Scenes from the past week:

The transition from fresh flowers to dried. The 2024 CSA flower season has come to an end. Thanks to all those who got a bouquet! There are still some fresh flowers out in the field, but this week, the flower team will need to spend some time with the dried flowers to make sure we have wreaths ready for the Hoes Down on Saturday. After that, we can turn our focus to making wreaths and mixed bouquets for CSA members, farmers markets, and stores!

Pomegranates! Almost ready to start harvesting.

An insectary row sprouting between rows of winter crops. A row of buckwheat between two rows of rutabaga in this particular picture. We often grow buckwheat or a mix of buckwheat, clover, and cowpeas, among other things between rows of crops to attract many beneficial insects that will eat the non-beneficial insects.

Harvesting dried crops with the combine. This photo shows the combine in the red popcorn.

More tomatoes? We’ve had a prolific heirloom tomato crop this year. We planted less than usual, only two blocks instead of three, and we’ve gotten much more than we expected! We’re still picking fruit from the first block, planted in late March that we’ve been harvesting from since July! The plants are looking a little ragged and tired, but there still is lots of green fruit and ready to harvest tomatoes! We have started taking down some rows of the other types of tomatoes from the first plantings, which involves cutting the twine, lifting out stakes, and rolling up drip tape.

The pepper shade cloth is gone! We put it up to protect the peppers from the harsh summer heat, but as the sun becomes much less intense, they don’t need the protection. Pepper production took a dip so it was time to take down the cloth and pull up the posts.

But we do have a new addition to the landscape! On Sunday, the Hoes Down Hay Fort was designed and built by some seasoned pros (Rye, Jeff Main & Zach Main, Andrew, and Ken Muller), with the aid of the Esparto High wrestling team, Naoki, and several of Zach’s Cal Fire crew. As always, they did a great job; you’ll have to come check it out in person! We hope you can join us on October 5th for the Hoes Down.

Elaine Swiedler, CSA Manager