The transition from April to May brings warmer weather, often ushered in, as is the case this Monday morning by fiercely strong winds. The hills dry out and transition from green to brown. It’s a notoriously busy month for us as we prepare for summer.
What’s keeping us busy? Definitely a lot of irrigation, like in the photo above of the apricot orchard. That’s just one of many activities. Below is a brief video to capture just some of the activities happening late morning last Thursday, accompanied by a unique soundtrack:
Yes, that cacophony of noise really is what it sounds like when you stand in the sheep pen for a minute and a half!
What’s happening in these little snippets?
Sheep shearing! Rye removed the thick, wooly fleece from around 100 adult sheep, which greatly appreciate the haircut in advance of the warmer weather ahead. The wool is sent off to be turned into yarn, which is available on our web store. For a more detailed description of sheep shearing, check out this rundown. The video shows a sped up version, but the real thing takes at least a few minutes, more if the sheep doesn’t cooperate. That really adds up over all those sheep. It is hot, hard work, not easy on the back!
Almonds! They’ll be on the trees until late August or early September. But you don’t need to wait until then – we’ve got plenty of last year’s almonds (candied and raw) and almond butter (crunchy or creamy) available.
The summer flowers are getting some compost and we’re laying drip tape.
Corn!
Harvesting asparagus for last week’s CSA boxes; it’s another job that can be tough on your back. Check out the special harvest knives. You’ll notice that they don’t grab all of the spears – spears that have gone to flower are cut off but aren’t picked up and bunched.
The spring flowers: snapdragons and godetia.
Carrots! We had a gap in our carrot plantings but the new field is ready and will be included in this week’s CSA boxes.
The lettuce team harvesting among a sea of lettuce and various brassicas (cabbage, kale, etc.). The hills already look less green since I filmed that! But not the contents of our boxes!
Elaine Swiedler, CSA Manager
