DRYING OUT

 

      After nearly a month of daily rain, California is happy to see the sun and get a chance to dry out a bit.  Our orchard is like a wet sponge and the water keeps dripping out of it.  We have puddles and rivulets. We are careful to drive on solid ground.   Cleaning up the downed eucalyptus trees is taking much of our time.  The horse stall that collapsed in the high winds last week will need to be cleaned up.  Fortunately, there was no horse to occupying the facility.  Sadly, a big branch on our one loquat tree  broke off in the high winds. 😢

     We have harvested the last of the mandarins.  Gradually we are finding grapefruit and oranges ready to come off the trees.  Lemons are still hanging on tight.  Our own produce is  low but we are helping a some local farmers sell their Meyer lemons, oranges and mandarins.

      Hoshigaki continues to be available for farm pick up and mail orders.   We are  still processing the last few and have stored the rest in the freezer.  They will keep for a year but will probably be all sold out by then.  You can come to the farm stand to buy hoshigaki or for mail orders you can print out the mail order form and send it to us with a check

     As our season slows down the attention of the orchard turns to planting and renewal.  Scion wood is being collected for several varieties of plums, apricots, persimmons, apples, and pears that we want to graft.  I have just ordered garden seeds.  We will  start to grow some of our favorite summer vegetables by seed in the hot house.  

      Since we have less variety to offer, we will be starting modified hours at the beginning of February.  Tu, Wed, Thurs:  11:30 to 1:30; Fri and Sat 10:00 to 6:00;  Sun: 11 to 5.  Closed on Mondays. Normally we keep these modified hours till sometime in May.  If you must come to the farm stand outside of these hours you are welcome to call me. (Chris:  916-300-0720). Often times we are at the farm stand or someplace on the farm.

Horse stall damaged by wind.

White ume  (Japanese plum) blossom.

Pink ume blossom.

 

 

 

 

 

REGULAR  SEASON HOURS:

 

TUESDAY THRU SATURDAY  10:00  TO  6:00

                            SUNDAY      11:00 TO 5:00

CLOSED ON MONDAYS

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

Hoshigaki:  These are whole dried persimmons.  They were hand massages while they dried over a period of four to 8 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.  You may purchase these at our farm stand or order them using our  mail order form .

Satsuma Mandarins:  Easy to peel, sweet and juicy.  Very few seeds this year. 

Kiwi:  Fuzzy brown fruit with green interior and strawberry like flavor.  At this time they are firm and tart.

Honey 🍯 from bees 🐝 at Otow Orchard. Bee pollen from bees 🐝 at Otow Orchard.

⚘ Calendula  Salve and Lip Balm 

Walnuts:  English (limited supply)

Dehydrated mandarins.

 

Here is what we have from other producers:

Top O' the Hill Apiary in Granite Bay: Honey🍯. Top of the Hill Apiary also has bees wax 🐝.

La Bella Vito Farm in Loomis will bring us fresh🥚 eggs from pastured 🐔🐔chickens when the chickens start to produce again. (Please call ahead.)

Pleasant Hill Farm in Newcastle (no spray):  Cara Cara oranges and Navel oranges

Mihara Farm in Newcastle:  Satsuma mandarins are sweet and easy to peel.

Lupi Farm in Granite Bay (no spray): Meyer Lemons: These are fragrant and tasty lemons.  They are a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange.   They are favored because they are lower in acidity and  sweeter than the regular lemon.

Kijani Farm in Granite Bay  (organic practices):  Butternut squash.

A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR CUSTOMERS

     It was  sort of a joke to say our farming was faith based.  Most of our crops were on the light side all of 2022.  We thought we might be looking at negative numbers for the year.  Now that we can look at the figures for the whole year, we see that we did make some money.  So a big thank you to all our faithful and wonderful customers 💑.  In all honesty,  it is you who make it possible for  us to continue farming.  So let the new year begin.  🌈  💝

 

       The days are getting longer.  Let's hope the chickens have taken note.  The egg farmer has not had enough eggs to sell for over 2 months, yet he continues to feed and care for those chickens. 🐔 He is a kind and considerate farmer.  Let's hope the chickens reward him for his care and consideration while they seemed to be taking a long winter vacation. Think eggs:  🥚🥚🥚🥚

 

        With an outlook of 10 days of on and off rain 🌦 we are happy and at the same time a little  worried.  Around the farm, we see water standing in big and small puddles and in other places we see rivulets making their way to the creek below our farm. We have captured water in buckets and barrels for washing tools and watering a few plants near the farm stand.  In the past, I only collected rain water in February or March.  But nowadays I can't know for sure that there will be rain in those months. Our farm pond is overflowing and we hope the rocks keep the erosion in control. In the eucalyptus grove near the creek, one tall old tree uprooted it self.  The attempt to move it out of the grove was abandoned when tractor tires immediately began to sink.  That task will have to wait till the ground stabilizes.

       We are sometimes confused by the weather mother nature has been handing out lately.  The loquat tree has bloomed for the second time since its 2022 crop was harvested in May 2022.  Every time it gets cold for a while then warms up, the tree thinks it is time to bloom.   I expect this will happen one or two more times before the normal harvest time in late May.

 

        The farm stand is still open with regular season hours.  We have a few very good items.  Satsuma mandarins, Asian pears, hoshigaki and honey.  Fuyu persimmons are out of season now.  The ones we have are very soft.  Some people like using them in smoothies, or on their cereal.  They can also be substituted for the soft hachiya persimmon if you want to use them in baking.

REGULAR  SEASON HOURS:

TUESDAY THRU SATURDAY  10:00  TO  6:00

                            SUNDAY      11:00 TO 5:00

CLOSED ON MONDAYS

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

Hoshigaki:  These are whole dried persimmons.  They were hand massages while they dried over a period of four to 8 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.  You may purchase these at our farm stand or order them using our  mail order form .

Satsuma Mandarins:  Easy to peel, sweet and juicy.  Very few seeds this year. 

Kiwi:  Fuzzy brown fruit with green interior and strawberry like flavor.  At this time they are firm and tart.

Okusankichi Asian Pears:  Generally large crisp and juicy.  Refreshingly sweet. A good keeper for winter enjoyment.

Maru:  Brown fleshed persimmon.  Sweet if pollinated. Can be eaten hard or soft.  These are often partially sweet.

Vodka Persimmons:  These are Hyakume or Maru persimmons that did not pollinate.  We have sweetened them with vodka. They may be eaten firm or soft.

Hachiya: Sold out  😢

Gyombo: Sold out  😞

Fuyu persimmons: Only very soft ones are available.

Frozen persimmon pulp:  Sold out

Red pomegranates:  Deep red arils. (Limited supply.  Many cracked ones.)

Honey 🍯 from bees 🐝 at Otow Orchard. Bee pollen from bees 🐝 at Otow Orchard 

⚘ Calendula  Salve and Lip Balm 

Walnuts:  English (limited supply)

Dried fruit: jujube, fuyu persimmons, and figs.

 

Here is what we have from other producers:

Top O' the Hill Apiary in Granite Bay: Honey🍯. Top of the Hill Apiary also has bees wax 🐝.

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

Tudsbury Orchard  in Loomis:  Satsuma mandarins in the bag.

Lupi Farm in Granite Bay (no spray): Meyer Lemons: These are fragrant and tasty lemons.  They are a cross between a lemon and a mandarin orange.   They are favored because they are lower in acdidity and  sweeter than the regular lemon.