy and giving to each other..these good vibes are always welcome at the farm.

Threshing the Sweet Peas

2010-08-01T07:27:00.000-07:00

Here I have caught Wayne in another of his myriad of duties around the farm...of course, this is a self constructed project as farming priorities tend to be. You must pick and choose your battle amongst a never-ending list of options that call at you non-stop throughout a day, everyday. We decided to save the seeds of that bumper crop of sweet pea flowers many of you may recall this early summer. The pleasure of the sweet bundles of flowers pairs so nicely with the spring flush of strawberries. We hope to do that again next season and saving this year's seeds is the first step towards that goal.

Tierra Vegetables is the proud owner of a seed separating device, or Thresher, an investment that became rational as a result of the many dry bean and experimental grain crops that are employed on the farm these days (did you know Wayne has a dream of one day expanding the grain production to service a grain CSA?). If you would like to read on about threshing techniques, equipment and seed/grain processing follow this link or Google more about the process for yourself. This image captures one of two very expensive seed plates we have for this thresher. Although not ideally suited to the size of a sweet pea seed, it would have to do the job as it is all we had.

Here are those little round pea seeds that I diligently begin planting in fall and continue to ensure they make it through pests and frosts throughout the spring. What a wonderful spring of sweet peas we had on the farm this season and I can honestly admit I am quite tired of cutting tiny sweet peas flowers this year. Maybe it is time to rest up for next season now. So this is how the plants are removed from the field once gone to seed. They have been left to dry on a tarp for a week or two prior to processing in the thresher so that they dry up nicely to remove the plant material from the seed. I could slowly and diligently remove seed after seed from the dried up pods with my hands, the quiet and meditative form of seed saving. Alternatively, since Wayne already has this nice mechanical piece of equipment, specifically suited to these purposes, we may as well give mechanical efficiency a chance.

The first of the three steps the plant material goes through, I have forgotten the name of this portion of the machine, but this is where you insert the plant material for crushing/grinding. It then passes through a screen in the inner depths of the machine where my camera does not easily see and then passes either out the back as trash material or falls down a chute into our tub as seed material. Voila! Pounds and pounds of sweet pea seeds saved for future generations of floral pleasure and therefore no need to go buying more down the road. Seed saving is so appropriate to the continuous grower if you have time, space and resources to be doing so. Tierra has also grown out a seed crop of the Early Red Burger onion this season, a good seed crop to invest energy into as onion seeds to do last long and must be purchased annually if not saved.

Here is the trash material going out the back of the machine. Once upon a time, pre-mechanical processing, Tierra staff and friends gathered to stomp and process beans by hand and foot. Changes and choices like these are options that can make a difference in the efficiencies and affordability of particular processes and crops around a small farm. It is really worth no one's time in the long run to be processing grain crops by hand, unless we were going to charge an arm and a leg for them and then you would never buy them. The reality is that the mechanical approach is really the only way to make any sense of the greater picture, unless you are a small home grower who has the time to spend and finds pleasure in the process.

This is what results look like as the seeds began to filter their way to the tub. We filled a good quarter of this tub on Saturday afternoon, plenty of seed for the farm next season and my own personal personal trials as I seed sweet peas around my own home and garden spaces.

Yellow Sweet Spanish Onions

2010-07-29T06:06:00.001-07:00

Almost ready and quite abundant, here comes the sweet Spanish onion. Missing from the fall/winter of last season, I recall an incredible abundance of these during the fall of 2008 when I first arrived to help on the farm. This year it seems we will have lots! Last season I think the onions had thrips? For some reason, the production was curtailed. We had onions, but not the great abundance of huge and golden ones of previous seasons. This season we are pretty much guaranteed a fantastic fall crop so get set for some nice big, golden skinned, decent storage onions for months to come. The great challenge for the farm post-harvest will be the storage technique. They will likely spend the majority of their time waiting for consumption in a barn at Lee's place on Chalk Hill...let us hope this is a long lasting season that goes far in to winter and keeps us in onions almost all the year round, or at least until the leeks are ready for harvesting.

Here is a nice perspective from an onion's point of view, looking down the row at all the neighbors. It won't be long before the time for harvest and uprooting from this familiar home is upon them.

From Inside and Outside the Bean Tunnel

2010-07-28T06:13:00.000-07:00

What you see here is the entry to the bean tunnel in the Children's Garden. It looks pretty crowded and the question emerged today if it were really accessible for passage. As a result, I went on a field expedition to answer this question.

Once you enter the tunnel of pole beans (the second tunnel, further from the farm stand is much more people friendly in form) the vibrant green of the beans is highlighted from the sun outside like a stained glass window of bean leaves. If there is sun....so often there has not been any this summer so far. It is crowded with bean foliage and best for small folks. It is a nice little shelter from the outdoor world and a decent place to hide out.

This view faces out from within the bean tunnel...even if it is a tight squeeze you can see how this makes it a private little spot to explore. Take care when doing so because we do hope to harvest this crop of beans as dry shell beans for winter, but do come and explore and enjoy this garden mystery. That is what it is there for! Chances are you could emerge with a few beans leaves stuck to your clothing as I did. Bean foliage makes fun stick-on clothing decor about this time in the season.

A landmark of the Children's Garden Area, the bean trellis is a destination to explore. While out there, keep your eyes on the pumpkin vines on one side and the cherry tomatoes on the other. The tomatoes could use picking and the pumpkins are fun to watch as they will soon set their fruit and ought to be monitored by young and interested folks until harvest season comes about.

Chantenay Carrots

2010-07-25T06:47:00.000-07:00

Giant Chantenay carrots have returned and this wonderful customer (whose name I did not catch) graciously allowed me to capture her image with her carrot purchase before she departed the farm stand the other morning. This was about a 2 pound carrot, flavorful and tender through and through. Perfect for giant round carrot "chips," or less processing for carrot-featured dishes. Don't let the price intimidate, it is the same quantitiy and price as a handful of single carrots in the long run, but if we have abundance we will try to round down as much as possible on the intimidating root vegetables. Don't let them intimidate you! Instead, bring them home as novelty sources of learning more about your vegetables. They taste great and offer new experiences in shapes and cooking/snacking approaches.

We grow a lot of Chantenay carrots for their reliability and flavor. You may recognize the blunt shape of them as featured in the above photo. By far my favorite carrots, I am not surprised there is an entire website devoted to them. Browse this basic site for a little more info and ideas about this specific carrot. Another article I Googled up has some good info to share on the favored carrot variety as well.

If you have not yet experienced Tierra grown, mature Chantenay's, now is the time! It ought to go on and on throughout the summer and into winter if the planning has been executed well in the field, but don't take their availability for granted. We get so used to them that once they are gone it is almost like we lost a best friend and life just is not the same.

Seasonal Recipe: Blackberry Rhubarb Cobbler

2010-07-24T05:38:00.001-07:00

Blackberry-Rhubarb Cobbler by Rhubarb-loving customer, Pam. A huge thanks to her for sharing, the recipe will soon be available on the recipe page of the Tierra website, but consider going out NOW and gathering some perfect black berries from your local Sonoma County foraging spot and a small arm load of our rhubarb while it lasts for the season.

Filling:
4 cups Tierra Vegetables rhubarb, cut into ½” pieces
2 cups blackberries
1 cup sugar (or to taste)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Shortcake Topping:
1½ cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1½ tablespoons sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold butter, cut into ½” pieces
⅔ cup milk

Preheat oven to 400°

Make the filling:
Combine cornstarch and ¾ cup sugar with rhubarb in a large bowl and let macerate for about 10 mins. until juicy. Add cardamom and vanilla, and mix thoroughly. Dump into an 8x12 (or similar size) baking dish. Toss blackberries on top, then sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup sugar and set aside.

Make the shortcake dough:
Mix together flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until it resembles very coarse meal. Add milk and stir until a sticky dough forms. Drop dough by spoonfuls onto the fruit, spreading out to cover, but leaving gaps here and there.

Bake approx. 45 mins or until top is nicely browned and juice is bubbling. If the top begins to brown too quickly, tent loosely with aluminum foil until finished.

Let cool for 15 mins. then serve as-is….or better yet, with ice cream, whipped cream, crème fraiche….etc. YUM!!!

Barn Moving

2010-07-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure of the age of this barn, but am very curious. It is old, historic, perhaps not relevant enough to have made it onto the National Register of Historic Places, but certainly worthy of preservation and functional for continued use....if it can be saved from the fate it currently faces.

The location is off River/Mark West Springs Road, east of the freeway over pass on the south side of the road. This is the property that you might pass as you enter the Wells Fargo Center for events, it is a property where one day in the future you may visit for appointments and emergencies at Sutter Hospital who will be moving in on this site starting this fall. It is a property that once served as a historic agricultural center in Sonoma County, this barn being one of the few features left of these classic early days. While the use of the land is certain to evolve and serve the modern needs of the community and local health care....the barn is up for negotiation.

Sutter has gifted this barn to Tierra Vegetables. It is ours....if it can be moved. It CAN be moved, experts have consulted and agreed. Skinny roadways and power lines are negotiable, the most likely route being the stretch of 101 between River and Fulton exits, but Old Redwood and Fulton could be alternatives. You never notice all the low power lines until you have occasion to notice...

Wayne, Evie and myself dropped in a chit chatted with a couple of guys working at the barn for the Wells Fargo Center yesterday. They were supportive, intrigued and excited over the possibility of salvaging the barn versus the demolition that could result if nothing is done. It is a community resource and no one wants to see a structure of our past like this destroyed. It has value that is sentimental, aside from all the aesthetic and utility value.

For the farm, the possibilities are endless. Coincidentally, the farm is in a time sensitive need for an ungraded structure to house the on site farm stand. While nothing is wrong with our current stand, the location will be taken from the farm by Caltrans as road work continues on the highway 101 and Airport Boulevard upgrades and expansions. We need a nice barn....and look, there is one right down the road that needs a new home. Isn't it nice when all the pieces fall in place?

On the right Wayne enthusiastically describes to Evie how the barn would sit in the field and the many uses it spaces would provide to the farm. Improvements a building like this would offer to the farm include an indoor/outdoor farm stand where we could set up shop and lock the door at the end of the day (versus the daily assembly and dis-assembly the stand currently requires each day). This would save so much time and labor. The barn would have indoor work space, a space for use for events, storage for grains, onions, potatoes and other important storage crops that we feed you with (many of these are carted up to Lee's place on Chalk Hill Road still, causing transport and resupply needs regularly). We could have office space right on the farm, telephones and computers on site. Currently, our office operation is located on Shiloh Road along with the commercial kitchen. An on site office would be a huge benefit for customers calling in orders and questions, farmers making critical decisions that are best done on site, time saving consolidation of daily business and farming operations, etc...

It is all of these benefits and dreams for what could be better that keep Wayne, Evie, Lee and all us surrounding folks pushing for this to go through. Suddenly, the time line is upon us. Perhaps we ought to have acted sooner, but upon consulting with the Sutter contact, the barn needs to be gone within weeks. Before September 1st? More or less. In recent days Wayne has consulted with moving experts, approved the idea with engineers, Sonoma County Open Space representatives, leaving only the formality of dealing with permits and utilities (a significant hurdle). Then there are the financial concerns....at somewhere around $100,000 in estimated costs, this is not necessarily a "sustainable" effort for a small farm. While in the long run the function and utility will serve and benefit the farm, it will also upgrade our service to the community, salvaging and restoring a historic resource and improving and upgrading what we are able to offer as a local farm. We are seeking help via any outlet possible. Please contact us if you have any ideas, input or resources to spare.

The story of the barn is a long and evolving one, Wayne has been talking about it pretty much all year. I'm sure I have omitted interesting details but this is a pretty good overview of what is happening right now. The bottom line is that our farm stand is soon to be gone, this barn is right there, and it just makes sense to act on the changes confronting us. Please support our efforts, if only in your thoughts. It is a pooling of community resources that assists grand projects like this one and we welcome anything you might have to offer.

How can you help us? It is quite simple, we realize our average customer is not sitting on a pile of financial resources waiting to be invested in a barn moving event to support their local farm (although we would not turn you down, were that the case). Instead, we ask that you come and shop. We could use your money, but not for nothing. We do, in fact, have plenty of fantastic fresh vegetables to trade as is always the case and it is under these circumstances that we put out and extra call for your business. This alone will contribute to the finance of our efforts. If you want to let us know that your interest in helping is why you have dropped into the stand that day, please let us know. It is satisfying to know we are working together to execute a project that is so monumental. So please take that extra step to drop by once more per week, grab a few extra carrots when you are at the farm, or just spread the word and tell a friend or two who you always thought would enjoy our produce and/or would appreciate what we are doing. We thank you in advance and look forward to seeing your faces.

All Blue New Potatoes

2010-07-12T06:20:00.001-07:00

On Friday Wayne had to dig up a small sample of blue potatoes. Tentatively scheduled to go in the CSA boxes next week, we had to check on the progress of the crop before making the decision to include them in next week's harvest. The results were good and the decision was made. New red potatoes last week, and blue this week. Sorry we did not have red, white and blue for the 4th of July. Maybe next season!

We are thankful for the new potatoes, planted back in end of March-early April, I forget exactly when, but do recall the afternoon that Lee raced to the back of the field and ensured the tubers were planted in a timely manner, always revolving around the moon cycle and weather conditions. It has been a slow season as the summer vegetables struggle to kick in with a lack of hot temperatures and things like new potatoes are there to fill some of these harvest gaps. We hope you appreciate them like we do.

The All Blue is a challenge to harvest....it doesn't look so blue when coming straight out of the soil, but rather blends in with our soils. The harvest crew must be careful not to miss any and the customer must trust the beautiful quality that lies beneath the dusty layer of clay and silt that will accompany the potatoes when they acquire them. We will not wash your potatoes for you. To go to this effort would only decrease the storage capacity of your tubers. When we pass on potatoes to you we leave you with the choice of how you will manage your produce. Unwashed potatoes are more likely to store in a dark place as if they were still underground, versus a washed potato that is ready set to cook and eat. Giving them to you with the dirty layer gives you more versatility to wait and use them when you are ready.

So, what will we all do with our brand new, All Blue potatoes this week? Salads, roasting, boiling, mashing, grilling, soups.....the options go on and on. No matter the preparation and consumption choice, it is going to turn out an attractive azure blue shade. Enjoy!

Alyssum, Nematodes, IPM

2010-07-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

Organic? A key word that really tells us nothing these days. A set of standards and a third party verification of a check list of growing practices, or regulations.

Much more interesting....integrated pest management and best management practices as they are executed on your local small farming operation.

That said, I cut to an image of flowers? Yes, flowers are a huge part of this grand scheme. Alyssum specifically here, lovingly seeded by Lee and closely surveyed by Wayne on a recent farm walk, this well known garden flower was planted with the intent of luring in the "good bugs." Not only was it planted to bring around beneficial wasps and whomever else in the insect world decides it is a fun hang out spot, but it was placed and timed to benefit specific crops that would benefit from the presence of such insect assistance. This is what you call Integrated Pest Management and a great example of how your farm is working with the environment to serve you all they are able. In working with the balance of the environment, it is hoped that that balance might be maintained and stable throughout the farm, eliminating large outbreaks of pest problems.

Another overview of the alyssum. Still young, it is just now starting to attract a community of insects...come and see for yourself some time. It smells incredible and looks beautiful once is spreads into a white carpet of fragrance.

Speaking of the balance of insects around the farm and IPM, we also have another timely situation on our hands. This time it is the cucumber beetle, as it is often the cucumber beetle who is causing the problem. Little green beetle monsters who munch almost anything on the farm. They prefer corn roots as larval pests and squash/melon/cucumbers in their juvenile and adult beetles stages, but also eat greens, lettuce, chard, basil, flowers, you name it, they destroy it aesthetically if not the edible quality at times too. And they are bad at the field on Airport Boulevard. Worse than I see in my home garden and at other farms I have frequented. Why? We aren't sure. Perhaps an ideal environment, crops they prefer for survival? Whatever the case, they are thriving and it is a problem. Crops fail....they will eat seedlings of baby cucumbers before anything can be done. You can cover crops to protect them from the beetles, but you cannot very well cover up 17 acres. It just isn't practical and then you'd never see what is going on anywhere! Not to mention all the pollinators being excluded. They fly around spreading diseases from crop to crop too. They eat and weaken plant roots. The problems are never-ending.

Here are a couple of specimens hanging out in one of the cardoon flowers that are so showy in the front of the farm right now. Like I said, they are everywhere. This is a good place to have them as they are not doing much damage to the farm up here in this purple flower, but if they are here, you can be certain they are everywhere else too.

So, what is the IPM solution? Wayne and I have talked and talked and a moment of action is upon us. He has invested in an experiment and will soon treat the soil with a large number of beneficial nematodes. They are in the fridge, waiting for application once timing and final quantities are calculated. Who are they, those nematodes? Well, there are so many kinds (often bad) I get a little mixed up over them all. Bottom line, these guys are meant to attack the larval stage (underground worm) of the cucumber beetle (AKA corn root worm when a larva). This effort is meant to bring down the overall population, one step at a time. Likely, to be effective, it needs to happen more than once and it is costly. We are crossing our fingers for notice-able results, but if nothing else there is the piece of mind that some effort has been employed to improve the situation. It is now that the beetle is everywhere, breeding, laying eggs, preparing for future generations, and thriving.

Wish us luck and in the meantime appreciate the efforts put forth to bring you food safely and come out for a walk and find the alyssum so you can observe interesting insects while enjoying a whiff of the sweet white carpet it creates.

Chile Crop Status Report

2010-07-04T06:23:00.001-07:00

The topic of this photo is in the back drop, in the foreground you see the mature foliage of the Chandler strawberry crop (soon to be finished with their June-bearing annual life cycle).

The background contains the chile and pepper crops, inching their way along to maturity. It won't be long now as initial fruit set has begun on many of the varieties and heat has finally kicked in around the county. At this time Lee usually begins harvesting many of the early fruits to promote more flowering and then more production down the road. If you are lucky this week you may have run into a green chile or two if you intercepted one of Lee's market days. Again, one of those special surprises you can never quite predict around your local farm.

Shopping in Season

2010-06-29T05:26:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing that gets predictable when presiding over a seasonal and local selection of vegetables and fruits, it is the customer habit of seeking what is missing. No matter the time of the season, it is noticed and questioned that items long passed or weeks away are absent from the current selection. What about all those things that are present, fresh and in season?

We have been conditioned in the grocery store scene for years to expect everything at all times. More so now, there is focus on seasonal highlights. People at least seem to realize summer is for tomatoes and cucumbers, but for a local production they often come seeking too soon. One day of hot sun and swarms of harvest season produce seekers are wandering the farm stands.

We started running out of strawberries by the end of the day this week, leaving the end of the day customers out of luck. Often, a strawberry seeker comes no further than the entrance of the stand and then quickly retreats in disappointment when the fruit they came for is no to be found. Other times, people come wandering with an eye only for tomatoes, corn, beans.....you can tell something is wrong and when starting into discussion on the topic it is a great challenge to get them to recognize all of those wonderful things that are there right before their eyes. Sure there are not a lot of tomatoes yet, no cucumbers at all, corn is a few weeks off at least.....but I stood in that farm stand all winter when we had no onions (now there are tons of freshly harvested and wonderful red onions), we had run out of winter carrots, committed weekly customers and I were experimenting with things like cardoon and trying a new dry bean each week. My point being, it could be a lot worse than it is right now as we wait for the summer bounty to kick in and have the full array available to our fingertips at all times.

There is a technique to shopping from farms and farmer's markets that defies expectations. Your experience will be so much more fun and rewarding if you enter these food outlets in search of what they offer rather than what you are expecting to find. You are certain to encounter something unique, likely to not find something that your predetermine recipe calls for, and it should not really bother you. Realize that what is on the shelf today may be gone tomorrow.

The seasons move on fast and crops pass us by more quickly with each year I work with this stuff, much like the years of life. Recently, I have been anxious for the end of peas. We have seen some incredible Asian greens come and go in recent weeks. As the strawberries respond to the weather and season, I anticipate the favored Chandler variety passing for the season and the permanent switch to the Seascape berry.

These are the small details of seasonality. If you are a hardcore farm stand customer who enjoys the detailed fluctuation of what Tierra brings to the table you are likely to notice these small shifts and also have confidence that one day the summer bounty will be there with plenty to enjoy in the meantime. There really always is plenty to eat, I have been with this farm long enough to know this fact for sure.

The message here.....when you come in search of a specific item, please don't neglect to observe all those other things that are available at a particular moment in the seasonal farming scheme. It could be that the item you come looking for next time was right there in front of you. It makes a lot of sense to adapt your cooking and planning around what is harvesting...this is absolutely how you ensure you ingredients are at the peak of freshness and flavor and offers a creative challenge in the kitchen.

If you MUST have fresh peppers in early summer, you can go to your local grocery big box source and find some that were grown hundreds of miles away down in the desert. The difference includes a lack of freshness, perhaps flavor and the fun of finding the seasonal diversity of those peppers and chiles found on your local farm.

How many weeks until all the other stuff is ready? Always hard to say, a couple of weeks (depending on weather)? What is coming next? I think the answer is tomatoes....keep your fingers crossed that this warmer weather holds out. Maybe a better question is "what won't be here anymore next week?"

Enjoy your seasonal and local bounty, whatever your shopping approach.

A late spring, early summer array during a tough season to get things going in farming....recent weeks have featured great seasonal products like peas, carrots, rhubarb, cabbages, abundant lettuces and other greens, strawberries and much more!

Potato Planting Per the Moon Phase in the Children's Garden

2010-06-27T05:55:00.000-07:00

Lee suggested to Lisl (self motivated leader of the Children's Garden) that yesterday was the day to plant potatoes. The moon phase determined this decision more than anything else as it was time again to plant for root growth. Children were invited for a noon-time potato planting that included Lisl in charge, Wayne in support and whatever kids and parent's might show. A small initial group of participants and a beautiful day made for a great initiation and potato planting experience to a few young participants.

Bamboo bean trellis serving as a constant back drop to the setting of this plot, it will one day soon be walls and tunnels of greenery. Thanks to the small group who gathered at the farm yesterday, we will now have some spuds to dig up in a month or two. Potato harvest is one of the most exciting for kids and adults alike, such surprises to be encountered with each newly harvested tuber hiding under the earth. Now we have this to look forward to in the future.

Stay tuned for more events in the Children's Garden or come by the farm stand and visit the land and/or drop your email on the register so you will be contacted for future events.

Winnowing with Wayne

2010-06-24T05:36:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the following short video, filmed and produced my farm friend and follower, Andrea who is a Sonoma County native and Bay Area local of my own generation. This is just the first of a series of films she intends to create, documenting various operations and people around the farm. Enjoy her expert eye, this is what she does for a living.

On the topic of Winnowing with Wayne, I recently finished reading the book Fields of Plenty by Jonah Raskin. The book contains a small chapter with the same name and excerpt describing his own experience cleaning beans and visiting the farm. A wonderful Sonoma County-local farming read that I highly recommend to others.

Wayne did build the vertical winnowing device in the video below. A huge part of finding efficiencies in the details of farming is the modification of tools to suit the circumstance and location specific to the farm. This farm is large enough that is does rely on mechanical assistance to a large extent, otherwise it would never be able to provide for so many households and survive. In addition to the winnower Wayne and others around the farm have constructed farm specific planting equipment, a recently developed harvesting cart (more coming soon), the smoker that makes all those chipotles, and much more. This is all part of the fun of farming!

Winnowing fava beans in July from The Seedling Project on Vimeo.

A low-tech method of winnowing fava bean pods from fava beans, which is demonstrated by Wayne James of Tierra Vegetables. Tierra is located just outside of Santa Rosa and they are famous for their chili peppers and delicious pepper products.

This is an excerpt of a larger documentary about Tierra Vegetables—I've been following them for almost two years.

Beautiful Rhubarb

2010-06-19T05:18:00.000-07:00

There are those who adore rhubarb and those who ignore rhubarb, myself admittedly one of the latter types. Why do I ignore rhubarb? I have little use for it in my little experience with it, I do not make time to learn to use and enjoy it, in my growing experiences it has proven invasive in smaller garden spaces, in my sales experiences it is a long and tangled hassle to weigh and pack off to a customer home. I remain in an under-educated and oblivious position with the joys of rhubarb, but I realize not everyone is like me. I watch and help many a Tierra customer select and tote home small arm loads of this wonder fruit/veggie each week, awkwardly packing the tangled stalks of rhubarb into their bag loads of seasonal fare. Just a day or two ago, a regular CSA customer stopped in the farm stand on her way out to tag rhubarb onto her order, a sensual pleasure she could not go home without as long as the season lasts.

When I asked her to further explain what it was about the rhubarb she went into a sensory list that included four of the five senses. She adored the look, smell, taste and texture. I am sure if it made any noise she would love the way it sounded too. She certainly made me stop and look twice at the stalky fruit/vegetable that I have been passing over the scale and out the door of the farm stand for weeks now. It is quite beautiful. Our field manager, Pablo, agrees as I saw him carrying around a stalk of a new variety we are producing this season in admiration of it's visual beauty and quality. Our customers in San Francisco seem to agree too as we have continued to sell quite a bit of rhubarb in the city each week. I am certain farmer Lee is proud of the results of her hard work to select a successful variety and bring it to fruition on the farm too. So, take it from someone who neglects the availability of such a resource right in front of me, people are loving our rhubarb and if you are at all interested in such an ingredient I suggest you try some too. At least come indulge in a few of the sensory pleasures it offers and come and see it growing if you like, I can point you in the direction. Additionally, grow some yourself! We still have a couple of gallon pots for sale.

Children's Garden

2010-06-16T05:34:00.000-07:00

Weeks ago I was en route to the Petaluma Seed Bank with Wayne and Lee. With all of us cooped up in a vehicle for a small off the farm field trip it was a good time for idea-sharing. This was way back when Lee revealed to me she wanted a Children's Garden area this season. I connected with the idea with enthusiasm....it seemed a natural course of action for the people and visitors I have learned so much about with recent time spent in the farm stand. A destination just for the little ones would be perfect!

As time progressed, random ideas came together here and there in addition to all of the other things we are always trying to accomplish to improve and maintain the farm. What it would be and how it would operate were questions that challenged us. It could not be too much work for us or for kids, it should be interesting and fun and not cause too much extra work for us, who would manage it when there was no spare time as it is?

Adjacent to and east of the farm stand is a section of land (we call it SE Section 9 in the planning and record-keeping scheme) that has now been designated as a destination area for the little ones this season. It may not have it all as there are so many potential ideas with a project like this....what it will have is pumpkins, a tunnel of pole beans, ground cherries and cherry tomatoes for harvesting, opportunities to weed and engage with cultivation (parental supervision required), flowers for aesthetic enjoyment and perhaps some picking, potato planting and harvesting, and who knows what else.

We have rennovated a back corner of the farm stand as a registration and check point for the Children's Garden. This chalk board has had my handwriting from over a year ago permanently chalk-inked to promote a 4 for $20 on dry chile packets....it is now re-painted and transformed into an info center for smaller sized farm visitors. Please stop in if you fit the previously mentioned profile. What you will find? Suggestions for what might be done in the Children's Garden that day, baskets for harvesting, flowers for taking, a sign up sheet where you may drop an email address to receive updates about events that will occur (an upcoming potato planting will be the first of these), and a binder where we ask that a picture or write up of your child's experience might be inserted to share with others and serve as a memory book for the 2010 season for us all. We must give great thanks to customer and educator Lisl Christie who has taken an active interest in contributing time, ideas and resources towards organizing. This allows us employees of the farm to focus more closely on our jobs (and the reamining 20+ acres of the farm) while still being able to afford to offer land for fun and education to all those interested visitors, large or small.

Farm friend, customer and frequenter Sara brought her boys, Radly and Finn, by to "work" in the garden last week. This is a rough time in the season as weeding and cultivation tend to be high on the list of "things to do." There is some sparse, early harvesting to be done in the ground cherries (harvesting has much more immediate reward than weeding, obviously). Attempting both weeding and harvesting, the farm stand proved a lure to the boys who are well trained to know that strawberry samples are available back under the awning they know so well. Focusing on weeding takes some real personal investment and perhaps these guys will get there by the end of the season. For now, they have removed a small share of "bad" plants to make more room for "good" plants and have already discovered the bean tunnel that is just made up of tiny bean plants at this time. Watching these items grow, change and live out their annual life is what the experience is all about.

So what is the Children's Garden at Tierra? It is a destination, a demonstration, and at times an activity area. Please be careful, have respect for the farm, the land, other visitors, the plants and enjoy a small slice of food production that welcomes your periodic visits.

Strawberry Side By Side Comparison

2010-06-11T05:40:00.000-07:00

The larger berry on the left is the Chander, our June-bearing selection. This is the moment of the season when the berry on the right, Seascape, comes on at the same time. The result? Lots of strawberries! Also, a chance to compare the two varieties for a few weeks before the Chandler disappears for the season.

Physical characteristics include a difference in shape. The Chandler often produces a large and bulbous berry...perhaps less of a perfect strawberry heart shape whereas the Seascape seems to be coming out almost to perfection in little heart shape size.

Flavor? I prefer the Chandler for the moment. Apparently this changes as time wears on, but for the moment there is a maturity to the Chandler berry that just seems to produce a sweeter flavor. The Seascape is still just beginning to ripen.

Come to the farm stand and ask to try both. Compare for yourself before it is just Seascape for the remainder of the season.

30th Anniversary Celebration

2010-06-07T05:58:00.000-07:00

Wayne, Evie and Lee pose with the strawberry filled cake made for them by Dominique (of Dominiques Sweets and Macaroons-she rents and works in our commercial kitchen).

See cake and icing details....Dominique really put some effort into the farm theme here. It is always challenging to cut into work like this.

A second creative vegetable-themed cake was presented by farm friend, Ina.

This group shot captured all past and present employees who were present at the moment of this photo session. There are a few figures I am not sure about from the past, but left to right the approximate identities include: Wayne, Katya, Evie, Jesus, Roxie, Callahan, Ellery, Lee, Erica (self), Paige (behind my head), Linda, Dominique and daughter Marisol, and Zeni.

Scene from the front of the hay ride tour on the farm. Wayne gave us an overview of the farm field in general, this season's crops and whatever else we happened upon along the way. Slight sprinkler spritzes were a feature of this tour.

This is Marisol. She knows a good strawberry and this was a good day for her to stroll down the rows of the strawberry patch and check out what was good, or not so good. I was impressed by her ability to sort out the bad ones and toss them away, savoring the perfect berries. Marisol is Dominique's daughter (that is, Dominique who is now working with the farm stand and CSA, not the Dominique who made the cake shown above). Two Dominique's now.

Here Roxie and Brian gossip away (they can't help it) next to Roxie's spinning demonstration. Brian is a handy man around the farm these days, formally our master welder. He also was the driver of the hay rides during this Sunday event so that Wayne was free to lead the tour.

This kids enjoyed the pinata and respectfully took turns....smaller children were not required to wear blind folds. No candy as a reward, there may have been a few disappointed reactions at first, but once they realized their prizes of popcorn and strawberries, I think there was some sweet relief.

The farm stand served as a wonderful shelter and gather place for the pot luck and social center for all of our guests an friends.

A big thanks to all for coming. It is the people and community who make an event like this. I know your farmers and friends greatly value the support and interest all of us invest into the hard work that goes into farming, not to mention 30 years of it. Looking forward to many, many more years of Tierra Vegetables.

Wayne's Feet

2010-06-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

Here is a topic people cannot seem to get enough of. Young and old, informal inquiry and local news publications, people are always caught in fascination with your farmer's bare feet.

WHY?! He just prefers to be this way. Exceptions? Muddy days I find him in a pair of garden-type Crocs and middle of winter you might find him with woolen slippers crafted by his sister.

Pros: No need to worry about the proper footwear for a given situation. Whereas I will often juggle boots and garden shoes for different activities and settings, Wayne is always set to go whether he is indoors or out.

Cons: I have more than once observed significant foot splinter events as a result of the heavy bark mulches around the farm. You'd think a painful lesson like this might provoke change, but as I mentioned previously, he just prefers his feet remain bare.

I'm sure there is much more to say to this topic if I wanted to go into a full interview, but it seemed worth a mere mention as I stole a photo the other day in the farm stand. Maybe more action shots of Wayne's feet in the future this season, but he does admit it is a topic that has been over-publicized as it is.

Out with the old and in with the new

2010-05-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

Here is another perfect strawberry photo. They seem to go on and on which is not something to complain about. The Chandlers are wonderful. Large, sweet and the poor things have endured quite a bit of rain and grit this season with little trouble. There are lots of berries to enjoy now!

And if that June-bearing Chandler ever starts to slow down in production, not to be worried because here comes the everbearing Seascape you all remember from previous seasons. Strawberries seem to be one of those crops that Lee and Wayne have mastered over the years, in addition to many others.

Fresh snap peas finally made their way into the fresh product inventory this last week and I highly suggest all you folks take advantage of their limited season. It will get too hot for them and NOW is the moment to enjoy. A large quantity will be harvested for the first CSA box of the season next week so the farm stand could have limited supplies. That is one of those benefits of being a CSA subscribers; often the best stuff gets saved for those of you who have committed, given us your trust, and paid ahead.

And here is what the end of fava season looks like. A little more yellow than the beginning of the season as they mature and dry out a bit. Still very edible and flavorful although less tender, the fava will go on for another week or two. Then that is all until next season. Last chance opportunities!

Where did the asparagus suddenly disappear to? Well, it is out there in the middle of the field as it will perennially be as long as the farm goes on, but it is now left to flower and feed itself for future seasons. Wayne and I calculated the duration of harvest and decided it was time to let it alone for the health of the crop. A fine time to transition as many early summer crops are starting now. I was impressed to see the large loads of asparagus move out of the farm stand this season. We sure do have some spear lovers out there. Sweet as they are, this is quite understandable.

Field Operations

2010-05-30T06:04:00.000-07:00

Farm work is busy. When there are things to do (which is almost always) there are tons of things that need to be done at once. Priorities are a MUST and we wander about picking and choosing out battles all day long on the farm. A Saturday afternoon project yesterday was to apply row cover to newly planted and emerging seedlings. I think it was arugula the guys were trying to save from insect damages. It typically gets munched into a doily full of holes by flea beetles. Other plants like cucumbers and squash are attacked by cucumber beetles, and the list goes on and on. When is it worthwhile to spend the time and energy to save a crop from these pest damages? Wayne and Jesus work together in the above image to attach a large roll of brand new row cover to the tractor for application. Tis the season of insect pests and if we want to have certain crops they will need protection in the form of exclusion.

Once the tractor is rigged to apply the row cover it can actually drive itself while the guys follow along and cover the edges so that it will not blow away. All of this extra time and labor and the resources are good examples of why farming organically can be challenging and costly in the broader scheme of food production techniques. These row covers will be re-used around the farm again and again until they out live their life cycle and a full of holes and tears. The guys will have to remove the covers in order to harvest and once the crop is done. It is a lot of extra work, but lets the crop thrive without the damages of our local insect pests.

Meanwhile, Roberto got called off of field operations to go pick more strawberries! He is our number one berry man when the time comes around to re-stock inventory throughout the sales day. We try to pick enough for everyone while also not over-picking. But it is trivial because we never know hen a large strawberry order might hit a the end of a day. You can often see Roberto out filling boxes of sweet berries from out the back of the farm stand. I'm certain he loves his sweet job as he was probing and calling for months as we anticipated the first berries of the season. I never find hesitation is asking for MORE berries AGAIN.

A New Farm Stand Hand: Dominique

2010-05-26T05:23:00.000-07:00

Introducing a girlfriend of mine, Sonoma County grown small farm fan and sustainable agriculture follower, Dominique. Evie and I are lucky that Dominique was finishing up school this spring and seeking practical experience in the field of farming, making the farm stand sales position a perfectly suitable environment for her to gain some new insights and exposures from some very experienced farmers.

Evie and I are still here too, but the farm stand is about to open full time for the season and we are going to divide the job amongst us to avoid overly long days and to share the work load. There is always plenty of work at a farm and while Evie is coming to the end of her treatments, she is still in recovery from all she has been through lately and will not be around as often as recent years, at least for now.

I met Dominique a couple of years ago when I returned to Sonoma County and was seeking farms and CSAs to work with. She and I worked together packing the CSA at First Light Farm in Sebastopol under the direction of Nathan Boone during the 2008-2009 season. When I left the packing crew out there, I left the CSA management position to Dominique who had the reliability, passion and competence to do a great job. Meanwhile, I worked for Tierra too and babbled on and on about all the incredible farming magic I was experiencing across the county. I was delighted that Dominique followed the sustainable farming trail out to Airport Boulevard and have subsequently gotten to know the farm bit by bit, finally stepping inside as a need for extra help emerged.

Since meeting her, she has always been out to find a way to find the closest thing to a homestead or sustainable living for her family including her beautiful young girl, Marisol. She is a lover of animals and care-taker of many members of her family. She has pursued and completed course work to obtain her degree in Sustainable Agriculture at the SRJC and is currently enrolled in a permaculture course. Appropriately, she is a strong believer in the issues we stand for as supporters and consumers of locally and sustainably grown food.

Please offer a warm welcome when you run into Dominique this season. Not only will she be a figure in the farm stand, helping us keep long and frequent hours to serve you as much as possible, but she will also be involved in packing and managing the CSA this season. Driven to learn and experience farm operations as someone who is truly interested in a finding a way to make a living this way, I know Dominique will put her heart and soul into her roles with Tierra. A chef for a husband (John, he currently works with Rosso Pizzeria), she has tips for use of vegetables that go beyond my realm of experience and ought to be an asset in helping people figure what to do with all the unique Tierra goodies.

We have only had one day together on the sales floor, but I was reminded why I so love working with this friend of mine. She is a hard worker! I was relieved as she stepped right in and just started doing....smart, organized, informed and out to do the best job possible. I hope you all are able to enjoy more good stuff this season as a result of more good hands that facilitate us being able to do more good stuff for the farm and everyone involved! New energy is upon us and it is a great thing!

Thank you, Dominique.

Caltrans Digging Holes at the Farm

2010-05-20T06:10:00.000-07:00

If you pulled up the the farm stand last Tuesday you found a parking lot full of signature orange equipment and white vehicles, indicating Cantrans had finally arrived to start work at this segment of the 101 improvement projects. Specifically, this initial portion of the project on Airport Boulevard involves digging bore holes throughout existing farm terrain and County property that will eventually turn over to the state for the construction of a new and huge freeway onramp. What are they doing here exactly? I'm not privy to internal planning or direct discussion, but I think I understand that the project engineer is collecting stratigraphic soil samples in
these locations where they hope to install footings for the grand new freeway portal that will be erected sometime in the next 2 years. They are a great crew of guys, accomplishing approximately 1 bore hole per day with plenty of equipment hold ups. There is a lovely biologist named Jane keeping a close watch on any tiger salamander issues and like environmental topics.

Farm impacts? There will be plenty of them. Previously mentioned we will lose the farm stand and parking lots as they are today. Airport Blvd will be five lanes in the future, there will be stop lights at Fulton and at the 101 ramp, portions of the land the farm is now operating on will be taken by the state. It is hoped, but unknown if and how the land will be compensated. We can only hope and be optimistic that it is opportunity to change and improve as we adapt and exist as a green belt in a busy location of a crowded community. Please do not let construction activity deter your attendance to the farm stand as this project evolves and continues. All of us will play a part in keeping the farm strong as change is thrust upon us. Come and take a look at this evovles, get out of your car and shake your fist like little strawberry lover, Finn, did last Tuesday or watch in quiet observation. I'll try to answer your questions as I find answers to details.

First Squash and Cucumber Beetles

2010-05-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Little tiny summer squashes with blossoms attached made it from the field to the farm stand on Saturday afternoon. They ended up selling off to a woman who thoroughly removed the decorative flora from the butt of each squash in disinterest, but made for a pretty sight prior to their kitchen-fate. This looks like a straight-neck squash and we are lucky to have gotten some so early. I think last year the early summer squash took a hit with some frost, despite the use of row covers to protect the plants that are set out early in hopes of a spring harvest like this.

Fascinating to me in the perspective of a grower who is interested in the topic of integrated pest management are the cucumber beetles crawling all over these baby squashes (here is yet another example of your Tierra organic certification-let the pests speak for no spray), relishing one of their favorite garden hosts. This here is the striped variety of cucumber beetle and I do believe they are working on increasing their numbers in this image while dancing around on their favorite plant family. Named for the cucurbit family, cucumber beetles have a preference for squashes, melons, cucumbers and like summer vegetable plants, but can also be found throughout the garden and all season long to some extent. They overwinter just fine in plant debris with our somewhat mild winters, emerging in spring to thrive and multiply.

The spotted beetle is a little harder to see in this particular photo because he is blending in with the stem, but I know you local gardeners have seen it before either in your own garden or maybe mixed in with your Tierra greens upon arriving home. This guy (aka Diabrotica) is all over the place around these parts; munching, sucking and destroying foliage throughout the farm and garden scene. The larval stage will work away at plant roots. A few times a season there will be a flush of reproductive events where they will swarm and demolish cucurbit crops if not covered. This is one of many reasons to compromise and invest in synthetic material row covers to exclude such damages.

2010-05-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

Here we go....carrots are back. This one was one of the largest Wayne could scrounge up from the field during a leisurely Saturday stroll through his first spring crop of 2010. In that case, I'm uncertain if they will be for sale this week, but just know it is coming soon! As soon as possible. Little beets are out there too. And, if you didn't already know, there are all those incredible berries (featured in the backdrop here, but not to be overlooked).

Spring crops are rolling in one after another now....the weather is ideal for many of the cool season crops to grow and harvest and it accommodates the planting of summer season seeds and transplants. This is where much of the farming energy will go this month. Planting season is well upon us right now! The farm is in a constant transition and it is fun to come out and see it all occur. We welcome you to do just that.

Enjoy the final signs of spring this month.

Sweet and Spicy

2010-05-08T05:57:00.000-07:00

What a pleasure to have sweet peas to snip first thing upon arriving to work at the farm stand each day. Lee made a timely sowing of sweet peas seeds last fall and now the incredible long stemmed variety is flowering full blast, enough to keep me busily chasing blossoms throughout a day. This is not the first farm job where I have arrived early to work in order to be sure the sweet peas make it out of the field and are available to those who love the sweet scented and often nostalgic little pea flower. These are the kinds of details in life that bring me joy whether or not appreciated by others.

Well paired with the vibrant hot sauces in the farm stand, the image above is a great representation of the sweet and spice that can be obtained at Tierra this moment in the season. Come get some sweet peas for yourself or a loved one until I run out of time to keep cutting them each morning. The work only snowballs around the farm from this point on.

Breaking ground in the children's farm field

2010-05-06T06:22:00.001-07:00

Lee and I have been anxiously waiting for the tractor to find time to move on over to the triangular portion of the farm that sits east of the farm stand and adjacent compost piles. Covered in huge weeds until this last week, we have hoped this would be the site of a children-themed and interactive plot on the farm. We finally broke ground out there last Tuesday and are on our way....stay tuned for upcoming ideas and activities and please share if you have any input on what would be fun and important for you and your family to learn and enjoy about growing food. So far we have brainstormed crop rows with plant family or type themes including roots (carrots, potato, radish), salad, grain, nightshade (fruiting tomato or pepper type plants), flowers, pole bean tunnels, etc... Let's see what kind of magic we can make this season!

A photo of a painting of a photo

2010-05-05T06:21:00.000-07:00

In August of 2008 I took a nice chile/pepper overview photo. From left to right the visual pleasure of Gypsys, orange and yellow bells, and then on to various spicy chiles in enjoyed in this image. It was then passed on to artist, painter and long time farm relation Barbara Toschi.

Here is a close up of her final product that is proudly displayed behind the sales counter at the farm stand each day. Not only is Barbara talented with paint, but she also has a historic role with the farm as a landowner who once welcomed Lee and Wayne to farm her land in the early 1990s. See the Tierra History page for more info in the "Getting Bigger" section. These days her role continues as farm friend, customer and supporter with an obvious creative vision of what the farm produces.

Do you notice this grand piece of work when checking out with your produce? Take a moment to appreciate Barbara's work next time you pass through. She will take it away for a week or two coming up as it will be entered in a Windsor art show....maybe you'll find it there?

Parching Corn

2010-04-30T06:33:00.001-07:00

This is Supai Red Parching corn....yet another of the diverse dried corn varieties grown by your local farm. Parching corn has traditionally been prepared by being lightly toasted prior to grinding into a meal. Lee has made time for a couple of batches of this so far this winter and spring, gradually introducing this new (but really it is an old tradition) idea to folks. Read on....

Atole is a toasted corn meal based beverage that is traditionally prepared and consumed in Mexico and Central America. It is usually enjoyed hot, somewhere in the realm of hot chocolate or oatmeal. It is a hearty breakfast or comfort drink. When the corn has been toasted and sweetened and/or spiced, the beverage is then referred to as Pinole.

I have tried a couple of different brews that Lee has concocted and they are fabulous, lightly sweetened and spiced with toasty meal as the base...it is something entirely different to do with your locally grown corn meal. Look for the Supai Red meal and smell it's toasted flavor, take some home and experiment with your own Pinole recipe.

The traditional and popular comfort, holiday, or breakfast beverage may be prepared many different ways. Spices, sweeteners, chiles and even savory additions may be used to brew up a unique recipe to suit each person's tastes.

The parching corn was harvested in the fall of 2009 and is now being parched and ground in batches as time permits around the farm.

The Land and Highway 101

2010-04-27T06:45:00.000-07:00

The 17 acres that Tierra Vegetables farm is a "green belt" in a growing modern cultural sprawl of homes, condos, the existing freeways corridors, the airport, the industry and businesses of Airport, Boulevard, etc... This is one of many reasons the farm is special. It might be viewed as a pro or a con depending upon perspective.

For us at the farm, it is not a quiet and peaceful setting off in the dairy fields of West County. Rather, we work and toil the fields amidst rush hours congestion, random pedestrian passer-bys, hitchhikers, the non-stop sounds of 101 as white noise in the background.

Alternatively, we are then poised in a strategic location that you all might access our product without a lot of transportation or distribution. If Lee and Wayne were still growing vegetables way out on Chalk Hill Road in Healdsburg it is much less likely people would be dropping in to purchase things at a farm stand way out there. Convenience is huge to the potential consumer and to the sustainability of a small farming operation.

The 17 acre parcel on Airport Boulevard has been a great investment and work site for the farm all around....but what lies ahead? Caltrans will be impacting the farm and change will be happening soon. Why? This land is located in the vicinity of necessary road adjustments for Highway 101 and Airport Boulevard. I do not have full details on this topic, but what I gather from Wayne has taught me the project relates to work time commuter congestion on Airport (this backs up pretty bad) and the 101 freeway ramps (Fulton and Airport ramps are too close and cause back ups on the freeways-always dangerous).

By 2012, the farm stand and parking lot will be taken out in order to widen Airport Boulevard (I saw a Caltrans vehicle parked out in the lot just yesterday, overlooking the project area). Land will be consumed from farm production as we will have to relocate these resources on to other parts of the property to suit the changes to come.

We can only hope the time for change will be a positive one for the farm and for the safety of local commuters all at once. Perhaps it will mean increased business for a new and better farm stand to come...

While not the easiest image to understand, this gives a general overview of the project. The blue and yellow lines on the top central portion of the page demonstrate where the farm perimeter will be impacted by road expansion, taking out the farm stand, parking lot and possibly the well.
Difficult to understand the detail, this view shows a broader context on the project. The farm is represented by the triangular area in the top, center portion of the image with Highway 101 crossing the image horizontally. North is to the left.

Harvest morning spring field tour

2010-04-25T06:58:00.000-07:00

Head lettuce transplants....things are getting set in the ground one after another right now as it is likely frost has passed and beds have finally dried out enough to access much of the farm. Here are upcoming heads of lettuce, the butterheads are covered to keep off leafhopping insect pests that might eat your lettuce before we ever got to harvesting it out of the ground.

Strawberries with grit. We have had to rinse the berries a bit with the initial harvest as they had not yet been given their straw mulch and much of this rain has splashed dirt back on them....we might have prevented this by laying out a plastic mulch when planting, but Tierra simply does not appreciate having to do things like use up acres of plastic that will simply turn into garbage at the end of a season and seeks alternative methods of mulching and cultivating that are less resource intensive.

Jesus. The youngest of our field crew, but has also been with us for many years, Jesus is the go-to guy for many details around the farm. Always available and willing to respond to your needs and ours, he does an incredible job day in and out. Here he drives in your Saturday morning harvest-on time!

Swiss Chard will go to seed soon. Planted in fall it then starts to flower and set seed when too much heat kicks in. It is still harvesting beautifully for the time being and thank goodness for it when all else runs out at the end of the day in the farm stand. It's days are numbered though. Savor it while it lasts.

Here is the fall onion crop. Utah Jumbo or something similar. A big storage onion that will hopefully take us into the depths of winter. We still have to harvest and enjoy our fall planted onions before we even get close to harvesting this crop, but it is out in the field to enjoy it's season of maturity now. Go find it!

Snap peas coming along wonderfully! This will be a sweet delicacy when it finally comes to harvest...although back breaking for the harvest crew.

You may have realized the winter carrots ran out this week...a tragedy when Tierra is without carrots, but not for long. This is the current status of the upcoming spring crop and I am certain it will be presented for sales ASAP! A couple/few more weeks. Have patience, enjoy strawberries in the meantime.

Greenhouse Review

2010-04-21T06:09:00.001-07:00

Sunday, April 18th, was our Greenhouse Open House Event. Drop in guests from across Chalk Hill Road to as far away as San Francisco dropped in throughout the day, some familiar with the farm and all it does, others simply curious about topics of growing and seeking an opportunity to engage in discussion. Many people went home with a plant or two to stick in their own gardens and a taste of the well known chile jams.

I feel horrible that I came away from this day with no group shots! Next time! I was able to document the plants as usual and will provide a short visual tour of what I saw this season in the greenhouse. As my first visit to the place in 2010, I was overly impressed with how well managed things seemed in there. Meet Zeni, Lee's number one right hand woman in the greenhouse and all things that occur to assist the farm at the Chalk Hill Road property.

Zeni goes about her midday watering responsibility after helping prepare for the Greenhouse Event last Sunday....Lee's pup, Cloudy, has a thing for water and water wands in particular. This complicates the watering process somewhat as it becomes a game and a job all at once.

Baby chiles here. This is a small fraction of the bigger picture.

Baby basil with a steaming camera lens. Many visitors were chased right out of some of the more heated areas of the greenhouse on Sunday as it was such a beautiful day....it was also one of the warmer days yet in the greenhouse. Others enjoyed and basked in the hot and humid climate that could be found in the specialty structure.

Corn. Tierra grows sweet corn, popcorn, flour corns, hominy corn. Which one is this? I'm not sure, I never asked Lee. My guess it that this is a flour corn that takes a long time to mature. The greenhouse start gives it a boost to ensure it matures before cold weather comes in fall and that pests do not damage baby seedlings in the field as often happens when things are direct seeded in spring.

Chiles....Ancho specifically. I think these are my favorite. The immature green Poblano will do, but a sweet and spicy, ripe, red Ancho is perfect for everything. I could eat a roasted Ancho a day and maybe I will when their season rolls around this summer/fall. Looks like there will be lots as usual!

Overview of red malabar spinach (a heat loving green that grows like a vine), first year asparagus seedlings (to plant out in 2011), previously described corn and a mix of basil and chiles.

Close up is either cabbage, broccoli or cauliflower....I think cabbage based on the leaf shape. These will go out to the farm field immediately, maybe today or tomorrow. They are ready and we just need the weather to allow access into the field. Behind is a sea of other brassicas and tomatoes and lettuce. All ready for a life in the great outdoors.

One more look at the forest of tomatoes and lettuce ready to go out. You could eat a salad right out of the greenhouse right now. Lee is masterful at bringing plants to a healthy and mature state before putting them outside. This approach gives them all that much more ability to survive the unexpected conditions that could impact them once exiting the greenhouse including weather, pests, soil, water, whatever!

A big thanks to everyone who came out to appreciate some the work that goes on behind the scenes on the farm. We hope you learned something new and look forward to seeing your faces again at our next gathering this season and at the farm stand, CSA, or farmer's market all season long.

Finally, check out this You Tube Video production by one of our guests of the open house, he took it upon himself to do a thorough overview of the structure and has shared his enthusiasm for all to watch and learn.

Strawberry Raffle Results and the First Harvest

2010-04-18T05:57:00.001-07:00

Here is the first harvest of strawberries for the season. Jose is holding the berries with Jesus on his right, stopping to smile over the occasion. It took these guys some time to gather up this many berries, but they went ahead and did it because otherwise the next round of oncoming rain could just rot whatever berries were sitting out in the field. So, this harvest was a little rushed by the weather, but so is farming one way or another for the most part. We revolve around weather before all else.

Here is Wayne (you can recognize the barren feet) giving the grit ridden berries a rough washing....water is often sparse around the farm as we run on a generator. This round of berries has endured some weather and not many came out free of a good layer of dirt from recent rains. They weren't all super red and perfect either, but that did not rob them of true, sweet strawberry flavor. These early berries beat the shipped in grocery store varietals on any day of the year. It was such a treat to have berries to snack on again....a huge benefit of operating the farm stand.

Despite the white edges seen in the photo, for the most part these berries were quite sweet and full of flavor. I think the cardboard and flavorless grocery store options might train us to shy away from a berry that does not look perfect, but the truth is that a home grown berry is just all around better. We are able to grow strawberries that do not require shipping and hence have better flavor qualities in exchange for durability....this is the usual issue with local versus commercial food choices. Trade in your Costco and Trader Joe berries for local ones, it is time to enjoy a quality product from your local farm. As a side note, the folks who stand on the corner of Fulton and Airport and sell flats of berries do not come from the farm....they just hang out on our corner and next to our sign, coincidentally.

And here is my first strawberry sale! Nancy; a committed weekly customer, friend, supporter of the farm and all the people and products involved; gathered up the first pickings of berries to take home and savor this week. She has some rhubarb too....also in season right now. For those of you who need strawberries and rhubarb together that time is here. Before expecting too much from the strawberry crop, let's wait and see what this coming rain does first. It won't help the berries, but hopefully they won't get damaged either and we might have more this coming weekend.

And finally, here is Sara. Dropping in after her morning run, Sara got lucky as I had just tallied up the results of the Strawberry Raffle. Instead of leaving her recycled strawberry basket with me, she got to refill it with the first berries of the season at no charge. Sara was one of three winners in the raffle who came closest to guessing the first harvest date. You never know what surprises you might find when you drop in at you local farm. Unpredictably, it might not have the grocery store selection you are seeking, but there is always something and very often something new, exciting and unexpected as we wait for seasonal treats to come to fruition.

Historic Review-Rough Draft

2010-04-15T06:18:00.000-07:00

I'm working to incorporate new content into the website and await final review from the farmer's on this draft, but will share it here now. Enjoy 30 years of evolution with Tierra with the biography found below:

The 30 year history of Tierra Vegetables

The Start-Up Years

Wayne James began his farming career in the mid to late 70s. While studying Viticulture at the Santa Rosa Junior College, he also picked up a practical farming position working alongside his mentor named Clarence of Potter Valley in Mendocino County. Clarence had once worked with Wayne's grandfather and at the time was operating a large market farm out of Potter Valley. Wayne spent approximately two seasons working with Clarence in 1976 and 1977, trucking their diverse summer produce to the very first Santa Rosa Farmer's Market (including opening day) and initiating markets in the Ukiah area. Clarence was of the opinion that there were far too many vineyards and drilled this perspective into Wayne as a young student of the wine grape growing business.

Following this experience, Wayne took some time to travel around the United States. During the same time his folks purchased and established themselves on their new property located on Chalk Hill Road in Healdsburg where Wayne and his older sister, Lee, reconvened in 1979. Lee had just acquired her Master's degree from Humboldt State and returned home to Sonoma County to pursue whatever the future had in store for her. Turns out, the home on Chalk Hill would eventually evolve into a small family farm base of operations.

Staying at their folks' place on Chalk Hill, Lee and Wayne discovered a swimming hole across the street and via a trail along the neighbor's property. This was the Lorry's property and became the site of their first market garden, conveniently located close to home. Upon initially asking to use the riverside space to grow vegetables, the Lorry's agreed to exchange the land for $100.00 per acre per year. Eventually, the Lorry's dropped the lease when realizing how much they appreciated the aesthetics that the farming offered and perceived it as a benefit to their property. By spring of 1980, Wayne and Lee had purchased the required rototiller and along with their dad's bulldozer and disk were able to work up the land. They started out seeding carrots and like items by hand and executed many of their tasks on their hands and knees. They sold the vegetables at the Healdsburg and Santa Rosa Farmer's Markets. They recall producing and selling bulk quantities of items like cucumbers and tomatoes that their customers then purchased for canning and storage. A 20 pound box of tomatoes may have gone for $4.00 back in those days!

A second property was added to the scene in the early 80s. The field along Franz Creek was utilized for a couple of seasons until the pest pressure became so fierce that the field was finally abandoned. Lee recalls the plot covered in beautiful winter squash vines one day only to return a few days later and the entire thing had disappeared. Deer had taken everything.

Off to Africa

Around the same time in the early summer of 1985, Wayne opted to join up with the Peace Corps. This decision left Lee farming on her own for a couple of years while Wayne worked in support of communal garden efforts in Lesotho, South Africa. To this day, Wayne often refers to this experience in fondness and expresses the value it had on his perspectives in life and farming. During his time there he grew just about everything in support of the local community and worked on smaller garden plots in addition to ten acres of farm field production.

Meanwhile, Lee continued to keep up the market farming in Healdsburg with the support of family and friends. It was during this time that committed customer Evie Truxaw appeared on the scene. Then an employee at Clo Du Bois, Evie would rush on over to Lee's Healdsburg market stand for her weekly share of vegetables (then located in the old prune sheds, not far from Clo Du Bois winery). As a strong supporter and customer, Evie eventually started helping with some of the markets along with her other work.

Getting Bigger

In 1988, Wayne returned with his renewed perspective and focused his energy back the riverside property of the Lorry family. This was the season that Tierra Vegetables hired on their first employee. Adolf, soon followed by Martin, got Lee and Wayne thinking about hiring on more help and boosting the production of their blossoming operation. By 1990, hired help became necessary to optimize the farm. Also around this time, Evie and Wayne had realized a common interested in one another, in addition to the farm.

In 1990, another property was added to the farm. There were more hands to expand the production and markets were now becoming established, not to mention these farmers had more than ten years of experience under their belts. Another neighboring Chalk Hill property by the name of Tosky was utilized for the next three years in addition to the field by the river at the Lorry's place. This land eventually succumbed to the monoculture of vineyards and now operates under the name of Lancaster Vineyards.

Land, land, the hunt for land resumed. A piece was discovered in Windsor off of Pleasant Avenue, owned by the Bertoli family (Tierra still grows a tomato named for this historic family). When the neighboring property went up for sale, Wayne and Evie had to buy it....that was where the well was that was watering his neighboring farm fields after all. Additionally, he and Evie were ready for a place to share and call home. The Windsor field is a part of the Tierra production to this day, but remains a remote site where crops that need less daily tending and harvesting usually end up (potatoes, dried beans, corn).

As time went on, Evie took on more and more roles with the farm. For years she taught in local schools and worked alongside Lee and Wayne in the marketing realm of the farm, eventually leaving teaching behind and going full time into the farm business. Her energy in marketing and as coordinator of the CSA brought enlightenment to the community and customers of Tierra Vegetables. The CSA program started as a group of Evie's friends, eventually evolving into the hundreds of farm shares spread all over the county today.

The land and employee chronology starts to get confusing here in the mid 90s. There was a field off of Wood Road in Fulton. This field was used and soils improved with Tierra farming techniques for a couple of years until it was snatched for vineyards...yet another small farm squeezed out by local monoculture. The Wood Road site is currently used for hydroponic tomato production that you may find in the off season markets in Santa Rosa.

Airport Boulevard and working with the county

Finally, around 2000, the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space district purchased the 17 acre field at Airport Boulevard, ensuring it's "green" uses for years to come. There was an open bidding for use of the property and Tierra Vegetables jumped on the opportunity. They were subsequently selected to lease the land from the county, but endured two years of processing prior to being able to enter and begin farming their new acquisition.

In 2002 they experienced their first spring on the Airport Boulevard site. They had temporary permission to begin farming at this point, in part due to a lack of water. The well had not yet been added to the site, but with late rain that season a few dry farmed crops were brought to harvest. About 1/4 of the 17 acre parcel was planted in winter squash and other like items that produced with no irrigation except for the two times that Wayne hauled in and hand watered to get the seeds germinating.

In 2003 the well was completed, along with a pump and generator on site. The field was now fully equipped for use and it was just in time for another spring. This season half of the field was used as the infrastructure for irrigation of the entire place was still lacking.

In 2004 underground main lines, piping and irrigation were added.

In 2005 it was decided that an upgraded base of operations was needed not only for convenience to the Airport field, but also to bump up the capabilities of processed and value added products coming from the farm. Jams, dried chiles, and a plethora of unique and traditional kitchen experiments could now take place with the abundance of top notch ingredients coming from the farm. Lee is especially talented in the kitchen and has been the master-mind behind the majority of the unique Tierra products. Additionally, office and storage space was established, improving the convenience of trying to operate a business.

In 2007 the kitchen and office spaces completed construction and were ready to use and the farm was then incorporated. The incorporation of the business had become necessary for liabilities, the size of the operation and the use of the kitchen.

30 Years Later

As a team of three, Tierra Vegetables is made up of 1/2 Lee, and the other 1/2 shared by Wayne and Evie. In addition, the hired help now numbers near ten in the main season and continues in smaller numbers year round. Employees assist with anything and everything from office to kitchen and field work. Weeds, sales, harvesting, and processing. The projects on this farm could take a village to complete. A supportive community and consumer base has worked to broaden and diversify what Tierra has been able to accomplish. As a result, the community is infused the by the expert ability of experienced small scale farmers who are willing to take risks to feed and serve us all.

In summary, a brother and sister who learned and loved to grow and have earned the never-ending support of family and friends, joined by a friend and partner to them and the community at large, together have created a farming system celebrating 30 years of history that spreads itself across the Healdsburg/Windsor/Santa Rosa areas, into the city of San Francisco and as far away as Africa.

An Open Greenhouse Day

2010-04-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

Sunday, April 18th, Lee has opted to open her greenhouse doors to farm followers who would enjoy stealing a glimpse this side of the farm operation. She has been hoping to celebrate the grand opening of this newly completed structure for more than a year now. Please come between 11:00am and 5:00pm.

Tis the season of the greenhouse as plants must be started ahead of time to live out their full life cycle and produce a good crop, but cannot be set outside too early in case a late frost might take them out. This includes a full of array of chiles, tomatoes, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, celery, and whatever other unique varieties of vegetables Lee has opted to seed this season. Come and have a look!

If you think the outside looks fantastic (the place was carefully crafted by farm friend, Montana, in the Fall 2008-Spring 2009 period of time), come and see what is inside share in the successes of farming in the initial stages of creating annuals plants for food production.

When discovering this Tierra Event had been scheduled on the same day as the Farm Trails Spring Tour, we then opted to join up with the existing event. Take the full spring tour of Sonoma County farms with Farm Trails and make a full day of it or just drop in and see us at the greenhouse at no charge.

Parking will be tricky, so just be aware. The greenhouse is located in Healdsburg at 13684 Chalk Hill Road. There will be signs attempting to clearly direct you to a parking area.

Rain or shine, it won't matter. The greenhouse is the optimal environment for plants and people and will shelter from wind, rain, frost, and any other environmental challenges.

More Strawberries

2010-04-02T06:48:00.001-07:00

I signed for the Seascape strawberry delivery the other day. They came from Nor Cal nursery out of Red Bluff. 4 boxes worth seems to be enough to supply us all for the season...now we just need the right weather to come back around so we can get them in the ground. Wayne also had to obtain some replacement parts for the transplanter which is the optimal equipment for getting the strawberries in the ground. Now that we have parts and plants, as usual, we are just waiting for the rain to subside.

The Chandler crop is already in the ground from last fall and somewhat producing (see previous post). Candlers are a June bearing crop versus the ever-bearing Seascape. This is kinda like a determinant versus and indeterminant tomato. June bearing berries ripen for the most part all at once whereas the ever-bearing types ripen over a longer period and fewer at a time. The Seascapes in these boxes are the ones we will be eating in summer and fall and they will go on and on until rain and frost rob us of their sweetness some time in the late fall.

VERY early berries

2010-03-29T06:40:00.001-07:00

It looks like this could be the end of the strawberry raffle...we decided this does not count though. These berries were the very first and they took Wayne a good long while to collect, walking hundreds of feet up and down every single row of berries. The quality and quantities do not qualify as the first basket of true, good berries signifying the onset of a continuous strawberry harvest that our farm stand strawberry raffle boasts.

But these berries were very good. They needed a good washing as the rain had splattered them with a lot of grit and they weren't entirely red, but in comparison to no strawberries, they were delightfully sweet. Now the rain is upon us again which is no benefit to more harvests like this, but there is not frost either which is a benefit. Perhaps it will be an early strawberry season this year....I promise to keep you posted.

Spring Field Activity

2010-03-28T06:36:00.001-07:00

The field crew of three was caught covering the arugula and other crops prone to flea beetles or other on-coming insect pests. Row cover is magic when used in the right circumstances. Who does it keep out? Not slugs or other mulch-loving pests. The leaf hoppers are excluded. Cucumber beetles, flea beetles, aphids. With the use of the row covers, the pest is excluded before there is ever a problem. This way we are more likely to have arugula that does not look like a fancy snowflake doily, covered in holes as a result of an insect feast.

Next the guys were off to plant the sunchokes. This happened pretty quick as these guys are well versed in working together. Pablo leads the operation on the tractor and Jesus and Jose follow along dropping the seed chokes into the soil furrows at the proper intervals. As I observe these guys plant and cultivate spring crops I imagine they must be as relieved as the rest of us that spring has arrived and the wet and cold days are falling behind.

This looks like a broccoli to me. This is the status of your spring brassicas...recently transplanted on Wednesday of last week, this is the first wave of transplants for the spring. Note the high quantities of crop residues in the soil as the cover crop was quickly turned in prior to planting. When the soil dries and the temperature rises, it is a farmer's opportunity! Many seeds and transplants made their way into the field this last week so we are on our way to a new season's harvest.

Located close to the farm stand, come and visit the newly planted beds in coming weeks....watch them grow and learn a few things about the food you eat.

The People of Tierra and Who Does What: Wayne

2010-03-23T06:44:00.001-07:00

What doesn't Wayne do? It is a daunting task to report the day in the life of your farmer, Wayne James. There are those things he sets out to accomplish, then there are those things he gets pulled off to respond to in support of others, and there are all those things that MUST happen as this is a business. Not only a farmer, but also CEO of a small farm business, Wayne stays quite busy in the field, office, kitchen, farm stand, and busily moving about between all these places.

Notoriously donning bare feet under all circumstances and often accompanied by not just Willow, but now his new pup Oso, Wayne is easily recognizable around the farm and I do think most of you know him. Married to Evie and brother of Lee, employer of all us farm employees, he is a central figure that we all turn to as a leader and foundation of Tierra Vegetables.

Wayne is in charge of hiring, payroll, billing, taxes, sales/invoicing/accounting, farm data base management for both crops and customers. He makes packaging labels for products, develops spreadsheets for crop operations and facilitating sales. I think it is obvious he is the computer guy.

While this myriad of office tasks does keep him well tied to his office space that adjoins the commercial kitchen in Windsor, he does find time for the farm field and must do so as he and field manager, Pablo, cooperatively make seasonal decisions. Wayne walks the 17 acre field frequently to keep up with what is ready to harvest, till in and replant, what seeds has germinated with success or not, etc... Customers of the farm are constantly wanting to know "what is next" in the seasonal scheme of things. While a general guess can be made based on past seasons, each year is unique and only a regular survey of the farm will really tell you what is happening out there.

Luckily, Wayne does not have to do all of these field walks alone as he is in constant companionship with his newly acquired Shelty, Oso. Brother to Lee's new pup, Cloudy, these two joined the crew last fall when Lee and Wayne's parents had a large litter on miniature Shelty puppies....just what everyone had been waiting for. There are now three of them scattering the farm scene, in addition to Willow (making 4 farm dogs) who is really Evie's side kick. All of them love carrots very much, by the way.

Wayne starts his day in the office/kitchen usually, catching up on whatever is piling up on his desk or last minute packing of products for daily sales. Off to the field and farm stand he is involved in setting up for business, packing and organizing the CSA, planting the latest crops, whatever the day calls for. Wayne turns and makes compost, plans for the future of the farm and how to innovate and improve and increase production and sales, of course. When harvest season sets in, life gets pretty darn complicated with bulk quantities of dry corn, beans, and chiles for processing in the thresher or smoker and dehydrator. Wayne plays a central role in all of this delightful farm chaos.

While Lee is in charge of things like jam production and other kitchen activity, Wayne and Evie are ready to step in on these tasks at a moment's notice. These three are a team and while each has their focal point relating to individual strengths, they come together to celebrate and accomplish those activities that are crucial to the farm survival. In this case, the chile jam has been a very popular item for years and diverse annual production is important in serving customers and making good use of a wide array of chile types in a storage product. Wayne also helps make sauerkraut, mills the corn meal in periodic batches, and serves as kitchen assistant whenever duty might call him away from his desk. That is the unfortunate thing of having an office space adjacent to a busy commercial kitchen facility. Distractions emerge at a constant rate. Not only do they use the kitchen themselves, but also lease it out to a handful of other local producers in need of such a work space. This creates a little bit of kitchen and people management on top of everything else.

Needless to say, your farmer is working and living a busy, busy lifestyle to feed and serve the customer and community at large (I'm confident I forgot to mention many things Wayne does here). Take a minute to say thanks....as someone who observes from an intimate perspective I can tell you these guys deserve it.

Edible Pea Shoots and Turning Under Cover Crops

2010-03-21T06:24:00.000-07:00

This week we started bringing some spring fare into the farm stand in the form of pea shoots that are found scattered throughout the cover cropped fields. Nothing brings in a nice bit of spring color like a pink/purple flowering pea vine (except maybe a strawberry). This crop had a duel function for the farm as a nutrient enriching ingredient of the cover crop mix, but also a harvest-able and edible crop during the meager days of spring transition. Edible raw or cooked, these are a beautiful option for spring salads or stir frys.

The first of the cover crops have now been disked in. The fields have had a moderate chance to dry out and we are jumping on the opportunity to get some of the green manure/cover crops (made up of a mix of peas, vetch, beans and grasses) chopped down and cut under the soil with the disk attachment on the tractor. This is the first step towards spring planted crops. After a few days of letting the green material settle in and break down, beds can be formed and transplanting can begin (rain complicates things-keeps your fingers crossed). The first activity this spring will occur in the southeast farm field, near where the chiles were last season.

Here is that little section between the farm stand and the notorious cardoon plants. I'm uncertain of the fate of the cardoon from this point on, but I am hopeful that this little section of the farm could be my personal palette for some cut flower growing trials this season. It is nice to have a side project when you are in charge of operating the farm stand and this spot on the farm is ideally situated. Additionally, it its right in front of the parking area and ought to provide a beautiful show if covered in flowers when people pull in day after day. We shall see. Also in the works are ideas and planning for a Children's Garden area this season. I know this would be well used by many of our regular visitors and will do all I am able to bring the idea to fruition.

The People of Tierra and who does what: Roxie

2010-03-20T06:24:00.000-07:00

Here Roxie displays one of many products (the favorite Chipotle Powder) that she so proudly stands behind. It is the tangible result of her efforts. Primary packet-production expert, Roxie is the one who prepares the final weighing and packaging of all of those dried chile, mixes, powders, corn meal bags, etc.... A diversified and exact task, it is her job to ensure the proper quality ingredients are measured out and packaged to keep the inventory complete so that each market week a customer might find their favorite Tierra product available whether it by the HOT Chop dried chile mix, Golden Cayenne chili powder or the Hopi Pink Corn Meal (if you find pink pen labeling your pink meal you can be sure Roxie was behind it's packaging).

When employed in this market-prep packaging work, Roxie remains behind the scenes in the commercial kitchen on Shiloh Road in Windsor. But the first time I met her she was hard at work at the farm....the first one at work that day to pack the CSA. She remains flexible in this role, more or less, adapting to the farm needs. Currently she is assisting Lee in packing and organizing the once a month winter CSA box. In the past she has arrived twice a week to pack hundreds of weekly shares for Tierra customers and delivering the Piper Street boxes on her way home to Healdsburg.

Friend and long time employee of the farm (Lee and Roxie first met as vendors at a farmer's market years ago), Roxie reliably steps in to help when the farm runs short handed as the transiency of seasons and employees alter priorities. Working for herself in professional landscaping and horticulture and specializing in rose pruning, she is able to afford the flexibility.

Roxie's role in processing, packaging and facilitating distribution of Tierra's products is instrumental in making things happen around the farm. There is always so much to do around here, we all just kinda pick and choose our battles throughout a day's work. With a grand internal knowledge of the farm and it's products, Roxie makes things happen and gets things done. As a huge side benefit, she serves as mother and care-taker of us all.

Strawberries and previous week's frost effects

2010-03-19T07:35:00.000-07:00

Good berry on left, burned berry on right.

Remember just days ago when there was a thin layer of frost covering all things in the morning....not this dry and breezy early spring heat wave we have now evolved into, tricking us into thinking strawberries are already ripe for the season. This is the current reality of the Tierra June-bearing strawberry crop. Some berries frosted the other week, some did not. There will be a lighter crop of early berries than if it has not frosted and it COULD still frost again before these make it to red and sweet status. Cross your fingers.

And one more view. Good berry on left, burned berry on right. This is how many of the plants were effected which is fascinating-why did one get hit and not another right next to it?

Otherwise, the plants look great!

The People of Tierra: Evie

2010-03-17T06:53:00.000-07:00

Evie serves as your number one Point of Contact when it comes to dealing with Tierra Vegetables. She is really the Marketing Manager, but this also evolves into people manager. Luckily, she is darn good at it and well suited to answering the calls, questions, emails. She is the face you almost always encounter when visiting the farm and farm stand, others off working behind the scenes. Evie seems to know everyone. She maintains the CSA membership and literally knows each and every member's personal story and history in her head. In addition to farm stand sales and CSA memberships, Evie might also wheel and deal with restaurants sales and, less frequently, some wholesale orders. Much of the vegetable sales interface passes through Evie one way or another, therefore, the majority of you all know her well.

Who better suited to be tucked away in the office to manage the CSA member data base? A computer spreadsheet accounts for each farm subscriber. Wayne and Evie both work constantly to keep this information updated as members pay, move, change phone numbers, and make special requests. Because all of this specific information causes additional work on the end of the farm, a CSA member is rewarded with savings if they pay all at once (that is less visits to their row in the spreadsheets). Phone calls and emails galore make up this system of ensuring everyone gets what they pay for and arrive at the right pace to pick it up.

A favorite component of the CSA is the menu that accompanies each vegetable pick-up. Evie fabricates this entire thing with her expert understanding and use of vegetables in the kitchen and ability to research and dig further when Wayne and Lee have produced something a little less ordinary. At Tierra, you are likely to encounter a new vegetable from time to time in your box and, fortunately, Evie is here to interpret this item and make suggestions for what we all might do with it.

And what about accounting for all the the sales? Evie is usually in charge of this portion of the office work too. Quickbooks facilitates the process of creating invoices and receiving payments for each and every customer and sale that goes through Tierra Vegetables. Nothing is left unaccountable!

A weekly email is produced (twice weekly when in the depths of main season produce) reminding you all what is in season and what you might expect at the farm that week. Whether it be first of the season asparagus, strawberries, a glut of eggs or the introduction of a new product, Evie ensures you know what is happening each week as she provides updates featuring the seasonality of farm products.

While you may see Evie as the friendly face that is usually to be found at the farm stand, her role within the company encompasses much more behind the scenes too. As for that friendly face, children galore come to see just that face at least weekly. They might earn themselves a free carrot or strawberry, learn to type a few numbers into the cash register or weigh their produce. Great with children and folks of all ages and types, Evie is a friend to us all and a community figure we are all missing presently as she takes some time to focus on her health.

It is no secret Evie began her personal battle again ovarian cancer during the holiday season. It is only as a result of this that I have learned first hand how diversified her role can be as I face her customers each week, ensuring them she is doing the best she can under the circumstances of her treatment.

I'm not Evie, but she is trusting me to stand in for a bit and I'm doing the best I can with it. As we each have our own unique strengths and weaknesses, Evie's character and knowledge is certainly missed by all those who know and love her. She hopes to return by the time summer kicks in and she is still out there behind the scenes making her irreplaceable contributions to the farm operation.

Sorry for a limited number of photos on this post! I need to chase Evie with my camera in 2010, she seems to have slipped past me so far.

The people of Tierra and who does what: Lee

2010-03-14T07:51:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing I have discovered again and again while operating the farm stand this winter/spring it is that not enough of you all know Lee. Lee James is the "sister" half of the farming team, Wayne compensating for the the other half. These two have been paired up on this project since 1980 (about the time I was born), Evie joining them as expert sales and marketing manager and point of contact, hence most of you know her well.

Lee operates the newly completed greenhouse out on Chalk Hill Road in Healdsburg, also her home and also the original business and packing site of the farm prior to gaining an office and commercial kitchen in Windsor a few years ago. She is the one who selects the seeds and varieties of vegetables that we delight in all season long. She plants, coddles and cares for these seedlings this time of the season.

Then, once the greenhouse is situated for the day, Lee is off to the commercial kitchen often times, working to concoct new and unique products with the vegetables she has grown. It is hard to go wrong as the ingredients are always fresh, incredibly well grown and different from anything you might in conventional grocery shopping outlets. In this scene she is overseeing a huge batch of chile jam...there is also hot sauce, sauerkraut, dried chile powders (there is lots of coughing when this task is being executed). She is not afraid to try to creatively preserve anything for you all to discover and is absolutely an expert at traditional and innovative methods of doing so. From Mole and Enchilada spice mixes to slaked hominy corn, you never know what you might find brewing in the Tierra kitchen.

Seemingly a busy lady already, there is plenty more. Lee is the primary packer of the CSA. She oversees the doling out of goods, especially those that are delivered to three sites across Sonoma County each week.

Then, she and Wayne convene at the field to plant and oversee management of field operations. She assists in stocking the farm stand with items from the kitchen or storage which is often from a great old barn on her place.

Then, as Friday rolls around again, it is time to prepare for the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market. If anything dictates her weekly schedule, it is this priority. A good market is a good source of income for a small farm and that is what this market has become for Tierra over the years. Friendship with vendors and customers make all the hard planning and work worth while as Lee packs up each week for her longest day on Saturday.

Lee and her Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market neighbor, David of Little Organic Farm, indulge in popcorn samples in this image. Note Lee's felted hat....you will always find her in this during the cold season. Additionally, she is now accompanied by not just one, but two Sheltys. Her non-farming expertise happens to be in dog behavior and her pups are the best behaved I have ever known.

Standing in her chile patch, Lee was filmed and interviewed by the Emeril Green show last summer. She speaks with expert confidence on the topics of what she does for a living....a never-ending source of information on growing, harvesting, preparing, storing, and selling vegetables. She also likes to have fun while doing all of these things. I'm often delighted to see her having fun with the minuscule tasks of her day.

If you have never met Lee before, she is a pleasure to know and quite an important figure behind the entire Tierra operation. Keep your eye out for the felted hat in the winter or the trail of puppies in the summer time and say hello to one of your farmers. She works incredibly hard to serve us all!

Spring Crop Field Tour

2010-03-13T06:58:00.001-08:00

Here are the strawberries as of early March. These are the Chandlers, the June bearing, first to produce crop....not far down the road the main season strawberry will be planted. I think that one is Seascape, but I'm not sure. The Chandlers here look well! Well weeded, healthy growth habit and just a tad of recent damage by the lights frosts of recent nights.

I reported similar findings last season about this time. These flowers look good to me, but I did see some frosted browned berries that had been working their way to production. This is not Santa Maria, the strawberry capital of the nation that is covered in black plastics and anti-fungals. This is brisk and risky Sonoma County small farming and I think we are doing a darn good job all things considered. Strawberries will return before you know it and we are spoiled with such a lengthy season of sweetness.

The early asparagus spears have also taken a small hit with recent ice layered nights. It is the tiny tender tips that were just poking out of the soil that may now never produce a quality spear. There will be more though...just be patient as the season and the crops cooperate, it will come.

Fava flowers! These are beautiful and do we ever give them due attention? This stage is appreciated for it's cover cropping value...when at the flowering stage fava plants have fixed the maximum amount of nitrogen to their roots and this is the optimal time to turn them under for soil fertility. That is, unless you are growing them for the precious beans. A few weeks off still, the favas are flowering now and fruiting soon.

Overview of just-seeded spring crops.... Yes, it is tough to see much. What you have here is s somewhat crusted soil from all the rain. The beds were hastily prepared between constant wet periods this spring, grassy weeds were turned under, but still visible and present as they did not have time to break down entirely. Despite the uneven seedbed that tiny seeds love, the germination of recently sown seeds had been a great success so far!

I have not yet visited this region of the farm with Wayne or Lee so it is up to my informed imagination about what these crops may be. I know this is one of three things. Radish, mustards or arugula all come up quick and have this similar characteristic appearance. Likely all three are out here someplace.

Here is the spinach, impossible to miss as it waves it's long cotyledons (first true leaves), welcoming a new round of greens. Let's hope the slugs don't get a glimpse and munch it all away before we get to harvesting.

Tiny lettuce. Looks like the heirloom black seeded simpsom variety to me based on the color, but who knows. Salad will return to the farm stand selection soon.

Snap peas! Grown year-round on the central coast, our winters are more challenging. Timing is important to miss the hard and killing frosts that can wipe out a fall or spring planted pea crop. Let's cross out fingers this planting succeeds to maturity so we can all indulging in some sweet snap peas.

And finally, the other sweet pea crop...the floral and scented display that I stumbled into right next to the cardoon near the parking area out front. It is now easy to find as Pablo installed trellising for the successful sowing of sweet peas. I was delighted to find my favorite flower crop had been coming to life all winter long and I had no idea...this should put on quite a show for early summer.

Full Field Tour-Fall Planted Crops

2010-03-12T06:28:00.000-08:00

It is getting more difficult for me to wander out far into the field as I have been tied down to the farm stand in order to facilitate the trade of cash for vegetables. I finally squeezed in an afternoon of farm field observation yesterday. Because I saw so much, I will have to report my findings in two segments. The first is relating to those crops that were planted for Fall/Winter/Spring and how they are cooperating with the environment and season.

Let's start with the celeriac, or celery roots. They are still out there, but getting sparse and large. I have always enjoyed the way these look both in the ground and post harvest. It is a fascinating vegetable all around. A few celery and celeriac will continue to harvest for the next weeks in March, but when the spring fever hits, I imagine these plants will go over the hill if not harvested first. The new round of these are likely up and living in the green house, a long, long way to harvest. They can take weeks just for the seed to poke up from under the soil.

The leeks are still abundant. That is important because the onions have since deceased for the season and the leeks are providing that spicy onion infusion to all the cooking these days. Continue to enjoy them in abundance..as with many of these fall planted crops, the challenge is to get through them before the season changes too much. If spring hits the leek will then set up a flower shoot and try to reproduce thereby ruining the tender and edible quality of the plant. I have no doubt we will enjoy every last bit of these leeks though...between the winter CSA, the Ferry Plaza and the faithful farm stand Tierra has plenty of hungry mouths to feed.

Whatever became of all the dino/lacintao kale? Just as I described above, the spring fever flowering syndrome kicked in for many kales, broccolis and mustards about the time the yellow field mustards started blooming. When it was warmer a few weeks back, many of these shorter season winter varieties hit the end of their life cycle causing the crew to turn to other more long lasting varieties for the harvest. Swiss chard takes the spring weather much more gradually and puts out beautiful new growth this time of the year. Time to enjoy the chard and wait it out for the new crop of kale later this spring.

This is the leafy, pretty speckled Castelfranco radiccho. Heartily carrying us through the winter a a lettuce substitute, these greens are slightly bitter, but make a perfectly beautiful and tasty salad serving. They can also be cooked if you like your greens a little more wilted before eating. There are a few of these still out in the field in addition to a few more well known radicchio varieties. Not a lot though! The puntarella, a similar bitter Italian green, is over the hill and done for the season. It is the last chance for this stuff and will be ifffy to see if any of it actually makes it up to the farm stand out of the field....some times it just isn't worth while.

There is some nice looking fennel....this is something to enjoy NOW! Fennel is a nice little crop, almost weed like, as it grows most of the year round and seems to endure many conditions that the seasons present. Note the wild fennels that invade our local road sides. Leave it to mother nature sometimes to remind us what we ought to be growing.

Broccoli or cauliflower, that is the question. Who knows for sure? Perhaps Lee who chose the seed, but even she loses track as the plants more to the field and time passes by. If you ask Wayne or myself, we might give you opposing answers. This
one looks cauliflower, if you ask me. The plant on the left is characteristic of a cauliflower, in addition to a more cauliflower-like "flower" texture. Many of our broccoli and cauliflowers are interchangeable as they are all these fancy Italian heirlooms that look beautiful and are hard to distinguish from one another. The image on the right is likely a purple broccoli which is again confusing to folks. No one expects their broccoli to be colors other than green. Don't worry too much whether it is actually a cauliflower or a broccoli...they are really all the same thing if you ask me.

Our final image for the fall crop field tour includes a characteristic, perfect cabbage by Tierra Vegetables. Are these for your fresh eating pleasure or Lee's last batch of sauerkraut, I do not know. Likely both. When getting caught up looking around for lettuces that are not to be found, be flexible and switch your perspective on over to opportunities like fresh cabbage salads and all that other seasonal, local food that has been more hearty and made it through our chilly, wet Sonoma County winter.

Spring crops to come!

The Compost Pile

2010-03-07T06:56:00.000-08:00

I have previously suggested that your farmer Wayne is a pretty good maker of compost....he has great ingredients and puts some regular effort into turning and tending his piles to ensure they are hot, active and breaking down into nutrient enriching soil amendment.

Not only are there excess vegetables that come out of the farm fields but also landscape trimmings from local maintenance crews, kitchen scraps from the Tierra commercial kitchen operation, and occasionally specialty aquatic infusions like pond or sea scrapings.

Usually the pile would be turned before it gets to this stage of being covered in compost-able debris. Alas, the on-going rains of this winter/spring period have halted access with the tractor as the mud around the pile is squishy and could very well trap the tractor in place. Therefore, we have quite a science experiment and ecosystem establishing itself in the pile. Mammals, insects (both good and bad) and tossed vegetables are thriving in this single spot that provides food, warm and diversity for survival. On the right, a parsnip sends up foliage for a second wind in it's life cycle.

Next are the onions. Onions are called biennial, versus annual or perennial plants. This means they require two growing seasons to come to reproduction, or set their seeds. These specimens are the fall 2009 crop that did not store and were rotting, hence got tossed in the pile and now have found rejuvenated life in the resources of the pile, undisturbed by the usual turning that might interrupt them if Wayne could get at the spot with the tractor. And so these onions grow and if were left to their own devices would set seed by early summer that could then be harvested and saved for future crops.

This familiar foliage represents potatoes that are reaching out for a new generation in life. Kinda a weed, potatoes will start growing pretty much any place this time of year and are no surprise to see poking out of compost piles or pathways where a tuber may have fallen the previous fall. Framed by a smattering of cardoon, sunchoke, giant carrot, and purple cauliflower, these potatoes will likely be disturbed and turned under once the ground dries out properly to allow the pile to be tossed and turned in order to facilitate decomposition.

Until then, enjoy the unique vegetable and animal insect empire that is establishing itself out behind the farm stand. There is so much to observe here!

Purple Peruvian Potato

2010-03-06T06:50:00.001-08:00

The Purple Peruvian heirloom variety, purple flesh fingerling potato is still well in season for the time being. I spent a bit of time with this potato yesterday as a side project...they do need some TLC at this point in the season as it is their habit to send up shoots and attempt to grow a new generation of potato fingerlings. But if you knock away these shoots, they will simply store and store, waiting to be chosen and brought home to a warm and friendly kitchen that seeks flavor, color and nutrition all at once.

Our "seed" for this potato was originally obtained from fellow grower David Little who grows about 20 varieties of potatoes in the Tomales area. As spring rolls around we continue to plant seed from this stock, keeping the local and heirloom origin alive and well and saving the cost of purchasing in expensive seed potatoes. While this practice can be risky for potato scab or other disease, so far it has worked well with this little purple variety.

I even sent some off with a young, inspired grower who happened upon me clearing off the tiny shoots yesterday in the farm stand. She has every intention to use them for a gardening experiment and I would recommend the same to any one of you. My personal greenhouse is scattered with pots full of potato tubers already planted and protected from frost and gophers for early production.

Good for eating, planting, or admiring. Even though potato crops were harvested way back in the previous fall (must get them out of the ground prior to rain and frost or the crops will rot or freeze), they are intended as storage crops thereby keeping them in season for quite some time. These ones may last another month or two....don't forget to enjoy them when browsing the farm stand selection.

Eggs!

2010-03-01T06:59:00.001-08:00

I think egg season is coming on. Last week, we even had enough to display a few for sale (usually there are only enough to hide a few for customer reservations). I don't know much about keeping chickens and egg production, but I do think spring is the season of the egg. This makes some sense with the timing of Easter, all the other critters hatching out of their shells, etc...

Eggs at Tierra are precious. They come from Wayne and Evie's chickens who live just around the corner from the field and farm stand. As you may observe in Evie's creatively constructed, handwritten sign in the image above, these chickens enjoy a wonderful life therefore allowing us to ethically, nutritionally and financially value these eggs.

The shells come in mostly brown with a few greens scattered in, yolks are dark yellow, sizes vary per bird. If spring seems a meager time in the vegetable and berry world, consider some eggs to fill in the holes.

Asparagus and Romanesco

2010-02-22T07:21:00.001-08:00

An idyllic image here contains what we all hope to find when walking in to our local farm stand. First of the season (in fact, bonus really early because of perfect weather) asparagus in the foreground. Eggs from Wayne and Evie's chickens flaunting their myriad of colors in the background. These are the precious and hard to find items, much as we'd like to have enough for everyone.

When do you come to find these specimens of perfection? Usually, the target time for the harvest to come in out of the field is 11am, when we open. It seems from then on for another hour or two, some of the harder to harvest or less efficient items start to dribble in to the stand. Things like first of the season asparagus, or last of the season fennel. Whatever the customer has come for and cannot find upon arrival.

And I got Lee to stop in her tracks this week while she was packing the CSA boxes for delivery for a momentary photo opportunity. I had her pose with the precious asparagus first, but then she and I agreed it was something of a meager pile of vegetable to feature. Much more abundant to celebrate this week was the Romanesco broccoli/cauliflower. This seasonal veg served the winter CSA for the month of February on Friday and supplemented the purchases from most farm stand customers.

Cauliflower season is now thoroughly upon us. It seems to correspond with the mustard blooms out there in the fields that surround our green and misty county. Similar plants to the mustards, many of the broccoli, kales, brussels and cauliflowers from the fall planting get closer to setting flowers and seeds as the spring weather pressures them to do so. Hence, flowering cauliflowers seem to kick in right alongside the mustards. This is my annual observation and it seems to make sense with some variability, I'm sure.

Why Tierra?

2010-02-18T06:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes we make assumptions that people know why what we do is special. Just in case you did not already know, here is my overview of those themes I am continually trying convey to some unknown audience though this blog forum.

Grains. While only scratching the surface of this array of possibility, Tierra has expanded to produce somewhere near 20 varieties of dried beans and 3 varieties of corn for corn meal and polenta. Lee and Wayne are interested in expanding and diversifying the grain component of the farm as land, specialized equipment and demand motivate that evolution.

100% from the farm-local. This is at least one place you go where you do not have to wonder where you food has come from. Emphasis on the farm stand and CSA as distribution locations ensures your vegetables have gone no further than from the farm to your table. There is no supplementary product brought in from distributors or other local farms even. Tierra produces plenty of food on their own and has creatively found ways to expand the season of production in the form of hearty varieties, storage crops and value added products.

Sweetest carrots and strawberries in town. This is the truth and if you do not believe it is worth it just to come shop from us for these items, you are invited over for a sample. Fertile soils and expert growing experience has ensured you will encounter the highest quality of product with character unique to this farm. These are not just carrots and strawberries, but Tierra Carrots and Strawberries.

The vast array of chiles and chile products. Undoubtedly one of the farms specialty crops, Tierra grows chiles and peppers of all sorts with origins and traditional uses that are scattered across the globe. Not only will you find these unique items in fresh form during chile season only (approximately late July-early Nov), but creative methods to store these crops have resulted in a diversity of products all year long including dried chile powders, chipotles, hot sauces, jams and more.

That is all. Tell your family and friends. The farm looks forward to another busy season as the start of spring is now upon us all.

Cardoon Update

2010-02-13T06:12:00.000-08:00

Well we started harvesting the cardoon this week after all! Above is Jesus, the youngest of our field crew, harvesting away so that plenty of nice, tender cardoon hearts would be ready in time to pack the van for the market in the city. Additionally, these items are always obtainable at the farm stand, right at the farm where they are grown.

Many brave customers took on the cardoon challenge yesterday and I hope for a few more today. I personally prepared a few in my sautee pan last night and have concluded there is a little bit of bitter taste (but not bad!) and certainly an artichoke flavor, celery texture, and the strings are not bad or bothersome whatsoever. I think these stalks can be managed a variety of ways depending on the size and maturity and how you want them to end up on your plate. Gratins are the thing to do, I hear.

These got trimmed back a little more post harvest as the outer stalks were quite large a bulky to pack off to market. This is a great first of spring fresh vegetable to add to your mix right now. It is a little early for asparagus and artichokes, but cardoon, cauliflowers and large roots are still in ample supply.

The big plants out front that look like artichokes

2010-02-08T07:03:00.000-08:00

This is cardoon. Most of us are used to artichokes around here and all over the nation. What do we do with cardoon? You tell me. I know we eat the stalk of the plant leaf and it is much like celery. I know you can removed the strings, or not, for a more rustic attempt at preparing the unique winter vegetable.

Tis the season of cardoon. When spring comes around it will flower in it's second year of life. And from what read about growing this thistle-like plant, it could easily spread and take over if the flowers are left to their own devices. This story had been confirmed by a Geyserville family who informed me that cardoon was growing wild all around their local area.

Up close and personal and from a distance, the plant has a fascinating foliage. Silver and fuzzy, looks nice on display even if not on our cutting boards.

I have reached out a few meager attempts to find recipes and uses for cardoons. Like many vegetables, it seems you can do a variety of vegetable type things with it. Add it to all the other recipes. Mostly, you have to decide how much prep work you want to invest into your cardoon. Long strings are present along the edible stalk and for the best digestibility these ought to be removed.
So I have seen basic blanching and serving, gratins and an especially interesting recipe for a salad where the cardoons were dressed in a honey herb mixture which sounds great to me and I think next week I'll give it a try. My take on this veg is that it is a good option for some winter variety to add a unique texture to some of the greens and roots were are relying upon this time in the season. While we are not actively harvesting and displaying this item for sales, it sits there in the front of the field like an elephant in the field and is certainly available to those who want to give it a try. Just ask! I have seen knowledgable couples come in and do just that, delighted in their discovery of fresh cardoons to add to their home menus.

Yet again a testimony to the diversity that is Tierra Vegetables.

Rain or Shine

2010-02-04T18:39:00.000-08:00

Rain or shine, we'll be open. Evie writes this in her email, I think. Most Farmer's Markets try to be open each week, the Ferry Plaza in San Francisco is among them. What does this mean? A year round farm never really gets any time off. Lee trucks her product to market in the white van every Saturday, rain or shine, besides once or twice a year when she takes personal leave to visit her folks in Oregon. The farm stand is ALWAYS there, all year, rain or shine. That is what is so great about it, it is dependable as much as a farm can be. You know you can come and expect carrots and beets each week and maybe run into some things you did not expect as an added surprise.

But it is hard! It is hard on you, the customer, because who really wants to go out in the wet, cold mess that is a rainy day. It is hard on us, keeping dry things dry and dealing with the wet things as they get wetter and muddy. Lee is frantic to keep her awning and tents perfectly placed so as to not drench her dried chiles and beans while placing them out for sale to make her trip worth everyone's time. It is hard on the harvest crew as they slosh about in the mud to uproot our winter soup staples for the week, projecting in their minds the days ahead with little to do as we all wait for the soils to dry out. We go to this trouble to serve one another. We hope that in the end the efforts of each of our roles will be the means to an end.

I will go tomorrow to the farm stand and hope that you will come and greet me because this is why I am there, no matter what the weather brings. We are community bound by our local food source, our farmers and our need for flavor and nutrition to enhance or existence. Please don't leave me waiting in the rain alone! And remind your friends too!

Lonely scene looking out from within the farm stand on a rainy afternoon. Don't be shy about shopping when the rain kicks in....your vegetables are still right here waiting for you.

Badda Bianca

2010-01-30T07:05:00.000-08:00

The Badda Bean has been grown in Sicily for more than two decades. The word "Badda" refers to the ball shape of the bean. The bean seeds were brought back from Italy by Lee and Wayne when they traveled there to attend the Tierra Madre Slow Food event.

Badda Beans are traditionally used for pasta e fagioli, or pasta and beans. Toss some of these gold an white litle balls in with your favorite winter pasta dish or try something entirely new with them. Soups, bean salads, baked, the possibilities are endless.

The Badda grows with long vines and needs support. If you have ever walked the Tierra fields in the summer time you can find sunflowers supporting the varieties of beans that need vertical support.

Puntarelle

2010-01-21T11:41:00.000-08:00

A young puntarelle busily maturing in the Tierra field

PUNTARELLE is a variety of chicory, with serrated leaves, like those on dandelions, attached to the base of the plant and surrounding long, hollow, blunt-tipped whitish-green shoots that grow from the inside of the plant during the course of the winter. Also known as Catalogna de Galatina, puntarelle is a good representation of the flavors we usually expect of the chicory family. Its flavor profile hints at pepperiness like arugula in the leaves, a touch of fennel in the stalks and an underlying flavor that is a cross between chicory and endive. The shoots have the crisp, satisfying crunch of celery. Tasty raw or cooked, cooking mellows puntarelle's unusual flavor, so the shoots and leaves are most often served raw in salad, particularly a salad with a rich, powerful anchovy dressing that makes the faint bitterness seem almost sweet. It's the traditional treatment in Italy. Some chefs recommend slicing the hollow spears of the puntarelle VERY thinly lengthwise, and soaking them in a large quantity of cold water for two to three hours. This causes the thin strips to curl up in an extraordinary manner and they become juicier and less bitter. Other chefs exploit the sharp flavor by using rich ingredients like sardines and trout to help balance puntarelle's assertiveness. Feta cheese and black olives also complement this unusual vegetable.

**Credit to theproducehunter.com where this text was copied and pasted word for word

A puntarelle with a funny center being demonstrated for the camera by Lee-it grew more linear than they usually do, more often the hearts are full of a circle of stalks-tastes no different, of course

Myself and a Ferry Plaza market customer posed with this prized, Tierra-grown puntarelle last winter. Quite popular with city folk and chefs, the majority sell out in the wee hours of market

My return, local honey, spinach

2010-01-17T06:45:00.000-08:00

I returned to the Tierra team this last weekend...you can find me in the farm stand in Evie's place for the time being. Of all people, I think she has earned herself a little break from her daily grind and her body has requested a winter respite. It is hard to step away because in many situations like this we are bound by community and I am sure Evie misses each of her special customers and friends as they come and go with their weekly goodies.

Weekly....we are on to winter scheduling now, open only Fri 11-5:30 and Sat 10-4. Why not every day this time of year? Many reasons, primarily there is just not the extreme demand for winter roots and greens as there is for sweet and juicy strawberries of spring and summer. Plus, things grow a bit slower with less heat and sun in the world this time of year. That said, you must come for some of this spinach! The leaves are large, sweet and savoy (crinkly leaves). The entire plant is harvested so you get a rosette of a spinach plant, by far a good enough reason to drop in at least once a week for fresh greens. I sure love the stuff.

Additionally, there are plenty more winter treats to be found in the farm stand amidst the depths of winter. The list goes on an on and I won't re-list them all right now as Evie maps it out in her weekly email already. Generally, come for roots, greens, beans, dried chiles, jams, hot sauces, and honey!

Yes this is honey from the field, if you have ever walked the length of the farm, approximately half way to the back you find hives staged near the fruit trees and man-made water way, giving bees all they need to survive. While the hives do not belong to Tierra, the makings of the honey certainly come from the farm satisfying those seeking local honey sources for various nutritional reasons. The honey has been minimally processed, has some beautiful crystallization, and is full of sweet flavor that originated right here on the farm. Better than strawberries? Just different. We will have it until it sells out. I got one for myself so now you all can come and snatch up the rest.

Please visit Tierra in the winter and come and see me so I can practice my number punching skills on the cash register...the farm works hard to keep you fed all the year round. Selection might not compare with what is found in the grocery isles this time of year (or, depending on your perspective, you may find WAY more diversity at Tierra), but if you took a moment to compare the quality of product I guarantee you'd be sold to shop at your local farm stand every time.

Benefits to Community

2009-11-15T08:33:00.000-08:00

The honest truth is that I have not actually worked for the farm in some time. I pulled out of the Ferry Plaza scene in spring when Kara joined the crew and left the farm stand sales position back in the middle of summer, making room for the cheery and organized presence of Kim. The personal story behind this is that I take on other types of environmental projects that distract me from a regular schedule and hence lose my weekly positions as a result. It is no good for reliability which is pretty nice to have in farm help.

As a result, I have traveled a bit this season and farm and market tours are always on the back-burner, or forefront, of my priorities. I have visited regions including San Luis Obispo, Idaho Falls, Boise, Eastern Sierra/Mono Lake Region, the Coachella Valley and Palm Springs, the Palo Verde Valley and Colorado River/Salton Sea areas...making several trips through the north-south highway corridors that pass through our Great Central Valley of production, the coastal 101 corridors of lettuces and strawberries galore.

What is this relevance in relation to Tierra Vegetables, your local and your-round farm resource? My perspective to each of these new regions seems to always relate back to Tierra as a benchmark. I always find myself sharing with other farmers and growers what is being done back home at this wonderful farm I work with, relating their success as potential avenues other growers might take to diversify or troubleshoot challenges. My heart remains with Lee, Wayne and Evie as I respect and share their work at any opportunity.

Tierra has worked so hard year after year to create a system that includes diversity in products and markets. All year you are able to visit your local farm for you food, you can always go and see it in all stages of production, you can talk with your farmers, you can bring your kids and take a walk and learn and talk about whatever there is to learn (always something). The semi-urban location of the farm is a huge benefit. It offers convenience to the community and opportunity to interact with most all aspects of the farm, even as a consumer.

Many CSA farms must be contacted for an opportunity to visit. It is not so easy to simply stop in and watch as the season moves on, carrots get bigger and strawberries go through their ups and downs with the eather. A box of vegetables dropped on a local porch is a great way to get food (especially compared with a grocery store selection) and a service Tierra does offer, but there is no comparison for the experience of coming to the farm, choosing what size or shape or color veggies you want to take home that week, and experiencing what the local food system has to offer.

I could rattle on and on over these topics, but the underlying theme of this post is simply that after all my travels this season and making comparisons with environments, marketing systems, production and products, it is my opinion that you customers of Tierra Vegetables have a really good thing. And I just can't help myself from sharing that because I have a forum to do so.

Random Photo Inspiration

2009-11-10T17:11:00.001-08:00

This farm inspires not only ideas in the kitchen, but in creative projects for children and adults alike. I think this veg-Barbie was constructed by Lee and a young woman named Paige who has spent a lot of time with the farm as a friend and neighbor. I wanted to take a moment to share the image...it just ought to be enjoyed. See if you can identify the source of all the bodily components and accessories.

Sangre De Toro

2009-11-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

Origin: Bull's Blood is the literal translation of this bean's title. This bean's tradition is traced to the South American region. The Tierra Vegetable seed stock is said to have come from Peru, according to the San Francisco customer who passed a small handful of beans on to Lee a few years ago.

Cooking: This is a large, long and deep red bean. Sangre de Toro is certain to make a robust red bean base for salads, soups, chilis, etc... According to Rancho Gordo (who also grows this bean), the bean liquid (also called pot liquor) that is produced a a result of cooking this bean is prized by those in Mexico and elsewhere who treasure this bean as a part of their culinary heritage.

Alubias De Tolosa

2009-11-05T08:41:00.000-08:00

**Disregard the "Italian" on the sign in the photo above, Evie and I have since tracked this bean to it's Spanish Basque origin...

Origin: Name meaning beans of Tolosa, this bean is highly prized in Basque Country and has been grown and sold in local markets since ancient times. Tolosa is a town and municipality to the south of San Sebastian in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Spain. This bean became a part of the Tierra Vegetables seed stock following a visit to the Terra Madre Slow Food International event when it was brought home by your farmers to test out in our local Sonoma County growing climate and has since been deemed a success!

Cooking: One serving suggestion according to Basque tradition includes slowly cooking in an earthenware pot with garlic and olive oil (I'm sure this could be done in a pot that is not earthenware too). This dish is then usually served with cabbage (Tierra grows fantastic cabbages!). Other ingredients often paired with these beans include spicy green peppers and pork ribs.

The beans of Tolosa are well known and the city of Tolosa holds a bean cook off each year. Enjoy experimenting with this bean in Basque tradition or by innovating something entirely New World and modern with the beautiful, shiny black bean.

Photo of Afore-mentioned Tiger's Eye

2009-11-05T08:35:00.000-08:00

I was going to leave you hanging to come and see the bean for yourself, but I did snap a good shot of it the other day and may as well share. The beans have not yet been cleaned, but have been brought out for their premier showcase this week....come check it out! There are so many kinds to try it is never too soon to start in on it.

Tiger's Eye Bean

2009-11-03T07:36:00.000-08:00

ORIGIN: This beautifully decorative bean is said to have originated in either Chile or Argentina. It has been given it's name due to the colors and markings that cannot be overlooked and resemble a tiger's eye.

COOKING: A smooth texture and tender skins make this bean a great ingredient for making chilis or refried beans. It has also been recommended to be used like a Pinto bean or as the foundation of a cassoulet. The physical character of this bean make it worth experimenting with all around to show it off in your favorite bean recipes. It is new to the Tierra collection and we look forward to hearing your serving suggestions so they may be passed on to others looking for great ideas.

One final suggestion is to fill a glass jar full and put it on display for all to admire...be sure to have a few prepared for eating too though, your admirers will wonder how the admirable legume tastes too. This bean will make a perfect addition to the menu during the holidays or during the depths of the winter months wen you are seeking some color and diversity.

Get ready to enjoy all kinds of beans, vintage 2009 is on it's way!

**I know a photo might be nice here, but why not come in to the farm stand or the Ferry Plaza market and find out what it looks like on your own. It could be a bit early to find them yet, but soon.

Strawberry Lantern Jam

2009-10-30T07:50:00.001-07:00

New Jam Flavor!
We have here the Paper Lantern hot chile, hot in the same family as the fruity and sharp Habanero. A new sweet and spicy jam mix has been created this season that consists of a fusion of the two key ingredients you see in the above photo. This is similar to the Strawberry Chipotle recipe, but lacking the smokey flavor found in the chipotles and emphasizing more of a fruity spice. You all must make your way to a sampling table to try, of course.

These are some extra tiny Paper Lanterns that hang down off the top of the plant. This is the prime moment in the season to gather up lots of small and hot chiles like this for drying and storing as they have reached their maximum maturity level prior to any frost hitting our area and destroying them for the season.

Tepary Beans

2009-10-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

Origin: The name Tepary is said to come from the Sonoran Desert Native American word pawi, meaning ‘bean.’ Papago tribal lingo would use the phrase t’pawi, meaning ‘it is a bean.’

Cooking: Whether brown or white, the Tepary is sweet and delicate. Try them both, compare. The beans are small, but lend themselves well to any recipe where more commonly known beans are specified. Try using in soups, make refried beans, salads, try them on their own…beware although the bean is small, it does not necessarily cook quicker than other dried beans, allow a reasonable amount of cooking time.

Growing: Famously drought tolerant and early to produce amongst native tribes, these beans were one of the first crops to produce each season, making them of paramount importance. Please help keep the heirloom strain alive.

Read more about Tepary beans in this classic article, published in Mother Earth News in the 1980s.

A Sea of Brassicas and Brussels

2009-10-24T06:57:00.000-07:00

Brassica is a genus of plants in the mustard family. The members of the genus may be collectively known either as cabbages, or as mustards. Crops from this genus are sometimes called cole crops, which is derived from the Latin caulis, meaning stem or cabbage...this description is credited to Wikipedia and I include it now because I often use this word as I seem to enjoy the way it rolls off the tongue.

When walking the fields these days, it is not summer anymore. It is fall, coming close to winter. You must see beauty of farming beyond the thought of tomatoes, corn, beans, cucumber, melons....all of which, while still alive and well as we have not had a frost in Sonoma County yet, but have long ago started going over the hill for their season. When I observe the current state of what is happening on the farm, this is what I see. An up and coming glorious section of the farm covered in a sea of healthy brassicas including brussels, broccoli, cauliflowers, cabbages, etc...

The variety available in these plants is much more than you might imagine. You have mostly all seen orange and purple cauliflowers by now. Don't forget your savoy cabbages, napa cabbages, red and green cabbages (sauerkraut too). There is the Purple of Sicily cauliflower to look forward to...it takes a long season to mature, but once it rolls around mid-winter it is cauliflower heaven on earth. All of these treasures are tucked away within this one little sea of green in the northwest section of the field.

The brussels are admittedly my personal favorite. I feel proud of them as a grower, intrigued by them as a viewer and satisfied by them as a consumer. Brussels are just neat and I hope anyone who does not consider them might think twice. They carry us with a regular harvest during the cold months with flavorful little green bursts of sweet cabbages. The plants look like some fantastic creature I cannot identify. It is one of those veggies I think it could benefit to take the kids out for a look and see how it actually grows, maybe take a picture of the kids next to a monstrous brussel plant that is the same size as they are.

Additionally, if the standard variety of brussel is not interesting enough, the purple brussel is on it's way this season. I have been following this crop closely since we seeded in months and months ago. Here it finally is setting some sprouts, harvest is not so far off. It will be time for a taste test of brussels sprouts colors and colorful brussel dishes.

Looking forward to the season of brassicas in addition to all the other fall and winter crops including parsnips, sunchokes, celeriac, beets, rutabaga, carrots, a plethora of dried shell beans and more. If you haven't already resigned yourself to a local and seasonal diet, consider giving up grocery store bought tomatoes this winter....try eating with the seasons and locally, there is so much food that is grown right here and Tierra stays open all year long to accommodate you being able to do so!

Peanuts and Garbanzos

2009-10-21T06:56:00.000-07:00

Gophers in the peanuts....this is an occasion to monitor the progress of a subsurface crop if there ever was one. I had to pull up a few of the nutty legumes to check on what the actual peanuts are looking like at this time in the season. Especially before the gophers get them all...

Here is what I found upon investigating underground. Since the last post on the peanut crop, the plants have flowered and sent their reproductive parts underground where the familiar little nodules of crunchy snacks we know so well are forming, growing and thriving. Don't forget, if you want to see this in action, you must walk all the way to the back of the field. It is worth it.

Now here is another unique leguminous crop (pea family, nitrogen fixing). The garbanzo beans in the Tierra Vegetable fields come in 2 colors. Traditional white/beige beans and a more unusual black version of the garbanzo you are used to finding in a can or dried and packaged in a plastic bag. Fore-go canned goods, plastic wrapped and distributed beans from unknown sources and come to your local farm for these ordinary and entirely out of the ordinary culinary ingredients.

Black Garbanzo Beans! Another example of the diversity of vegetable ingredients constantly surprising us with something new and different. These beans are a little smaller than your traditional garbanzo and ought to be fun to experiment with in comparison.

And I leave you with the garbanzo bean. It is really not a huge crop of any of these legumes I have listed here, but they were tried and seem to have succeeded to some extent. See if you might find them for sale as the winter months come on.

More on Corn Meal

2009-10-03T08:35:00.001-07:00

The dried corn harvest is now and nearly complete. This means that the 2009 corn meal selection will be available from here on out....until it sells out. Be creative, colorful, plan some special uses for the holidays or just incorporate locally grown corn flour into your daily and weekly uses. Access to such a fresh and sweet product like this is not so common, take advantage and tell your friends!

Here are just some of the harvest bins full of dried corn. In the background are the Hopi Blue flour corn, quite a successful crop this season. There is more blue corn than last season and the quality is near perfection. See, there are many moments of success in farming! In the foreground on the left is Hopi Pink. Proving less perfect than the blue variety, Wayne admitted to having to sort through this one a bit. The kernels often did not come out as pink as one might hope and a lot of white was mixed in, washing out the beautiful colors that the variety had been selected for. On the right are many of those cobs that had cross bred or come out with inconsistency.

Note how the blue kernels somehow cross-bred their way into this (I think it was supposed to be Hopi Pink) cob. Perhaps images like this will make you think about what your corn meal looked like prior to processing...cross breeding colors like this may or may not produce an aesthetically pleasing flour for a consumer. Ah, more of the trials a farmer faces.

Here is the Hopi Pink, after sorting out the less pink colored cobs that slipped in. It ought to be beautiful to work with...pink corn muffins and bread, pink grits, why not? It would be nice to wait until Valentine's Day for an occasion like this, but I predict this color will not make it to February before being sold out for the season.

On the other hand, there is a lot of Hopi Blue it seems. That is a good thing because it proved to be a great corn meal last season. I have memories of the toasty brown crust on the outside of a blue muffin with chile flakes inside that Lee made last winter. Notice the size of these cobs. Notice how uniform the kernels grew. Wayne was showing me a technique of counting the rows of kernels that the field manager, Pablo, uses to judge a great cob of corn.

Finally, here is the Oaxacan Green. It is simply blue and yellow makes green....as basic as learning your primary colors. I'm looking forward to observing this one post-milling in it's green flour form. It also leaves me inspired to mix blue and pink to make purple. Why not?

This harvest season at Tierra you may find corn meal in a grand variety of colors (variety is unavoidable at this farm) from yellow to blue to pink to green and whatever you might mix and create in between. Enjoy!

New Hot Sauce Variety

2009-10-02T07:40:00.001-07:00

Oh so much work goes into developing and producing new and unique products in order to appeal to customers and make use of what is grown at the farm. This season the hot sauce line is expanding when possible....the product development is seasonal along with everything else at the farm. A grand array of chiles are available NOW for fresh consumption, processing of the famous chile jams, drying and smoking chiles for powder and dried chiles and chipotles later on, and the hot sauce. This opportunity dies with the frost, colder mornings are already upon us.

The hot sauce will last until sold out and often they go quick. Take a sample or two at the farm stand or Ferry Plaza. Grab a bottle or two for use now or after fresh chiles are a thing of the past. Thank goodness for sugars and vinegars to preserve the flavors of our fresh food. Tierra is a master of preservation in my perspective whether it been jam making; fermenting pickles or sauerkraut; dehydration; crop selection like popcorn, corn meal or dried beans. A lot of thought and experience has gone into providing for us all season long creatively and with a continual diversity of flavors, colors and textures as our palates desire.

Topics on Corn

2009-09-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

I can only assume this is the Nothstein Dent corn, grown for flour/corn meal processing. It seems a reasonable assumption since it is yellow, dried up, and full of characteristic "dent" kernels. So it seems your yellow corn flour for 2009-2010 is about ready for harvest.

Here is the Oaxacan Green corn, also grown for flour. This one is new this season. Those of you who followed the corn meal last season may recall the yellow (pictured above), a blue called Hopi Blue and a red one called Bloody Butcher. Now we have green to add to the list of color, flavor, and diversity. It ought to be fun to compare results as usual.

I think this is a Peruvian (?) black corn? Grown for corn meal/flour. I'm working off info I gathered during spring seeding with Lee, but have since only wandered the fields w/o the farmer to be certain of what is what. With so many kinds of corn out there it is hard to keep it all straight. Anyhow, here is another diverse color, a deep, dark black kernel. I wonder how it will turn out after running through the mill.

And now I transition away from the topic of corn flour and onto the topic of corn pests. This is fresh corn we see now.....sweet, fresh corn. Unfortunately, everyone likes a good sweet veggie like this, including the Corn Worm. If you can look past the worm and it's damage, you are rewarded with an incredible seasonal treat, grown without the influence of chemicals or pesticides to rid the crop of this kind of thing. I tend to remind people that this pest evidence is their organic certification in living flesh....try to look at it optimistically this way. One way to avoid the corn worm is to plant an early crop of corn. This way, you may be able to harvest the crop prior to the development of the pest. Like the growth cycle of plants, pests require certain environmental conditions for their complete development.

Ever seen this? I hadn't until a farmer pointed it out to me a couple of years back. Corn smut is a fungal growth. Sometimes it is even a delicacy.....like mushrooms? Whether good or bad in one's perspective as a foodie delicacy or a growers fungal disease, I think it is all interesting.

Enjoy your corn, fresh now and dried for later. Hope you gained some insight into the broader picture of what and how it is done at Tierra.

Chicken Tractor Construction Project

2009-09-13T06:07:00.001-07:00

Here is a look at Wayne's current on-going construction project. He is building a size-able, mobile dwelling for chicken's on the farm. I have watched it coming together piece by piece for the last few months now.

If it is not one innovation it is another. Projects that increase capabilities and efficiencies to bring more sustainability to the operation are always welcome. This is just one of many....I'll try to continue to highlight some others as time goes on.

Poha/Cape Gooseberry

2009-09-12T06:34:00.000-07:00

Many people seem tuned into ground cherries or husk berries, gooseberries, or the poha. Whatever variety you may have tried or be referring to, at Tierra the Poha, or Cape Gooseberry is grown each season.

These little garden berries are a wonderful treat mixed within a field of vegetables. Easy pickings during a time of heavy harvest, the berries which are protected and contained within a husk that looks something like a Chinese lantern, will fall straight to the ground when ripe and ready to consume.
To the right here is a look at the plant growing-if you go seeking it in the fields it is immediately south of the chiles, towards Airport Boulevard. It is very tall and shrub to tree-like, therefore proving it is in fact not a "ground cherry." This plant grows tall and wide and sprawls, undoubtedly needing more space than most home gardeners might plan. Related to tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers in the nightshade plant family; the plants are most closely related to tomatillos and resemble them quite a bit, husk and all. The taste? It is fruity, unique, one must try to even begin to understand. So try one this season.
Here is what you are looking for and, of course, the crew at Tierra will only bring the ripe and ready berries to market for you. The little berry is golden in color once you probe inside it's brown husk. It contains little seeds like a cherry tomato and if you really have some time and skill on your hands you could save these seeds for future crops of your own. The possible culinary uses range from a great alternative to high calorie snacks before dinner, a great base ingredient for a unique jam or chutney for holidays gifts, a fruity alternative to cherry tomatoes in your salad, and more....

Here is your source for a more detailed summary of additional aspects of this plants and fruit including history, origin and growth specifics. There is lots to learn about our food, as usual, and thankfully, lots of new foods to learn about. I run into so many great vegetables all year long in my farm foodie world, it is a great benefit and so much fun to pass along to others. The flip side of this is the disappoinment it brings when I am forced into a grocery store these days and discover the limited selection and quality, or the marketing ploy knock-offs of some of the unique specialty items I have encountered in the small farm world. It is trivial to decide what to buy, what to eat, what is true, and I'm pretty well educated on the topic. What about all those other folks? I'm skeptical. Grow your own, let Tierra grow for you, enjoy real food while it is in season. You are going to find superior flavors and something that is always in abundance, even if it is dried beans in the middle of winter. Thank goodness there is a time to enjoy beans when there aren't so many other fresh vegetables demanding to be used up! Now I got lost off on an Eat Local tangent on this post, but it is always worth while to make mention of this way of life.

Field Tour Thursday September 10, 2009

2009-09-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

We have now reached the time of year when, as Wayne puts it, there are 10 million things to do at once. Why can't the harvest season that occurs in Sept-Oct spread itself more thinly over the rest of the year? There is certainly never any spare time to do fun things aside from farming when it all snowballs like it does right now.

Below is a general field tour overview of some of those millions of things, but I could hardly begin to grasp it all with a single afternoon walk and a few select photos to share.

First off, here is this week's CSA share, packed up and ready to deliver to Santa Rosa recipients. The selection is always colorful this time of year. This week was napa cabbage (buried beneath), a melon, tomatoes, summer squash, cauliflower, broccoli, gypsy sweet peppers, green beans....just a bit of everything.

I later went out after packing the CSA and found the napa cabbages in the field. Upright like a romaine lettuce, this pagoda named and shaped chinese-style cabbage is a real looker right now. I'm inspired and have since planted some in my own garden at home.

Here is the obligatory chile overview. Hard to chose where to capture an image, but the hungarian wax region have some nice color variety to share. Yellow to orange to red, these are hot ones!

Nearby are the cactus fruit-I forget if they have another name than this, I'm sure they do. These are so flavorful, so unique and will be ripe before long with all else. Processing is not easy, but I was fortunate enough to get to try some last season that Lee peeled and de-spiked. These are highly sought for their nutritional and anti-oxidant value by many.

I love okra flowers. That is what this is. My mother made a good point the other day that they somewhat resemble the beautiful cut flower lisianthus. When browsing through okra plants, I usually seek out the flora rather than the fruit for my own aesthetic satisfaction.

People come back from walking the fields wondering over these super tall stalks. Topped with their little yellow sunflowers right now, the sunchokes/jerusalem artichokes are putting on a grand show.

The tomato patch is plentiful and organized this season! You are able to view the various varieties out there well since Lee ensured the signs were placed at each variety. Harder to get these names from the field to the farm stand, the tomatoes often sell unnamed, but still represent a great diversity of flavors and colors.

This is Lee's millet and it is beautiful. I'm not sure if it is intended for grain or bird food, but either way it simply makes a striking addition to the field. Go find it and see what this traditional grain looks like.

This little purple brassica plants are what will hopefully be bearing your purple brussels sprouts this fall and winter. The variety is called Rubine and the plants are looking good so far. There will be green brussels too for those who need more traditional colored veggies on their plates.

And finally, keeping an eye on the broader view of fieldwork out there, the crew works hard in the afternoon to control weeds in some of the younger crops. In the foreground here I stand within the watermelon patch where a few weeds have escaped the fate of the blade of a hoe...

Take your own field tour. Plenty to see.

Shishito

2009-08-31T04:43:00.000-07:00

The Shishito is another heated, small frying pepper. It has thin walled flesh, is sweet and hot and is popular in Japan. Also popular now with chefs nationwide in the U.S., this small fryer is found on many restaurant menus and enjoyed at home as they become available.

Uses: Quite popular now in our modern culinary culture, Shishito peppers may be fried and blistered, grilled, prepared as a tempura, etc... These peppers have the perfect medium heat where the Spanish Padron frying pepper may be too spicy at times for some (myself included).

Heat: Individual peppers may vary from mild to hot.