A few stories have caught my eye recently about farmers taking advantage of new legislation and government grants in order to reduce their carbon footprint by building up their renewable energy resources. Some legislators are even exploring ways to build renewable energy in to farm bills to provide a more holistic benefit to farmers.

Carlson Orchards – Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

I’m kind of a Scientific American junkie and so the first piece that caught my eye was in there. It’s about how one of the largest orchards in Massachusetts is benefiting from that state’s cap & trade auctions. Carlson Orchards is cutting their electricity bill by 80% with the help of grants from the state of Massachusetts that helped with the installation of 1,050 solar photovoltaic panels.

Massachusetts got the money from a 10-state cap & trade program called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Through this, the states set a carbon emissions cap and then earn revenue when companies buy additional credits. So far the combined 10 states have earned over $400 million dollars ($106 for MA) that they then re-invest in renewable energy programs.

And Carlson Orchards is taking advantage of that. In addition to growing apples and making apple cider, that orchard is reducing its footprint and electricity bill.

Clark Family Orchards – Rural Energy for America Program

Similarly, in Colorado, a fifth-generation farmer is taking advantage of a program that was in the 2008 Farm Bill called the Rural Energy for America Program to cover about 25% of his costs to install solar panels that will offset about 55,000 kilowatt hours of electricity yearly.

A bit about the REAP program from their website:

“REAP offers grants and/or loan guarantees for the purchase and installation of renewable energy generating systems and for energy efficiency improvements.  Assistance is limited to small businesses and farmers & ranchers.  Projects must be located in a rural area.  REAP grants and guarantees may be used individually or in combination.  Together they may finance up to 75% of a project’s cost.  Grants can finance up to 25% of project cost, not to exceed $500,000 for renewables, $250,000 for efficiency.  There are also REAP grants to help pay for technical assistance on energy projects.”

With the energy costs continually going up, the solar panels going on the packing shed will save him about $4,500 a year.

Dennis Clark grows cherries, apples, peaches, pears, and plums on the orchard and now with the help of solar panels he’s also saving more than 116,000 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the earth’s atmosphere.

The Next Farm Bill

As more and more farmers take advantage of incentives and grants to create renewable energy, legislators are looking at how the existing programs are doing and thinking about how future farm bills might be written to increasingly encourage renewable energy use on farms and in rural communities. The next farm bill is still 3 years away, but that’s not stopping folks from thinking about it now.

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand recently visited several New York farms, to better understand their needs — including those around renewable energy. She’s on the agriculture committee and so has a vested interest in making sure the next farm bill works for New York farmers — and presumably farmers across the country.

Let’s hope more senators take the time to get out there, talk to farmers, and create the next bill that really helps farmers not only produce great fruits, vegetables, and livestock, but also empowers them to reduce their carbon footprint and leverage more renewable energy.

As part of their Seattle reLeaf program, the City of Seattle is giving away more trees this year — including one variety of fruit tree, the Italian Plum (which is my favorite). The hope is to get 1,000 trees to residents to plant in their yards which will help the city achieve it’s 30% tree canopy goal.

If you live in one of the neighborhoods listed below, you need to get an application in by September 13.  The city is specifically targetting South Seattle neighborhoods this year and the following are eligable to apply:

• Beacon Hill
• Columbia City
• Georgetown
• Highland Park
• North Beacon Hill/Jefferson Park
• Rainier Beach
• Roxhill/Westwood
• South Beacon Hill/New Holly
• South Park
• Steward Park

There is no need to apply as a group, so individual houses can apply. Trees may be planted along the street or in your yard — keep in mind the fruit tree can’t be planted along the street and needs to go in your yard. There is a limit of 4 per household. The program participants will recieve:

• Free trees, of course – Available species
• Watering bags
• Training on proper tree planting & care
• One free bag of GroCo compost, made with King County biosolids
• Helpful tree care tips & reminders

If you don’t happen to live in one of the neighborhoods listed above, you can still get free trees from the city — but time is running out. The Department of Neighborhoods Tree Fund provides free street trees to groups of 5 or more neighbors working together anywhere in Seattle. Groups can request 10 to 40 trees. But the applications are due Monday, August 16 — so get your application in now!

This article appeared in this last weekend’s Financial Times of London’s Weekend. It has interesting news about fruit in another part of the world and some great recipes.

The fruits of a long hot summer
By Peter Gordon

Published: August 7 2010 00:39 | Last updated: August 7 2010 00:39

August is a lovely month in the kitchen as the summer heat ripens blackberries and bilberries, apricots, greengages and plums, as well as tomatoes, peppers and aubergines. The flavours tend towards the sweet and rich – whether it be hedgerow fruit or the slight bitterness of rich purple aubergines. Lightly cooked and lightly handled is my motto at this time.

I am on a brief trip to New Zealand and was reading in the newspapers that the relentless summer heat in Italy has cut the tomato crop there by 20 per cent. This is terrible news for the Italians – with their dairy production dropping at a similar rate, will mozzarella and tomato salad soon seem a luxury?

But in Britain and northern Europe, the hot summer has tomato vines bursting at the seams and brambles dripping with juice. Next weekend brings the start of the British game season, so before grouse starts to make itself regularly known on your table, make the most of the last of the summer goodies.

Peter Gordon is the chef at Providores in London, www.theprovidores.co.uk

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Tomato and aubergine salad

This is great served under pan-fried mackerel fillets or with a poached chicken breast – just add a lemon wedge and salad greens. Serves four.

Ingredients

6-8 large vine-ripened tomatoes

2 shallots, peeled and thinly sliced into rings

The juice of 1 large lemon (you may need more)

1 aubergine

1 large handful flat parsley leaves

1 handful basil leaves

4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

● Score the tomatoes with a cross in the stem end and plunge into boiling water for 15 seconds, then in iced water. Peel the skin from them, cut into very thin wedges and mix with the shallots and lemon juice.

● Cut the stem from the aubergine and slice lengthwise 1cm thick. Brush with vegetable oil and griddle or pan-fry until coloured and softened. Cut crossways into “fingers” and mix into the tomato.

● Add the parsley, basil and olive oil and season. It may need more lemon juice. Leave for one to two hours, stir and it’s ready.

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Greengage and blackberry fool

Greengages are a subtle but richly flavoured relative to the plum, and they’ve been making a revival in recent years. They’re lovely poached and bottled for winter crumbles, or split, stones removed, and frozen on trays for adding at the last minute to chicken and pumpkin curry, or even lightly pickled with ginger and cloves to be served with cold meats at Christmas. In summer, it is best to cook them gently and fold them into a custard-rich fool with a juicy blackberry topping. Serves six to eight.

Ingredients

400g greengages: remove stems and wipe with a damp cloth

120g unrefined caster sugar

¼ vanilla bean, split lengthways

300ml milk

3 egg yolks

300g blackberries

2 tbsp icing sugar

400ml double cream

Method

● Place the greengages in a pot with half the sugar and a few tablespoons of water and bring to a simmer. Put the lid on and slowly cook until they’ve burst from their skins and the mixture becomes pulpy – stir frequently.

● Make your custard by bringing the remaining sugar, the vanilla and milk to a simmer. Whisk the egg yolks until foamy then whisk in half the hot milk mixture. Return to pan and cook over moderate heat, stirring until it coats the back of a spoon. Tip into a clean bowl and gently whisk for 20 seconds to help cool it. Cool, then chill in the fridge.

● Remove the stones from the cooled fruit and put in the fridge. Mix together the blackberries and icing sugar and place in the fridge.

● An hour before you want to eat the fool, lightly whip the cream to soft peaks. Beat in the cold custard until firmer peaks, then fold in the fruit, rippling it in. Place in a bowl – a glass one is best – and drizzle the blackberries on top. Top with toasted almonds or pistachios.

A New Pest in Town

We’ve made reference to it previously, but more and more we’re getting reports of the Spotted Wing Drosophila (SWD) being in WA state — both out east in the orchards and here in the city. It’s kind of a big deal as it’s a new pest and so there are still a lot of experiments with how to deal with it. And it’s attacking soft fruit (peaches, berries, etc.), which have previously escaped things like the Apple Maggot Fly and Coddling Moth. More and more we’re finding it necessary to undertake pest prevention methods for all kinds of fruit.

About SWD

The pest is originally from Asia, but has made its way up to Washington from California — it’s rapidly spreading from state-to-state. They are closely resemble the common vinegar fly but the difference is instead of attacking rotting fruit, the SWD attacks perfectly healthy fruit. It was really first seen around Japan and other parts of Asia in the 1930s. The way it works is that females search for soft fruit, land on the fruit, and then lay their eggs — laying as many as 300 eggs in their lifespan and up to 13 generations per season. The larvae then grow inside of the fruit.

This is a great resourceto see photos of the life cycle of the SWD and its impact on fruit.

The economic impact could be somewhat significant for soft fruit and would vary by region. But not enough research has been done to provide an accurate estimate.

Treatment

We only recommend non-chemical ways at managing existing SWD infestations. If only some fruit is infested, the best approach is to harvest & sort the crop immediately — separating the good from the bad. And to help reduce the number of SWD in the future, we suggest placing infested fruit in a sturdy, sealed plastic bag and dispose of it in the trash. Also, be sure to remove any fruit that has fallen on the ground and any infested fruit remaining on the plants. But do not compost! This will not kill the insects.

Prevention

As this is somewhat of a new pest to the U.S., there are a lot of tests going on as to the best method to prevent SWD infestations and protect vulnerable fruit. Oregon State University has a great resource for backyard growers. The best known approaches so far….

• Traps: There are a number of different types of trapspeople are trying, but below is a video for one in particular. These will not only help you capture SWDs, but also monitor how many are in your area.

• Netting: A few places have suggested setting up netting over your soft fruit plans and trees prior to the fruit developing.
• Habitat & Varieties: One way to prevent the SWD is by selecting thick-skinned fruit varieties that are more resistant to the pests. Also, to modify any other plants you have in your yard that might attract the SWD — thus making it less likely that they’ll find your habitat attractive.

So keep an eye out for this pest. We’ve already heard from folks about it attacking their raspberries and currants. If you find it in your backyard, definitely drop us a line (info@cityfruit.org) — we’d love to better understand how and where this infestation is happening so we can help work to manage it better.

Previously, I wrote about how the FDA designated several WA counties as disaster areas because of the crazy weather we’ve been having and today I see that Governor Christine Gregoire is touring the area as part of her “Feed Washington” tour. Because of the damage she’s seen she’s asking the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture to declare 29 counties farm disaster areas — making them eligible for federal assistance.

All this rain and cooler temperatures are wreaking havoc on everything from hay (which is primarily exported to Japan) to cherries. It’s not just the weather, but also the horrible economic climate that’s also really hurting farmers (and everyone else, for that matter).

One of the ideas that Gov. Gregoire mentioned, I half agree with. From MSNBC:

The governor explained that she has seen the demand for Washington fruit like cherries on recent trips to Asia. She believes helping fruit growers tap those markets will get the state out of tough economic times.

“If we do that, we’ll find our way out of this recession,” said Gregoire. “That’s the road to recovery for us.”

From what I read, more cherries are already heading to Japan. And while I like the intention that demand for WA state fruit can help farmers find their way out of the recession, I’m not sure about exporting that fruit — and not sure how that fits in to Feed Washington. I would think there’s plenty of demand for fresh fruit from right here in WA state and that a push for buying locally produced fruit & veg would be a better way to go.

This weather is making us a bit nervous as well — not sure what kind of crop we’ll get here in the city. Plums, by most accounts, are having a bad year after having a record year last year. Cherries seem to be coming in ok, though. What I’m really curious about is how the apple crop will be. Historically Seattle apples are pretty unusable due to the apple maggots, but we’ve seen little evidence of those buggers so far.

My wife, Nancy, who is also on the City Fruit board, was at a Friends of Piper Orchard meeting the other night and learned about this amazing trellis. Andy Zaborski is a Viticulture/Winemaking Certificate graduate from South Seattle Community College (SSCC) who planted  several varieties of grapes at Piper’s Orchard, all of which were in the Pacific Northwest during the time of the orchard’s original planting.

Now Andy’s hoping to build this cool trellis at Piper’s Orchard that he’s already installed down at SSCC. From his own words:

“The grape trellis at South Seattle Community College was conceived in order to support the vines and shoots, without requiring regular adjustment of the wires’ tension due to loading by the plants’ branches and fruit, or due to thermal expansion/contraction.  A basket of rocks at one end-post is supported by one end of the cable array which serpentines across the span of 4 posts over a series of brass roller pulleys.  The cable is fixed via a turnbuckle at its other end.  The cable’s lowest span supports a drip-irrigation line, the 42-inch high span supports the vines’ branches, and the remaining 2 spans serve as catch-wires for supporting the vines’ shoots.”

I’ve included a couple of photos Andy sent along to better show what he describes above. You can see the trellis to the right with the basket holding rocks to keep the line tight.

His plans for the Piper Orchard are similar and has the same historical link to when the orchard was first planted. I, for one, can’t wait to see it in person. I might just head down to SSCC this weekend.

Nicely done Andy (picture to the right with his kids)!

I’m getting excited about the upcoming harvest. This time of year is always bubbling with anticipation as we gear up for another harvest — recruiting volunteers, identifying tree owners who have excess fruit, etc. And as part of that I always wonder what kind of crop we’ll get this year. Last year, we had a record amount of plums. What will it be this year?

Things don’t look so good  in Michigan — at least not beyond a good blueberry production. Looks like the apple crop will be down 53% due mainly to early spring warm weather followed by cold. They’re expecting a lower-than-normal cherry crop as well. And even though New Hampshire had similar conditions (including a frost May 10), they anticipate a good apple harvest.

Since we had similar conditions here in Washington, I was wondering if we’re in for a similar trend. Like everything, the answer isn’t quite cut & dry.

From the same article about Michigan, there’s a reference that Washington apple crop should actually grow this year — 140 million bushels estimated, up from 132 last year. But I just read that several WA counties were designated “natural disaster areas” by the USDA because of how the weather impacted the apple & cherry crops. This allows farmers access to emergency loans to help them offset the cost of losses due to the weather. Although, if you read this from Fruitnet.com, it sounds like there’s a strong crop of cherry’s ready to go.

Getting a read on what the Seattle harvest will be like is even more difficult so it may just be a case of wait-and-see. Our pear trees are producing less than they did in 2009 — but they had a huge crop last year, so that’s kind of expected. I guess we won’t fully know until we start harvesting. We should start on the cherries, red plums, and transparent apples in July — so we’ll have a much better sense then.

And just to get you in the mood for the upcoming harvest season, which kicks off pretty much with cherries, here’s a video that tells you the proper way to harvest cherries:

Screenshot from International Banana Club website

Saw this story today in the Seattle Times (actually ran yesterday) about a guy who is helping revive the International Banana Museum– which the Guinness Book of World Records apparently refers to as “largest museum on Earth dedicated to a single fruit.” 

It found itself without a home and all the 17,000 banana-related pieces that Ken “The Bananister” Bannister has collected over the years were stashed in Ken’s garage. Fred Garbutt, who’s family owned a liquor store, bought the memorabilia and is re-opening the museum in the pub next to the store in North Shore, California.

Lest you be jealous of California for their new museum, we have one right here in Washington. I haven’t been, but next time I’m anywhere near Auburn, I’m going to swing by and check it out.

Here’s The Bannanister talking all about bananas & his museum:

And just so you don’t think there are only fruit fans out there, there are a few dedicated to various vegetables. Take the carrot. It has both a virtual and a brick-and-mortar, as they say, museum. The collector also runs this B&B it seems.

So join me in eating a banana  today celebration of the International Banana Museum’s revival.

Great story on KUOW on a set of neighbours who found friendship and community over tomatoes.

Two radio shows caught my ears today and got the urbanist in me all excited! The first one describes taking urban agriculture and city orchards to a new level, there is a group in London that has created The Urban Wine Company. Just as City Fruit is creating an urban orchard, they are creating an urban vineyard. As cities like London are getting to be warmer and warmer, there are better chances of successfully growing decent for wine making. This March was the debut of Chateau Tooting! Here in Seattle, we have a lot of wonderful winemakers, but the majority of them get their grapes from Washington State’s fabulous grape growing regions.

The second story was on PRI’s The World and talked about Ottawa’s urban farmers..

Check out both these stories: they are energizing.