Date: February 19th 2010

February 19, 2009

Spring is still better than a month away, so we are taking a big chance with early plantings of summer vegetables. Last year, most growers throughout the valley got frosted around March 10, so we are hoping for boring steady weather, not to hot or cold, just average, and gradual warming. Everywhere but the west coast got super cold and most very snowy this winter season, and as I drive between farms, I am seeing a tremendous amount of Chinese vegetables being flail chopped prior to plowing under, a tremendous amount of waste. When the weather is horrible, fewer people shop, and I am sure that what we are seeing locally with destroyed vegetable fields is a result of buyers east of the Rockies not being able to get shopping as normal. So much is driven by weather, and I am sure that a few of you will be looking for ripe tomatoes on the first few 80F days, but that is not how things grow. Tomatoes generally take about 3 months from transplants to begin fruiting in our sprin
g experience in Kern County.

This Saturday we will be donating apples to our customers, that's right. The orchard we pulled out to make room for cherries had our apples in it, and our certified grower farmers market certificate renewal showed no apples being grown, so we cannot according to the regulators with the state of California sell our apples any more. Our problem is that our cold storage still contains a small amount of apples, so look for my eldest daughter Keri to be bagging apples for customers. We might as well make it a fund raiser for her new viola bow or something like that, (she plays in the Bakersfield youth symphony) as we cannot sell, but nothing says she cannot accept cash donations.

This week vegetables include broccoli, cauliflower, salad greens, lots of cilantro, dill. The rabbits have taken much of our variety this season, and amazingly they to the variety have preferences on sweet onions. With more native vegetation (weeds) coming on our neighbors properties, there is less pressure now.

Tree fruits: Our earliest peaches and nectarines are setting and about the size of a large grain of sand, moving to pea size shortly. There is much to do. Hope to have you visit the farmers market this cool Saturday.

Greg Tesch
www.teschfamilyfarms.com