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One for the Record Books
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There is always one for the record books, and Saturday's Strawberry U-Pick surely qualified. It was pouring as Elisa and I readied for our usual morning-in-the-field together, and I gaped incredulously at the rain gauge which showed that 1 inch of rain had fallen overnight. This is June. I was in complete denial, and proceeded to set up a tent near the strawberry patch. The furrows had standing water -- in some areas, ankle deep. The strawberry patch, which was intentionally left unpicked, was loaded with sweet, ripe strawberries, rain rinsed, all screaming to be picked. The rain on Saturday morning didn't let up; it just kept intensifying. Nobody in their right mind, I thought, will want to come and pick in this weather.

I took advantage of the moment to assess the fields, in full rain gear. Trudging through the mud, I couldn't help but feel a little concerned about the prospects of having a normal growing season. Never, in June, have I experienced the drainage ditches flowing with water. Having storm systems coming our way this late in the season is unusual and throws off the timing of a lot of our field tasks. We do our best to stay on schedule, to plant crops in succession in order to ensure a steady harvest, but this year Mother Nature is calling all the shots. Thursday and Friday, in addition to harvesting and packing the shares and preparing for the weekend markets, we worked feverishly to do in 2 days what normally would have been spread out over 7-10 days. Over 60,000 seedlings of leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes and peppers had to be planted and beets, sugar snap peas, spring onions, spinach, green beans, and radishes had to be field sown. The timing of these plantings is preceded by other important field tasks such as mowing, plowing, bedding, fertilizing, weeding, cultivating... and all are linked and affected by the amount of rain that just passed through.

What if this cool, wet weather continues? Has climate change now really set in? Are predictable weather patterns along this unique and sheltered Central Coast microclimate a thing of the past?  Will we just have to adopt new farming practices to adapt to an increasingly unpredictable climate? With all these thoughts running through my head I made my rounds in order to put together the coming week's work schedule and harvest plan. Fortunately the raspberries and blackberries, typically very sensitive to rain, are still only in the beginning stages of ripeness; the tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are mostly sizing up but not yet flowering; the green beans are still a few weeks away from developing harvestable pods, and as long as we keep the basil and cucumbers under blankets of row cover they may still mature in a timely manner. With the Summer Solstice just around the corner, I am hopeful that the weather may finally turn dry and warm. It would be a blessing, too, if the typically cool overcast summer days ahead are delayed to give our heat-loving summer crops a little boost.

Back to the u-pick. Well the rain just kept falling, with no break in sight. The dark clouds kept pouring in from the coast, yet to my great surprise the first cars pulled in at 10 o'clock sharp and out came eager pickers ready to be the first in the field. Dressed for the occasion in full raingear, everyone was ready, mostly ignoring my cautious remarks about the poor conditions and the wet berries. It only took one sampling of a freshly picked strawberry, and all the seemingly adverse conditions -- slippery mud, water drenched shoes and clothes, and nonstop rain -- became just minor inconveniences as buckets, baskets and trays got filled up with red luscious strawberries. We even rescued a mom whose van got stuck in the mud on our neighbor's farm, just in time so she could still pick her share of strawberries before returning home. As I occasionally checked in with the pickers, my earlier worries got all but erased with enthusiastic remarks about how much fun this was. One member said, "I am in heaven, picking in the fields, eating fresh sweet strawberries while the kids are having a blast playing in the rain and mud." Another member savoring a strawberry exclaimed, "These are the best berries I ever tasted, bar none," as he carried a full bucket out of the field.

Dreary grey skies and rain do not daunt these intrepid u-pickers!

I didnt keep count of how many people showed up, but in the six hours from 10am to 4pm, during which it never stopped raining, the entire dedicated block of berries was picked clean. Nothing stirs a deeper sense of satisfaction and delight than seeing and hearing people express the pleasure triggered from eating and being surrounded by tasty, healthy food. It is what keeps me inspired, especially on an unusually wet day in June! So thanks to all who came this last Saturday, and I encourage everyone to take this opportunity to mark your calendars and join us at our upcoming Summer Solstice celebration, on June 18th -- our biggest farm community event of the year. Especially if you missed the tractor ride and farm tour last weekend, or couldn't make it for the u-pick. We'll have the strawberry patch open again for another scaled-down picking event. Hope to see many of you here on the farm, under sunnier skies!!

- Tom

Scenes from a Soggy U-pick
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Wet, happy strawberry u-pickers; check out the innovative raingear on the tyke  in teal, upper left!

As the sun headed for the horizon, well after the u-pickers had all returned home, the skies finally began to clear, portending (hopefully!) better weather to come.

Summer Meadows Farm has more Goat Milk Shares Available
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A note from Lynn

Hello Live Earth Farm CSA members -- Summer Meadows Farm has more goat shares available! All our does have birthed their sweet and saucy kids (except for one late romance, Leah Babe). Anyway, most of those kids are now over a month old and are separated from their moms at night, so that every morning we are milking 4 gallons of frothy milk before allowing those eager kids to rapturously rejoin their moms for their breakfast milk.

So the upshot is, we are swamped with wholesome, delicious, raw milk and so are taking additional subscriptions! First come first served, so call soon so I can set aside your share for the season before all the milk is apportioned out for the year.

[note from Debbie: FYI you sign up for the goat share with Summer Meadows Farm, not Live Earth Farm. Lynn has just made arrangements with Tom such that she piggy-backs delivery of her customers' shares along with our members' CSA shares to our pick-up sites. This allows Lynn a greater range for getting goat shares to her customers; she is a very small operation! Also FYI, I have been getting Lynn's goat milk share for years now and it is just wonderful. It is very rare to have the opportunity to have access to fresh, raw goats milk, and so I treasure every year that Lynn continues to offer this precious resource. I am also doing the new Specialty Cheese option -- see below -- and can't say enough good about that either! :-)]

In addition to just milk, we offer you the service of making your choice of products from that milk: raw milk yogurt, kefir, chevre, ricotta, and queso blanco. And new this year I have partnered with Cynthia Armstrong, an artisan cheese-maker [click here for a link to Cynthia's blog]. So sign up for our Specialty Cheese option and get a unique artisan cheese once a month!

For details, please download and read our goat share agreement and then call or email me to sign up.

Come and visit us and our friendly goat herd!

Lynn Selness
Summer Meadows Farm
831.786.8966
summermeadow7@yahoo.com

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(click here for cost and scheduling info)
We'll be engaging campers in creative expression among our 100 organic acres of fruits, vegetables, farm animals, and wild spaces. During the week campers will plant, harvest, and create in the kitchen and beyond; make cheese, make masks, print, paint, and sculpt with natural materials.