When the Almond Tree Blooms

On Monday of last week I finally got around to harvesting the quince tree growing along a country road in South Sutter County.  I passed along this stretch of road many times on my way from one rice field to another and always found it pleasing because it is lined with walnut groves and homesteads whose yards abound with fruit trees.  I noticed the quince tree but never stopped to collect the fruit until that chilly December afternoon.  Quince Tree, Striplin Road Sutter County, CA For those of you unfamiliar with quince, it is a lumpy yellow-green fruit whose size ranges between apple and football.  Unlike most contemporary fruit, whose growers and buyers prize uniformity and perfection in appearance, every quince has a unique shape and is covered with a thin fuzz.  When eaten raw, quince has an astringent, mouth puckering taste, but when cooked it becomes very delicious.  Quince's popularity throughout the world in countries like Turkey, England, Spain...

Another attempt to revive this blog yet again, complete with a new title and all. After a sometimes frenetic summer at the Farm and Garden, I find the fall lending itself to reflection and writing. As usual, the intent is to use this blog to stay in touch with folks I don't see everyday, and also to practice self-expression through writing and sometimes photos. So here I go again... It's been two weeks since I graduated from the Apprenticeship in Ecological Horticulture at UC Santa Cruz, and my hands show the passing of time since I left the farm. While at CASFS, dirt clung to the undersides of my fingernails and any cracks it could work its way into. It was always there, a pleasant reassurance of the joy of laboring in the soil. Now, having spent most of my post-farm time in cities, it is gone. But not for long. On the last day to move off the farm, Sunday October 17th, rain fell steadily from a gray sky, the first of its' kind we'd seen since June. It was ...