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Change in Days~
Open:
Wednesday and Thursday,
Friday and Saturday!! still
9am until Noon
We are growers
of "our~ganic" (not officially certified organic - see below) fruits and vegetables in Catalina, AZ, slightly
north of Tucson. Our aim is to be a source of freshly harvested local produce for the Catalina area, including
Oro Valley and NW Tucson. This web site mainly functions to let everyone know approximately what we are currently harvesting,
how to get here, and what the current hours are. I update on Tuesday or Wednesday, and answer mail.
If there appears to have been no update, the veggies are the same as last week. Directions to
Our Garden are on the "Location" page (see links above) and hours are posted farther down this page, along with
the current harvest. See the "Contact" page to get in touch. PS: please try
to remember to BYOB (bring your own bag), but I have a few for those who forget. I forget sometimes too!
July Harvest
grapes
arugula, amaranth,
beets with beet greens, chard,
sweet onions, garlic,
carrots,
purslane,
three kinds of summer squash,
and anything else we can find!
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| orchard rainbow |
Garden
news:
7/2/09~ Who said we still had corn? But I warned you didn't I. Jesse planted extra
this year, which is a good thing because we had extra people. Some day we may have to take out all those pistachio trees
to plant vegetables for the growing metropolis of Catalina... but don't count on it.
Meanwhile
you can thank cute "little" Maizy for the current lack of peaches. Bird netting is a real hassle, and one
of the problems is that the birds still find a way to get in. Early one morning Maizy (2 yr old German shepherd) thought
it best to release the birds stuck in the Sugar Mae Whites. Imagine how a dog takes bird netting off a tree and
you can guess the rest. Jesse says we'll have the next variety in about another 2 or 3 weeks.
We are
finding some ripe tomatoes.. maybe because the birds have been distracted by peaches? And it's Beauty Seedless grape
season. Welcome to our garden!
6/29/09~ Yay! You can read this! And.... we still have corn!!
All four varieties of garlic are now cleaned and on the table, along with the write up explaining their differences.
And we have a new green, amaranth. A while back we had our native amaranth weed thanks to a failed crop. Only
the amaranth or pig weed survived under the row cover, protected from the birds, but we were delighted to add it to our salads.
Now we have an amaranth from a regular seed packet.. I guess you could say it's got good credentials. And it looks
beautiful too, almost like coleus leaves. The tomatoes are just breathing down our necks.. or is that us breathing down
theirs? So close..... but not yet!
6/27/09~ Is it computers, my web site provider,
or is it just me? I'm trying once again folks, to publish to the web this addition of days and that we have corn.
This is further reason to just come on over and check out what we are harvesting. Could be tomatoes by the time I work
out the problems....
Meanwhile, Thursdays and Fridays are great times to come in if you want
to avoid bumping elbows with so many hungry people at 9am. If only I could get the word out to you!!!!
6/26/09~ Somehow that last posting didn't make it to the wonderful world of the web, but
we still have corn. I apologize to anyone who would have come but didn't get the word. Thanks to Jesse for
letting me use his computer for this update, and thanks to the wise people who encouraged me to get high speed internet because
this dial up connection is soooo yesterday!!!
6/24/09~ YIKES says Jesse! We have lots
of corn ready! So, a sudden shift in the days we are open.. back to the full schedule of Wednesday THROUGH Saturday
for all you corn lovers!
And please remember, this is not the supermarket with a mega-shipment
of corn in from Illinois~ it will not be available all summer long. This particular harvest will only be around
for a week. We plant in succession, so there will be more harvests to come, weather, bugs, birds, etc. permitting!
6/19/09~ Onions and garlic (the first garlic ready is Inchellium Red) and did someone
say peaches? Could be.... We now have plenty of onions, those nice sweet Granex that in some parts of the country
are called Vidalia. I saw some blackberries on the table on Wednesday, and the Sugar Mae White peaches went
quickly that day (more still ripening on the trees). That is the first variety we have. I believe Arctic Gem will
be the next, also white. Peaches will come and go throughout the next month or so, as we have various varieties that
ripen at different times. The "kids"* have put out the culls (damaged by birds usually) for half price..
with the garlic and onions that sounds like peach salsa to me! Or peaches with your oatmeal in the morning... smooshed
peaches on toast.... mmmmmm
*How much longer can I call Jesse and Rebecca "kids"?
I've finally realized why I was a "kid" to my mom all those years, even when I was starting to take care of
her. But believe me, I am the adult now! And they'll get their turn too, if I live to be 90.
6/11/09~ The latest odd thing to appear in the garden building was amaranth; not the grain but the wild green grown under
cultivation. Unlike its counterpart which is generally known as a weed in our yards that can taste quite bitter, when
it is grown with shade and water and fertile soil it is quite tasty. Bueno Jesse! Gracias for
this experiment!
The purslane is now ready as well.. all kinds of things to take the place of the lettuce
which has been turned in to do its underground thing- feeding the soil instead of the humans.
And...... it's
garlic season again!! Succulent garlic fresh from the ground. Oh we do love this time of year after all!
Before long we'll see tomatoes and peppers and salsa will join every meal. I truly am starting to feel a real seasonal
flow to my body now. Eating what is in season makes me feel so healthy.
!!Me gusta mucho Espanol Y
Mas with Judy!! Her flyer and cards are in the garden building, with the next summer session starting July 1st
in Catalina. These are conversational Spanish classes at an easy going pace, just right for summer (fall
and winter and spring as well). Judy makes learning a foreign language fun, with games and song and of course, conversation.
And last but never least, I recently went to the www.ourcatalina.com website and was so happy to see a section for Lost/Found pets. What a great resource this local website is!
6/9/09~ These onions, those onions, the other onions.... now it's still scallions but also early uncured
"Vidalia type" Granex onions. These are the more mature version of the onion thinnings we had a while back.
Granex is the variety bred in Texas many years back and shipped to a grower in Georgia to try out. What seemed
like a gamble for him turned into a really big show at the Vidalia County Farmer's Mkt., so big that they patented the
name. Now only Granex grown in Vidalia county Georgia can be marketed as Vidalia onions. (It's something
about the soil they say.) The rest of us are growing "Vidalia type", or more correctly, Granex~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some of our regular customers have been surprised to find out we were open through the winter this year.
That goes along with the theme of things though... in the garden you really are not in total control, you cannot make exact
predictions about the day a specific veggie will be ready for harvest, so you learn to adapt to change. Our family is
so used to this lifestyle that we sometimes we are a bit unpredictable ourselves!
Shop locally, the new green.
As cliche as these saying grow, at least they are moving in a positive direction. One of my neighbors tries to
buy all her gifts at the Catalina Ranch House, something I discovered by complimenting the bag she was using. Thanks
to Judy's Spanish classes held at Sammy's Mexican Grill, I have found my new favorite place for fish tacos is only
10 minutes from my house. Thanks to the amount of time I am in NM these days, I now have one lunch a month at Mi
Tierra to keep my sanity and stay connected with my long-time-best buddy and neighbor. And that lunch flows over
to the New Moon Haven next door, which is a thread of connection to my daughter, Ally. After lunch we seem to spend
at least 30 minutes there checking out what's been added since our last visit. And, most recently, we rediscovered
the Lariat, www.lariatsteakhouseaz.com, thanks to our good friends the Montiels, where Tiana's dad played with the West River Band last night.
Again, only 10 minutes from home. So, what's missing? A coffee shop? Tuscany, where did you go and can
you come back now that Kelly's is gone? Meantime maybe I'd better check out the coffee at Claire's once
more. Think they'll ever learn to make lattes there? One can only hope.
Slow down. Be green. Shop
local. Smile.
Every time someone thanks us for doing this work, I am thanking
them back for allowing us to do it. People who are appreciating the value of having a variety of local, freshly grown
organic produce... food right out of the ground.. actually still alive when you buy it!... these people are contributing
to the life of the community and the planet, as well as their own little bodies. Thinking globally and acting locally
isn't just for Earth First now, is it.
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| Almost ready! |
And you can click on this water color prickly pear to see some of Rebecca's art work. If you
are interested in purchasing any of her work, or contacting her for mural or other art-related work, just let us know.
Also, the San Pedro cactus below is a reminder that we also have native and climate-adapted plants
available, both ornamental and food producing, under the shade cloth in the garden. Jesse is the one to seek out
there for info.
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| My Blooming San Pedro |
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| Catalina resident |
This wise old resident is linking you to another Catalina web site, OurCatalina.com.
This site keeps up on local issues and interests, things to do, resources, etc., and is well worth checking
out. So put your pointer on the owl and he'll take you there.
| husking pistachioes |
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| pistachio flowers |
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"What are those trees?" When we first started doing this we thought people would enjoy driving through the orchard.
I took this picture of the flowers in early April one year, so they will soon be flowering again. To learn
about the orchard's history and odds and ends about us, click on this picture.
We had a pretty good harvest two years ago, with much volunteer help. Above is a picture John de Coville had
taken of many hands doing the husking. The machinery to do it all ourselves is cost prohibitive unless we win the lottery,
so we'll continue to do it all "by hands" for several years more anyway. The crops are generally heavy every other
or every 3 years, with light ones or next to nothing in between.
If we are harvesting while you are here, please go over and check out the operation. If you volunteer some time you
can even leave with some fresh pistachioes, not to mention an idea of the time involved in harvesting from just one tree.
Often this answers the question, "why don't you do anything with those nuts?" Don't worry, we will some day, with machinery.
Meanwhile, take advantage!
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| today's harvest |
We call it "Our-ganic"
Just a word or two (okay, I'm a wordy person) about the word "organic" here. Finally we have a government definition
for a term that's been tossed about loosely for years by gardeners. Some gardeners probably still don't know the meaning
of 'organic gardening', and some may dispute the definition adopted by our wise public servants. My feeling on the subject
is you are best informed by asking the grower how he gardens. This means you need to know what your own priorities are.
Wayne and I have always considered organic to mean without the use of chemical pesticides (commonly known as 'spraying')
and without the use of chemical fertilizers such as ammonium phosphate, sulphate, etc. We
both feel that the main issue is the spraying of chemical pesticides, insecticides, which are very harmful to us
and the environment. However, chemical fertilizers are not exactly harmless and it is possible to do without
them as well. While we are not certified organic, we are honest about telling you that the food we sell is grown
organically in the true sense of the word, thus "our-ganic". However, there is a lot to be said for the nutrition in
fresh local food however it's grown compared to that coming in by truck from who knows where.
I recently saw a sign on a contractor's truck that said "Unlicensed by Choice". Right on ~~ me too. A license
or certification doesn't automatically mean a good job done, and a lack of one doesn't mean a lack of quality or honesty.
If you are really looking for organics, ask the grower not only if his crops are sprayed with pesticides, but also what
he uses for fertilizers. Don't count on our government to protect you (think 'mad cow'). Really it is up to each
of us to take the responsibility to be as well-informed as we possibly can.
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| corny sunset |
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And, a tiny little word about pricing. So many new callers ask about our prices,
and I say it how it is- priced according to the local market (Wild Oats and TJ's) for organics. What we have over Wild
Oats and Trader Joe's (both of whom I really appreciate, don't get me wrong) is the freshness. Where else can you get
organic vegetables out of the garden the very same day unless you have your own garden? And if you have had your own
garden, you understand one of the major expenses. It's the water bill, isn't it! For us the water bill is
electricity to run a big enough pump to irrigate, not to mention the occasional thousands of dollars on repairs. Don't
look for bargains here. Look for quality.
What Wayne always says, and he is not a wordy person, is, if you have to ask about prices you don't
want to come here.
Personally I believe in paying a fair price for the effort put out. We are not big enough to
sell tons of veggies on the commerical market and then roadside stand the leftovers at bargain basement prices. If it
doesn't work this way, we'll go back to just growing our own food... which is definitely the economical route for those who
can't afford to pay someone else to grow it for them.
Again and again, it is a matter of priorities. Ourselves, we don't even have a cable TV bill.
Actually we no longer have television, but we do have high speed internet. Just a matter of priorities.
Live well.
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