I rarely leave the farm for long during the dry season; there's just too many things going on all the time here: planting, harvest, irrigation and a dozen others beside.  But last week I had to travel to New York for family matters and was gone for an entire week.  Returning on Sunday night I [MORE ...]

For decades, I have been the sole person at Terra Firma Farm who plants almost a dozen of the crops we grow:  Arugula, Beets, Chard, Carrots, Corn, Lettuce, Peas, Spinach, and Winter Squash.  These are crops that are "direct-seeded", meaning you plant the seeds in the ground rather than starts grown in a nursery -- [MORE ...]

Last week the most reliable long-range weather models released their seasonal prediction for the coming winter's precipitation, and it's a doozy.  Thanks to what is now being called the "Super El Niño", San Francisco and the area around I-80 could get as much as 200 percent of our average rainfall.  You may have heard that [MORE ...]

There is a very old adage that farmers tend to do well economically when there's a war on.  Obviously not in the exact location where the war is being fought -- war is a disaster locally for anyone caught in the crossfire.  But wars have historically meant an increase in demand for agricultural goods for [MORE ...]