Christmas Field Status

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.

Spring Field Activity

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.

Full Field Tour-Fall Planted Crops

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!

Asparagus and Romanesco

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.

A Sea of Brassicas and Brussels

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!

Broccoli In Season

There is plenty of broccoli in season this week and for those of you who are intent on eating locally and seasonally, this is your ideal choice right now. Tierra has lots of broccoli this week for everyone! I hope you will all enjoy it because each of these florets are now sentimental to me since I sowed many a seed to make them possible this season.

This broccoli is called Violet Queen. If you are a grower of broccoli and/or cauliflower you may notice the leaves attached to this look more like a cauliflower. It is an interesting plant because of this growth habit, but sends out this beautifully colored, purple broccoli bouquet.

Enjoy some green and purple broccoli this week. Try them both and see if there is any difference in your opinion.

Greenhouse Management

Another set of brassicas (cabbages, cauliflowers, broccolis) is packed up and ready to head out to the field today. There is some celery and celeriac that is ready to go in the ground too.

This is good timing as things need to be moved about in the greenhouse. As dictated by the waxing moon phase that favors seeding above ground annuals and flowers at this very time, Lee and I worked to put a few more seeds in the soil yesterday including cabbages for sauerkraut (large varieties), colorful cauliflowers (graffiti/purple and cheddar/orange), and some savoy cabbages, more celery, etc...

Here is a look at the brussels sprouts we seeded one week ago, emerging at a sporadic rate, Lee and I spent some time fussing over their conditions. As the season warms, some of the micro-climates within the greenhouse are less suitable (too hot) for seeds and seedlings that require lower temperatures to germinate like a lot of these items we are seeding for the fall harvest time. By moving out the seedlings that are ready for the field, we create more room for other flats of seeds that would prefer the cooler locations within the greenhouse. So we spent a little time finding the ideal homes for all of these little guys....

An overview of flats full of seeds demonstrates some of what we are fussing with here. Keeping track of the soil and air temperatures is constant work and shifts all day long depending on the outdoor conditions. A while back, Lee installed some cardboard above this area to filer the intense light a little bit. When we were working with chiles and tomatoes, the intense heat and light was a bit more favorable. As we work with less heat-loving seeds amidst the early summer time heat, the challenges have shifted to keeping the temperatures from rising too high.


In the cooler, outer room (where the seedlings harden off and live out their final days prior to transporting to the field) it is also getting quite warm. Yesterday, we spent some time putting extra shade over the roof of the greenhouse in order to filter the sun a bit as the temperatures remain high this week. Everything this season in the greenhouse is still a bit experimental since it is a brand new structure.

Hopefully the TLC we invested yesterday will pay off with high rates of germination. It is frustrating to spend so much time working with tiny seeds and to come back and see failed results, but it always happens one way or another. Seeding is such a balance of conditions, healthy soil, balanced water, perfect light and temperature, it is really a full time position to watch over all of this stuff.

In closing, I got another nice shot of celery and celeriac seedlings. The brilliant midday sunlight enhanced the vibrant green of these guys and inspired the photographer in me yet again. They are headed for the field next and hopefully to our tables by Thanksgiving to Christmas time.

Today is a great day to come out in the afternoon and try to catch us putting these little transplants into the ground. If you are stopping in to pick up your CSA share today, think about bringing a hat and setting aside 10-20 minutes to go and check out what is happening out in the farm fields. It is quite a treat to get to see all the steps behind your food production. Make the most of it!

In the Field: The State of Summer Produce

A quick photo tour of what lies just around the corner as we near the start of an early summer harvest season at the farm. A walk through the fields right now provides views that are mostly green as fruiting summer plants come closer to growing strong and mature and offering the colorful seasonal bounty of summer and harvest seasons. There is plenty of food out there right now though and starting the week after this one, the farm stand will be open for regular season hours, soon the CSA will be a weekly event once again, and free time for farmers (if there ever was any) will be a thing of the distant winter past.

I found the earliest tomatoes hanging around on some vines yesterday as I walked to the back of the field for some lettuce. An outstanding green tomato such as this and it is still May, I was inspired to share the sight of it.

Not far from the green tomato, I peeked in at the earliest planting of summer squash to find baby zucchini well established and loving the recent quick heat wave we had a couple of days back.

Carrots hide their progress underground quite well, you often must pull a few or keep track of their "days to maturity" to get an idea of what lies beneath the soil. The tops are vibrant in color in the afternoon sun. Long rows of these frilly carrot tops are eye candy in themselves, but before long the roots that are often as sweet as candy will return.

The onions are called Red Burger and I think these were grown from saved seed. I have some in my home garden and they were from seeds we had saved last season. It is a nice early crop of good sized red onions. These you do not have to wait for, they are already being harvested for sales. Harvesting onions in spring provides a full onion bulb, but may lack some of the storage qualities like the dry outer paper and the dried back stem. Instead, you get to see the vibrant red of the onion and have a nice, sturdy green stem with which to carry your onion home. No bags needed.


Cabbages are not huge yet as they tend to get in the Tierra fields, but they are forming their heads and are recognizable. Fresh sweet cabbage and new sour batches of sauerkraut will return before long.

And finally, some broccoli florets are well formed and nearly mature. Here comes the vast array of fresh vegetables, get ready to start enjoying the bounty of the 2009 season!