Although Napa is poised to receive another 3-5 inches of rain this week and possibly more this weekend, signs of spring are popping up everywhere around the farm. The rain has nurtured the soil life and spurred a dramatic increase of earthworms underneath out feet. I'm talking DRAMATIC, it seems anywhere you dig a hole, you'll be able to find our wiggly friends hard at work. Never early never late, Spring is always on time. Many of our apple and stone fruit trees have began to wake up from their winter dormancy and their buds have started to swell. This early budding apple variety in our courtyard is already showing off her spring colors and gentle fragrance. While the students were enjoying their February break last week, the sunny weather was perfect to tackle a few large projects on the farm. The last of the celeriac, winter leeks, cabbage, brussel sprouts, and swiss chard were all harvested to make way for clearing, compost laying, and bed preparation. These Intergo cabbages and Takrima leeks have shown great ability to stay out in the field without splitting after they've matured. Chef Janet will surely include them into the farm lunches this week and next. With a handful of beds prepped and ready for spring plantings, we managed to get fennel, lettuces, cabbages, and kale seedlings into the ground before the storms hit. Standing in the greenhouse observing all the seedlings waiting to be planted has us longing for warmer, sunnier days. But from the looks of it, spring's right around the corner..
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January and February has been a stormy one in California. Snow packs and reservoirs are near or above 100% of yearly averages. Only 11% of the state remains in a severe drought (still need to be water-wise though!) Needless to say, we've welcomed the water and weather with open arms here on the farm. Well...most of the weather. There have been a handful of frigid nights and mornings that have even produced snow up in the foothills. Our winter crops are all frost hardy which makes them perfect candidates for this weather, even becoming sweeter due to those early morning ice blankets. There was an exceptionally beautiful morning in early February that transformed our farm into a winter wonderland Although we desperately need rain here in the Golden State, at Stone Bridge we are ready for warmer, sunnier weather. February is always a transition month on the farm- harvesting the last of the winter crops, laying compost on beds, and starting seeds for spring and summer plantings. Since it's been so wet and stormy, many of the classes are just now returning to the farm to put in some much needed work. The 1st graders have begun preparing and cultivating a new flower bed that will be a front focal piece to the farm. 2nd grade spent an entire class pulling out weeds larger than their heads, clearing nearly 2 entire rows. 3rd grade rolled up their sleeves and did the dirty work (as always) of cleaning out the chicken coop after a wet winter... I was invited to join 4th grade for their weekly eurythmy class which was a much needed break from the mud. 5th grade went 'dock hunting' by digging up and pulling out as many perennial dock weeds as possible, clean borders makes a happy farm!
Thanks to a generous grant from Napa Community Projects, we have begun creating a very badly needed storage facility outside our crop field. Designed around two recycled shipping containers, we will soon have a dry and wind-proof way to house our tools, tractor and implements. We are excited in the coming month to add a roof between the shipping containers and paint it to match our beautiful chicken coop.Thank you Community Projects for your generous grant to purchase these used shipping containers, Mr. Syar for the donation of 20 tons of base rock gravel, and Chavez Trucking for donating the delivery of the gravel.
We completed pruning the vineyard this past week. Students in Grades 6-8 had beautiful weather as they moved through the thick cover crop pruning vines and moving wires. This was the third season pruning for our 8th Grade class and they went about their work with great confidence (and speed). The vineyard looks good and healthy and we are excited for the new season after this wonderful, wonderful rain.
A huge thank you to instructor Tom Muscatine of Napa Valley College for bringing in volunteer viticulture students from his college classes to offer more pruning tutorials and practice in our vineyard for his students. It was a huge help! Janet Sheehan has once again jumped on board to be our official Farm Lunch Chef and all Farm lunches will be on Wednesdays for the remainder of the school year. Lunches can be purchased here.
Farm Lunch Volunteers Needed We would absolutely love help supplying delicious lunches to our students. And at the end of the lunch, we hope you will have time to stay and enjoy a lunch yourself, our treat for your kind help! Please contact Janet here if you have any questions about the work involved or want to join us.
We did it! Harvest 2015 began at daybreak on August 20th, three days earlier than last year, and just under a week before school started. As the sun began to rise in the sky, two picking crews started work on our vines, ultimately bringing in 8.8 tons of chardonnay grapes. The harvest was healthy and the vigor of growth dramatically improved over to last year. Farmer Justin's favorite quote from the picking crew boss: "These grapes look great! It's obviously not an organic vineyard..."
Ha! We're so pleased to send our (organic) grapes to Ca'Momi this year, and to the wonderful winemaker (and really sweet man), Stefano Migotto. It will be exciting to see (and one day taste) where our grapes ultimately end up.
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