As late-summer grasses lose their nutrition, Barinaga Ranch is bolstering the diets of its sheep with alfalfa and tasty almond hulls. To monitor their health, Marcia Barinaga’s team weighs all 80 ewes once a month, sending each animal, single file, through a narrow chute and onto a scale. If they are too fat or too thin, feeding is adjusted. Most of this year’s lambs, weaned in June, have been harvested; the rest will go to market in September. But a lucky few—selected for their superior genetics—will join the breeding herd on the ranch’s acreage above Marshall. Two traits are especially valuable. In the Romney breed, Marcia seeks animals that maintain their dark fleece as they age. In Cormo-Corriedale crosses, she seeks animals with very fine fleece.
Peaches have peaked and were wonderful this year, said Sally Gale of Chileno Valley Ranch. Pears, by contrast, are in peril. Fire blight, a bacterial disease that makes leaves, blossoms, and twigs turn black and look scorched, is increasingly prevalent in the region. Apple production is down due to a different challenge: too few frost days last winter. Two varieties, Arkansas Black and Mollie’s Delicious, fruited well. But yield is low for two long-reliable varieties, Orin and Senshu. The ranch’s U-pick season starts on Sept. 13; reservations open on Sept. 1. With fewer apples, the season will be short.
This month’s cool fog has been a gift to the lettuce at Gospel Flat Farm, keeping production steady and leaves tender and sweet. A new variety called Salanova, which has flower-like clusters of tiny leaves, is particularly successful. Lemon cucumbers, zucchini, broccoli, and herbs are thriving and marigolds and zinnias are bursting with color. But heat-loving peppers are languishing, and tomatoes, which also need warmth, are behind schedule. They’ll ripen in September and October, when other California tomatoes are finished. “They’ll be really tasty, but they take longer,” Mickey Murch said. “We’re waiting for the Bolinas heat to kick in.”