Wheat Harvest and Summer Heat

Wheat harvest this week. The neighbors have already started.
For those who wonder about the value of irrigation- yields on irrigated wheat are averaging around three and a half tons per acre. One guy rented a lot of open ground and panted dryland wheat. Even with all the winter rains his yields are averaging one quarter to to one half ton per acre. With last year's dry weather and water problems we were a ton an acre off average. Good water policy is important.

This week on the farm-

We had aphids in the black eyes. Got that sprayed. We waited a couple of weeks, hoping the aphid population would cycle out. But, they ballooned this week.

The new well seems to be running OK. The increased pressure blew and underground line and we had to fix that. It was old and due to be refurbished. The new well settled that issue.

Two of the three cotton fields are doing well. That third field is still struggling. Usually we have blooms in the cotton by Fourth of July. I expect it will be at least a few days late this year with the cool Spring. I am not complaining mind you, I really love the weather we have been having. It is the end of June and we are getting our first 100 degree days. Very nice. It's just my poor cotton does best with 65 degree nights and 95 degree days. We haven't had many of those this Spring. Just goes to show how we are at the mercy of the weather.

Last week I talked about food. We will talk about it again soon. One thing I have long said we ought to do is create a San Joaquin Diet featuring the local produce. In addition to 300 different crops there is quite a bit of ethnic diversity here and they all brought their recipes. There is some outrageously good food around here.
My goal is tasty, easy to prepare, affordable food that is good for you.

This week's recipe is Roast Garlic Tapenade. It is great for hot summer days. I served it at a celebrity chef night at the Fresno Art Museum a few years ago. It was well received. [I am not much of a celebrity. I have a friend who was doing PR for the Museum.]

In our kitchen we have a saying- 'roast garlic improves just about anything.'

Roast Garlic Tapenade-

Two cans black olives
One can green olives
One jar Greek Kalamata olives- 6.5 ounces.
One head roasted garlic [if you don't have a garlic roster- run, do not walk, and find one. I got mine at Cost Plus]

Put black olives, roast garlic and Kalamata olives together in the blender and chop. Don't over do it, but make sure they get blended together well.

Chop green olives by hand.

Mix together in a bowl.

Serve on crackers or baguettes.

Buon apetito.

I hope you all have a wonder-ful week!

Summer Fruits and Vegetables

It's still kind of cool for a summer in the Valley, but the summer fruits and vegetables are here!

Peaches, plumbs, nectarines, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions squash- that's just the farmers market at one of the elementary schools in Kerman. Watermelons and cantaloupes are coming on. It's fabulous.

The health guys all want us to eat more fruits and vegetables and if you can't find something this time of year, you are being way too fussy. And here in the Valley, we have over 300 different crops being grown all around us. Yes- I said 300.
With all due respect, you can drive through the Midwest fro hours and all you see corn, wheat and soybeans, or soybeans, wheat and corn. Here we are surrounded by dozens and dozens of different crops. I have a neighbor growing three types of onions on one side of our ranch and a field with dozens of different lettuce plants on the other side.

I'll leave you with my favorite fruit salad recipe. A friend named Albert shared this with us.

Albert's Fruit Salad

1/2 of a watermelon [ I use the round seedless kind, less muss and fuss ]
1/2 of a cantaloupe
1/4 of a jicama
1 mango
1 pear
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 TBS lime juice
1 TBS Mexican chili powder. Yes- I said chili powder. No, not the kind you make chili with. I use
Tajin chili powder. You can find it in the grocery store where they
Pico de Gallo spices.

I use a melon baller and scoop out the water melon and cantaloupe and put the melon balls in a large bowl. Peel and cut the mango and jicama in to quarter inch cubes, add to the bowl with the melons. Core and slice the pear, add to the bowl. Add cilantro, lime juice and chili powder. Stir it all together and you are good to go.

This makes a very different fruit salad. Frankly it is not everyone's cup of tea. Sheryl doesn't like it that much. I can eat it by the bucket on a hot summer day. If you are tired of everyday fruit salad then you might want to give this a try.

Buon apetito.

I should probably introduce Indy. I haven't had a pickup dog for twenty years. He's the best. His Mom is a Golden Retriever and his Dad was a sneaky neighbor dog. (It's a common breed.) He's nine months old and weighs 90 pounds. Very mellow temprment. He's the perfect dog for me.
My son, Jonathan, suggested the name. Do you remember that we find out in the third movie that Indiana Jones is named after the family dog? Well, there you go.
Indy goes just about everywhere with me. Yes, I do let him ride in the cab. I got him last Fall and he was too small to stick in back during the winter. Now he is obviously fairly comfortable riding shotgun. He does like riding in back, but prefers in the cab with me.
If you haven't seen it I love the poem 'GoD and DoG"by Wendy Franciso. www.youtube.com/wath?v=H17edn_RZoy

This week on the farm? Thrips in the blackeyes, mites in teh almonds and weeds in the garbanzos. It's always something.
It was cool and windy ealrier in the week. Now it is warming up again. We'll start the next field of cotton irrigation next week.

This week's cooking tip- Basque marinade for hamburgers. Adds a nice touch on the BBQ.

Hope you all have a great week.
Puppy kisses and tail wags from Indy.

Sorry I am behind schedule. I was sick last week. Spent Memorial Day Weekend on the sofa with a fever. Took it easy last week so it wouldn't turn into something worse.

Summer's back in town. Temps are up into the 90's. It will get warmer. I shouldn't complain, we have had a fabulous Spring. Lots of sunshine and cool weather. Of course, that has confused the poor plants. I have not checked any degree day records, but it looks to me like the cotton is about two weeks behind.
The old timers will tell you that cool, wet Springs lead to cool, wet Falls. I'll check back with you in October. I could use a warm, dry Fall to catch up on some of this lost time.

We finished fertilizing the cotton last week. Some of the almonds looked a little light. Leaf analysis showed they were short of nitrogen, so we gave them a little more food too. Mites are starting up in a couple of blocks of almonds. We'll have to spray. It's always something.

This week we will start water up in the cotton. Irrigation brings up the question of how we use our natural resources. You can see below a recent op-ed I wrote on the subject. I think utilization of natural resources is one of the big unresolved natural resource issues of our day. Here the issue is water, elsewhere it is other resources. No one is asking permission to rape the environment. But, current policy is so restrictive as to be unreasonable. We definitely need a safe and sane resource policy. We don't have one yet.

I hope y'all have a great week. Please, if you haven't already, take a look below at the op-ed on Job Creation and Natural Resources.
Ciao,
P