May Farm Tour Photos / Farm Work Day Info

Farm News
7 November 2007
Fish Pile

The weather has been unseasonably warm. The days have been peaking in the eighty-degree range below blue skies. It has been good for growing crops but I honestly am ready for the cooler weather and some rain.

The rumor from Yolo County Flood Control, the agency who manages the irrigation canal, is that unless we have a really wet year there will be no water available for use next year. The way the whole thing works is rainwater run off from the winter is captured in Clear Lake and Indian Valley Reservoir. In the summer farmers order water and the water is released from the Lake or Reservoir into Cache Creek, it then ends up in Capay where it is routed into the irrigation canal and farmers pull the water from the canal.

The Lake and Reservoir have enough capacity to hold more water that is used in one year. In the event that we have a really wet winter all of the extra water can be saved for use for the summers to follow. They are able to keep track of the volume of water still in storage in the Lake and Reservoir and at the end of this summer there is zero storage available for use. Hopefully this winter we get enough water to fill the Lake and Reservoir back up. If there isn’t enough water we will be using ground water wells next year.

The canal has been off for a few weeks now. We are getting water from the creek right now, but we only have one pump that can be set up at the creek. With the warm weather it has been a bit stressful because the crops are using more water that we can pump from the creek. There is supposed to be some rain at the end of this week, which would be great for us.

Every year when they turn the canal off there is about four inches of water in it for about a month before it dries up. Unfortunately for the fish that have made the canal their home they will not be in water for much longer. I think they are mostly Carp that are scurrying around the canal bottom. There is one hole that is about two feet deep and all of the fish have made it to this hole to wait out the drying up of there home. Eventually the hole will dry up and the fish will turn into a huge pile of decomposing flesh that will be smelled all over the farm. As sure as the oak trees will loose their leaves, this pile of fish will die - it is one of the things that happens every year on the farm.

Enjoy your box this week. Thaddeus

June 27,2007
Already Thinking of Fall-Thaddeus

June 20, 2007
A Week of Benchmarks -Thaddeus

Jun 6, 2007
Goslings in the Creek -Thaddeus

May 30, 2007
Tomatoes -Thaddeus

May 23, 2007
Summer Smells -Thaddeus

May 9, 2007
Muddy in May -Thaddeus

May 2, 2007
What a Busy Week-Thaddeus

April 4, 2007
Gopher Food - Thaddeus

March 28, 2007
Spring Silence - Thaddeus

March 21,2007
Spring Buds and Worm Food - Thaddeus

March 12, 2007
Spring Gobbles - Thaddeus

March 7, 2007
Spring Time - Thaddeus

February 26, 2007
Summer Food Please - Thaddeus

February 19, 2007
Peach Blossoms and Arundo Burning - Thaddeus

February 12, 2007
Chris Leaves - Thaddeus

January 31, 2007
Heart Attack- Thaddeus

January 24, 2007
Turkeys Can Fly- Thaddeus

January 10, 2007
Live the Seasons- Freeman

January 1, 2007
Happy New Year Thaddeus

Nov 29, 2006
Organic? - Thaddeus

Nov 15, 2006
Winter Preparation - Thaddeus

Nov 1, 2006
Canal Dries Up - Thaddeus

Oct 25, 2006
Beets - Thaddeus

Oct 18,2006
New Database - Thaddeus

Oct 11,2006
Rain, Sweet Rain - Thaddeus

Oct 4, 2006
Organic Fertilizers- Thaddeus

Sept 27, 2006
Windy Days - Thaddeus

Sept 20, 2006
Clean Produce - Thaddeus

Sept. 13, 2006
Cools Coming - Thaddeus

December 12, 2005
Wrapping Things Up For Winter - Thaddeus

December 5, 2005
Au Revoir, Automnal - Noah