Eatwell Farm News

Lavender Honey

Gary has moved his hives into the lavender field. He has put clean comb into the supers. In about a month, he will remove the supers and collect the lavender honey. The bees go crazy in the lavender! They just love it. We sometimes have to shake the bunches of lavender that we harvest to remove the bees. They are so busy and focused that they rarely sting us.

Eatwell Farm green roof farm house... Fernando explains the waterpoof layer.

Great Solstice Party!

  A big thank you to all of you who came out and enjoyed the farm last weekend. The weather was perfect to enjoy the farm (not too hot). We harvested garlic and made some impressive garlic braids.
  Andrew and Eric cooked up some mean burgers on the grill. Much of Lorraine’s Drinkwell Softers were enjoyed, as well as just a little home brew.
  We will be having more sleepovers throughout the summer (see the Member Events page on the website). They are a great was to come to the farm, relax and take a good, long look at where your food is grown. Don’t just believe what I write in the newsletter, come see it for yourself!

Thank You… Nigel.

Drinkwell Softers on sale at Rainbow Grocery next week

The empties left after our Solstice Party here on the farm last Saturday. Lorraine provided samples for us all to enjoy. These will go on sale at Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco next week.

You may have heard about Kombucha drinks coming in at well over 0.5% alcohol. We have had ours tested and all but one came in at under 0.45%. The only batch that failed was under suspicion and was tested to identify a problem.  

We are very excited because our process, lacto fermentation, produces lactic acid which allows us to use fine, more subtle flavors such as lavender and Rose Geranium.

Please ask for Drinkwell Softers where you shop.Stores do respond to customer requests.

Here is Lorraine's post from her facebook page...

Whole Foods has announced they are pulling many kombuchas due to high alcohol. For our own peace of mind we had Drinkwell tested, all but one tested under .45%. I wasn't happy with the problem batch and had already decided to dump it even before testing, but wanted to see where it would land. We will have random batches tested to make sure Drinkwell Softers are a probiotic beverage without the alcohol!

Solstice Party... How to braid garlic farmer style.

Chicken Patio Misters

In preparation for the hot summer days of July and August we tested and changed the filters on the misting system of each of our five mobile chicken houses. Each one hooks up to an irrigation valve and it is turned on once the temperature tops 95 F. The misters are set to cover the roof  and out from the house, it is a sight to see when working. It reduces the temperature in and around the house by 10+ F.

The shade cloth is also deployed, so with the two heat protecting measure we have found that the stress on the girls is much reduced. The best way to gauge stress is how many eggs they lay, if the the number does not drop on a hot day they we are doing our job right.

Go Girls.

The Feet of Culinary Institute Students and head of Wheat.

This artful photo was taken by our son Andrew. We hosted about twenty five students from the Culinary Institute last Monday. Their task was to visit the farm, see what is in season and next Thursday serve a meal with what we have to offer.

So we looked at all the crops that were at harvest of close to it. We are hoping to be able to harvest wheat, mill it and have it for them. If this does not work out we can supply some of last years crop. They tasted apricots, peaches, mulberries (loved those) and many other crops.

It was a thrill for me to see such excited young people on the farm. They were full of ideas and I am excited to taste their meal.

Green Garbanzo Bean Harvest

I take delight in throwing a curve ball with our Eatwell Boxes every now and again. This crop is not one most people have eaten in its green immature stage. Jose, the farm foreman, was very excited when we planted the seeds last November. He likes them boiled in salted water for five minutes then shelled and eat with chili sauce.

We had hoped to put some in everyone's box this week, unfortunately it took much longer to pick them that we anticipated and we ran out of time. Only Wednesday people got some. Next week we will put them in Thursday boxes, promise.

Let us know if you like them.

Solid Set Sprinklers

We use a great deal of water to grow the produce for our Eatwell Boxes. We also go to great lengths to minimize our use. Water saving systems cost money but can save us money and conserve a very valuable resource for us all. We have almost completed the installation of a sprinkler system in the orchard.

We chose this type as it gives us good coverage over the orchard floor, saves water and gets the pipes away from damage by the mower, weed whacker and hoes. It was first used locally by Russ Lester at Dixon Ridge Farm on 220 acres of Walnuts. Russ raved about it to me so we gave it a try on one line of trees in the orchard. The results were plain to see. It has cost us around $8,000 in labor, equipment rental and materials. Not a small sum of money but very worthwhile.

I try very hard to spend wisely the money our members send us for their boxes. We are on a journey to a more sustainable farm. A journey that can be frustratingly slow at times. We have to choose what to work on when the time and money allows. We do appreciate your support of our work.... Nigel and the farm crew.

Harvesting Lavender Until Mexico Plays France

We started at 6am and the game starts at 11am so we hope to cut and bunch as many bunches as we can. This lavender will be set to dry in our drying room. It will be sold over the winter. The variety is Grosso.