Posts by: Steve Pedersen
Continue reading »
One of the things I like to do over my morning coffee on rainy days is to look at the 24hr rainfall totals on the National Weather Service website.
Continue reading »
We have been a CSA farm since we planted our first 3-acre plot in 1997. The support we got from our early CSA members (some of you are still with us!) helped our farm get off the ground and beat the odds to survive for over two decades.
Continue reading »
In our backyard we have a black mission fig tree which was probably an ill-advised choice this close to the coast.
Continue reading »
You will notice that the leaves on your Mei Quin Choi this week are flecked with small, pin-pricked holes. This is the work of the flea beetle.
Continue reading »
This week we are planting out the last of our vegetable transplants and the first blocks of overwintering cover crops.
Continue reading »
One of the things that drew me into farming in the first place was the fact that I could wrap my feeble brain around the basic transactional level of it.
Continue reading »
Every three or four years we replenish the mulch beneath the plants in our blueberry patch. It’s important for several reasons.
Continue reading »
No matter how conscientiously you go about it, there is no getting away from the fact that farming is inherently a disruptive activity.
Continue reading »
In the Ag History Museum at the County Fairgrounds here in Watsonville there is a picture of our home ranch back in its heyday as a grade-A milk dairy, probably from sometime in the 1940’s.
Continue reading »
As the weeks seem to fly by, summer’s progression for me is marked by a series of milestones–the hillsides turning from green to golden-brown, the harsh call of Caspian Terns returning to our area and the appearance
Continue reading »
I’ve long believed that one of the main distinguishing characteristics between city and county folks is their tolerance level for spiders. I have a vague memory of being squeamish about them when I first came to spend summers
When we first started using our packing shed, which used to be the milking parlor for the dairy that preceded us here, we had to deal with the problem of what to do with the vegetable wash water once we were through with it. 
The popular perception is that organic farmers are at a disadvantage most when it comes to dealing with insect pests. But in reality it is weeds that can bring an organic farmer to ruin in short order. 
Heat waves around here usually follow a predictable pattern. When a zone of high pressure camps out over our part of the state, the first few days are typically windless or there can even be a slight off-shore breeze 
For the first ten years or so of my working life I was employed in kitchens of one sort or another—first as a dishwasher and later as a cook. And while this may seem like an odd preamble to becoming a farmer, in many ways it prepared me well for what was to come. 
Awhile back I attended a workshop at Moss Landing Marine Labs concerning water quality issues in Elkhorn Slough. Elkhorn Slough is a large brackish wetland whose main channel starts at Moss Landing Harbor (about 10 minutes south of us on Highway 1) and winds its way inland and to the North over six miles.
Continue reading »
As yet another storm system overtakes the area and our already saturated fields become wetter still, it’s hard not to fall into discussions about the weather. But I’ve had enough of weather talk for now so I’ll fall back on the subject that comes next most readily to mind—nerdy farm equipment talk.
Continue reading »
All is right with the world again—Aquileo, who oversees the packing and greenhouse side of things around here, is back. It was touch and go in his absence. At one point we had both Jeanne and Amelia, our daughter, helping to pack CSA boxes before school in the morning. We got through it, but it wasn’t easy.
Continue reading »
Despite its intensity, the storm did little harm here. The cover crops and grasses all have a pronounced lean to the North, as though somebody passed a comb through them. 
The World Ag Expo will be held down in Tulare in a couple of weeks. My Uncle, Cousins and I usually attend once every two or three years. At 80 acres of show-space (essentially 80 football fields), it is the largest farm show in the world. 
It looks like we will be getting a winter season after all. Although our rainfall totals are still far below the seasonal average here, things are looking promising. There are storms lined up through next week and it may even be cool enough by Friday to bring snow to the surrounding peaks.
Continue reading »
Although it is dryer than one could hope for at this time of year, these are the quiet days on the farm that I always look forward to and cherish. During the busy months I have an underlying sense of guilt because I am too busy to appreciate this amazing place that we live and farm in.
Continue reading »
The two decent sized storms that we have had this rainy season have been enough to bring up the grass on the open portion of our property. A huge high pressure zone remains parked over most of California, deflecting all of the storm systems to the North—there is no forecasted rain in the foreseeable future.
Continue reading »
As some of you may have heard, there was a contentious meeting of the NOSB (National Organic Standards Board) last week, during which the use of hydroponic growing techniques was approved for organic production. Many people have asked us where we stand on the issue and I would have to say that the following letter summarizes our thoughts on this – and the general direction of the organic movement – very well.
Continue reading »
When it comes to pests and diseases the adage “just when you think you’ve seen it all, something new comes along” couldn’t be more true. Two seasons ago a small patch in the middle of a broccoli planting started to look wilted and stressed even though we had just irrigated a few days before.
Continue reading »
Things feel much more in control this fall than last. The preparations for our 2018 strawberry field went as smoothly as I could have wished. I altered the implement we use to bury drip tape on top of our beds so we could lay the plastic mulch in a single pass, and it worked beautifully.
Continue reading »
When I give farm tours people often seem surprised when I say that organic farmers are at more of a disadvantage, compared to their conventional counterparts, in the area of weed control versus pest and disease pressure. 
The turkeys are back. Through winter, spring and most of summer we were down to one forlorn tom we called “Lonely Pete”. It was hard not to feel sorry for him as he stood on our back hill calling out to his lost companions and receiving no response. That is until a few weeks ago. As I passed by our blueberry patch I noticed a commotion out in the middle of the field and heard the clipped, chirping calls that turkeys make when they are scared.
Continue reading »
This week we will be fully launching into the final preparations for next year’s strawberry crop. The two acre field that we will be planting into at the end of November has been fallow for the last month after we harvested one spring crop of broccoli and other mixed vegetables from it.
Continue reading »
The giant high pressure zone that caused the intense heatwave at the end of last week has slid off to the East allowing the normal on-shore flow of cool air to resume here. There was hardly a breath of wind last Friday and Saturday and record highs were set for both days—well over 100 degrees. Here at our home site, we came through it better than I had hoped.
Continue reading »