Beginning of Fall

Green hachiya persimmons

In the orchard some of the first persimmons are starting to develop an orange blush and begin to ripen.  The pomegranates are coloring up, too.  We started picking the winter squash in the gardens and although some of the pumpkins and gourds look ready to cut, the weather seems too hot still to try to harvest and store very many of them.

At the end of this month we'll post the 2011 hoshigaki (Japanese hand dried persimmon) mail order form so that we can begin taking orders for hoshigaki.  We'll post here on the blog when the official order form is finished and available on our website. 

New things we have at the fruit stand are jujube, quince, and olympic Asian pears.  We have limited quantities of jujube and quince though, since we only have a few of these trees and picking just started.

Here's what's at the fruit stand now: 

• Asian Pear--Yoi, Shinko, New Century, 20th Century, Olympic
  
•  Plums--Casselman, Angelina
  
• European Pear--Comice, D'anjou
• Apples--Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Northern Spy, Fuji
  
• Figs--Black Mission, Brown Turkey
• Quince
• Jujube
  
• Vegetables--tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, long beans, peppers, zucchini, summer squash,  basil, oregano, mint
• Honey--from bees at our orchard, star thistle honey from Lincoln
• Eggs

This summer, Girl Scouts from the local Granite Bay troop volunteered to  paint the fence around the horse pasture as part of a local sustainability project they were working on.  Earlier in the year they had visited the orchard for a tour and to talk with Tosh about local agriculture.  They were very enthusiastic and hard-working, and we're thankful that they could help us out.

Orchard News & Meat Buyers Club

After picking tomatoes.

We have a nice crop of black mission and kadota figs right now.  We go check the fig trees each day for ripe figs and try to find ways to keep the birds away.  This year some it seems that some of the birds have figured out how to get under the nets we put over the trees, so we're going to try adding hanging CD's and see if it deters some of them.  The CD's glint in the sun and maybe frighten away birds.

The nearly 100 degree temperatures this week have helped ripen tomatoes out in the gardens, so we have a lot to pick still.  Usually by this time of year the tomato harvest is winding down.  We've been spending  nights and days off canning and freezing extra tomatoes. Chris has been sun-drying tomatoes and figs on trays lately, too, since the weather has been warm.

Heirloom tomatoes--persimmon, Berti, manyel, Andrew Reinhart's Gold, Giant Belgium, Dagma's perfection and black prince (clockwise from upper right).  Figs are sun-drying in the background.

The next delivery date from the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club will be at our orchard on Friday, Sept. 23rd from 3:30-5:00. Orders must be sent in by 5:00 PM Friday, Sept. 16th.  Through the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club you can order local grass-fed, hormone free beef, lamb, and chicken, as well as eggs, honey and the Placer County Real Food Cookbook.  Orders are made online and then you choose one of three locations to pick up your order.  Locations are Otow Orchard (in Granite Bay), Confluence Kitchen (in Auburn) and Community Ink (in Truckee).

Nashi

We have many varieties of Asian pears (or nashi) ripe at the orchard now.  Asian pear varieties we have are hosui, (an early, juicy brown variety), yoi and shinko which are light brown, sweet, crisp and juicy.  We also have New Century and 20th Century Asian pears.  Both are larger round yellow varieties, with 20th Century being more green-yellow when ripe and very crisp.  Asian pears are supposed to be eaten when they're crisp like an apple, rather than soft like European pears.  They're very refreshing and juicy, especially if you eat them from the refrigerator on a hot day.  They can also be used fresh in salads or cooked like European pears and apples in pies and other desserts.

We still have lots of tomatoes coming in from the gardens, too.  This year heirloom tomatoes grew well in the unusual weather, so we have a lot more than usual.  If you need tomatoes for canning or freezing we still have a good supply.

Along with honey from bees at our orchard, we now have star thistle honey from Lincoln at the fruit stand, too.  

At the fruit stand we have:

• Asian Pear--Hosui, Kosui, Yoi, Shinko, New Century, 20th Century
  
• Plums--Casselman, Kelsey, Friar, Laroda
  
• European Pear--Bartlett 
• Apples--Red Delicious, Golden Delicious
  
• Figs--Kadota, Black Mission
• Grapes--Thompson
• Vegetables--tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, long beans, peppers, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, basil, oregano, mint
• Honey--from bees at our orchard, starthistle honey from Lincoln
• Eggs

Faye Elberta Peaches, Casselman Plums

New fruits at the orchard are Asian Pears, Faye Alberta peaches, Casselman plums, and fresh figs.   Casselman plums are purple-red on the outside and yellow-orange, juicy and tangy sweet on the inside.  They're the last major type of plum we pick at the orchard.  We're  getting towards the end of peach season with Faye Elbertas and moving on to more fall fruits with the first varieties of Asian pears (Hosui and Kikusui).  Bartlett pears have been picked, too.  We harvested a small supply of white Kadota figs and expect Black Mission figs a little later on.

In the gardens the tomatoes seem to be at their peak.  The tomatoes that hung hung green on the vines so long this summer are now ripening quickly.  The Fruit Stand is full of all types and sizes of tomatoes, including cherry, paste and heirloom varieties. 

Now is a good time to put in orders for tomatoes and peaches for canning or freezing.  We also have "seconds", which are damaged fruit and  tomatoes that sell for less, but don't look as nice and have spots that you may have to cut out.

Here's what's at the fruit stand now:

• Peaches--Faye Elberta, Alamar
• Plums--Casselman, Kelsey, Friar, Laroda, Eldorado
  
• Asian Pear--Hosui, Kikusui
• European Pear--Bartlett 
• Figs--Kadota
• Vegetables--tomatoes, eggplant, green beans, long beans, sweet peppers, zucchini, summer squash,  tomatillos, Swiss chard, basil, oregano, mint
• Eggs--from chickens at our orchard
• Honey--from bees at our orchard

Full in the Fruit Stand

We have so many varieties of plums right now that there's hardly space for them inside the fruit stand.  They all have  different flavor, texture, sweetness, and color.  Kelsey,  one of the varieties we've just started picking, is large, green and heart-shaped with a yellow inside.  Kelsey  plums are sweet and sour tasting while they're very green, then as they soften and start to turn yellow and then red they become sweeter and juicier.  Satsuma is a small sweet firm plum that's with red skin and flesh.  Black Amber and Friar are large, black-skinned and juicy with a yellow inside.  Santa Rosa is red-skinned, fragrant and tangy-sweet, while Laroda is purple-skinned and tangy-sweet.  Eldorado is small, and sweet even while firm, with a purple skin and dark yellow inside. 


Since the weather here has been cooler this year, blackberries are still in season.  Normally the berries have dried up by the middle to end of July, but this year the berries flowered and had fruit later.  


Eggplants, zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers are growing well in the gardens and thankfully the tomatoes have finally started ripening fast enough so that we can harvest more than a few a day.  We still have a limited amount of tomatoes compared to what we'd expect to have at this time of the summer.  Last year I complained about how late the tomato season started, but this year it's been a month later than that, so I think I should stop complaining.  At least now we have enough tomatoes to be able to put them out in the fruit stand.  


Here's what's at the fruit stand now:  

• Peaches--Suncrest, Gene Alberta, 49'er, Elegant Lady (all yellow freestone varieties); Sugar Lady,  Babcock, Silver Logan (all white freestone varieties)
• Plums--Kelsey, Black Amber, Friar, Satsuma,  Eldorado, Laroda, Santa Rosa
• Pluots--Dapple Dandy
• Blackberrries
• Vegetables--Cucumber (Japanese, lemon, Armenian), Eggplant (Ichiban, Listada de Gandia, Rosa Bianca), tomatoes, green beans (Kentucky Wonder),  long beans,  hot peppers, zucchini, summer squash, trombetta squash,  Swiss chard, basil, oregano, mint
• Eggs--from chickens at our orchard
• Honey--from bees at our orchard

Suncrest Peaches & White Peaches

A Suncrest Peach.

We now have Suncrest peaches ripe at the orchard.  Suncrest peaches are a sweet, juicy yellow heirloom peach that are difficult to find.  Since they don't ship well or keep for an extended period of time, they aren't sold in major grocery stores.  We can sell soft and ripe Suncrest at the fruit stand because the peaches are picked into boxes and brought directly to the fruit stand, there's no need for packing and shipping. 

Saving Suncrest peaches and his family farm is the subject of the David Mas Masumoto's book,  Epitaph for a Peach--Four Seasons on My Family Farm.  David Masumoto has written a lot of other good books related to his farm and his family history that are worth reading, too.

We also have a lot of white peaches at the fruit stand right now, including Babcock, Nectar, White Lady, Arctic White and Donut peaches.  White peaches have less acid than yellow peaches, so they have less tangy-ness and more sweetness comes through in their flavor.  Ripe white peaches are also difficult to ship, because they're very delicate and show damage easily.  

A Suncrest peach on the left, an Arctic White peach on the right.

Fruit Stand & Meat Buyers Club

The Massey Ferguson 135, parked in front of a Bartlett pear tree.  It still runs and gets used at the orchard.

Here's what's at the fruit stand now:

• Peaches--Flavor Crest, Red Haven, (yellow free-stone varieties); Babcock, White Lady, "Donut" type (white free-stone varieties)
• Plums--Santa Rosa, Frontier, Satsuma
• Blackberries
• Vegetables--zucchini, summer squash, green beans, eggplant, cucumbers (Japanese and Lemon), Swiss chard, herbs (basil, oregano, rosemary, mint)
• Eggs
• Local Honey--from bees at our orchard

The next delivery from the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club will be at our orchard from 3:30- 5:00 on Friday, July 22nd.  Orders need to be received online by Friday, July 15th at 5:00.  Through the Sierra Foothills Meat Buyers Club you can order local naturally grown pork and lamb, grass-fed beef, pastured poultry, eggs and honey.  The Placer County Real Food Cookbook can be ordered and delivered through the Meat Buyers Club, too.  Monthly deliveries are at our orchard in Granite Bay, at Community Ink in Truckee and at Confluence Kitchen in Auburn.

Orchard Update

A row of winter squash with buckwheat.

We have a lot of peaches and plums now.  The peaches tend to grow bigger and be more flavorful as we pass from the middle to later varieties of the summer. The peach varieties we're picking now are Red Haven and Flavor Crest.  We also picked the first blackberries this week, which illustrates how the unusually cool weather has affected our crops.  Usually blackberries have dried up and we're through picking them by this time. Out in the orchard the last of the pomegranate blossoms are flowering with red trumpet-like flowers,  the jujube have clusters of tiny yellow-green flowers and persimmon fruits are still small, green and hard on the trees.

In my garden this past week I cut down some of the buckwheat that was interplanted with the winter squash. I planted the buckwheat during the last few weeks of May, then planted the winter squash in the buckwheat seedlings at the beginning of June.  The buckwheat acts as both a cover crop and as a living mulch.  Every week or so I've been weeding the rows and  trimming any buckwheat that shades the squash seedlings too much.  The buckwheat stalks are laid down as mulch around the squash plants, and I leave some of the buckwheat growing if it's not going to interfere with the growth of the squash.  Throughout the season, the buckwheat resprouts and reseeds itself as the winter squash plants grow.  Now the squash plants are big enough that I shouldn't have to weed the rows anymore, because the squash will shade out weeds.

We're still waiting for a bigger tomato harvest.  So far each garden has produced only a few ripe tomatoes.  The first eggplants and cucumbers are ready from the gardens and with the cooler weather it looks like we'll be able to harvest beans for a while still.

Blenheim Apricots & Santa Rosa Plums

Black Beauty, Dark Green, Kusa, Success PM Straightneck & Goldy varieties of zucchini

We now have apricots and new varieties of plums and peaches ripe at the orchard, and zucchini is ready from the gardens. You can still pick up ume (Japanese plum), too.

Here's what's at the fruit stand now:

• Plums--Santa Rosa, red beaut, Frontier
  
• Peaches--Bon Jour, Flavor Crest (yellow free-stone varieties)
  
• Apricots--Patterson, Blenheim
• Oranges--Valencia (juice oranges)
• Vegetables--zucchini, Swiss chard, red onions and herbs (basil, rosemary, oregano, mint)
  
• Local Honey--(from bees living at our orchard)
• Eggs

Ume

As the ume ripen, they have a pink blush, then turn yellow.

We have a supply of fresh ume at the fruit stand now.   Ume is a small sour type of Japanese plum that is preserved to make umeboshi and other types of Japanese pickles and condiments. Umeboshi (pickled ume) are sometimes put in the center of rice balls (onigiri).  Ume is very fragrant, sour, sweet and usually salty. Ume fruit is actually more closely related to an apricot than a plum, and the tree is the first of the year to blossom in January. 

Helen makes umeboshi most every year using a process that involves pressing the fruits and salt in a container with a heavy weight on top,  drying the preserved ume in the sun on a cloth for a few days and then putting them in liquid again with purple shiso (perilla).  Customers who have ordered ume in past years have brought us samples of what they've made, too.  We've gotten to taste ume pickled in different ways, ume flavored miso, ginger preserved in ume pickling juice (beni shoga), and ume flavored shoyu, all of which are very delicious.   Most years we sell out of ume so we don't write about it on the website, but this year our neighbors the Koyamas brought us a lot from their trees, so we have enough to mention.  If you want to order ume, you can call the orchard at (916) 791-1656 or stop by the fruit stand.

Red Beauts and Biwa

The first plums of the season are finally ready.  Red Beaut plums are the first plums of all the varieties in the orchard to ripen.  As you can see in photo of the Red Beaut at the left, they're red with slight mottling on the skin and yellow and juicy inside. 

The loquat (or biwa) are ready now, too.  Loquats are a sweet yellow-orange tropical fruits that grow in bunches on the tree.  In the center are two smooth dome-shaped brown seeds that split apart.  Loquats are hard to find fresh, but you can find them canned at Asian markets.

Viviano and a loquat

In the garden the first zucchinis are almost ready, so we should have enough to pick soon.  

At the fruit stand we have cherries, Red Beaut plums, loquats, pink and yellow grapefruit, Valencia oranges, Swiss chard, herbs (oregano, mint, rosemary), honey from bees at the orchard and eggs.

Cherries

The first cherries are ready at the orchard.  These are the first new fruits of the summer season.  At the fruit stand you can find both red and yellow Royal Anne cherries in limited supplies.

We still have Valencia oranges, white grapefruit, Swiss chard, fresh herbs, honey and eggs, too.