PEACHES, PEACHES

 My apologies for not updating this page for almost a month.  We got slammed with an early harvest of peaches and plums.  My waking hours were spent sorting and processing the daily harvest.  When I sat down at the computer  I usually fell asleep.  Mother nature seems to be sending different signals to the trees this year.  Our peaches and plums are maturing about 3 weeks early.  For those of you who are consulting our harvest schedule, please make note to check early for products you see on the schedule.

 Peaches are definitely here.   Early peaches are gone, mid-season varieties are showing up.  One of our favorites, Red Haven, is ready.  We will have a steady supply for at least a week.  Growing and getting more color every day are the renown Suncrest peaches. 

Many plum varieties are coming into the farm stand. Burgundy, Mariposa, Eldorado, Laroda, and Black Amber.  There is still an ample supply of Santa Rosa plums.  We should have some pluots soon although some varieties are sparse.

The gardens are transforming to summer vegetables.  The peas, komatsuna, broccoli and lettuce have given up.  Our vegetable offerings have been a bit scarce for a week but now the summer vegetables are starting to perform.  We are starting to get zucchini, chard and cucumbers.  As I prepare to publish this update we get our first two baskets of Sungold cherry tomatoes and a bunch of basil. 

 

      Hours

Tuesday through Saturday           10:00 to 6:00

Sunday                                         11:00 to 5:00  

Closed on Monday

Here is what we have at the Farm Stand from Otow Orchard.

VEGETABLES:

Zucchini:  Green summer squash fresh out of the garden.  Tender green squash with white flesh. 

Chard:  These greens are tender and tasty. Great for sauteing or adding to soup, casseroles, omelets, and stews.

Asian Cucumbers:  Burpless, seedless and thin skinned cucumbers.  Refreshing, crisp, and tender.  Eaten as a summer snack, or added into salad or pickled.  Great flavor.

 

Sungold Cherry Tomatoes:  Bright yellow orange cherry tomatoes known for their bright fruity flavor. A summertime favorite on our farm. 

Basil:  Fragrant and flavorful.  Can be used in salads, sauces and pesto. 

 

FRUIT:

Red Haven Peaches:  This variety is frequently requested.  It is a yellow freestone peach with red streaked flesh. It  is sweet with a unique pleasing flavor.  Great for fresh eating, canning, freezing or baking.

June Pride Peaches:  Dark skinned yellow freestone.  Somewhat crisp texture with sweet-tart flavor.  Used for fresh eating and baking. (Limited supply).

White Peaches:  

        Sugar Lady, Babcock, Opale  are firm white, freestone peaches.         They are low acid, sweet and tasty.

        Silver Logan and Nectar are soft fleshed white peaches. They are juicy, sweet and low acid.

Blenheim Apricots:  Much desired variety of apricots.  These light orange apricots may retain green shoulders even when fully ripe. They are sweet with some tang.  Juicy, fragrant and a rich flavor profile (limited supply).

  

Santa Rosa Plums: Very popular and very tasty.  Known for their sweet tart taste and amazing flavor and fragrance.  Great for fresh eating as well as for jams.

Burgundy plums:  Dark skin, round with little speckles. Burgundy plums have deep red fleshed when ripened and are very sweet with mild skin.

Black Amber plums:  Dark skin over amber red meaty flesh.  Sweet tart flavor and fragrant. Key ingredient for Black Amber Plum pie.

Black Amber Plum Pie

Double pie crust 

4 1/2 cups Black Amber plums, unpeeled and sliced.

         (about 2 pounds)

 1 cup sugar

1/4 cup Tapioca

1/4 tsp Almond extract 

Mix all ingredients together except pie crusts.  Let stand for 15 minutes.  Pour into pie crust.  Top with one tablespoon diced butter. Put on top pie crust. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees until bubbly for 45 to 50 minutes. 

 Other plums to be harvested are Eldorado, Laroda, Frontier, and Mariposa.

 

Hoshigaki :  These are whole dried persimmons.  They are hand massaged while they dry over a period of four to eight weeks.  Some are firm, others are soft and moist.  All are coated with naturally formed white persimmon sugar.  No sugar added and no preservatives used. We strive to make the best hoshigaki without any shortcuts.  This takes time and attention during the drying season.  We are currently selling hoshigaki at the farm stand. For on farm orders of more than 1 pound it is best to email or call us to make a pre order.  

Hoshigaki strips:  Thin slices of hoshigaki for snacking.

Persimmon Pulp: Frozen pulp is available for baking or adding to oatmeal, smoothies, desserts or cereal. Some of our customers look forward to eating it like a popsicle!

 

Valencia:  These are juicing oranges but most people just peel and eat like any other orange. They are sweet and very juicy.

Eureka lemons:  Firm and sour lemons. Great for adding flavor or making lemonade. 

Local Honey  Honey 🍯 from bees 🐝 at Otow Orchard. Bee pollen from bees 🐝 at Otow Orchard is also available.

 

⚘ Calendula  Salve and Lip Balm:  Wonderfully thick salve for healing dry skin, bug bites and scrapes.   

Here is what we have from other producers: 

Sunnyslope Farm in Granite Bay, is again bringing us conventionally grown, beautiful peaches.

     Flavorcrest:  Yellow freestone peaches.  Sweet and juicy with a bit of tang (limited supply).

     Suncrest :  Yellow freestone peaches. Predicted to arrive the last week  of June.  These are sweet, juicy and very flavorful peaches.  The book Epitaph for a Peach, by David Mas Masumoto was written about harvesting Suncrest peaches.

La Bella Vito Farm in Loomis is bringing us fresh🥚 eggs from pastured 🐔🐔chickens. (Limited supply.)

Stoney Point Farm in Loomis, CA. (Organic certified) is bringing us Rio Red Grapefruit.  These large grapefruit are juicy, sweet and red fleshed. Low in bitterness.

Arrow Place in Auburn (no spray) is still bringing us Meyer Lemons. These sought after lemons are less acidic than regular lemons. They have a thin peel often used for its fragrant zest.  Meyer are rounder than regular lemons with a dark yellow skin.

💧💧💧💧💧💧🐞🐞🐞🍉🍉🥕🥕🥕💧💧💧💧💧💧

 Gardening tip:  How I saved melon sprouts from cutworm damage.

Strip of foil triple folded.

Make a short circular strip that will circle the stem of the plant.

 

I used a small screwdriver to place the strip around the stem and close it off.

 

Now safe from hungry cutworms.

 

 

 

SUMMER HOURS

 So many people have been waiting for the return of our regular hours.  Wait no more.  This week we will be open longer.  Trees and gardens are providing some goodies.

      Hours

Tuesday through Saturday           10:00 to 6:00

Sunday                                         11:00 to 5:00  

Closed on Mondays

 

 It is unusual for our early varieties of peaches to ripen before the end of May.  This year we are almost finished with Spring Crest peaches.  Next we expect to harvest Flavorcrest peaches.  Royal Rosa apricots came and went quickly. Robada and Royal  apricots are next.  The Red Beaut plums are finished.  We are starting to harvest Santa Rosa plums.  It may be a year when all the crops mature early.

For the moment the vegetable garden is producing amazing peas and broccolini.  The beets are finished and the lettuce and komatsuna are on their last cuttings.  It is getting too warm for these crops.  A few zucchini are starting to produce.  Soon we will have chard and potatoes.  We will have to wait awhile for tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, and peppers.  So  keep checking this page.

 

Here is what we have at the Farm Stand from Otow Orchard.

VEGETABLES:

Komatsuna:  Tender leafy green vegetable, thought of as a Japanese spinach.  Taste is more like bok choy, mild with slight mustard flavor.  Can be added to salad, stir-fries, and soup. 

 Red Mustard Greens: Beautiful purple and green leaf mustard.  It has a slightly spicy flavor.  Can be sauteed, or added to soups.

 

Sugar Snap Peas:  Fresh, crisp, and juicy. These sweet and crunchy peas can be enjoyed raw or gently cooked. Can be used for garnish.

 

 Broccolini:  similar to broccoli but milder and sweeter.  The florets,  leaves and stems are all edible in stir fries, sauteed, grilled, steamed, roasted, and raw. 

 

 

 

 

Zucchini:  Green summer squash fresh out of the garden.  Tender green squash with white flesh. 

FRUIT:

Springcrest peach:  Yellow semi freestone peach.  This peach is remarkably sweet, juicy and flavorful for an early peach variety.

Apricots:   Robada and Royal apricots are coming off the trees at this time.  There are not many of them.They are tasty and each variety has its unique flavor. (Limited supply)

Loquat:  This early season tropical fruit is sweet and refreshing.  It is small and juicy with sweet mild flavor.  Texture is similar to ripe pears.  Contain a large seed. (Limited supply)

Pakistani Mulberries:  Long stemmed, dark mulberries.  They are sweet and juicy.  (Limited supply.)

Hoshigaki :  These are whole dried persimmons.  They are hand massaged while they dry over a period of four to eight weeks.  Some are firm, others are soft and moist.  All are coated with naturally formed white persimmon sugar.  No sugar added and no preservatives used. We strive to make the best hoshigaki without any shortcuts.  This takes time and attention during the drying season.  We are currently selling hoshigaki at the farm stand. For on farm orders of more than 1 pound it is best to email or call us to make a pre order.  

Hoshigaki strips:  Thin slices of hoshigaki for snacking.

Persimmon Pulp: Frozen pulp is available for baking or adding to oatmeal, smoothies, desserts or cereal. Some of our customers look forward to eating it like a popsicle!

 

Valencia:  These are juicing oranges but most people just peel and eat like any other orange. They are sweet and very juicy.

Eureka lemons:  Firm and sour lemons. Great for adding flavor or making lemonade. 

Local Honey  Honey 🍯 from bees 🐝 at Otow Orchard. Bee pollen from bees 🐝 at Otow Orchard is also available.

 

⚘ Calendula  Salve and Lip Balm:  Wonderfully thick salve for healing dry skin, bug bites and scrapes.   

Here is what we have from other producers:

La Bella Vito Farm in Loomis is bringing us fresh🥚 eggs from pastured 🐔🐔chickens.

The California Persimmon:  A book published by the ANR covering history and background of persimmons. Contains many new and traditional persimmon recipes.

 

 

 

PEACHES AND TOMATOES

 Tomato season has arrived.  It always amazes me.  We provide a tiny seed with soil, water, and heat in the middle of February and now we have 6 foot tall bushy vines supporting green and suddenly red tomatoes.  It has been happening every year but it is still a wonder to witness.  We have a few big red slicers and many junior slicers.  Then there are those for slicing into salads.  Also red and yellow cherry tomatoes are available. Last week while harvesting tomatoes I became aware of high pitched tweets.  There was a gray bird with light red breast feathers flittering among tree branches near by.  I recalled this happening last year. I began searching the tomato vine canopies. And there it was. A bird nest with three tiny light blue eggs.  I will try not to disturb the nest and hope to watch skinny looking baby birds  as they develop feathers and eventually take flight.

The peaches are a little slow right now.  We are harvesting a few Gene Elberta and Suncrest yellow peaches. The Gene Elberta are about done and the Suncrest are starting.  We are also getting conventionally grown big beautiful Suncrest peaches from Sunnyslope Farm. The white peach season is slowing down.  Just a few Silver Logan and Babcock peaches remain to be harvested.  On the horizon are Fay Elberta  and 49er peaches.

Plums are showing their diversity.  We are still offering Santa Rosa Plums.  The yellow flesh plums are: Eldorado, Red Roy and Laroda.   Red fleshed plums are: Frontier and Mariposa.  European plums: Tulare Giant. 

 In addition to tomatoes, the garden is producing several varieties of cucumbers and squash.  There is a good supply of Asian and Armenian cucumbers. Both are so crisp and tender.  Zucchini squash are very happy but the yellow squash and patty pan squashes are giving it some competition.  Green beans and bell peppers show up occasionally.

 A little later than usual is the Gravenstein Apple harvest.  Not much this year. This red striped green apple is tart and flavorful.  Famously used for applesauce.

 

 Hours

    Tues thru Sat  10:00 am to 6:00 pm

    Sunday 11:00 to 5:00

    Closed on Mondays 

Here is what we have at the Farm Stand from Otow Orchard.

Blackberries:  These are wild blackberies that grow on our property.  They are painstakingly picked from thorny vines for your eating enjoyment.  Sweet/tart and soo flavorful.  Usually only in-season during July.

 

PEACHES  

Gene Elberta:  Yellow, freestone peach. Juicy and sweet for eating out of hand or baking and canning.     

49er:  Yellow freestone peach.  Juicy and sweet with a smooth texture. Good for fresh eating and baking or canning.

Sugar Lady: White freestone peach.  This pink to red skinned white peach is sweet and fragrant.  Can be enjoyed on the firm side or left to become soft, juicy and sweet.

Silver Logan:  White freestone peach.  Beautiful pink skin color over white.  Flesh has pink streaks in white flesh.  Intense sweet flavor with some tang to it.

Babcock:  White freestone peach. Sweet, delicate flavor. Red to pink skin  over white flesh (limited supply).

PLUMS

Santa Rosa:  Old sought after variety for their rich aromatic flavor.  Early season Santa Rosa have yellow flesh that is sweet tart. Late season Santa Rosa have red flesh and are all sweet.  Their fragrance will fills our farm stand. They are great for fresh eating and have been known to win jam contest for their flavor and sweet tart contrast.

Frontier:  Red fleshed  plum.  Sweet and juicy with mild flavor. 

Eldorado:  Yellow fleshed plum.  Often eaten hard and crisp.  Very sweet. 

Laroda:  Yellow fleshed plum.  Sweet/tart and juicy.  Pleasant flavor.

Mariposa:  Juicy, red fleshed plum.  Very sweet.  (Limited supply.)

Red Roy:  Red skin over yellow flesh. Sweet firm plum.

Kelsey:  Green skin over yellow flesh.  Firm to soft. Always sweet and juicy. 

Tulare Giant: Elongated purple European plum.  Yellow fleshed, freestone plum. Often used in baking. (Limited supply.)

  

      

 

Hoshigaki :  These are whole dried persimmons.  They were hand massaged while they dried over a period of four to eight weeks.  Some are firm, others are soft and moist.  All are coated with naturally formed white persimmon sugar.  No sugar added and no preservatives used. We strive to make the best hoshigaki without any shortcuts.  This takes time and attention during the drying season.  Hoshigaki are now available in the farm stand.  Contact us for large on-farm pick-up orders. (916) 791-1656 or email at otowochard@yahoo.com. 

Hoshigaki strips:  These are pieces of hoshigaki sliced for easy snacking.

Eureka Lemons:  These are very tart lemons. Great for contrast in sweet and sour recipes like:  lemonade, lemon meringue pie, sweet and sour pork, and lemon bars.

Valencia Oranges:  Sweet juicing oranges. 

Gravenstein Apples: Tart and flavorful apple. Often used for sauce or in cider. (limited supply.)

Local Honey  Honey 🍯 from bees 🐝 at Otow Orchard. Bee pollen from bees 🐝 at Otow Orchard is also available.

⚘ Calendula  Salve and Lip Balm:  Wonderfully thick salve for healing dry skin, bug bites and scrapes.

Summer Squash:

Green and Yellow Zucchini.

Yellow crookneck  

Cucumbers:

Armenian:  Light and dark green in color.  Young cucumbers have few seeds.  Background flavor of melon. 

Asian cucumbers:  Bumpy or spiny. Long green seedless cucumbers. Sweet, flavorful and often burpless. Melon rind-like flavor.

Lemon cucumber:  Small, round, green, tender cucumber unless I wait too long to pick it and it becomes yellow and seedy.

Tomatoes:  Red tomatoes and a few heirloom varieties. 

Cherry tomatoes:                            

Sungold (orange)

Sweetie (red)

Suncherry (red) 

Other Vegetables: (Limited supply.)

Japanese eggplant

Bell peppers 

Green beans 

Shishito peppers 

Aoshiso leaves 

Here is what we have from other producers:

Sunnyslope Farm: conventionally grown peaches from Granite Bay.

Suncrest Peaches:  Very popular variety. Big and beautiful, yellow freestone peaches.  Sweet and Juicy with wonderful flavor.  

La Bella Vito Farm in Loomis is bringing us fresh🥚 eggs from pastured 🐔🐔chickens.  Limited supply.

Fresh Bouquets of colorful in-season flowers from La Bella Vito Farm in Loomis. 

 

 

 

 

 

BLACKBERRIES, PLUMS AND WHITE PEACHES

    We are finishing up  a fantastic harvest of Red Haven peaches.  Many have commented that they were the best peaches.  In a week, those customers will be coming back for more and I will have to inform them that the Red Haven trees are empty. No more till next June.  Not to worry, this is just the beginning of mid-season peaches.  We are waiting for Gene Elberta, Suncrest, and Fay Elberta peaches to mature.  We can't pick till they are ready.  Meanwhile, white peaches will have our attention. These peaches are so delicate that my daughter says "They bruise by just looking at them."  Please respect our "Do Not Handle " signs to preserve quality for yourself and the next customer.

     An array of plums are starting to fill our display table.  Santa Rosa, Black Amber, Burgundy, Satsuma, and Frontier.  When I was growing up, over half a century ago, plums were the focus of this farm in the summer.  We picked the plums when they were not quite ripe into 40 pound field lugs.  From the orchard, the tractor pulled the the trailer filled with these lugs to the unloading dock at our packing shed. The lugs were unloaded and stacked five high. Each lug was then tipped onto an elevated grading table and blemished plums were removed before the plums were pushed onto a sizing belt.  The sizing conveyor belt allowed the smallest plums to fall onto the packing table at the near end.  The larger plums would drop onto the table as the conveyor belt widened at the far end. It was then the job of the packer to line up the plums in a predetermined pattern of 3 layers in each of 4 baskets that made up a crate of plums.  The plums did not always cooperate with the pattern and we struggled to find plums of just the right size to meet the requirement.  When the plums were packed just so, the crate was placed on a lidding table where a crate lid was manually nailed onto it. The crate was then loaded onto my father's, now ancient, 1950 Ford truck.  My father would use rope and trucker's hitch to tie down the load of 40 to 80 crates.  The load was taken to the fruit shed in Loomis where the inspector would open one of the crates and accept or reject our load. Our load was then placed into a gigantic refrigerator along with hundreds of crates from other growers in the area.  When the fruit shed got an order, the crates were placed in an ice cooled box car.  These trains took our plums to places such as Denver, Chicago, Boston, and New York.

     After a full day of packing plums, my mother would send us out to pick blackberries.  Kind of a love hate task.  Wearing a long sleeved shirt and tall barn boots we respectfully picked berries between twisted thorny vines with our bare hands. We always ended up getting poked and scratched but the fruits of our labor were worth while.  In a couple days we would be back to do it all again.  It is blackberry season.  We have  baskets of these wild berries in the farm stand. These blackberries are sweet, juicy and so tasty.

    The Berba crop of figs quickly came and went.  Now we await the second crop. Predicted to show up at the end of July to mid August.

 

 

 

 Hours

    Tues thru Sat  10:00 am to 6:00 pm

    Sunday 11:00 to 5:00

    Closed on Mondays 

Here is what we have at the Farm Stand from Otow Orchard.

Blackberries:  These are wild blackberies that grow on our property.  They are painstakingly picked from thorny vines for your eating enjoyment.  Sweet/tart and soo flavorful.  Usually only in-season during July.

 

PEACHES  

Red Haven:  Yellow freestone peach.  Great flavor, sweet and juicy. 

Sugar Lady: White freestone peach.  This pink to red skinned white peach is sweet and fragrant.  Can be enjoyed on the firm side or left to become soft, juicy and sweet.

Silver Logan:  White freestone peach.  Beautiful pink skin color over white.  Flesh has pink streaks in white flesh.  Intense sweet flavor with some tang to it.  Very tasty. 

Nectar:  White freestone peach.  Delicate and subject to bruising.  White skin over white flesh. Very sweet and juicy (limited supply). 

Babcock:  White freestone peach. Sweet, delicate flavor. Red to pink skin  over white flesh (limited supply).

PLUMS

Santa Rosa:  Old sought after variety for their rich aromatic flavor.  Early season Santa Rosa have yellow flesh that is sweet tart. Late season Santa Rosa have red flesh and are all sweet.  Their fragrance will fills our farm stand. They are great for fresh eating and have been known to win jam contest for their flavor and sweet tart contrast.

Burgundy:  Dark skin over red flesh.  Sweet, mild tasting plum with firm flesh.

Black Amber:  Black skin over Yellow flesh.  Floral fragrance, juicy and sweet. Mostly eaten fresh.  This plum is a freestone and often used in baking.  Black Amber Plum pie is one of our favorite:

4 1/2 cups Black Amber plums. Unpeeled and seed removed.  Slice into a medium size mixing bowl.  Add 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup tapioca, 1/4 teaspoon Almond extract.  Mix all ingredients together and let set for 15 minutes.  Line 9 inch pie plate with pie crust topped with 1 tablespoon diced butter.  Pour plum mixture into crust. Put on top pie crust and seal edges well. Poke holes in top crust to allow steam and juice to vent.  Sprinkle  with a bit of sugar and cinnamon. Place cookie sheet or foil under pie to catch drips. Bake 400 degrees until bubbly.  45 to 50 minutes.

Satsuma:  Old time red flesh plum.  The flesh becomes more and more jelly-like as it softens.   These are small and sweet. (Limited supply.) 

Frontier:  Sweet, mild-flavored plum. Red flesh as it ripens. (Limited supply.) 

  

  Hoshigaki :  These are whole dried persimmons.  They were hand massaged while they dried over a period of four to eight weeks.  Some are firm, others are soft and moist.  All are coated with naturally formed white persimmon sugar.  No sugar added and no preservatives used. We strive to make the best hoshigaki without any shortcuts.  This takes time and attention during the drying season.  Hoshigaki are now available in the farm stand.  Contact us for large on-farm pick-up orders. (916) 791-1656 or email at otowochard@yahoo.com. 

 Hoshigaki strips:  These are pieces of hoshigaki sliced for easy snacking.

 Hachiya Pulp:  Frozen Hachiya persimmon pulp is available. Often used to make cookies, puddings and breads.  Many customers put it on yogurt and oatmeal  or add it to their smoothie.

Eureka Lemons:  These are very tart lemons. Great for contrast in sweet and sour recipes like:  lemonade, lemon meringue pie, sweet and sour pork, and lemon bars.

Valencia Oranges:  Sweet juicing oranges. 

Local Honey  Honey 🍯 from bees 🐝 at Otow Orchard. Bee pollen from bees 🐝 at Otow Orchard is also available.

⚘ Calendula  Salve and Lip Balm:  Wonderfully thick salve for healing dry skin, bug bites and scrapes.

Summer Squash:

Green and Yellow Zucchini.

Yellow crookneck  

Cucumbers:

Armenian:  Light and dark green in color.  Young cucumbers have few seeds.  Background flavor of melon. 

Asian cucumbers:  Bumpy or spiny. Long green seedless cucumbers. Sweet, flavorful and often burpless. Melon rind-like flavor.

Tomatoes:  Red tomatoes and a few heirloom varieties. 

Cherry tomatoes:                            

Sungold (orange)

Sweetie (red)

Suncherry (red) 

Other Vegetables: (Limited supply.)

Japanese eggplant

Green beans 

Shishito peppers 

Aoshiso leaves 

Here is what we have from other producers:

Sunnyslope Farm: conventionally grown peaches from Granite Bay.

Flavorcrest: Yellow freestone. Juicy, sweet with some tang.

June Pride:  Yellow freestone peach. Sweet and juicy with firm flesh.

 

Stoney Point Orchard,  Loomis, CA organic certified:

    Rio Red Grapefruit:   Juicy and sweet with a bit of tartness. Flesh is pink.

La Bella Vito Farm in Loomis is bringing us fresh🥚 eggs from pastured 🐔🐔chickens.  Limited supply.

Onions:  La Bella Vito Farm is bringing us red, yellow, and white onions sustainably grown in Loomis, CA. (Limited supply.)

Fresh Bouquets of colorful in-season flowers from La Bella Vito Farm in Loomis.