An upturn in summer flavors and smell being harvested on the farm.
One of our favorite flavors of summer is a ripe fig that is warm on a sunny day.
Biting into it there is a burst of figgyness that is delicious and so cherished since there is such a short season for figs.
Last week most of the figs that ripened were at the top of our massive 29 foot tall fig tree which we could not reach. The hotter weather has the figs ripening all over the tree at a quick pace and we will be bring lots of ripe ones to market this week.
Also coming into peak season is the lavender that is even more fragrant and full of blooming buds than last week.
It is the perfect bouquet for home or as a gift to everyone. This week, is a big week of celebrations in Davis with high school and UC Davis graduations.
A bunch of fresh lavender will look great in the grad photos during this stressful and celebratory time.
We will have lavender for the next couple of weeks and then we will hang it up in the barn for dried bunches to have in the fall.
The cucumbers have been hiding under the plants while growing the past few weeks. When we checked them on Friday we discovered there were a lot of ready ones that we picked and took to market.
Right now we are mainly harvesting our slicer cucumber variety, Marketmore 76, and a few Suyo Long cucumbers. We aimed to have a lot of Stirped Armenian cukes but the plants in the field are really struggling and pests have been eating the starts in the greenhouse.
There was just a few pints of cherry tomatoes at the markets last week and this week it will be a lot more. The plants have a lot more ripe cherry tomatoes on them along with many ones that are starting to change color but not ripe yet.
The hotter days last week were very beneficial for the ripening of the tomatoes including the early girls. We had a handful of early girls at market on Saturday and should have more this week.
Now that the tomatoes are starting to ripen the amount we harvest will multiply rapidly over the next couple of weeks with the long days and temperatures in the high 90s.
The last successions of our tomatoes, peppers and eggplants got planted out this week. These plants are planned to be our late season harvest to supplement the earlier plantings slowing down , the tomatoes from these plants most likely will be ripening in September.
The warmer weather also means we are reaching the end of our spring veggies over the next few weeks. While we are finishing up the spring crops we are beginning to plan our next planting of cool season crops for the fall and winter. We will begin to seed some of them in July and then most of them in August while we are still very busy harvesting summer crops.
A quick reminder from last week about the Market Match program:
The state of California has many food safety net programs and one of its most effective is Market Match which doubles the benefits for people that receive CalFresh EBT at farmers markets all over the state.
Currently the Market Match program is not funded in the Governor’s budget for 2026-27 meaning it will run out of money in spring of 2027 and shut down.
When someone uses their CalFresh benefits at a farmers market that is part of the program they receive up to $15 in Market Match funds that are only allowed to be spent at fruits and vegetables at the farmers market.
This helps them to feed themselves and their families with more fruit and veggies every week than they can without the program.
The data shows how effective it is with almost 50 million serving of fruits and veggies being purchased in 2025 which directed $25 million to small and medium local California farms.
Combined with the health benefit of eating more fruit benefits and the monetary benefit farmers get from the purchases, it helps the money stay local as research has found money going to local farmers impact the local communities by a multiplier of three.
It can make an impact to email or call your legislators. Additionally if you would like to sign on to the Save Market Match Coalition’s letter here it is.
