For those of you looking forward to Seville orange and marmalade season in February just be forewarned that the crop is much lighter this year. Last years was a heavy one and the trees did look a little stressed in the spring. We sent the chicken tractors in between the rows in May, and the tree perked up considerably after the fertility left behind by the chicks. The rest of the citrus is recovering well after the hard frosts a couple of years ago. Good crops of navels, pommels and grapefruit. 

My favorite cabbage will be in your box today, ‘Wakefield’. I believe it is the best tasting one we have. Please taste some raw. It makes a great coleslaw. There are varieties that can grow to 8lb each. Maybe we should grow some of those for sauerkraut?

Our crop of Fennel is quite astounding this year. We have three plantings all ready at the same time and all big. They are big but tender. Lorraine says that they can be used in Turkey stuffing. This is a crop that just loves our soil. Checking around the farmers market on Saturday no one had anything close to the size of ours. Yes, farmers are competitive in that way too!

Ramon and Jesus have been working on cleaning this year’s wheat crops when ever they have some spare time on the farm. Picking, planting and cultivating take priority when the weather dictates. We are in need of one more tray to sieve the wheat correctly and a cog wheel is broken.

The former is easy to order it just takes three weeks to make and comes from the MidWest. The cog wheel will need search out as this seed cleaner is over 50 years old. The cleaner needs to go back to our friends at Tierra Vegetables to clean their beans.