Farm Open House -- This Saturday!

We will be having an open house at our farm this Saturday February 13th, from 10AM to 2PM.

At this event you will be able to see what our Winter CSA boxes look like, and if they look interesting, you might want to sign up for the last half of the season.

You can also walk through our 10 acre farm. Bring along your friendly dog. The farm is enclosed, and there's ample space for running. Please bring gopher catching dogs, if you have them.

We will have some seasonally appropriate nursery starts available for sale, and if you have questions about our Summer CSA, it will be a good time to ask them. We can tell you about the tomatoes, peppers, squash, beans and other crops we will be growing. We are also open to suggestions as to what we might want to try! Planting our summer fields will be at the front of our minds, as February is the time we start most of our tomato and pepper seeds.

Our farm is located just off I-680 in Sunol. See the above map for details. The red arrow indicates a 4-way stop. There is a gate next to the 4-way stop that will be open this weekend. The blue dot is the Sunol Water Temple and the yellow rectangle indicates the farm.

Please email ahead if you plan to attend. We will be serving light snacks and we would like to plan accordingly.

Farmers' Market and Farm Stand Update

Menlo Park Farmers' Market

Menlo Park Farmers' Market (Sunday 9AM-1PM)

We are in this market all year. We sell plant starts as well as seasonal produce. Our specialties are tomatoes, peppers, squash, microgreens, winter field greens, herb starts, tomato seedlings and pepper seedlings.

Sunol Farm Stand (Tuesday 2-6PM and Friday 2-6PM)

Our farm stand is located on the front porch of the Jazz Cafe in Sunol. Our farm stand is open year-round, and we sell the same products there as at our farmers' market stand. If you are looking for a specific product from us, to be delivered on a specific day, please email us. We are happy to put together orders available produce for pick-up. We are also happy to provide samples of anything we grow.

What's Available now: Lettuces, chard, kale, spicy mustard mix, mild mustard mix, Mizuna, microgreens, herbs, seasonal plant starts including cilantro, chervil, wild arugula and chrysanthemum greens.

One word says it all...

We went to Marche for the "squash" menu the other night.

Wow

Particularly these two dishes

Kikuza Handkerchief Pasta

Duck Confit & Perigord Black Truffle

'*******

Pancetta Wrapped Pork Loin

Potimarron Tempura, Red Cipollini, Button Shitake & Soy

Let us grow tomatoes and peppers for you

Hillbilly (rainbow-type) tomatoes

Our Summer CSA is a tomato and pepper lovers CSA. The long, warm growing season in Sunol is perfect for these crops, and it's also excellent for beans, squash, melons and other crops that we produce.

Tomatoes and peppers are our specialty and we want our summer CSA members to have weekly access to the best we have to offer. However, everyone's tastes are different, and to make sure we have just the right mix of tomatoes for our CSA members, we need to plant the right mix of seedlings in April and May. That means we need to start germinating the right mix of seeds in February!

We do our best to match our tomatoes with customer preferences, and we have a very specific planting plan which we started developing last summer. But, we are fine-tuning it right up until late February.

Reserve specific tomatoes -- Join our CSA by February 15th!
It takes a first payment of $250 to reserve a large box of produce each week, and a first payment of $150 to reserve a small box of produce each week. You can join after the February 15th deadline (space permitting), however, if you want a 5 or 10 lb box of a specific variety or mix of tomatoes every week from July to October, registration by February 15th is necessary. You can have Cherokee Purple in your box each week. Alternatively, if you want half Jazz (our own unique variety) and half Red Brandywine every week -- we can guarantee that too. It's your choice

With early enrollment, we can also guarantee that you will have 1 or 2 lbs of Padron or Dolce di Minervino peppers each week. Similarly, you can guarantee microgreens or cherry tomatoes will be in your box each week.

Your box will also contain a mix of squash, cucumbers, eggplant, mustard greens, sea spinach, basil, mint, melons, beans and other assorted produce; and we will keep what you don't like out of the box and put in extra of what you like.

To sign up for our summer CSA, download the brochure here.

For particularly fanatical tomato lovers, we also offer the opportunity to grow 50 or 100 ft rows of tomatoes at our farm. We prepare the field. We germinate your seeds. We plant your seedlings. We weed your row. We trellis your tomato vines. You pick your tomatoes. Contact us if you are interested.

The Taste Tomato

Taste Catering is a top-shelf catering company in San Francisco. We are developing a tomato with them. Check it out.

Seeds of Change to release Blush in 2010

Blush -- Another Long Cherry

Alex, our 11-year-old tomato breeder, devised the cross that produced Blush. When we first sampled this variety for folks at the Carmel TomatoFest in 2008, some took the occasion to nick fruits from our display. We had a small bowl of Maglia Rosa and Blush out, for show, and when we stepped away for food or to look at other booths, we were able to view a number of people come up to pop a few in their pockets or bags when they thought no one was looking.

Blush is a "long cherry" tomato, and is similar to Maglia Rosa in size and shape. The flavor of blush is sweet and faintly tropical. Seeds of Change will be releasing Blush in 2010, and we are very excited to also be able to sell seedlings of this variety in the spring. This is a variety that is truly exceptional, and it is no surprise to us that it is able to induce normally upstanding citizens to participate in petty larceny.

One other note: Seeds of Change will also be selling Spike seeds sometime this year. We will continue to sell Spike seedlings, and we are happy people outside the Bay Area can now grow this variety.

Native Hype?

Three Lakota squash (small) and one Hopi Orange

We have a great relationship with Seeds of Change. That doesn't mean we weren't a bit skeptical of two squash with Native American origins -- Lakota and Hopi Orange. Simply put, we are always skeptical regarding new varieties, because over the past few years we have tried a large number of winter squash on our farm, and we have settled on a few that are very hard to compete with.

When we grew Lakota and Hopi Orange, however, they were both truly outstanding. Both squash have soft skin that is best eaten. In fact, the flavor is enhanced when the squash are not peeled. Amazingly though, they are good keepers, and not prone to spoilage like some of our other favorite soft-skinned winter squash. Here is a summary of our opinions:

Hopi Orange: If you are making pumpkin soup or pie, there is perhaps no better choice of winter squash. Hopi Orange is comparable to Potimarron (which we previously thought incomparable) in flavor. Like with Potimarron, the bright orange skin can be pureed into the soup or pie filling, and it enhances the color of the filling or soup, as well as the flavor. This squash is ridiculously tasty.

Lakota: This is an excellent small Hubbard squash. It is a very convenient size, and is quite beautiful. Notice the three Lakota squash in the photograph. They vary from almost all green, to almost all orange. What does not vary is the great flavor among the color variants. The golden-yellow flesh is always sweet, firm and not stringy. We are currently eating this squash 3 or more times a week, typically sauteed with shallots, winter greens and a variety of other ingredients. Like with Hopi Orange, the skin is edible and enhances the flavor, no matter the color pattern.

Next year, these two squash will be taking center stage at our farmers' market and farm stand. They have earned a prominent place alongside our other favorites -- Potimarron, Galeux d'Eysines, Kikuza, Chirimen (Black Futsu) and Triamble.

Investment Opportunity

As our farm moves from a start-up venture into a mature farming business, we are looking for an investor to purchase 25% of the business (we are organized as an LLC).  We specialize in growing niche produce and nursery stock, and we have growth opportunities in the area of organic plant breeding.  Please contact us if you are potentially interested in buying a piece of the farm.

2010 Seedling Sales

Herb and Tomato Seedlings

Our main nursery sales season will be from mid-March until the end of May.  In March and early April we sell primarily herb and leafy vegetable starts.  Herb sales continue until the end of May, but leafy vegetable starts end mid-April.  We start selling tomato and pepper seedlings after the first week of April.  Tomato and pepper seedling sales end at the end of May.  In 2010 we will sell seedlings at the following locations:

1.  Menlo Park Farmers' Market (Sundays from 9AM until 1PM):  This is our farmers' market.  The vendors are great.  The parking is easy.  It's a great place to shop.

2.  Magic Gardens Nursery in Berkeley:  This is our main outlet in Berkeley.  All of our best varieties will be available, and we will do special presentations on herbs and tomatoes at the nursery.  

3.  Our Baia Nicchia Farm Stand (Tuesday and Friday from 2PM - 6PM):  The farm stand is located in front of the Jazz Cafe, on Main St. in Sunol.  Our most complete collections of seedlings will be available here.  The Jazz Cafe is right around the corner from our farm.  Even if we don't have what you want on display, chances are we can run it over from the farm.  

4.  Santa Clara Master Gardeners Spring Garden Market (Saturday April 10, 9AM - 2PM):  This fabulous spring market is run by the Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County.  It is an incredible place to pick up garden-related items, and to go to free gardening workshops.  

We sell a wide variety of tomatoes, including many that we have created ourselves.  Most of our tomatoes are relatively cool-tolerant and good for coastal gardens, as well as for hotter places.  We sell a handful of unique peppers, including Padron and Dolce di Minervino.  Some of our most exciting herbs include Lemon Thyme, Hidcote Blue Lavender and an array of Basil and Mint.

Free Canning Tomatoes

A crate of tomatoes containing both firsts and seconds

No matter how efficient we get as a farm, there will always be "extra" tomatoes at the end of the day between mid-August and the end of October.  Some are too ripe.  Some are seconds that got bruised or damaged in the picking process.  Some have a bug bite or two.  Some are just not quite right for selling to any of our customers.  Our breeding rows are also the source of tomatoes that are good, but not good enough to fit into our markets.  

We take some of the "extra" tomatoes home.  Interns take some of them, and the field crew takes some of them.  The chickens eat some of them.  The kids throw a few of them at various targets.  And we still have some left that are composted.  

This year, we will be making tomato seconds available to our CSA members, so they too can use them for canning, for summer soups or just for a large tomato salad for summer guests.  CSA members who visit the field during peak production times will get at least 20 lbs of free canning tomatoes per visit.  Visits will be scheduled for harvest days, so that there are ample seconds available.  If there is heavy demand, we may have to have a use a sign-up sheet for visits, but everyone will be able to pick up at least 40 lbs of canning tomatoes, and most likely much more.  

For a complete description of our Summer CSA, please visit our CSA blog.  Our summer CSA features tomatoes, and members who sign up before February 1 can choose the types of tomatoes they want delivered each week, and they can even have us grow their favorite tomato.

Our Internship Program

If you want to learn more about organic farming, we offer a flexible internship which can start at any time.  

The basics of our internship --

1. Duration = 120 hours
2. Flexible scheduling. Internship may run anywhere from 3 weeks to a year.
3. Work = approximately 4/5 of the internship
4. Approximately 1/5 of internship is spent discussing organic farming, plant breeding, direct marketing, nursery management, small business development, etc.
5. Free produce -- Interns may take a box of produce home each week, and may also plant crops at the farm.

6. Stipend -- $200 at end of internship


What is unique about our business, and our internship?

1. We specialize in using available crop genetic diversity to select the best varieties to grow locally in our nursery and on our farm.
2. We breed tomatoes and peppers. We breed organically, and the trait of primary interest is taste. We also breed for unique shapes, colors and for small plant size combined with good productivity.
3. We are a vertically integrated business. We breed. We run a small nursery. We run a small farm. We directly market our products, and we sell wholesale to high-end markets. This arrangement gives us flexibility and a good deal of control over what we do. It also allows us to fetch a sustainable price for our seedlings and our produce.
4. Interns are exposed to all sides of the business, and are expected to critique and evaluate as a part of their internship.

Current Activities -- Some of what we are doing in December/January

Transplanting seedlings into the field

Laying out drip irrigation systems

Planting crops in the greenhouse

Hoeing winter crop rows

Planning for summer crops

Harvesting winter greens

Sorting, packing and delivering vegetables

Harvesting herbs

Trapping mice and ground squirrels

Fixing farm roads

Selling produce at the farmers' market

Composting home and farm refuse

Deliveries to restaurants

Feeding the chickens and collecting eggs

Trapping gophers

Selling produce at the farm stand

Winter Crop Update

Romanesco

It's cold out there in the field. But, our crops were ready for the freeze. They have been priming their leaves with anti-freezes, including sugars, in response to cold fall nights. This is why sub-freezing temperatures of the last nights have frozen our field greens solid, but they thaw out as though nothing happened during the day. Yesterday morning it was clear that the greenhouse even dipped below freezing. Surprisingly, the baby broccoli was more effected than the baby lettuce. But, they perked up as it warmed up.

Another Turnip: In addition to the two Japanese turnips that are growing so well in our field, we have also identified another cracking good turnip -- "Petrowski" -- from Germany (or Poland), via Great Britain. Petrowski is yellow, and has excellent flavor. The taste is also quite distinct from the white Japanese turnips we are growing. The poor Italian, French and American turnips did not fare as well. Perhaps they rank out better in someone else's field.

Broccoli: This year we are growing lots of Calabrese and Romanesco broccoli. In addition to that, we are also growing Broccoli Raab and Leaf Broccoli (Cavolo Broccoletto). The leaf broccoli is typically grown in Southern Italy, and it has a flavor somewhere between kale and Calabrese broccoli.

Chrysanthemum Greens: Chrysanthemum greens are new to us, but we will never be without them again. They have a wonderful fresh full flavor, both as a micro-green and as a full field green. The leaves are mildly succulent and soft. We just ordered bulk quantities and we'll be planting them successionally into the spring.

Strawberries:  We are growing two types of wild strawberries this year -- White Alpine Strawberries from France and Red Alpine Strawberries from Italy.  Because they are from the Alps, it is no surprise that they pretty much grow all year here, as a cold winter day in Sunol is probably not that different from a cold summer day at high altitude.  Our Sunol AgPark friends at Lu-Mien Village Farms are much more serious about strawberries, and they have outrageously good strawberries that we will be including in our CSA boxes this year.

Turnip selections

Hakurei Turnips

Every year we grow a number of varieties from selected crops. We do this to match our site and climate with the varieties that perform best there. This year we are evaluating turnips. Two in particular are standing out so far -- Tokyo Cross and Hakurei. These two turnips are quick to mature, and they seem to do so without any cracking or splitting. But most impressive is their clean crisp flavor. We have been eating both the greens and the roots raw, as we thin them.

We have additional varieties we still need to test. Many are exotic varieties given to us by Guillaume Bienaime (Executive Chef, Marche). We may find other new favorites from among them, but it is hard to imagine them being much better thano Tokyo Cross and Hakurei.

The Bug is Back

Lady Bug

Lady Bug has recovered from the injuries she sustained 6 weeks ago. She's back to eating dry food and running 45 mph at the farm. Thanks to Dr. Louie and Dr. Rohn who patched her up, and Jill who hand-fed her soft food balls for 5 weeks.

Baia Nicchia CSAs

Gourmet Lettuces -- A big part of our Winter CSA

We have started a new blog for our CSAs. It is located here. Please visit for information about our Summer and Winter CSAs.

Final Score: Poppy 1 -- Deer 1

Nicole's Eulogy

Our beloved Poppy died two weeks ago. She, and her siblings got loose at the beginning of a morning walk when she bolted to chase a deer. The deer scrambled over the train tracks behind the property, and she was killed by a blow from a passing commuter train.

Poppy and Lady Bug were the closest of friends and they were together when she died. It is likely that Poppy's body shielded Lady Bug from a direct train hit. Lady Bug is recovering from injuries sustained when she landed next to the tracks after Poppy was pushed into her.

Two years ago Poppy killed a deer at the farm. Now the score is even.

Jordy, the amazing whippet, is going to have to fill in for Poppy at the farm. He is already getting used to lounging on Poppy's cushion, chasing ground squirrels and keeping us company while we work. Lady Bug is annoyed that he gets to go to the farm every day, while she recuperates.

The people you meet at the market...

We are very fortunate to work with Guillaume Bienaime the executive chef at Marche in Menlo Park. We met Guillaume at our farmers' market in Menlo Park when he saw our herb starts one Sunday morning. Guillaume is very interactive, and he spends lots of time explaining to us how he uses our produce. He is also quite involved with our farm. He invites us to special dinners that highlight our produce, and this past spring he purchased a plethora of gourmet melon seeds for us to try. We have had great fun learning about melons with him this year. Now he is going to breed a tomato with us, and work on this project starts this week when he visits our farm to choose the two parent varieties he wants to genetically cross.

Recently a chef-author contacted us about our potential interest in being included in a book featuring the relationships between local farmers and chefs. Our collaborations with Guillaume will be a nice fit for his book.

Keeping up with technology

Poppy Jo

We don't have any time to twitter. But Poppy Jo has volunteered to tweet a bit, between naps.

Gopher Catcher

Great Blue Heron

Many mornings there are great blue herons in our fields. It finally dawned on us what they are are doing -- hunting gophers.

The gophers are relatively active early in the mornings, and the Herons wait above their holes and spear them with their beaks.

32 things that might be true about tomatoes and tomato growing

We are giving a workshop at Magic Gardens in Berkeley today. Here are the talking points:

1. Never, ever refrigerate tomatoes
2. Small-fruited tomatoes perform better in cool weather
3. Small-fruited tomatoes perform better in containers
4. Check the soil beneath tomatoes every morning
5. For container grown plants, water daily when soil is dry at surface in the morning.
6. Grow plants in the ground when possible
7. For plants in the ground, water consistently as plants get established, and then water deeply, only when the soil is dry 3 inches below the surface, or when the plants begin to wilt
8. Once fruits begin to ripen, water less, if you can do so without killing your plants
9. Overwatering at the soil surface promotes disease and algal growth (associated flies & pests)
10. Overwatering leads to mealy, watery tomatoes. It is impossible not to “overwater” tomato plants in containers
11. Pick large tomatoes before they are completely ripe, and let them ripen in a bowl with other tomatoes or fruits – they will ripen more evenly, and you can see when they get perfectly ripe
12. Never, ever refrigerate tomatoes
13. Tomatoes can ripened more slowly between 55 and 65 degrees (and spread out)
14. Tomatoes can be ripened rapidly between 75 and 85 degrees (with other tomatoes)
15. You can’t save money growing tomatoes in containers
16. You might be able to save money growing plants in the ground
17. Never, ever refrigerate tomatoes
18. Don’t wash tomatoes after you pick them. Wash them right before you use them
19. There are no “red” tomato pigments. Red tomatoes have pink, orange and other pigments
20. Throw out diseased plants immediately. UC Davis has a good website for recognizing tomato diseases
21. It is normal for older tomato plants to have drying, “burnt” leaves. The young shoots should look vigorous
22. You can de-capitate your tomato plants. It is often advised when growing in containers
23. Trimming the leaves near the soil surface can reduce disease risk
24. The most common tomato diseases are fungal, and prolonged damp/wet periods promote them
25. Lousy soil will give you lousy tomatoes
26. FoxFarm “Ocean and Forest” potting soil is the best we have found
27. Over-fertilizing with nitrogen reduces harvest
28. Never, ever refrigerate tomatoes
29. Local field-grown tomatoes are in the market mainly from August to October.
30. If you want to know when locally grown tomatoes with the best flavor are available, shop at the farmers’ market
31. Tomatoes are tropical plants
32. Good sources for seeds – Seed Saver’s Exchange, Seeds of Change, Tomato Grower’s Supply