Eatwell Farm News

Pasture Raised Egg Lovers... Tis' the Season to Rejoice.

Today egg production exceeded what we need to satisfy the needs of our current egg subscribers. The new flocks production is finally happening. Many new subscribers have wanted to increase their eggs from the 6 per box we have limited them to.

This flock should have been at this level of production six weeks ago. I am not sure what caused the delay. I have spoken with several other farmers who experienced delays also.

To order more eggs with your Eatwell Box please wait until Molly sends out an email to everyone in January. We will have a better idea by then exactly how many extra we have per week to share.

As the days lengthen more eggs will be produced with a peak in May.

As soon as we get back to work in January we will move the chickens to next years 20 acre pasture. they are spending their Festivus on last springs strawberry beds.

Special Festivus Soda Deal at The Market.

It has been six months since Lorraine's debut at the market with her lacto fermented sodas. They are natural, pro-biotic and delicious. Each week she has had new flavors and they just keep getting better. She is now bottling them at the market so you can take them home. Last week we made our first order with the bottle distributor in San Leandro. We can now offer the sodas in the bottles at a much better price. From now on they will be $5 plus $1 for the bottle but for this Saturday only Lorraine is charging Just $5 with the bottle.

These soda make a great non alcoholic alternative during the holiday season. They are a unique gift and party favor. She will have all the flavors on tap to drink at the market and you will be able to by bottles from her stand and the Eatwell stand also. She will announce the flavors on her blog and facebook page (drinkwell soda)  on Friday.

Our Farm stand at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market will be bulging with extra holiday produce and gifts. There will be a bin of sweet potatoes and lots of vegetables and  herbs. Last minute farm gifts can be picked up also. We will have lots of eggs as the chickens have picked up on production. Don't forget to pick up a bag of our freshly milled flour, great for pizza, bread and pancakes.

Thank you all for your support and please say hello at the market.

Festivus Holiday Newsletter

Those of you getting your box today and tomorrow please make sure to pick up a newsletter. This weeks is a two page Festivus special. Lots of recipes and news from the farm.

Chicken Tower

Our internet connection failed last Wednesday morning. Jeff came out and had to install a new microwave antenna. It is mounted on the highest point, on top of our chicken feed tower. It also happened to be very cold, especially up 20+ feet in the air.

Our phones and internet access come with this link to the outside world. We are only 3 miles from the freeway but there is no DSL, we might as well be in the boonies. If the internet connection goes down all the phone calls come directly to my cell phone so hopefully everyone who wanted to managed to contact us.

Grain CSA Update

These bags contain our crops of oats, barley and triticale. The oats and barley are awaiting time on the huller. This will remove the hull around the grain which is inedible. The triticale is being fed to the chickens as it has a high protein and lots of essential amino acids. Also in this storage facility is our popcorn, farro and sweet potatoes. We are lucky to be able to rent some space in a building belonging to our friends Chip and Rachel in Grimes.

Clean Lettuce Beds

We refer to 'clean beds' as ones with very few weeds. The brush hoe which we imported from Switzerland three years ago is still proving to be invaluable. These beds have three varieties on each. They are the winter hardy ones we sow for harvest in late January and February when rains can water log many varieties. These ones 'drain' well and survive heavy rain.

Saving Water and Taking Trash to The Dump

We use drip lines to save water and grow better crops of tomatoes, melons, etc. But the tape is made from virgin plastic and even though we recover it and get at least two uses it does have to go to the dump. The tape is a magnet for gophers and ground squirrels. They love to chew on it and drink the water. We have a plan to make a dent in their numbers this coming spring which we hope will increase the life of our drip tape.

Unfortunately there is no tape recycling facility near us. If more growers used this tape then, we are told, there would build one. So in the meantime the dump, or as our friend Greg calls it, the sanitary landfill, is our option. Greg is a great friend of the farm, he helped us build the soil pad for our house.

Garbanzo Beans

We sowed these last Saturday hoping for some nice rain to water them in. Instead we have had little rain and lots of cold. The seed will be fine, it just needs a drink. I am looking to expand the options for the Grain CSA. These will be harvested next May or June.

I have never grown these before so this is quite exciting. I love Humus.

A Mandarin Tree On Ice

This is a rare sight, thankfully. I turned on the irrigation pump at 8 pm last night as it was already close to freezing. The ice protects the tree from the extreme cold of the air. As the water freezes and changes state from liquid to solid it gives up its latent heat, (remember those physics lessons way back when).

The water continues to be applied as I write this at 9.30 am. We must apply more water until all the ice melts.

It is forecast to be this cold again tonight and then warm up to freezing for Wednesday night. That is good news as the more days of freeze we have has a cumulative effect on the tree and fruit. Think warm thoughts.

Browsing The Seed Catalogs

It is time to plan many of the crops that we will plant on the farm next year. The first tomatoes will be sown in January and that month will be upon us soon.
I am particularly interested in the large tasty pear tomatoes. We have a grown a very popular pear variety called ‘New Zealand Pink Paste’. Unfortunately this variety crossed with all and sundry so it has been very hard to maintain a true selection of the variety. These two varieties Red Pear Piriform and Japanese Black Trifele are both heirlooms offered by Johnny’s Selected Seeds from Maine.
I am hoping that they will combine the great flavor of an heirloom and the lasting power of a Roma. We all the love the heirlooms but they are fragile especially when we pick them ripe at the peak of their flavor.
I never tire of growing tomatoes, they are a great summer delight. Rest assured there will be all the favorite cherry and other tomatoes in your box. Take a look at the catalog for yourself…. www.johnnyseeds.com   ...Nigel