Date: January 22nd 2010

January 22, 2010

Rain continues to the point where I have not been able to get off road ¾ mile to the vegetable plot, so there will be no harvest today. When stuck in 2 wheel drive, put it in 4WD and reverse out of there. Hence, no farmers market for Tesch Family Farms this Saturday. I am sure Saturday will be a sunny pristine day, but a week of wet, that will give us bigger veggies next Saturday. Wish all the best, and hope to see all next Saturday, January 30.


January 19, 2010

The cover ripped off of the greenhouse, must replace with new. The rain has been generally welcomed, and especially the snow pack which is accumulating in the Sierras. The buds are pushing, peaches and nectarines want to bloom, and definitely will be in early February. More seeds have been dropped into transplant trays. Weed control in the orchard will continue with disking when the soil dries a bit. Usually it is too dry and dusty, so I look forward to this change.


January 11, 2010

Tesch Family Farms Newsletter

Lets remember back to the important things which have shaped our thinking and local economy, and read today's headlines in the Bakersfield Californian newspaper this morning. Bottom of the cover page “Jewelry jeopardy”: Toxic Cadmium discovered in jewelry from China. Page 19, China becomes biggest exporter. Cover page: Europe cracking down on rich speeders. Page 19 Europe's rich face big traffic fines. Page 18: Cold grips the south. Even the sports page 26: Bucks stopped cold.

Maybe many of you remember that toxic elements are getting into our lifestyles due to the demand for convenient and inexpensive products. There is class envy in human nature, and we have been on a global cooling trend the past few years. You can believe what you are influenced to believe, but I will encourage all of you to please continue to check things for yourselves, think as independently as possible, and make the best decisions you will. We hope to be a continued part of your lifestyle, and we hope that you will find the benefits of buying fresh and locally produced products. Also please continue to remember how important water issues will always be.

We have definitely entered mid winter, and have a light supply of cool season veggies, herbs, and fruits. We have begun to turn the corner into spring as many summer veggies are now germinating in the greenhouse. Just a reminder, every vegetable I plant is targeted at the Kern, and southern Tulare County farmers market consumer, so we need you and hope you will want us. We do ship our spring tree fruits to distant and export markets as well.

This week we hope to dormant spray the fruit trees, and clear the 28 acres of trees pulled out so that we can replant to what we hope will be more profitable, genetically better peaches and nectarines. Thanks for all of your comments and we gather a lot of information from your buying patterns, as to the flavors and varieties you prefer. Hope to always be moving in the right direction.

For 2010, expect for us to be a little lighter on our stonefruit selection, as many of the older varieties were pulled out, even some we wanted to keep, but they were mixed into the area which had to be removed (an unprofitable area). We are planted in a way that should provide for you more cherries, blueberries, blackberries, and boysenberries. Our vine ripened beef tomatoes with long shelf life (not those early girls which fall apart after 2 days, because you shop with us once a week, and we want you eating ours every day of the week) will be our major vegetable enterprise. We will plant as well a small line of specialty tomatoes, including gold cherry types, and gold full size as well. A lot of customers seem to be looking for heirloom tomatoes, and I don't want to bust anybody's bubble, ,but do you really care if somebody's grandmother used to grow tomatoes, or do you want what we will be providing to you, fresh from our farm, picked at its flavor peak, multiple color
s and flavors. Call them what you will, but many are using modern seed breeding and representing their crop as that which I just previously discussed. Just try ours, and find the ones which suit your taste buds. (No GMO material, although that probably isn't so bad anyway, just standard modern techniques of natural crossing and selection of best materials for you). We also hope to be selling by the lug wholesale to the public, restaurants, and anybody who would want to pay for these flavorful tomatoes. Melons will be our next biggest crop, with the baby musk melons, and larger cousins, plus we hope a few crenshaws. Seedless watermelons of yellow and red interior (as well as red seeded watermelons) will be available as well, but we will be planting more musk melons than watermelons. Summer squashes and cucumbers should mature quite early in the season and we hope to carry new plantings into the hot part of summer, and we plan to have more than abundant supplies. We will plant a small patch of peppers and eggplant as well as a larger patch of our traditional sweet basil and other herbs, which most seem to appreciate well. Our overwintering sweet onions, garlic, and shallots are a big part of our program as well, and should begin to mature in April, with summer squashes. We will also have abundant winter squashes in summer. This is because that is when they mature, and they are called winter squash because their hard shells allow them to last into winter, it has nothing to do with when and where they grow. Did I already emphasize flavorful huge tomatoes, and intense personal cantaloupes (late May)!

Greg Tesch
www.teschfamilyfarms.com