OLIVE IT

-PINK PEARL, RED GRAVENSTEIN, GALA, & FAMEUSE SNOW APPLES

-ELEPHANT HEART & ITALIAN PRUNE PLUMS

-ASIAN PEARS

-CHARD

-MAGDA SQUASH 

-RUBY QUEEN CORN

-ISLANDER PURPLE PEPPERS, ACONGAGUA, ANCHO, TIBURON, & PEPPERONCINI PEPPERS

-CHIOGGA BEETS

-SUNGOLD TOMATOES

-CARROTS

-BABY GREENS (SPINACH, ARUGULA, GOLDEN BEET TOPS, & BRAISING MIX-Red Russian Kale, Ruby Red Chard, & Kyona Mizuna)

ASSORTED HERB BUNCHES

-CHERVIL 

-THAI, GENOVESE, & LETTUCE LEAF BASIL BUNCHES

-EDIBLE FLOWER BUNCHES

-ARTICHOKE FLOWERS BY THE STEM

-JAPANESE ANEMONE BUNCHES

-FEVERFEW, PANSIES, SWEET MARJORAM, STRAWBERRIES, & SPUTNICK RUDBECKIA

ENJOY!

And you thought the only liquid that flowed at McEvoy was oil. Surprise! McEvoy’s vineyard is ready to produce wine (albeit in small amounts…we’re just getting started here…).  Our 7.7 acres of grapes will produce its first crop this year of Pinot noir, Syrah, Montepulciano, Grenache, Alicante bouschet, Mourvedre, Viognier, Barbera and Refusco.

After our unusually cool summer weather the grapes were a little shocked from the recent heat wave.  Some fruit baked and boiled from our 109 degree temperatures but all of this fruit will be thinned by hand so that the winery receives only the unblemished, perfect clusters.  

Prior to the heat we were fortunate to have  Josiane Boccalon from St. Emilion, Bordeaux here to guide us through green harvest and thinning laterals.  Mme. Boccalon is a viticultural professor at the Lycee Agricole in Bergerac, Bordeaux.  She has been advising us on pruning and overall vine care for two years and has brought her old world experience and sensibilities to our young California vines. 

The crew has been busy watering and putting up shade cloth and bird netting, applying gypsum and compost, thinning fruit and laterals, mowing and many other jobs in an effort to keep the grapes thriving on their vines.  We’re looking forward to tasting the outcome of their hard work.

Mowing and our relationship with weeds: news from the orchards, courtesy of longtime Orchard Mananger, Shari DeJoseph.

Twice each year we undertake the project of mowing the orchards. The first time is in the spring when everything is vibrantly green and the grass between the orchard rows aspire towards becoming vigorously over-grown. The second time is pre-harvest—when we’re grooming the orchards in preparation for bringing in the olive crop. The netting that we lay on the earth to collect the olives as we free them from their branches must be able to glide through the orchards unhampered by towering weeds and unruly grasses. This also makes it easier to sow the cover crops that we plant before the harvest.

This year we’re mowing a little bit earlier than usual because of all that rain that lingered on and on throughout the spring. One lovely thing about all these weeds that we’re contending with is that they are indicative of fertile soil that is rich in organic matter and retains moisture well. Soil analysis verifies the increase in organic matter content, water holding capacity, arability and ultimately the nutrient content in our soil, all of which enhance our olive production. In fact, weeds contribute to the cycle—as their roots die down they are circulating even more matter into the soil. And, flowering weeds provide nectar and pollen for the bees and beneficial insects as well.

How enchanting that lush weed growth signifies health and prosperity: if the weeds are thriving, envision the magnificent olive harvest on our horizon…

-PINK PEARL, RED GRAVENSTEIN, & FAMEUSE SNOW APPLES

-ELEPHANT HEART, SATSUMA, & ITALIAN PRUNE PLUMS

-RAINBOW  CHARD

-RED RIB DANDELION GREENS

-MAGDA & FLYING SAUCER SQUASH

-BABY CORN

-FAVA BEANS

-ISLANDER PURPLE PEPPERS & PEPPERONCINI PEPPERS

-CUCUMBERS

-PURPLE & WHITE KOHLRABI

-CHIOGGA & GOLDEN  BEETS

-BABY GREENS (BRAISING MIX-Red Russian Kale, Golden & Bull’s Blood Beet, & Kyona Mizuna)

ASSORTED HERB BUNCHES

-THAI, GENOVESE, & LETTUCE LEAF BASIL BUNCHES

-EDIBLE FLOWER BUNCHES

-SPEARMINT, SWEET MARJORAM, STRAWBERRIES, & LETTUCES

ENJOY!

-PINK PEARL APPLES

-RED GRAVENSTEIN APPLES

-DOLGO CRAB APPLES

-ELEPHANT HEART PLUMS

-RAINBOW & BROADLEAF CHARD

-TUSCAN DINO KALE

-DANDELION GREENS

-ESCAROLE

-MAGDA SQUASH

-FAVA BEANS (Thanks to our cool Summer!)

-ISLANDER PURPLE PEPPERS

-ASSORTED CUCUMBERS

-PURPLE & WHITE KOHLRABI

-PLUM RADISHES

-CHIOGGA & BULL’S BLOOD  BEETS

-LA RATTE, CARIBE, & GERMAN BUTTER POTATOES

-BABY GREENS (Bull’s Blood Beet)

ASSORTED HERB BUNCHES (mixed, thyme, & sweet marjoram)

-RED RUBIN & LETTUCE LEAF BASIL BUNCHES

-EDIBLE FLOWER BUNCHES

-POTTED RUDBECKIA, LOBELIA, STRAWBERRIES, & PANSIES

ENJOY!

Foliar Spray: News from the Orchards, courtesy of longtime Orchard Manager, Shari DeJoseph.

The literal foundation of our business is very fertile soil—full of the minerals and nutrients needed to grow beautiful olives. Plants mine minerals from the earth; they pull them up out of the soil through their roots and pass them along into their fruit—in our case the olives that we mill into oil. All of those nutrients that end up in our food are being depleted from the soil, so we must constantly be replacing them and attending to the balance. In this way, the soil serves as the long term source for nutrition. However, at this time in the summer when the trees are exerting themselves through the last phase of growth and fruit development they need some supplemental support—we want to ensure that their leaves have all of the microminerals they need as they toil away.

We give the olive trees this seasonal supplement by way of a foliar spray, meaning that we add the necessary minerals to a large jug of water on the back of a tractor and spray it right onto the canopy of the trees. These nutrients get to the tree more quickly than those that are absorbed through the roots. Particularly because by this point in August the soil has dried down, and the nutrients aren’t as easy for the roots to access, except in the small zone of soil that is wetted by the emitters on the drip irrigation lines.

We perform foliar sprays 3-4 times per year depending on the season and what minerals the trees need at any given time. This generally occurs in the early, dewy morning for two reasons: first, it is much less likely to be windy at that time of day. Second, moisture improves absorption. The application will be more effectively absorbed in the morning than if we applied it during the heat of the day when the sun evaporates all of the water before the minerals have had ample time to be absorbed by the leaves.

Harvest is approaching and our 2010 Tour Season is winding down, but we do have a few more opportunities for you to visit us in Petaluma in the next few months:

• August 19 - Garden Tour with Lunch
• August 27th - Farming Systems Tour*
• September 11 - Orchard Walk & Mill Tour
• September 16 - Garden Tour with Lunch
• October 2  - Orchard Walk & Mill Tour

*For our inaugural Farming Systems tour we’re pleased to introduce a few of the faces behind our sustainability efforts and organic farming practices. Join our Agroecologist Jeff Creque, Orchard Manager Shari DeJoseph and Vineyard & Nursery Manger, Samantha Dorsey for a indepth look at the decisions we make at he Ranch with respect to the natural ecosystem and surrounding landscape.

 For details and reservations, please visit our tours page at www.mcevoyranch.com or call us at 707-769-4138.

-PINK PEARL APPLES

-DOLGO CRAB APPLES

-ELEPHANT HEART PLUMS

-RAINBOW & BROADLEAF CHARD

-TUSCAN DINO KALE

-CHICORY DANDELION GREENS

-ASSORTED LETTUCE

-ESCAROLE

-MAGDA SQUASH

-ISLANDER PURPLE PEPPERS

-PLUM RADISHES

-CHIOGGA & BULL’S BLOOD  BEETS

-MAXIBEL GREEN BEANS

-LEEKS

-LA RATTE & GERMAN BUTTER POTATOES

-MICRO GREENS (Red Russian Kale)

-BABY GREENS (Spinach, Red Russian Kale, Arugula)

ASSORTED HERB BUNCHES

-RED RUBIN & LETTUCE LEAF BASIL BUNCHES

-EDIBLE FLOWER BUNCHES

-POTTED SALVIA, RUDBECKIA, SPEARMINT, FEVERFEW, STRAWBERRIES, & PANSIES

ENJOY!

Have you ever wondered how McEvoy olive trees get their start? I found the answer in the greenhouse as the first step was taken on their journey to become real trees…

About two months ago semi-hard wood cuttings were collected from the orchards. Branches a little smaller in diameter than a pencil were cut into lengths of four nodes.  After the bottom two sets of leaves were stripped leaving the two sets of nodes on top the wood was dipped in a rooting hormone. The cuttings then made their temporary home in beds of perlite on heated misting tables. The nursery has seven propagation tables, each able to fit two thousand cuttings.

This mini-forest of aspirant trees worked hard to create fine, hair-like roots. The successful ones were rewarded last week… they got moved into four inch pots (ta-da!). 

The four inch pots contain a sterile potting mix and the cuttings will remain here for about two months until there is good root formation.  They’re off to a good start and now all we have to do is wait for them to embark on the next step in their journey – getting moved into one gallon pots. Stay tuned.

http://mcevoyranch.com/html/trees_nursery.html

Ranch Animals: News from around the ranch, courtesy of longtime Orchard Manager, Shari DeJoseph.

It is the olive trees at McEvoy Ranch that get the most regard, and rightly so, but we do our best to establish and preserve a diversity of plants and animals on the property. This helps to promote dynamic cycles (of resources, of nutrients, of life) which ultimately sustain the health of the ranch ecosystem. Our business is growing plant crops, but what’s a farm without some animals?

We tend to six resident Babydoll Southdown sheep (acquired from our neighbors at Canvas Ranch) and, adorable as they are tripping along after Carlos and a bucket of feed, they do serve an important purpose: they inhabit the grassy spaces on the ranch keeping them grazed low, and ensuring that we do not need to use gas-powered mowers and weed-whackers in those areas. This measure is taken as a precaution against fires and for general tidiness. And of course, they are helping to fertilize and maintain soil-quality along the way.

We also keep a striking array of chickens: brown-and-white speckled, copper-colored, chickens with tufts of feathers on their feet and puffs on their heads that resemble fabulous hats. They live in a house that is raised off of the ground so that we can easily use their manure for our garden compost operation. There are four fenced quadrants of pasture adjacent to the coop where the chickens forage for insect and plant material which contributes to the wonderful flavor and the bright golden glow of their yolks. Our chickens produce a pastel rainbow of eggs for the Country Kitchen which Gerald and Mark transform into delectable nourishment. The eggs that the chefs don’t need are gifted to staff members on a rotating basis.

Garfield asleep in the onions

Milo and Garfield aka Sid (depending on who you ask), stalk about the upper ranch and gardens confidently providing rodent control, particularly regarding the mice in the greenhouse that, if left to their own devices, would be a menace to the nursery crew that is busy growing more olive trees for your backyard!

Unless it’s a warm afternoon:  then Garfield might think it most civilized to stretch out among the drying onions for a nap…