Thumpin' Watermelons

We've all seen it, whether at the grocery store or the farmers' market - people thumping, tapping, flicking, sniffing, or otherwise inspecting watermelons trying to tell if they're ripe or not. I always ask people what they're listening for, because to me, it all kind of sounds the same. According to the experts, a ripe watermelon should sound hollow when you thump it. What hollow sounds like, though, seems a bit subjective.



I don't mind if you thump our melons (just don't thump too hard because it might pop!), but you can rest assured knowing that we pick all our watermelons completely ripe. Watermelons actually have a cool little built-in indicator that tells you exactly when each individual melon should be picked. Next to where the stem connects to the melon, there is a little tendril that is bright green throughout the development of the fruit. Picture a little, green pig's tail. Once the melon is ripe, the tendril immediately dries up and turns brown and brittle. Here's a picture of a dried tendril:



Once the tendril dries, the melons have to be cut from the vine - they don't slip off, so you don't need to look for melons that have no stem. I've also heard that a ripe melon will show sugar crystals if you nick the skin, but I haven't tested that hypothesis yet. I'll let you know what I find once I do.

Other interesting watermelon facts:

Watermelons don't ripen once they are picked.

Watermelons are extremely fragile when fully ripe. They will split, pop, or crack if handled too roughly. That means that ripe watermelons really don't work with the conventional food/grocery business in which produce is handled a lot, shipped long distances, and stored for periods of time. Watermelons in your average grocery store have to be picked under-ripe in order to make it to their destinations in one piece. The upside is attractive watermelons in the supermarket. The downside is watermelons that are mealy and don't taste very good.

If watermelons are handled too roughly, it ruins the texture, making them mealy or mushy. Be warned that if you see your watermelon purveyor dropping boxes of melons or letting them bounce around, they might be questionable.

Despite all these warnings, you can 100% trust our watermelons. If, by some fluke of nature, you end up with a melon that is sub par, we'll always give you another one. That's called integrity.

Adventures in Urban Farming

Ah, heat. Beloved, yearned for, much anticipated heat. A little bit of heat right when we need it makes everything feel so much better. A season can go from dismal and disappointing to feeling pretty darn ok. Our watermelons and ambrosia cantaloupes have taken this little heat wave and said, "Thank you very much! We're gonna sweeten up just like that and, bam, we're done!"

Our melons are planted at Kick Ranch, our other chunk of land just down the road from us, so getting the melons picked and moved to the farm for safe keeping and selling at the Roadside Stand took some creative thinking. Last year, we learned that Jeff's Xterra SUV makes a fine watermelon-mobile - we carefully pile them in the back of the car in one massive mound of melons and drive as carefully as possible so as not to turn our beautiful melon pile into an exploded mess of watermelon juice. Tonight, we filled the car to the brim with melons and then realized that we somehow still had to fit the bins of just picked cucumbers into the car. Jeff, always one to think outside of the box (or car), decided they'd have to go on the roof. So, imagine, a Nissan Xterra filled to the gills with fragile, perfectly ripe and ready to pop watermelons, with bins of cucumbers perched on the roof. I'm happy to report that we made the two mile drive home safely, albeit slowly, and weren't even stopped by any police officers and required to explain why we had a car full of melons and cucumbers on the roof.

Sometimes farming is ridiculously fun.

I could do without the rain...

It's September 19th and it's raining. I could really do without this. I'm tired from working seven days a week, 12 hours a day all year long. I'm tired from fighting to save every plant that we put in the ground. I'm tired of worrying about whether we will make enough money to pay our bills and even be able to pay off the costs of farming for this year and have enough to start the farm next year. This has been a year that could dissuade less courageous farmers from ever farming again. We won't be dissuaded, though. We will keep working hard to grow our crops to healthy fruition. We will plant for the Fall, Winter, and Spring. We'll figure out a way to fund the farm and maybe even find a way to provide more substantially for ourselves. No one ever said farming was easy. When so much depends on factors entirely out of our control, such as the weather, there's a point when you have to accept whatever happens in any given year. I have to accept that we have done our best...we have put every minute of our time for the past however long into our farm and what happens, well it happens. Hopefully next year will be better.

I can moan and groan about how challenging this year has been, but we're not facing as dire a situation as many of those in Sonoma County's grape industry. We can compensate for failed crops or unusual, inconsistent weather with planting more or different things throughout the year. The grape growers, however, only have one crop and everything depends on it. Grapes don't grow themselves - they cost a lot in labor and other inputs and when the grape crop is not what it needs to be, well they still have to pay all those costs. So when we gripe about the vineyards and say that vineyards are just a get rich quick scheme, we should remember that when there is a year of failure, it's dismal for them.

As it rains, say a prayer and think good thoughts for the farmers and grape growers. We all need it.

Good Food IS Medicine

When I'm selling our veggies, you'll frequently hear me touting the nutritional benefits of our just picked, naturally grown produce. I say stuff about vitamins, minerals, phyto-nutrients, antioxidants, and omegas. I say Eating good food is preventative medicine!" over and over and over. When I make this claim, it's not just a sales pitch. I believe, I know that food is medicine because I've seen it heal better than any pharmaceutical and almost any procedure. Food can go a long way toward healing conditions that are deemed incurable. Fresh, clean food does amazing work...and it tastes incredible to boot.

I consider myself an expert on this subject because I have watched someone come back from the worst of worst case scenarios to a place that no one thought possible, in large part because of nutrition. My older brother, when he was twenty-five and on the cusp of marriage and law school, was hit by a car while riding his bike out in the West County. Hit from behind at 55 mph, he didn't stand much of a chance against that big, hard car, regardless of his strong physical condition and the helmet on his head. His brain was broken - broken badly. They said he wouldn't survive the night. When he did, they said he wouldn't survive the week. After that, they said he wouldn't feel or move or eat or talk or express how he felt. And he didn't for pretty much as long as he was in the hospital. But once my parents, my faithful, courageous parents, brought him home, he started to improve.

Once he was home, my Mom started feeding him real food. No more soy and sugar based formula received through a tube - only real, organic, vegetables and proteins. He started getting the meanest green smoothie in Northern California, with more kale, chard, and other super greens than you could imagine. He started getting real vitamins in shapes and forms that our bodies can recognize - in carrots, broccoli, peppers, butternut squash, and healthy grass fed meats. Soon after he started getting real food through a tube, he was eating the real food through his mouth by means of his own fork and hand. The physical practice of eating helped retrain his body to move in controlled ways, which helped his body get stronger and more controllable. As he has eaten probably an elephant's weight in kale, his mind has become quicker, more focused, and he has been able to express himself more. The first way he really expressed himself since being hurt was to express how much he loves food and eating. Without a doubt, food seems to brings him more joy in his still very limited and challenged life than anything else.

Now, a few years after his love affair with food was renewed, my brother can talk, eat, move, express, and almost walk. And they said he would never do any of it. They also thought that the human body doesn't care what kind of nutrition you put in it. Some people, no matter how smart, can be wrong.

Isn't it ironic that they serve some of the most toxic, shabby, and least nutritious food to sick people in hospitals? The people who need it most are the last to receive real, nutritious, medicinally powerful food. Kids and senior citizens also get left behind when it comes to having ready access to fresh, organic food- fruit and produce, especially. So, as it stands, in our society, the most at-risk members of our population receive the worst and most deadly food. Because these groups typically have more susceptible immune systems, they get sick or sicker and then end up costing society more in the long run. How's that for unintended consequences? Real food also has the capacity to bring joy to people, especially the elderly and sick, and joy is the most powerful healer there is. I have elderly customers who live for the taste of good tomatoes every Summer because those tomatoes take them back to special times and places and help them to feel young.

We justify the status quo by saying that organic, local food is too expensive. It's low on the totem pole of priorities, especially in hospitals. But I think, I really do believe, that if we invested more money in proper nutrition, we would have to spend far less in the long run on pharmaceuticals, surgeries, therapists, and fad diets. My belief in the importance of accessible and affordable real, clean food is one of the reasons why I will continue to farm no matter how challenging. Maybe someday farmers will earn a fraction of all that money going to the drug companies who thrive on people's sickness and dependence on their products. I'm pretty sure my kale can't kill you if you use it too much and the side effects, well, they're minimal.

Hooray for Jimmy Nardello!

Whoever he was, Jimmy Nardello must have been quite a guy to have such an awesome pepper named after him. I really like sweet peppers raw, but, frankly, I'm rather ambivalent towards roasted peppers and other cooked interpretations. Grilled Jimmy Nardello peppers, on the other hand, are downright phenomenal. They are sweet and tangy - almost spicy without being hot - and melt in your mouth. I like to toss the whole peppers with a teensy bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and toss on the grill. Give them ten minutes, tops, and they're ready to go. You can eat them right off the grill or use the peppers as an ingredient (such as a topping on grilled pizza like Jeff and I are doing tonight). Having a party? Feature grilled Jimmy Nardellos on your local and seasonal antipasto platter and you'll knock your guests socks off.

Basil, Melons, and Making Lemonade

Every week, someone at the Farmers' Market asks me the best way to keep basil. I always tell them to treat basil like flowers and put it in a vase or glass of water in a sunny spot in their kitchen. Kept like this, basil will last for weeks (literally, weeks!) and will actually start to grow again, eventually sprouting roots from the stems. If you're so inclined, you can go ahead and plant your newly rooted basil and keep it going in the garden. I have had the same bunch of basil in our kitchen for about three weeks now and the roots have been growing like crazy for about the last 10 days. Here's a picture to see what I mean....


Other news....

We have melons! Jeff impresses me with his farming abilities on a regular basis. His scientific knowledge (gained by his university level plant science education) combined with his years of hands on experience and his unbelievable ability to intuitively know what plants need (green thumb!) make him an extremely competent grower. His latest triumph is his melon patch. I'm uber picky about my melons...they have to be perfect or else I'm not really a melon fan. That said, Jeff's melons are the best I have ever had. Perfectly sweet, tender, not over or under ripe, and with a consistency like the perfect mango. Last week, I raved about our melons in my weekly farmers' market email and people flocked to our booth at the Market to try a melon for themselves. The day after the Market, I received an email from a friend/customer that informed me that the melon was so sweet and juicy that juice dripped onto his shirt. He told me that I should really warn people about the likelihood of that happening : ) Nothing makes me happier than when our customers enjoy our produce as much as I do.

At this point, it's no secret that Sonoma County growers are dealing with the coolest season on record. A colder than normal Summer season is challenging since so many local farmers plan to make the bulk of their income in the Summer months, but it's not the end of the world for Redwood Empire Farm. Over the last couple of years, we have moved toward being a year round farm. Summer is only one of the seasons and, with our system, we are able to adapt and try to make up for the dismal and minimal Summer season with booming harvests in the other seasons of the year. To that end, I've been seeding broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, roots, and lettuce with gusto. Indian Summer or not, we're going to have a good Fall.

The delayed harvest of tomatoes afforded us the opportunity to get our of town for two whole nights a couple weeks ago. We headed to Downieville, which is Jeff's favorite place in the whole wide world. Downieville, which is about 40 miles north east of Grass Valley, is a very rustic gold mining town and is one of California's meccas for mountain biking. We camped out, rode our bikes, and relaxed! It's incredible how a short break from work can put everything back into the right perspective. Here are a couple photos from our adventure...

Jeff panning for gold. Yes, he really did pan for gold by his own volition. I could hardly believe it. Unfortunately, he didn't strike it rich. I was shocked and disappointed.

Here I am reading next to the rushing creek. You can call me the librarian of Downieville.

Lastly, since the blog entry in which I detailed the difficulties of this Summer, friends, family, and customers have expressed their concern for us. The interest and support means so much to Jeff and myself. Let me assure everyone, though, that we're not quitters. We will continue to farm because we are farmers and that is what we do. We will adjust to the changing climate and circumstances and we will be successful. And right now, I'm still getting to live my dream. I get to work outside doing meaningful and fulfilling work with my best friend and love and am able to work on building the foundation for our future and that of our family. And we have successfully provided food for our 40 family CSA despite the crappy weather. I don't think that adds up to failure...not one bit.

Is it August or March?

We're reaching an impasse. This season is starting to feel like a disaster. It's August 3rd and here, in Santa Rosa, these days we're lucky to break 80 degrees. We have fog until noon and then a cool afternoon sea breeze that drops the temperature immediately. Our tomatoes are sitting there shivering, conserving the energy they should be putting into ripening fruit just to keep them alive. Melons are cracking before they ripen because we haven't had the heat needed to up their sugar and ripen them, so the melons actually outgrow themselves and explode. Don't get me started on this year's ongoing battle to get cucumbers to grow successfully - yet again, not enough heat for the plants to thrive and more bugs this year than animals at the zoo.

Luther Burbank once declared Santa Rosa to be the most ideal place for growing things in the whole world. I'm afraid that's no longer the case. The weather has become so irregular that Santa Rosa no longer seems to be an ideal place for growing heat loving Summer crops, of which we (try) to grow so many. Hopefully we'll get some heat eventually this Summer or Fall, but it's getting awfully late in the season to still be in the red. I wish I could say that Jeff and I didn't depend on the income we earn from our farm, but we really do depend on that income. Farming is both of our full time jobs and we both put in 80+ hours a week. We are pretty frugal folks and certainly don't require riches to feel adequately compensated, but as of today, we have put more cash into the farm in the form of soil amendments, equipment, irrigation, tools, plastic mulch, seed, rent, utilities, and insurance than we have gotten out. We have a lot riding on the outcome of this growing season, our future business development depends on us being able to make enough to fund our next step forward. You may be asking why we always feel the need to be moving forward. The answer is this : we want to constantly move forward because we want to constantly get better at doing our job, which is growing real food for people to eat. We believe in the importance of what we do, for our community, our nation, and ourselves, and want to do it to the best of our abilities. To reach our potential as farmers, we need to improve at consistently growing large quantities of high quality produce, which, first and foremost, requires that we be able to sustain ourselves in our daily living, which allows us to operate a sustainable farm.

I don't mean to be dire, but something needs to change. We either need the local weather to become more consistently warm and dry in the late Spring and Summer months, or we need to farm in a climate that is more suited to our needs, or we need to make a large financial investment in greenhouses and other season extending and stabilizing systems. I really hope the weather turns around soon and we can finish the season in real style. Keep your fingers crossed for us and keep eating those Redwood Empire Farm veggies.