Hi , As January comes to a close, we wanted to share a reflection on what happened this month. Last month I wrote about the great rain we were having, not realizing that an Atmospheric River was headed for California. On New Year's Eve we were dumped with over 6 inches of rain! And the storm didn't stop after that. Since September we have received
over 29 inches of rain. |
Everyone in California has a rain story to tell, and I am grateful that our story doesn't involve a lot of problems. A small mudslide dumped a foot
of mud on our driveway, but that was cleared away within the day. We took daily patrols around the property checking ditches and redirecting rogue streams coming from the saturated hills. Having most of the ground covered with grass, cover crops, and mulch helped keep in the topsoil in place. In the past we had built a system of small dams along our seasonal creek that prevented silt run-off from filling up our pond. Yesterday, we walked past the pond and saw four newts swimming around, which
was a wonderful sight. |
Rain flooded out the gophers-- We have no clue how many gopher tunnels
are running around under our hills until a rainstorm comes. Small geysers of water come pouring out of every gopher hole as torrents of rain find easy ways to drain. This means that the gophers will need to move to drier ground, which we weren't sad about since gophers are one of our most problematic pests. Within a couple days after a break in the rain, however, there were already few fresh dirt piles around the property as the gophers started to move in again. How we protect our trees from gophers |
One thing we do to protect our grove from gophers is to place each tree in a "gopher basket" before planting them in the ground. These baskets are made from twisting chicken wire into a cylinder with a closed-off bottom. This way the roots of the tree are
free to grow while protected from gophers who can't gnaw through the metal. Eventually the roots will will need more space, but by then the wire will have rusted away and the roots are too big for the gophers to kill the tree. With smaller plants that don't fit in a gopher basket, we plant them in raised beds, which are garden beds that are built on top of the ground with
wire running along the bottom and separating the soil of the bed from the ground below. |
How the rain impacted the Mexicola Grandes, plus new avocado
varieties-- Due to the rains, the skins on our last crop of Mexicola Grande avocados split, which meant we couldn't give our usual delivery to our local restaurant. We think this is because Mexicola Grandes have such thin skin, which is great to eat, but not great for
protecting against the elements. |
Another variety that is now ready is the Stewart. We have twenty-one of these trees, but only one is bearing fruit; the rest are still too young. Next year we are planning on bringing these to the market, which will fill in the time after the Lamb Hass goes
out of season. We are currently experimenting with a new variety: the Sir Prise. This one is large, with a dark skin, and high oil content. If our sample tree grows well in the grove and has good quality flavor, we will plant some
more. |
Our citrus in cocktails-- The citrus trees in the grove are still
producing lots of fruit. Due to the large quantity, the vibrant color, and the fragrant flavor, we have started selling to a local cocktail lounge in Castro Valley called Night Owl. Seeing the beautiful cocktails they make we have been inspired to create a drink of our own: a meyer lemon gimlet. Usually gimlets are made with limes, but we tried our meyer lemons instead. The result was a mellow, more
aromatic cocktail that was delicious. |
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