Morning Song Farm News

Click on image to enlarge for easier reading. See Page Two below. So we're just starting the very earliest part of our avocado harvest. Actually we always start with our pollinators, which did their pollination job this year, but didn't fruit much. Anyway, there are Fuerte's and a few very early to appear Hass in the Large shares this week. Actually, the real Hass harvest doesn't start for a couple more weeks, usually. Oddly, the macadamia harvest is weeks later than usual. We're only NOW raking up any quantity worth getting excited about. Normally, by October we are raking away. So, too the kumquats are much later. I have always enjoyed combining kumquats with cranberries for Thanksgiving, indicating that we actually HAVE kumquats in November, which isn't the case by a milestone this year. I'm guessing late February. So the climate at least on this farm, is changing in a huge way. You'll notice the sprouts are back again this week. They take almost 2 we...

As a busy farmer, every now and then I come up with a time saving device that I'd like to offer to others for their consideration. Here it is: I've given this a lot of thought and I think that matching socks is an expectation foisted upon people by the sock industry and I have decided to no longer be victimized by their oppressive social manipulation. Who made the rule that donning unmatched socks was a social faux pas, anyway? I'll tell you who! The Sock People, that's who. And why? Because perfectly good, but unmatched, socks by the boatload are thrown away each and every day, filling up our landfills and our childrens' environmental futures. Those unnecessarily discarded socks have to be replaced, with the only beneficiary being, you guessed it, the sock people. Oh, there's more. Have you ever stopped to consider the opportunity cost of all that time you have spent MATCHING socks? I bet you haven't. Well, I have. And it's a boatload, there, too. I ...

Okay, so no goats in the house. We're all on the same page with that. But a cat would be welcome. We've had a beautiful feral cat hanging around our packing house for a while, an inport from a local elementary school whose principal asked a member of our crew to take him to our farm as a "mouser." A few days ago he made his way up to our home, and invited himself inside. He either is a genius, or at some point in his life was an inside cat, because he immediately plopped himself down on my bed and fell asleep. He knows all about cat boxes, we've discovered, and hasn't stopped purring. He's been here for 3 days now, and the mouse in the house is gone. Since there's no dead mice pieces lying around, my guess is, his very presence is a deterent, the very best, pest management of all. At first he refused to venture outside, perhaps fearful that we'd not let him back in if he left. This morning was his first post-home invasion, outdoor excursion. He hu...

Click on image to enlarge for easier reading. We're excited this week to include a bag of passion fruit in the large shares. And another week of spaghetti squash. This squash has an unusual characteristic. When opened and cooked, it takes on the appearance of spaghetti. I didn't even believe it until I tried it, the whole spaghetti thing seems so unlikely. I cook in the oven, often when the oven is on anyway while cooking something else. (Open the squash lengthwise with a sharp knife, or do as we do and slam the thing on the pavement to open. Using a knife can be dicey, don't take a chance if you're at all nervous. Take it out front and slam on your sidewalk or pavement. No, it doesn't open with perfect edges, but who cares?) Cook at 350 with a little olive oil (try Temecula Olive Oil's local stuff, (website here: http://www.temeculaoliveoil.com/ ) , salt, pepper, and crushed garlic. Once the strings are easily loosened from the shell pieces, I remove from the o...