Morning Song Farm News

Midweek, we are finally seeing our berry bushes full of ripe berries. It's been a weird summer berry-wise. We've never seen so few berries! Although it's a fond memory; early summer was really cool out here in East County; something I guess we can expect to see every 20 years or so. Our berry bushes hated the unseasonably cool weather and responded by sulking in the coolness with loads of unripening berries. We kept saying NEXT WEEK! That said, even though we're in berry heaven yield wise; these aren't the sweetest berries you'll ever try. It's not the variety's fault-- as we've been growing these for a decade, and they're usually sweet. Large shares received Fuerte avocados; which should be among the best Fuerte's you've ever tasted. They are ready to pick around November-December, and we've waited until now-- in August-- to allow them to increase their oil content. Few farmers will do that; and it's one of the reasons that Fue...

Click on image to enlarge for easier viewing. What's unusual this week is the purslane that you'll find in clamshells. We're excited to get it back in our boxes this week. Purslane boasts some stellar Omegas besides its signitaure crunch! Eat raw in salads or serve with dip as in the image below. Daughter Tessa discovered an enormous bumper crop of our normally meager sour wild grapes. Too late to get in any but the trade in shares on Tuesday, we put our wild grapes in all shares on Wednesday. Yes, they're somewhat sour, but so tiny that they can be enjoyed by anyone--even sour grape haters; just throw in a smoothie if you like your grapes sweet. These are seedless and really flavorful!

Carl the Terror stands sentry on a rock overlooking the farm. I'm happy to report that the goats are now moving on from what once was my landscaping to address the weeds adjacent to their living quarters. They are free ranged, but don't venture more than an acre or so from their barn and our farmhouse. Carl travels the furthest and enjoys perching himself on his rock to survey the farm below.  Lance's little bottle fed goat, Boo Boo has discovered Golf Cart Surfing, and now likes to jump in the cart as we take off to balance in the back. She has also learned to ride shotgun with Lance in his truck and flops herself down in the road when she hears him coming up the drive so he's forced to get out of his truck and pick her up. Chef Adrianna has perfected her soft goat cheese recipe, and we're all taking turns milking, which makes running the hobby dairy portion of the farm a whole lot easier.

Our amazing chickens are slowly increasing their egg production, and this week we actually were able to fill all existing orders! Yeah! We aren't taking any new orders until our younger flock is in production; 5 months from now or so. Our baby chicks are flourishing and are quite eager to join the adult flock. We regularly have escapees when one of us opens their little rabbit cage to feed and change their water dishes. It's quite a job to catch the little rasquels, but it's a necessity because they won't survive outside yet. At left, daughter Tessa introduces herself to a new resident. And below, Couscou The Guard Llama peers into his chicken's barn as we teach our new arrivals how to drink and peck for food.