Our Californian Farm in December And before we know it, it's December! The days are noticeably shorter and the nights cooler. We lock up the herd as it gets dark, which is around 4:30 in the afternoon, but they start calling to us even earlier than that. The chickens are roosting by 4pm and the ducks are happy to head into their house soon
after. An unexpected side-effect of this early darkness is motivation of start making dinner ahead of schedule. Our family likes to have dinner around 6pm, but in the summer, with light lingering late into the day, we won't sit down to eat until almost 8pm. This changes with the encroaching darkness. On these nights, dinner gets prepped
before 5pm. And it's often soup. Just tonight, Anna went out to the garden and harvested the ever-growing kale, a zucchini, and some basil to combine with sweet potatoes from the farmer's market and turkey left over from Thanksgiving. |
Market Update-- Speaking of the market, we brought our Mexicola Grande
avocados last week and will again this week. These are our most beautiful avocados, they look similar to an eggplant, and the only ones we grow that you can eat with the skin on. Last year, a chef bought all our Mexicolas and used them for a salad. He would slice the avocado with the skin still on and spread out the pieces in a gorgeous display. We are also brining a variety of citrus to the market. This will consist of a few kinds of lemons, Bearss limes, Mandarinquats, and Calamansi fruit. Dave likes to combine some of these citruses to make a refreshing hot drink packed with vitamin C. Anna likes to use them in her cooking or baking. Oh
and we are also bringing Hachaya persimmon. These have sweet and juicy flesh. Some describe them as nature's candy. Though they are often used in baking because of their soft texture, Dave's dad loved to scoop them out with a spoon and eat them plain. On the whole, winter is a bit slower on the farm. We don't have as much growing, which means we will only be at the market for a couple more weeks. |
The rain and long days have effected the day-to-day of the chickens. In the winter, they tend to take a break from egg producing, and though we still get some, the number we get in a day has greatly decreased. With these past light rains, the
grass in the pasture is already coming up, so the flock spends most of their days out scratching around and eating the grass and bugs. When they see us come outside, it's a fun sight to see. Motivated by the thought of food scraps from the kitchen, the chickens can't get to us fast enough. It makes us laugh with their half-flying half-running scramble. |
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