The first days of fall have brought something different this year; we went to the Autumn Moon Festival in San Francisco’s Chinatown which marks the end of the summer harvest and gives thanks to the bounty of the land. We missed the opening parade but did get to see some of the dragons, musicians, and other festivities. This coincided perfectly with an Email I got from Autumn that my blog was set up on the Freshman Farmer site. I am excited and thankful that Peaceful Valley has this program… Read the rest of this article »

This is our Jacob ewe Mud Ranch Francine. She is set to have lambs in about a week and we are very excited! Read the rest of this article »

As you can see the portable pen built to help combat winter weeds was a huge success! The beds have never been in this good of shape so early in the season.  I am loving this new system, low labor and low maintenance. Read the rest of this article »

For all of you who have been eagerly awaiting the application for the 2012-2013 Freshman Farmer class, here it is! You can download the PDF here. Read the rest of this article »

Its been a while since our last post, but we have been keep’n busy on the farm. We have stored some of our harvest this year like freezing strawberries, sun drying tomatoes, many seeds saved from herbs to beans. Still in production are the greens; Mustard greens, Kale, Chard, and the baby lettuce in the greenhouse.  Last year there were many additions to the property, mainly permaculture like strawberries and trees. These were investments that will only produce more as the years go on. … Read the rest of this article »

  Today as the sun shines, in what has been the driest, sunniest most beautiful wind free winter in our 9 years on the northern coast of California, I feel myself wanting to get a jump start on the planting season. I am reminded however of an incident that took place this past summer, whose beginnings were rooted early in the season last year. In mid August several farms in our area were lamenting the fact that a large portion of their onion crops were bolting (going to seed) instead of bulbing.… Read the rest of this article »

The New Year has arrived, yes January 1, 2012, and I was outside in the SUNSHINE picking fresh PEAS for dinner. The northern coast of California has had an unusually mild winter and I am reaping the bounty of it. So very thankful! Read the rest of this article »

The heat of Summer has passed and the chill of Fall has arrived. The last red ripe strawberries and tomatoes were picked several weeks ago. We enjoyed a great harvest of apples, grapes, blackberries, strawberries, onions, potatoes, sunchokes, tomatoes, chard, kale, cabbage, and much more. Our fig tree we ordered this year from Peacefull Valley gave us a dozen delicious figs. All the animals on the farm are doing great. All four Bee Colonies are healthy and thriving. We harvested a few jars of honeycomb… Read the rest of this article »