Today

I'm harvesting some fantastic lettuce from the garden daily.  I have a tray of transplants ready and waiting...as a lettuce is harvested a lettuce transplant replaces it...along with a small scoop of my awesome new compost.  If all goes well, I'll have daily lettuce until the middle of June and then I'll replant in August for lettuce daily from Fall to Early Summer.  There's just such a short period of time it's too hot for lettuce.  I then turn to roasted corn and black bean salads; tomato, onion and cucumber salads; tomato, basil and mozzarella salads, chilled 3 bean salad, but I do miss a nice crisp leafy salad during that period of time.

William Thomas Reynolds

Introducing the latest "Little":

6 pounds 6 oz of PERFECT!

Slot Machine Jackpot!

For my birthday a few weeks ago, my family took me to dinner at the local Native American Casino just a few miles down the road.  After a wonderful dinner, my kids and their kids all headed home.  My husband handed me a $20.00 bill and I went over to the Penny Slots and promptly won $200.  I gave my husband his $20 back and we headed home.  Today I used my winnings for this delivery:

We Have Spring!

The lilacs, wisteria, roses and tulips are blooming...as are ALL of the fruit tree!  The almond bloom is ending, so the bees have headed my direction! Thank you, thank you!   Although we are still in the worst drought in recorded history, I am hopeful.  Met with my gardening family and friends and we divided up what we will grow this season and will each share with the other...just not enough water to do it all.  I will grow as much as I can, but I'm sure I will run out of water by August.  There will be no sweet corn.  The squash and watermelon will be grown close to the river by a friend.  I'm growing the onions, potatoes, artichokes and green beans.  I will have to wait until the Fall for the cole crops.  Usually I grow a bit of everything and manipulate the plants' environment...can't risk doing it this year...cannot waste a drop of water.  I have enough tomatoes, herbs, lettuces, chard, beets and berries for our own use and will baby them along.

Next Season's Potatoes

New Seeds, New Company

Love, Love, Love The Packaging and Art Work

Non-GMO Sugar Beets...Took Forever
To Find!!

It's Raining!

We have had rain for the last few days!  You can hear the collective sigh of relief throughout the county...heck throughout the STATE!  I know our drought is not over, we still have no water for 3/4 of the land we normally plant.  I am grateful for the rain we're getting: enough for the garden, enough to fill my catchment system to get the garden and fruit orchard through a long hot rainless summer...I'm relieved...thank you, thank you thank you..

Folks...Ya' Need To Plant A Garden

 Please plant yourself a nice big garden.  The fruits and vegetables you are used to getting at the Supermarket will not be coming out of California this year or if we do manage to make a crop it's going to be so expensive it'll make your bank account weep! You'll need most of your hard earned cash to pay for your meat, milk, grain and eggs... those prices are going to at least double! Our family (and every other farmer) has had our water allotment cut to almost nothing.  We aren't planting rice, corn, alfalfa, sunflowers, no melons, no beans, no cucumbers, no squash...all of our water will be given to our tree crops...hopefully they will survive (we planted new babies in the fall).  Our son's main crop will be processing tomatoes, and he'll only plant 1/4 of the amount he planted last year. More than 3/4 of our land will lay fallow.  Those of us that have farmed for a long while will most likely weather the drought and come out on the other side a bit worse for wear, but in a position to continue farming (when and if the rains come).  Most of the new/young farmers will be destroyed.  They are just starting out, stretched to their limits...no back up plan and no money saved for the bad times...it's the young folks I feel sorry for.  Farmers are an aging commodity...we have so few young folks picking up the reins...and now this horrible drought.  It is so sad.  It will take years and years for the California farming community to recover from this devastating drought...if we ever do.

Fallow Unplanted Fields

No Feed For Cattle---ANYWHERE

I have a couple nice deep wells here on the "home piece"...thank goodness.  My garden and orchard were set up to be very water-wise.  I've always been aware California has a history of very dry years.  The new fruit orchard looks good.  I pulled out the old compost from the raised beds and replaced with nice "new" compost.  I planted one of the beds to a "Winter" garden: chard, kale, lettuce, celery, beets, broccoli, cabbage, herbs and onions.  I am transplanting leeks (12 plants), lettuce (6 plants), endive (6 plants), tomatoes (6 plants), tomatillos (6 plants), pimentos (6 plants), NewMex peppers (6 plants), rainbow chard (6 plants), and romaine lettuce (6 plants).  That's 60 plants.  I plant up a tray of 60 every 6 weeks...that way I always have something in the garden ready to eat...year round!  I have several bins of potatoes planted for year round harvest, too.  The holes in my cinder block raised beds are planted with onions, carrots, beets and lettuce...one plant per hole.  They get nice and big, but stay sweet and juicy! My garden is used mainly for fresh eating. My canning produce comes from the local Summer farmers market I manage.  I get really great deals from the vendors, saves me garden space and time.  I don't know what the market will look like this year because of the drought.  I do have my fingers crossed.

Garden Bed One...The Beginning

Ready For Planting

It's Official...DROUGHT!

44 days without rain...not a drop...nada! And none in the 30 day forecast. We are in trouble!  I'm a water miser as it is...the early 70's drought taught me the "tricks of the trade".  I don't know how much more I can do.  I had planned on planting another 10 fruit trees this Fall...but narrowed it down to 2...a cherry and a grafted multi-low chill apple...needed them to increase my failing pollination...I didn't get one apple last year, and only a few cherries.  We have 3 wells on this property (the home place) and 2 capped windmill wells.  I believe we'll be fine here at the house, orchard and garden.  BUT the farming operation will be hurt like Hell.  We had water allocations cut by about 1/4 last year and this year some of our ground  will have no water at all (canal).  We have wells on some pieces: but no rain means no ground water.  Hang on to your hats this is going to be one heck of a ride!

We Are In Deep Trouble!

Grow What You Can Folks: The Shelves Will Be Empty!

Lake Oroville...One Of 2 Reservoirs We Get Irrigation Water From

So what do ya' do?  Well, I know prices on produce are going to go CRAZY... I'm ramping up my produce stand production by double.  I had planned on giving up managing the local Farmers Market, but couldn't find a replacement...well, it may have been for the best.  If we get the vendors back I'll work the same deal I did last year and sell their overages at the Farm Stand for a percentage. I don't make a ton of money on the Farm Stand or Farmers Market, but it keeps me in mushroom compost, chicken/hog feed, seeds and upgrades to the garden and fences!  My worry is WATER.  I have most everything on T-Tape, but the new fruit trees are not... I hand water those babies: not very water thrifty.  I have a plan to get them drip taped, too.  Young trees are so fragile, I just hate to have them stressed.

Two Year Old Baby Trees...I Planted 10 and 6 Survived

I'm adding more berries and grapes to the garden...blackberries and the grapes are drought tolerant.  I have a new patch of asparagus, artichokes, currants and shallots off to a good start.  Last year I was so unorganized I just let the chips fall where they may...planting was hit and miss...a lot of my produce was just things that had self-sowed!  I was able to feed us, can some and sell some!  Really a lazy gardener's year.  Some things suffered, though ... my artichokes produced like gangbusters and then completely died!  I lost 2 currant bushes and a fig.  My ancient peach tree was split almost in half because the limbs were too heavy with fruit...I thinned it twice, but it just wasn't enough.  She's still alive and hopefully I'll get a crop this year...such a delicious peach.

The Two New Trees, Currants, Grapevine...and Snoopy Chickens

My Husband's Grandmother's Old Peach Tree

I'm a bit more organized this season.  I have 16 raised beds:  I have my late winter crop in one bed, a bed of overwintered strawberries, 2 beds I've filled with compost, comfrey and then covered with cardboard, another 3 just laying fallow I will fill up with transplants in 6 weeks and two 4X30 BIG beds I'm going to be experimenting with (Mittleider Gardening Method)...the rest I just don't know...I may have to plant some kind of drought resistant cover crop the chickens can peck at.

The New Mittleider Beds Under Construction...to be continued

The Original Four Raised Beds...Ready and Waiting

 I haven't set up my tomato operation yet...I'm used to planting lots of tomatoes...I think this year I'll only plant 10-20 plants of nice slicing tomatoes and just let the "commercial guys" (my son) take care of the sauce tomatoes!  I end up canning 300 to 400 pounds of his tomatoes, anyway!

The First of Many Transplant Trays
New Seeds from Renee's and Peaceful Valley