Farming in Urban Orange County

(Blowing dust from the keyboard) I’ve been gone for more than a little while - my last post was in July and I’d like to chalk things up to a busy summer cultivating the fields, but I think that that excuse is a few months past honest. 

One of the things that I have done is develop a new website where I can organize my content so that it can more easily be used as a resource for the would-be gardener. 

Since July, the garden beds have moved from summer veg into cool-season crops. Cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, romanesco, potatoes, garlic, leeks, carrots, beets, lettuce, spinach, and dill are currently flourishing in the cool, moist weather that we’ve been having. The searingly-hot Southern Californian summer is fast approaching. Transplanting tomatoes into the bed where I am currently growing cabbage is but three weeks away. 

I’ve also been bringing the camera into the kitchen and using it to make short films. My next post will be a short film that I’ve just made. 

Thank you to those who encouraged me to keep posting. 

I was always planning on continuing but the nudges were inspiring. With camera snapping and keys clicking, I am in the saddle once again!

Farm Stand Today….

…and the tomatoes are pumping out the fruit! Eighty-five plants gave me around 150 pounds of delicious heirloom fruit today. We also had bell and chile peppers, cucumbers, summer squash, onions, and honey.

Some of My Favourite Heirloom Tomato Varieties

• Costoluto Genovese - Red and fluted/scalloped variety in the third photo
• Black Krim - A widely celebrated heirloom that is lightly scalloped with a purple skin (last photo)
• Reisetomate - The clustered variety in the bottom left corner of the second photo. Individual fruits are like fused clusters of cherry tomatoes.

The plants are hopping lately. Long days and clear skies have them growing at an astounding rate. All I have to do is keep the soil wet and the weeds at bay.

• These are the first figs from a tree that I planted last year. I’m not sure what the variety is but the man who gave me the plant said it was a variety that his family grew in lebanon. The fruit is delicious. 
• I cover crop throughout the summer with buckwheat. Going from seed to flower in just 40 days, you can’t beat this plant for a quick bit of mulch and a bucket of nectar for the bees.
• Yamato Extra-Long Japanese Cucumber - Unless you’re really into canned pickles you should consider Japanese slicing varieties for your garden. They are thin skinned, extremely crispy and always seem to taste exactly as a cucumber should. 
• Vietnamese amaranth is easy to grow, its seed is easy to thresh, and the plant is beautiful and drought tolerant. The seeds are high in protein and the leaves can be prepared like swiss chard. This plant is around five feet tall but some varieties can exceed twelve!

Summer is well underway and the farm stand is colouring up nicely.

Here is some of the beautiful food:

1. Sunflowers - Not exactly food at this stage, but pretty anyhow
2. Honey - Our delicious wildflower honey; this stuff flies of the shelf!
3. Potatoes - Colorado Rose, All-Blue, Binje
4. Peppers - Too many varieties to name (or more honestly, remember)
5. Leeks - A handful of leeks are the last of the winter crops to come out of the ground

Visit to Kiler Canyon Farms

A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Kiler Canyon Farm, an idyllic expanse of fertile vegetable beds, pasture, and oak-covered hillsides just outside of Paso Robles, California. I was invited by a friend of mine who is one of two interns on the farm (thanks Rory!). The family that tends and owns the farm gave me a tour and welcomed me into their home. When I imagine farming on my own land in a beautiful and rural place this is what I picture. 

The vegetable beds were diverse, planted to the gills, and thriving. A vegetable CSA is the basis of the farm but the family also keeps a few healthy dairy cows, chickens, and pigs. The best loaves of bread that I have seen since I have lived in the US came out of the farms wood-fired oven shortly before I arrived. On top of the bread I had a gruyere-like cheese that had just come out of the cheese cave where it had been ripening for a year.

I left the farm with a gallon of fresh milk from the farm’s Jersey cow. The milk was topped by a thick layer of golden cream for which the Jersey cow is famous. I guzzled the majority of the gallon and made yoghurt with the rest. 

If you live near Paso Robles or Atascadero (or have a friend that does) you can (and should) eat the incredible food grown organically by Kiler Canyon Farm. You can do so by purchasing a share of the harvest through the farm’s CSA - http://kilercanyonfarm.com/csashares.html. All of our food should be grown by people like this.