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

Persimmon Pudding....Yummy!

It's that time of year again...Persimmon Time!  I'm very lucky and have access to the two types of persimmons I know of:  Fuyu...sweet and crunchy and Hachiya...sweet and soft (but really astringent if they are not ripe).  We fill the salad bar at school with the Fuyu and the kids just love them.  The Hachiya are grown almost wild here and I gather them for the pulp and make cookies, breads and my favorite: Persimmon Pudding with Hard Sauce.  This pudding was also a favorite of my former mother-in-law a sweet Southern lady from Alabama and such an awesome cook (this is not her exact recipe...since her son...my oldest daughter's father... swore me to secrecy...but it is very close).

Photo Credit

For years I have made my pudding in a makeshift bowl/steamer setup, because I'm too cheap to buy the steamer...such a fool...but this year I found a steamer on Amazon at a great price and went ahead and ordered it.  I'm glad I did...even though it's a bit rinkey-dinkey I like the darn thing and will be trying a few more English puddings during these cold winter months.

My Favorite Hachiya Tree (I call these American Persimmons)

I sorta' steal a lot of my persimmons!  My favorite tree sits off the side of a major road in our county in a field equipment area...nothing around...no houses...no barns...lots of beehives.  Since I'm not afraid of bees I watch that huge tree faithfully every Autumn...and wait for those delicious babies to fall...usually I gather 10-20 at a time several times a season...on my way up to or back from the cabin.

Just of Few Baskets a Year

My friend Paula has a couple wonderful persimmon trees, too...both the Fuyu and the Hachiya.  I'm lucky enough to get several dozen of both varieties from her...I trade her for lots of butternut squash.

My Trade Goods

I puree all those luscious Hachiya and freeze them in one cup Ziploc bags.  Lots and lots of puree for cookies, breads and puddings.  The Fuyu I dry in my Excalibur...yummy!

Puree

My $14.00 Steamer

Oops! A Couple Pictures From My Phone!

Who the heck cares?!  Right?  Well...I want to keep these in a safe place and I think this blog is good for that...so bear with me!

28 Of The California Wedding Guests Visited
The Air boat Ride/Alligator Farm near Biloxi

Air boat!

Leah and Ruben on the Bayou

More Bayou

Buildings Wiped Out

All For Sale!

 

 

Codie and Buddy And The First Dance

 

My Daughter and Her Crew Hamming It Up On The Beach!

Southern Wedding

Codie and Robert (Buddy) Tie The Knot!

We are safely back from our oldest granddaughter's beautiful wedding on the Gulf Coast...everything was wonderful.  The rehearsal dinner was held on the white beaches of Gulfport with a delicious Southern BBQ dinner and S'mores for dessert!  The wedding was held in Pass Christian at a very nice mansion built in the 20's by an Chicago mobster for his mistress!  Not the Southern Plantation I imagined !  It was all very nice. 

Oak Crest Mansion

This was my first time back to the Gulf Coast since Hurricane Katrina.  Our daughter's youngest child was born 2 weeks before the Hurricane, we flew out and spent a few days...and were waiting at the airport in Atlanta when the Hurricane changed direction and headed to the Louisiana coast...we were grounded for many hours in Georgia and unable to get back to New Orleans and our daughter and her family...we ended up flying back to California and then contacting our daughter.  She and her family were very lucky...just a few downed trees...they lived in Ponchatoula at the time.  My SIL is a paramedic and was working for the City of New Orleans at the time and was able to secure a generator and satellite phone for his family...he was away from home for over a month!  Needless to say, all went well for them.  My SIL is now a paramedic on an oil rig in the Gulf and my daughter practices midwifery in Mississippi.  The Gulf Coast is recovering and lots of new building is going on...but I could not believe all of the buildings that were lost...every other lot had an abandoned foundation!  We found ourselves counting one right after the other...such a shame...such a grievous loss.

Cupcake Wedding Cake!

Adding To The Winter Pantry

I may have been  too busy (or distracted) to blog the last several months...I have continued to garden and "put up" produce and staples for the family.  I keep thinking I need to just quit worrying about having a garden and a well stocked larder and just start doing my shopping at the grocery or Big Box stores like a normal person...sorry folks, just can't do it!  The garden keeps me centered and the well stocked larder keeps me safe and smug! You read that right SMUG not SNUG!

1. Our son will mechanically harvest the 200 acres of butternut squash while we are away in Alabama/Mississippi/Louisiana this week.  I had to high-tail it out to the field to gather a years worth for me and several of my best girlfriends.  So Sunday I canned, pureed, froze and dehydrated butternut squash and pureed and froze persimmons.  I figured if I'm going to destroy the kitchen, might as well do it up right!  I had enough butternut for 11 quarts of canned...my canner takes 7 quarts...so I ran it twice...once with 7 and then with 4 and 3 quarts of stew vegetables (carrots, celery and potatoes)...I always run a full canner.  While I was tearing up the pantry looking for jars, I ran across a small bag of garbanzos (chickpeas) from last year's harvest and decided to can those too.  I ended up with 11 jars of butternut, 3 jars of garbanzos and 7 jars of stew vegetables. I pureed several freezer bags of butternut and persimmons for the freezer and dehydrated enough butternut to fill 2 1/2 gallon jars. I had to run out to the garden twice for celery, potatoes and carrots...such a nice problem to have.

Persimmons From Paula

The First Canner Load of Squash

Garbanzos and Stew Veggies

Persimmon Puree