Every time I drive 101 (not *the* 101...I grew up in the bay area and know how we refer to our freeways) between Sonoma County and the bay area, I raise my fist in exaggerated (mock) anger just north of Petaluma and shake it at a field of pumpkin vines (and not just because the field seems to cause a slow down of gawkers that momentarily ties up traffic).
You see, they purport to give a "farm-to-home" experience of picking your own pumpkins for the holidays, but it is a manufactured experience. Now, they may in fact grow the pumpkins you'll find in the field, but they don't do it there. The pumpkins that will be available in a few weeks are brought in from another location and placed strategically in the field for the "pick your own experience."
About a month or so ago, they planted their squash vines and corn stalks and have clearly been fertilizing them for rapid growth, but this is far too late in the season to plant if they plan to harvest produce. You see, the corn is just for a corn maze, and the squash vines are to give the illusion that they produced the pumpkins that will soon be manually placed in the field.
Now, far be it for me to ruin the truly joyful experience of children running through the field looking for the perfect great pumpkin. I think that walking around in dirt looking for produce to "pick" is a truly important experience in helping connect us to the produce we use.
But the field is fake, doesn't produce what people are "picking," wastes a tremendous amount of water (and likely fertilizer and pest control efforts) to produce vegetation for show. It would be one thing is the corn was grown for food before being turned into a constructed maze and the squash vines were grown correctly to produce some fruit, even if is were supplemented with some showier pumpkins. In fact, the squash isn't planted at the correct time to even produce fruit, and the size of vines people will find on their forays into the field could not produce the size nor volume of pumpkin that will be found.
With the growth of true farm experiences in the area connecting with the desires of so many people to truly understand how their food is grown, I just think a faux farm experience undercuts the authentic farming experiences in the area and hurts the growers by suggesting it's as easy as it will seem in this fake growing field.
Fry those green tomatoes?
Of late, I’ve been researching pickling recipes for the abundant crop of cucumbers this year and have gotten a good feel for dill pickles (and a particularly great cold cucumber soup served recently at RMH to great acclaim). However, I am starting to fear that I may have to turn to pickling my still-green tomatoes.
The cherry tomatoes--sun gold and chocolate--have been producing for a couple of weeks, but I'm still waiting for the other varieties. Patience being a virtue and all hasn't always been my strongest character trait, but as I have learned many times in many ways, gardening teaches lessons.
It’s common understanding that this has been a particularly cool summer.
According to AccuWeather:
Already having one of the coolest summers of its climatological record, California will begin the week (August 8) with more unusually cool weather.
One of the things I enjoy is heading to the various nurseries in the area and trading stories of our growing experiences. One of the employees at one of my favorites and I continue to marvel that we have big, beautiful pumpkins about ready for harvest before our tomatoes have come ready.
On the other hand, our unusual weather seems to have made it a fantastic year for pears--more of each of the varieties we currently grow than in the past several years.
Dahlias
Although it took a bit of time for the sunflowers to really get going,it has been a fantastic year for dahlias. This picture speaks for itself…this is just one blossom that we grew in the RMH flower garden.
Naked ladies everywhere
Great article on the Sonoma County Master Gardners website about this pink beauty that pops up this time of year:
Will the real Amaryllis please stand up?Redwood Empire Food Bank:
This fall we will be working to support the food bank. It's no secret that in the current economy, more and more people are experiencing food scarcity and nutrition problems--hunger. In my least economically stable times, the worry about where and when my next meal would be available was always a great source of anxiety.
36.2 million Americans–including 12.4 million children–don't have access to enough healthy food to thrive. They are food insecure and at risk of hunger.
In 2010, the Redwood Empire Food Bank served 78,000 low-income residents per month by distributing 12.59 million pounds of food–is the equivalent of 27,000 meals a day.
It really doesn't cost a lot to make a difference in helping feed a family:
Virtual Food Drive
Bay Area Food Banks
Glad to see you blogging! Yay for Ingrid too.
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