With an explosion of foliage and flowers, Spring is a season of new life, fresh energy and the promise of recently sown seeds. But paradoxically, many of the produce growers in the Capay Valley are short on diversity in the spring. There’s usually a few weeks within March and April, just about the time asparagus rolls around, that represent the leanest of times for our Valley’s farms.

Summer and Fall yield copious harvests of luscious stone fruits, juicy tomatoes, and sweet melons. In late Fall, many crops are harvested and stored into the new year (think nuts and winter squash as well as potatoes and other root crops) while other cool-weather crops in the Brassica and Allium genuses thrive in the light frosts and mild winter days common here.

An especially hard, extended freeze like we had in early December, can severely damage tender young crops like lettuce and citrus that would otherwise over-winter just fine. To boot, steady rains spaced across many months like we’ve had much of this wet season limit the windows of opportunity to prepare seedbeds in which to plant new crops. The December freeze and extended wet weather mean even leaner produce times than usual.

As a result, the lists of what’s available from our Valley’s farms are trim. Farms around the Valley are busy as can be planting annuals, tending to perennials, and nurturing young animals. Although the harvesting is limited to fewer crops, what we’ve got is still as fine as ever and this hasn’t dampened the fresh energy and flowers abundant through the Valley.

By Thomas Nelson

Related posts:

• Gold Oak Ranch
• On the Verge of Summer
• Winter Squash
• Capay Valley Freeze
• Wild Pollinators Thrive in Capay Valley