The Tulare walnuts in this week’s box come from Haag Farm just to the north of Esparto. Jim Haag, a farmer trained in mathematics, has been known to take on such questions as “where’s the start of the Capay Valley?”
In a thorough essay on his website, Jim considers more views than a 20-sided icosahedron revealing the complexity of such a seemingly simple question. After visiting post offices, attending community meetings, and climbing Berryessa Peak, Jim’s “ramblings” end where one might expect from a scientifically-trained farmer—it’s just not quite the answer one would expect:
“We now scientifically conclude that California is primarily composed of Pacific Ocean bottom scrapings piled up over millennia and jammed onto the Western margin of the North American Plate. Said process extending our coast westward from its original Nevada location, as the adjoining Pacific Plate subducts under us in its roughly North-Northeastern motion over the molten magma covering out inner iron core. Zeroing in to our locality, just one of the long roughly North-South oriented puckers in these bottom scrapings is indeed our cherished Capay Valley. An inglorious unexpected birth indeed for such a wondrous place in which to live and work, full of fun people, vistas of promise, bounteous crops, wildlife and nature galore, and adventures ahead! Even wild pigs. Our beloved valley is indeed at its essence a blossoming of bottom scrapings!”
Excerpted from Ramblings, Recipes, & Reflections by James N. Haag
For decades, Haag Farm has specialized in growing nutritious, insecticide-free walnuts “as close as feasible to the old natural way of your grandparents!” Haag Farm uses a biologically integrated approach that includes both mulching walnut leaves over the tree rows and mild herbicides, spreading chipped walnut prunings over the entire orchard floor, and conventional fertilizer to create “a very, very squeaky clean orchard” which is important for harvest and pest control.
For more information about Haag Farm or to purchase walnuts directly visit http://walnuts.us/.
3 Comments, Comment or Ping
Linda Angela H
Hi James,
I’d love to have clarification on something mentioned in your post. You mentioned using a “biologically integrated approach that includes both mulching walnut leaves over the tree rows and mild herbicides, spreading chipped walnut prunings over the entire orchard floor, and conventional fertilizer…” in growing your delicious walnuts. I’ve been trying to educate myself more on the nomenclature of organic, conventional, biodynamic…etc. and I’m a little confused on the use of “conventional” fertilizer.
When doing a little research one finds that many will use a comparison of organic vs. conventional and differentiate the two as organic = no chemicals and conventional = use of chemicals. Can you explain a little further? My boyfriend and I are now in a bit of a debate on the definitions. Feel free to email me directly.
Thank you!
Mar 7th, 2010
tnelson
Hi Linda,
Thanks for your great question and interest to know how your food is grown. Here’s some of what Jim had to share regarding farming methods available to him:
“Many of us refer to the websites at UC-Davis for guidance in these matters as they have done and continue to do much research in this area so we can apply their methods in the future. It is perhaps fair to say that the final solution for the ultimate farming method is yet to come. One remains hopeful…
Finally, each method above also has shortcomings, for example, the manures used often in organic farming contain excessive amounts of salts and heavy metals (living beings must excrete this undesirables somehow) which tend to build up on certain soils. We won’t need even to debate the fact that there only is enough manure on earth to feed perhaps half or less of the world population! Thus, for fertilizer at Haag Farm we use a varying combination of winter cover crops and (factory-made from natural gas) ultra-pure 32% Nitrogen liquid (UN-32) which is fully soluble and applied in our irrigation drip system, one drop at a time. Many more comments can and should be made, but that’s it for now, as my wife called me for dinner” – Jim Haag
Mar 8th, 2010
Linda Angela H
Thank you Jim for your response, it’s no wonder why there continues to be debates and confusion around “definitions”.
You’re right there is no ultimate farming method (I guess if you were big agro you might feel otherwise). In my opinion there can’t be just one method of farming for everyone but what works for each region. This could very well be a never ending discussion. I’ll continue to navigate around the UC Davis agricultural site. Thanks again!
Mar 16th, 2010
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