It's RAINING!

Rain is glorious!

Yes! It is raining in California, whoopee! The ground is soaking up the wonderful wet like a sponge, already water is forming streams and rivulets which flow, foaming, into the reservoirs. According to the weather predictions, we face five days of steady rain... we celebrate our good luck! Rain and more rain really is the best gift we could receive this Holiday season.

Our milk supply is holding steady,

Couldn't resist adding the words...smile!

 and my cheese making has produced some nice big ones that are aging in my cheese cave now. Most are around 10 pound rounds. There are herb-ed ones featuring caraway, onions, and spicy ones, sprinkled over with peppers,  a few plain Jack style 10 pounders, and some smaller ones like Tomme d' Oro, and a couple of interesting, experimental, double cream ones...

aging cheeses

Making cheese fills up the winter time so productively, it is nice to have something to do that feels useful.

We've finished building the deck for my Mom's RV, I think she is going to really enjoy having the extra space. I see BBQ's, and the laughter and cheer of good friends there in the near future.... Happy Birthday dear mother!... (her's is Dec. 11...) My mother is a real treasure...and we value her very much... we are blessed by her very presence.

My mother, Ann McCarty, in her prime

The Holidays are nearly upon us, here is hoping yours are blessed with family and friends... Merry Christmas! Hang your stockings with care! & remember, t'is the season, to SUPPORT your LOCAL PRODUCERS!

Have a Mooooo...rry Christmas Everyone!

A time for valuation and reflection

Sun after rain..

Thanksgiving day is just around the corner. We have so much to be grateful for, the rains have come, replenishing our drought plagued farm, we have hay in the barn for our winter needs, the cows are giving us buckets full of warm, creamy milk everyday. We have our health, the happiness of being with friends and family. To 'Be' is wonderful, yet to 'Be' in the midst of all this bountiful good, is a joy beyond wonder.

Our WWOOFer friend, Jesse, came and went. We had a great time and made cheese almost everyday, plus he helped us, with a host of other things as well, not the least of which, was helping get the metal building prepped for the indoor market project we have begun!

The geese take flight at my approach, in the frosty morn.

The wild geese have come back just in time for the first frost, they are already jousting for the best nesting spaces, honking and squabbling, night and day. over who will get the best places to nest in the spring. There is something so primal, about the noise they make and they inspire one with their beauty, as they come in to the pond, circling in flight, lower and lower to skid, gracefully along it's length, till they settle into its quiet waters, or taking off, with a noisy, flapping, spiraling out from it, in an ever widening span of cyclic spread, announcing to all their intent. Honk, honk...honk, honk, honk... 

The honk of the goose calls to the wild 'something' in me, and reminds me of all that is untamed and undomesticated in this world. We have our neat domestic rows, which are beautiful also, garden rows, labeled rows of canned goods, hay rows stacked in the barn, we make such perfect symmetries. The wild is asymmetrical, honking in flight, spiraling upward and outward, like the heart does, in its crazy way, toward the highest parts of ourselves. Compassion, and open warmheartedness does not come in neat rows, it comes forth, in the face of our own selfishness, in the face of our own covetousness, twirling love unconditionally and overwhelms our heart with generosity, pushing out of us, almost unasked for, what is best in our selves. Yes, the wild sound of the geese, reminds me of how connected we are to everything, and especially how connected we are to each other.

We find the wondrous, beauty of Nature, quiet and simple, echoing in our own heart, when we take the time to listen. 

We bought a beautiful turkey for thanksgiving dinner, produced and processed on a local farm, pasture, raised and fed organically. We paid much more for it than if we'd bought one on sale at a box type grocery, we paid what it was really worth. For the fact that it was allowed to live a life un-caged, scratching under trees, taking dust baths with its buddies, flapped its wings in joy, it was allowed to go roaming through sun and shade, in a big pasture, as it pleased. It was cared for, and valued by the people who raised it, it was not just a number, inventory... a meat weight to be sold. The money we spent on it goes into our community, to our neighbors, not to some huge impersonal corporation, looking ever, to increase bottom line at the expense of individuals, of family, of community. To understand that there is something very fortunate in being able to actually live somewhere where we have the opportunity to express a monetary, valuation for the individuals in our community, growing food for themselves and others. In this world it is a rare opportunity, where so many people, have so little choice, as to the quality of what they eat, or the way in which it was grown or processed. We are blessed by our local farmers, who dare to compete with subsidized, factory-grown food. Our local farmers challenge us, to see through the artificial low prices of such food, and pay fair prices so our local farmers survive. Understand the Truth behind cheap food...that subsidized factory food-stuff, has a higher hidden cost, than we imagine, for all it is priced so cheaply. A cost hidden in subsidies coming out of our wages, the cost of the loss of nutritional quality, the cost of the loss of our country's viable farm lands, due to shoddy factory farming practices, the cost of good, would-be farmers, who are forced out of business, unable to compete, with their local produce, in the market place, against the artificially, manipulated, lower costs of factory foods. In the end, everyone must bare the burden of these hidden costs, eventually. So we, at least, try to buy locally, when we can and encourage you to do so also...and to pay fair value. Value the local farmer, help them compete, pay fair value for the work he or she does! Better yet...become a farmer yourself! Embrace what is essential in yourself, for what can be more essential, than sharing Nature's bounty, with your friends? Happy Thanksgiving!

Daisy is looking forward to the new grass surge!

Fall is well underway. The annual rains have started. Hopefully the drought of the past four years is broken.  We have had two storms that have delivered over two inches of rain, enough to break 'seed dormancy'. Fall is like spring here, the annual grasses have sprouted, and are dusting the pasture with a coat of pale green as they push up through the gold of last years growth. Already the cream line on the milk buckets is deeper, from the cows being able to munch on the new grass.

My little dog 'Boosky' is keeping 
his eye on things!

Today is Thursday, farm-stand day. This one will be the last one for the season. It gets dark now, with the time change, and it's chilly and wet, not much fun to be outside in the weather. The local produce is also getting difficult to find, the tail-end of summer's gardens fade, the last of the tomatoes are going, going.... along with peppers and eggplant, squash and cuke. Soon we will have our first frost, which will take out the last of Summer's tender bounty. The mushrooms will pop up soon, to be made into hot soups or dried for next summer's use and the winter greens will flourish. All is well that ends well. We are tucked in for winter storms. Let them blow! We will welcome them in!

Next Sunday, WWOOFer Jesse comes! He is a tried and true farm lover, and has been here before. He is into learning more about cheese making, so we will be having some sessions. With the cool weather we will be switching from making mozzarella, to making bries and hard cheeses for home use. The temperature is perfect for hard cheeses and Brie, along with the humidity they will age well. If we start our Brie now, it will be just right for eating over the holidays...yum!

Brie in the process.

As the year comes to a close, we have made our compost piles, in anticipation of next years spring gardens. Saved seeds fill the seed cupboard, and jars fill the pantry. We've started the indoor market project, and including installing a cheese processing area in our out-door metal building, which will be the main work for this winter. It's exciting, to begin. Long hours of research pay off, plans finally begin to materialize.

Every season, on a farm is interesting. Pouring over seed catalogs, planning next summer's garden fare, pruning apple and pear trees, tending to the cows, with their great puffs of wintry breath, floating on the air...Soon we will be sitting around crackling fires, enjoying the yummy 'put-up' fruits of summer, having dinners with friends and family, sharing camaraderie and good cheer. Feasting and wine! The season of celebration is at hand! Hope you'll be there too.

Fall is here...

It's Fall now. This past Summer we had to deal with drought conditions. Crop failures, from lack of irrigation water. Low fruit yields. Not much fun. We had only a few WWOOFers, since there wasn't much to process. Even so we had a good crop of calves and dairy production was smooth. This Fall and Winter though, California is expecting a very wet season, which we hope will fill all the aquifers, ponds, lakes and irrigation water reservoirs. We are planning a Fall/Winter garden now, and on planting more fruit trees during the dormant period of Winter. We get ready for a booming Spring now. There will be a lot to work on this Season.

The farm stand was a success, in spite of the drought, we were able to supply locally produced fruits and veggies all Summer, even, if not in the copious quantities usually available, we had heirloom tomatoes, squashes, grapes, Asian and regular pears, apples, nuts, salads, greens, local breads, eggs, the locally produced Apollo Olive Oil, all kinds of local cheeses (goat, cow, and even water buffalo) pies, cobblers, home made hummus, home cured olives, dried fruit and mushrooms, our own honey, canned jams, and preserves and all kinds of misc. goodies. This year we got a grain grinder and now can offer fresh ground organic grains, non GMO corn meal, organic wheat, and spelt. We are wanting to add sprouts and fresh mushrooms from our own mushroom grow house to the mix.

Around mid October, we are starting the next phase of the indoor private membership market, which is exciting. Having a separate area for all the packaging and processing of products will be great. It has been tough to do packaging and processing in our home kitchen, working around ordinary domestic meal chores. We look forward to the new developments which will appear once the area is finished. Later~Rebecca

This year's farm stand

summer market 2014 

The weather has been so warm and sunny, we have been thinking about opening the Thursday farm stand early this year.

Beginning in April, the sun set time is 7:30pm , if we are open 4:30 to 6:30 pm, it allows us an hour of sun light to break the stand down, and pack up our remaining goods.

Local foodies shop locally for the freshest produce

By April there will (hopefully) be enough produce to have a tasty selection for the market. There will be a lot of leafy greens, tender baby salad, turnips, beets, early onions, leeks, asparagus, nuts, oranges, lemons, dried fruit from last fall. Charlie's North Yuba Bakery Bread, jams & jellys, perhaps our new potatoes, honey, pickles, eggs, humus, beet salad and more. In addition we hope to have veggie seedlings for sale to go in YOUR garden.We'll announce the exact dates later. Hope to see you there.

Spring Prep

emergence

 Spring is just around the corner, the farm is waking up from it's long winter's nap. We have a lot of projects coming up. Participating, WWOOFers can get working experience dealing with spring farm jobs. Now is the time we do our spring shovel dance. We get our gardens ready for spring planting, that means moving compost onto our existing beds, working up the soil and laying out irrigation. We will also be building some experiential, new "no-dig" beds, a promising project. We are sorting our seeds, picking out the appropriate ones and seeding out heat loving varieties for summer,they need heating mats, and babying along of those tender sprouts. We will finish pruning those orchard trees, apples and pears, that are threatening to break dormancy.  Then, our goats will begin kidding soon, there will be bottle babies to feed, goat milking and goat's milk cheese making. We plan on fencing and crossing fencing a small underutilized pasture area for the goat's, allowing us to use it's lush ,spring, stand of grass, for rotational grazing. Lots of interesting, challenges ahead...

spreading compost

 If you are interested to explore farming at Oak Meadow, now is a good time to apply. We are especially interested in working with those who aspire to start their own farm in the future. We appreciate volunteers who just want to exchange a few days of their help, for a better understanding about how food is grown, that is a  noble cause. However, because our, resources, space and energy is limited, preference is given to those wishing to become future farmers. It is you; who have a strong desire, a "calling", so to speak, a longing to farm, for whom we wait. It is you who have a will, to acquire the skills, understanding and steadfast endurance, it takes to overcome the obstacles beginning farmers face; for whom we wait. We are dedicated to the task at hand. Together, responsible farmers change the world, one season at a time. 

Spring!

Valentines day question..."Is it winter or spring?"

Plums in bloom

Even though it is still officially winter, the weather has been so mild, many of our fruit trees are in bloom. It is a bit disconcerting, if we have a hard frost before fruit set we will have a poor crop. Here our plums are putting on quite a show around our market area.

The past week I find my self reading all the latest seed catalogs, getting dirt under my nails planting seeds in trays, potting up cuttings or walking around, clip board in hand, planning garden layouts. These unusually warm days we have been having inspire me to do so. 

I really like these trays that have the high top covers for starting seeds and cuttings, they keep the soil warm and moist and keep the birds and bugs out. I've lost so many seedlings to the little birds that winter-over here, they have a voracious appetite for sweet emerging seedlings, and will peck out every one if they are not excluded. The trays are great for growing fodder also. You can find them for a good price at www.greenhousemegastore.com.

A pleasant walk around the zone one garden reveals the tail ends of last falls crops, carrots, and beets, some Swiss chard and Red kale.

The garlic I planted in fall is doing well and this year's rhubarb is already pushing new growth.

Rhubarb

Yesterday I planted a short row of asparagus in one of the beds, hoping it will do well there... a yummy perennial veggie we really enjoy.

Beautiful afternoon light.

Chris and I bought some bare root fruit trees, an apple, two more plums, and some grape vines and a couple of blueberries. The apple is in the ground, we will be planting the rest tomorrow.

New Braburn apple

Our calves are doing well. Lindy is getting big, and looks to be a good milker, with her sweet disposition.  She is a real cutey, follows Chris around like a pup. 

Lindy

We are going to have openings for a couple of WWOOFers in March, after the 15th, now is the time to apply.

It is going to be a lush spring, (we hope), goat babies will come soon, and calves, there is loads of green grass which will make for lots of super creamy milk, so good for making cheese; new little piggies will be born,  there will be seedlings to tend, gardens to dig and so forth, great! What a life!

Happy Valentine's day!