March 3-6, 2012

We are off to the Western Pecan Grower’s Conference in Las Cruses, New Mexico. This is like a little vacation. It’s an all day truck ride from here, but some interesting country to see.

 Las Cruses

At the conference we did get some odd looks when we said we were from Ohio. \Then we explained why we were there. I got a licence plate to hang in the barn back home and Mick got a hat to wear back home. The conference was so interesting when everything was centered around one item, pecans. Unlike our vegetable conferences where there is everything from apples to zucchini to learn about.

I was taken with the equipment show could be outside in March.

We drove around the area and saw some large pecan groves. We stopped by this old village for lunch and enjoyed the farm market atmosphere. It felt like we were in old Mexico as they call it.

On the way back we drove through Hatch, New Mexico. Didn’t stop for any peppers. We can buy roasted peppers right here at our grocery store every Friday.

We did stop at the the Very Large Array of Radio Telescopes and shopped the visitors shop.

From there it was over the mountains back to Arizona and Camp Verde. The sun was setting as we made the last few miles down the mountain.

A Day in February 2012

I wanted to share with you a typical day on the farm in Arizona.

Sunrise from our Kitchen window.

Mick gets up early to go for coffee with some of the local boys who meet every morning at 6:00am. I try to stay in bed a little while at least until the sun is up more. By 7:00 we are both up and eating breakfast. It’s 9:00 am at home so we are checking e-mails and making calls for business back home.

By 8:30 Mick will go out to the trees to start trimming, irrigating, or planting.

I will straighten up the apartment before going over to the farm office. I have been spending time since the festival manning the farm pecan store, generally cleaning up around the place, like the flower beds, and organizing the office files. I have the farm on Facebook so I am gathering friends and sending our updates on the farm.

It’s fun helping  the customers and showing them around the farm. It’s surprising how many local people don’t know that pecans grow here.

By evening we are cooking and watching the sunset while relaxing for the evening.

Tomorrow we will do it all over again. Just like most people we look forward to the weekends. that’s when we sleep in and go running around seeing friends and going shopping. Just like at home only with sunshine.

February 17, 2012

The Pecan, Wine and Antique Festival was hard work but a lot of fun too. This little country town came to life with thousands of visitors. We had a awesome display of pecans and popcorn. We even had a friend sitting and shelling pecans all day. He was busy trying to keep up with people tasting them. We had four tables of nuts and our Covered Bridge Gardens popcorn.

Summer Place Pecan Farm can be found on Facebook now.

Richard Tinlin also entered some of the farm’s pecans and won three blue ribbons, a second and a third.

We closed up the three day event happy and looking forward to being back next year. This is held the third weekend of February each year.

February 1, 2012

February is shaping up to be a very busy month.

We have two events planned this month. The first is the celebration of 100 years of railroading in Clarkdale with the the Verde Canyon Railroad. This train is now a site seers tour up the canyon where once copper was mined. We have taken the train before as tourists. Now we are going to be part of their event by selling our popcorn and Summer Place Pecan Farm pecans.

Our second event is the coveted Camp Verde Pecan, Wine and Antique Festival. It is held evary February. This is our first year to be here. I will be selling the popcorn and pecans again during the three days. During the event there is a pretty fierce competition for the best pecans in the valley. Nut have been sorted and weighed and labeled in preparation for the judging. Summer Place has won top awards at this event each year. I hope this year will be no exception.

I have been bagging, labeling and packing an assortment of in the shell and flavored pecans for the shows. This process has helped me learn more about the nuts and I feel confident I can answer all questions with ” That’s a good question. I will have to ask Dick that one.” Of coruse with a smile.

Steve has packed up almost 150 pounds of popcorn for us to sell. What we don’t sell will go on the shelf at two new local shops that want to sell our corn. We are excited to have the Olive Oil Traders interested in pairing our popcorn with their butter infused olive oil. The owners are the nicest people. Their business has been growing at such a rate that they had to  move to a larger location down the street in Old Town Cottonwood. This larger space will allow them to actually pop the corn and allow people to taste the flavor. Then they want to have local chefs in to cook with their oils and balsamic vinegars. Look them up and you will be amazed at the different kinds they carry.

Mick is still trimming trees and should finish this month. He will be so glad when that job is over.

January 21, 2012

Today was a cool overcast day and looked like rain most the day. So what better thing to do than visit a winery.

The Alcantara  Vineyards are nestled up the banks of the Verde River just a few miles from us.

From the road you would never know that this Italian inspired winery exists. Out here you can’t be afraid to follow a steep dirt road where it looks like two cars could not pass each other. Just such a ride unveiled a beautiful vineyard.

The 16,000 vines are pollinated by the spring breezes coming up the valley and watered by plentiful well water.

We sat at their tasting bar and sampled several of their estate red wines and hand crafted whites. With more to try than time allowed we will return to this friendly atmosphere again. The owner and their new chef are planning to open a light menu restaurant before we leave for the summer.

We were then climbed out of the valley to the historic mining town of Jerome and diner at Grapes. We met our friend Bill, Tesa and Kelly for a quick meal before attending a jam session at Crocked River Book Store in Old Town Cottonwood. Two local musicians performed their personal selections. Sorry I don’t have their names right now but we plan to follow them to another location this weekend.

January 20, 2012

I have a few more pictures of Mick trimming the trees. He says now when he looks at the trees he only sees the branches he needs to take off. They go down only certain rows. This opens the canape up for the trees next to them to get more sun shines for that year. Then  the next year they go down the next row. The limbs will branch out and start to produce in two years. Doing every other row assures less decrease in nuts the next harvest.

This funny looking machine has a bucket extended out to lift the men up into the branches. It only has a frame and three wheels so it can be driven under and round the base of the tree to reach all the branches. The men then use a chain saw to cut out the limbs. Hard hats are a must.  Pecan wood is very hard and heavy because of the sandy soil. The tree takes up the same mineral components that make up glass.

Pecan trees are in the hickory family and their branches break off if not trimmed and maintained. They have a tendency to lean away from the windward side and trimming helps maintain a uniformed shape.

January 17, 2012

Make it personal, make it local.

As part of the Sustainable Cleveland 2019 initiative, the City of Cleveland’s Office of Sustainability is kicking off the “Year of Local Foods” by hosting a Local Food Fair on January 20, 2012 from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. at Cleveland City Hall.
This event is a commitment on a grand scale. They want to see a city wide effort to connect local food and its citizens. No small effort for a city this large, but not impossible for a city that has one of the oldest farmers’ market  in America.

On a personal note when the Prochko family migrated to the United States they first settled in Cleveland. Not far from Lucky’s Restaurant. Later when the family moved to the Jefferson farm, they started to bring their products into the city. They sold eggs and flowers in the 40s. We have come full circle with the family now bringing produce to customers in the same city.

We hope that everyone that knows us and what our farm stands for will support this effort.

January 14, 2012

Well what did you expect I was going to try and blog on Friday the 13th. Not with my luck with things that plug in. I can screw up a computer program quicker than anyone. Just ask Mick.

I  took some awesome pictures out over the Verde Valley on one of my walks. This dirt road turns into Quarter Horse Lane straight ahead and leads back to our place a mile down the valley.

It may not look too Verde (green) at this time of year, but there are small grasses and flowers that like the cold nights. It was 13 degrees the other morning. It then went to 60 by noon. Talk about extreme weather. Well enjoy the view.

January 12, 2012

This is the day I have been waiting for for a long time. My birthday in Arizona. You can’t get much better than that. Even though the air is crisp the ground is clear and I can go for a walk in the sun this morning. I am watching the house wrens at the bird feeder and looking for temps to go around 60 today.

Yesterday I had my first day volunteering at Rainbow Acres. We weeded the garlic patches that are looking pretty good. They are about a month ahead of our growing season back home. They have three green houses in which they grow various vegetables and herbs for the kitchen. They sent me home with carrots and radishes. The kitchen says they are too much trouble to clean and prepare. What a shame. We hear this so often with kitchens that have to prepare large amounts of meals. They do use the herbs and some of the lettuce. It doesn’t matter that it is grown organically the kitchen workers have to be willing to actually prepare a meal from scratch.

In Ohio we are being asked to connect with public school with our locally grown foods. What we find is that many of the schools have to contract their food months in advance with their suppliers. Then the help is too use to preparing frozen entries.  One chicken farmer was told they couldn’t use his eggs because the school used frozen eggs. Some body out there has a great idea but why do you think we have food service companies that make it convenient and a steady supply. That’s why what we need are processing plants for farmers to take their small quantities to to be processed into pickled, canned and/or frozen store-able produce.  You would think there would be someone wanting to start a small business doing this. They could be the middle man between restaurants that want local food and farmers that have the harvest.

Obvious getting older has brought out the soap box speaker in me.

Mick will be trimming more trees today. They cut the wood into four foot lengths and sell it for fire wood for campers. We also sell top soil from around the trees to local gardeners. Just like back home rich soil is always needed to grow vegetables. A local suppler has stopped providing the soil so we might see more sales of dirt.

January 9, 2012

I am watching an old Bonanza show while blogging. I love watching westerns when I’m in Arizona. Especially when it’s one of the many made in this state.

The pecan harvest is done and the pecans have been shipped to the sheller.We heard that our nuts produced 58% meat per nut. The average is 50%. Not bad for a light nut year. A low harvest is being recorded across the state. They think it might be weather related. Pecans rely on wind to pollinate. If it comes at the wrong time then the nuts don’t get a start.

They are individually shaking the trees around the house. One tree went over a hundred pounds. They think it is being close to the house that made the difference.

We are shipping out bulk in the shell pecans to our customers. Look on our home page at coveredbridgegardens.com for details.

I got my bird feeder filled and today the birds discovered a new restaurant. The colorful red breasted house finch arrived first. Mick watched them while he checked his e-mails.

Around 9am a few neighbors came for a walk under the trees. I took this photo out the living room window.

When I went for my walk the western blue birds were every where. That sustained me for a long day working on the computer. Well I better go. Tomorrow is a other day in the sun.