Rare Fruits, New Trees and Heirloom Seeds

We're just back from the California Rare Fruit Growers' annual scion exchange in Sacramento, which is The Place To Be if you're a tree collector! Members bring and give away cuttings from their unusual fruit trees, which can then be grafted onto an existing tree or rooted in soil, depending on the variety. The cuttings are labeled with the variety, and the names are often wonderfully evocative: Blue Celeste, Col de Dame Noir, and Igo figs; Diamond Muscat grape, Shangri-la mulberry, Rossenkya persimmon, Parfianka pomegranate... not to mention the hundreds of varieties of apples, peaches, plums and cherries. It's a great way to preserve rare and heirloom varieties, and to add some character to your orchard!

Apricot, Fig, and Plum cuttings

If you missed the exchange but would like to start some new trees of your own, not to worry — now is the time of year to start thinking about propagation. It's quite easy to root cuttings such as grape and fig, and local nurseries and garden clubs often hold grafting classes in the winter and spring. For information and instructions on rooting cuttings, check out our blog post from last year right here.

In other news, we're hard at work — despite the mud — adding new Bartlett pear trees to our 90-plus-year-old orchard! With a bit of luck, these little guys will provide pears for the next 90...

Digging the planting holes took some heavy equipment:

And now, in the Discoveries department: On a recent trip to Bodega Bay, we passed through Petaluma, and happened upon a striking old bank building with the words "Heirloom Seeds" painted on the windows. Curious, we stopped to investigate — and found ourselves in the fantastic Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Bank:

I could have spent all day in this place! Hundreds, probably thousands, of heirloom seed varieties, housed in the gorgeous historic Sonoma County National Bank building, arrayed on shelves tailor-made for browsing. The company, family-run by Jere and Emilee Gettle, is based in Missouri and recently opened its first outpost — the Seed Bank — in Petaluma. Their catalogue is a delight, brimming with information and lovely photographs that will make you long for Spring. And, of course, the seeds themselves: giant "Yellow Monster" peppers, gooseberry gourds, a veritable rainbow of winter squash, antique sweet peas, Flamingo Pink Swiss chard, Japanese morning glories, Speckled Trout lettuce... you get the idea! Their catalogue is free, and available here. And, if you happen to be anywhere near Petaluma, the seed bank is definitely worth a trip!

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds can be found on the Web right here: rareseeds.com

Happy New Year!

As the new year begins, we'd like to thank to all our friends and customers for making 2009 such a memorable year, full of good food and company at the farmer's markets, on the farm, and beyond. Here's to 2010 — may it bring health, happiness, and good things to all!

A few of our goals for the new year...

1. Organic certification! We've been transitional organic for the last three years — growing organically, but "unofficially" so, which means we can't legally call ourselves "organic." Go figure... so, this year it's time to get busy with the paperwork!

2. Even more local food! (We hope this one is on your list, too.) The Auburn Old Town Farmer's Market runs year round, so there are no excuses... you can find fruits and vegetables, yes, but also bread, eggs, meat, and even fish as well! Our chickens are just starting to lay again — a backyard flock is a great way to have fresh and local eggs, by the way — so we have the eggs covered, but local meats are at the top of my shopping list this year. We love the local lamb from Dan Macon's Flying Mule Farm, and the beef and pork from Bob Sorensen at Coffee Pot Ranch. The Longhorn Meat Co. in Auburn is a great source for grass-fed meats.

3. Bake bread more often. Nothing beats the satisfaction of making your own bread, and it makes the whole house smell so good! Not to mention that it ties in nicely with the whole "eat local" thing. On the to-do list: search out local flour; experiment with different kinds of breadmaking, including sourdough and traditional Greek prozymi

(natural leaven); and try out the suspiciously easy methods in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François. Five minutes? Really? Yes, please!

In other words, more meals like this... déjeuner sur l'herbe, Sfakia, Crete, spring 2009

4. More preserving projects! I'll be scouring the Farmer's Market this week for cabbages to make sauerkraut, and I'm daydreaming of homemade prosciutto, pickled green beans, blackberry jam, and feta (no, I don't mean all on the same plate!) The process of transforming one food into another is addictively satisfying, and simple foods, like olives and cheese, make so much more sense when you make them yourself. It's hard to explain — but try it and you'll know exactly what I mean.

5. Learn more about weeds. What they tell about the soil, where they came from, and, of course, what they can be used for — speaking of which...

6. More foraging! Wild greens, yes, of course — look for a blog post about horta coming soon — but mushrooms, too. The woods around here are positively carpeted with fungi at this time of year, and we're making plans with some mycologically-minded friends to track down the edible ones soon! Just remember, when collecting any kind of wild comestibles: Be certain you can properly identify the plants or mushrooms you are looking for; know if there are any look-alikes that may be less wholesome; and, if you're going by guidebooks in your search, have at least two of them so you can cross-check the descriptions, especially of you are unfamiliar with your quarry.

7. Year-round gardening! This year we're doing more winter gardening — kale, chard, lettuces, garlic, onions, radishes, carrots, and so on. We also planted butternut, acorn, and hubbard squash this summer, all of which are excellent keepers and have been gracing the dinner table regularly lately... such a treat to have homegrown food in the winter months!

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And what better way to start of the new year than with a breakfast of fresh-baked soda bread, homemade plum jam, and a grapefruit from a friend's tree. Cheers!