Last Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. when I started writing the newsletter, the temperature here was 38 degrees -- a record for the date Today the forecast high is 100 degrees, which will also be a record if it verifies. While it's not a tornado or hurricane, this 60-plus degree temperature variation in the space [MORE ...]

  Arguably smart phones are the most important technology of our lifetimes, and they have become globally ubiquituous.  They have probably reshaped our economy and society more than any invention since the automobile.  But in many ways, they are more similar to another revolutionary 4-wheeled technology that few people give much thought to anymore...the farm [MORE ...]

Believe it or not, we're more than halfway done with planting our summer crops at Terra Firma! The majority of our warm-season crops get planted in March and April, especially tomatoes and sweet corn.  Our first tomatoes already have green fruit on them and the corn is waist-high.  Both will be ready for harvest in [MORE ...]

The theme of winter 2022 was "False Starts". First there was the remarkable storm that made October the wettest ever, followed by a promisingly stormy December. After two years of terrible drought, it was exactly what we needed. Then the taps turned off completely, with shockingly low rainfall in the dead of winter that left [MORE ...]