There's a "boneyard" out behind our farm shop -- the area where we fix tractors and repair machinery. To most people, it looks like a pile of junk, but to a farmer it is pure treasure: piles of metal objects of various shapes and sizes that can be cut and shaped into new uses. On [MORE ...]

When we started growing "heirloom tomatoes" at Terra Firma back in the 1990s, we were among a small group of growers seeking a market niche in a landscape of mostly inedible supermarket tomatoes. It was extremely challenging to make a living growing varieties bred by backyard gardeners who were mostly interested in flavor. Most of [MORE ...]

If you live west of the Carquinez Strait, you may have heard rumors about a number of intense heatwaves impacting areas away from the coast. Even normally cool places like Tahoe have been hot, and the Pacific Northwest went through an off-the-charts event that killed hundreds of people and did tremendous ecological damage including massive [MORE ...]

In last week's newsletter I discussed the complications of getting a particular crop to market for a holiday that creates extra demand for that crop. But holidays, particularly 3-day weekends in the summer, cause all kinds of other problems for farmers who grow fresh produce. Like many other businesses -- stores, amusement parks, restaurants, hotels, [MORE ...]