This morning we picked apricots in Berryessa, quite a ways away from our usual haunts. This area of East San José is a sea of suburban homes, shading to the monster as one gains elevation, so it was a surprise to turn the corner and see an apricot orchard lining one side of the street. […]
Last week, I checked out Plenty from the library. It’s the memoir of a year of eating very locally in Vancouver, BC and environs, written in alternating chapters by Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon. I had read some of their blog posts, but I was pleasantly surprised by the book itself. The whole enterprise can […]
Today I drove the length of the Salinas Valley. I don’t have any photos, or even anything really coherent to say about it, but I always feel a deep sense of love as I drive through Paso Robles, San Miguel, San Ardo, San Lucas, King City, Greenfield, Soledad, Gonzales, Chualar, Salinas, Prunedale, then cross the […]
Today was my first apricot harvest of the year, a very large orchard in Los Gatos. One of the most enjoyable benefits of volunteering with Village Harvest is being able to spend time in beautiful places like this. Beautiful, but hot. There was a snafu with the truck, and, by the time our hero Bud […]
Here’s what’s happening in my own garden. The front bed looks nice, although I should weed it, and the squirrels have so far eaten every squash. (But, mysteriously, have not decimated the apricots, as is their wont.) I have a couple pimientos de Padrón: The Stupice tomato is looking good, although pruning the suckers has […]
And strawberry ice cream. That’s what I’m currently making to take to the Veggielution cookout this evening. But what is in the box this week, you ask? Well, let’s see. Clockwise from lower left: Eggs, cilantro, dill, kale, romaine, nappa cabbage, carrots, green beans, potatoes, zucchini (round and grey), cucumber, garlic. Red oak leaf lettuce […]
It was hot, hot, hot this afternoon, but that didn’t stop some 25 Veggielution volunteers from coming out to tie up tomatoes, attach drip lines and clean broccoli seeds. When I arrived, the guinea hens were enjoying the water dripping from the sprinklers. And the pollitos were still in the compost bin with their two […]
Today we ventured a bit farther afield than our usual stomping grounds, picking a large orange tree in the neighborhood charmingly known as Rosemary Gardens. We had quite a few people today besides our regular Tuesday crew: a new volunteer, Michelle, who found us through the VH website, Vivian from my knitting group, and four […]
I told the old Midwestern joke at Veggielution about not leaving your car unlocked in the summer, lest someone leave a bag of zucchini on the front seat, and was surprised that it was new to my captive audience. I like zucchini, but I’ve decided over the years that I like them best when they’ve […]
I went back to the farm this morning to move the sprinklers to water the corners of the field. The baby plants have to be coddled until they get established; the pumpkins were visibly wilting yesterday afternoon, despite having been hand watered. The drip system is waiting on a part that is supposed to arrive […]