Fruits and veggies

beans and melons co-exist in the beds
in the Orchard at the farm

The official line, as well as what your mother told you is 

"Eat your fruits and vegetables." Research shows why it is good advice:

• Healthy diets rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases.
• Fruits and vegetables also provide essential vitamins and minerals, fiber, and other substances that are important for good health.
• Most fruits and vegetables are naturally low in fat and calories and are filling.
• psst: and they are delicious, right?

Ever wonder how many fruits and vegetables you should eat? 

There's an official fruit and vegetable serving calculator to tell you. 

Although of course, if you are as lucky as we are, 

having the farm or access to great Farmers Markets, 

we eat as many fruits and vegetables as we can, just because they taste so good.

So, while we've been caught up in our vegetables,

it seemed like a good time to put some focus on the fruits we have at the farm. 

some of the trees in
Orchard in early spring

Our orchard, which is about 1.5 acres has 49 fruit trees including 

5 varieties of peaches, 7 varieties of nectarines, 4 varieties of plums, 

4 varieties of pluots, 3 varieties of apricots, 2 kinds of apples, 

3 kinds of pears, two fig and two persimmon trees and a jujube tree. 

It can be quite beautiful, very fragrant and 

pretty delicious in the Orchard when it is in bloom.

Pluot almost ready to be picked

Last season's apple blossoms
are so beautiful 

And this year, things are getting started. As you see at the Farmers Markets, 

the apricots seem to be the first to burst out, and ours are very happy. 

In fact, we were surprised and delighted this year to find 

that the one apricot tree in the Insectary over by 

the vegetable beds is very ripe and abundant. 

Last year we got maybe 10 apricots total off that tree. 

The other day, we picked 50 lbs of fruit already, 

so that bodes well for our apricot bounty. 

Apricot tree in the Insectary

Adds color and attracts those good bugs


Of course one of all the bugs that are attracted to our Insectary 
are important for our biodynamic farm to flourish. 
This week, June 17-23 we especially celebrate 
these "good guys"--it's National Pollinator Week. 

one of our prolific apricot trees in the Orchard

And our chefs couldn't resist putting the apricots on the menu right away.

This week's plat du jour features ENTRÉE of spinach salad with

grilled apricots, bacon lardons, candied pecans, maple vinaigrette

and here are those same apricots at your table!

Arctic Star Nectarines looking good

The rare Indian Blood Peach is not yet ripe
but when it is, the flesh is a rich red 

Blenheim apricots are prolific

Naturally, not all the fruit trees ripen at the same time.
The apricots are the stars now and the plums and pluots are just getting started.
Since Pluots are cross between apricots and plums,
we may see them before the plums, but after the apricots!
Apples, pears and the fig tree will be our late summer and fall gems

We won't be eating these Pink Lady Apples
for awhile

and the Pear trees are
taking their right time

first one of our
Celestial figs!

We stumbled upon this informative but fun calendar "freshness" disc 

that helps you determine what's in season when. 

Obviously this varies depending on where you are, but it's a good overview. 

None of us are probably eating fresh-off-the-vine tomatoes in December! 

There we are, back to tomatoes (visions of these beauties on our plate 

are never far from our mind these days...almost there), 

but we can mention them in a post about fruits, 

because you know, tomatoes are actually a fruit, not a vegetable! 

"The confusion about 'fruit' and 'vegetable' arises because 

of the differences in usage between scientists and cooks. 

Scientifically speaking, a tomato is definitely a fruit. 

True fruits are developed from the ovary in the base of the flower, 

and contain the seeds of the plant." 

So, tomatoes like blueberries and raspberries are considered a fruit. 

As far as cooks are concerned, it seems tomatoes fall into the vegetable category

 because they are used in savory cooking more often than sweet. 

So, I suppose you could say that the very popular tomato watermelon salad 

at the girl & the fig is a "fruit salad!" 

And speaking of raspberries, they are the other fruit
we have growing in the lower farm beds,
so our fruits are not all concentrated in the Orchard area

did you know the "white" raspberries are not as tart
as the more common red ones

but we will be enjoying both soon
the raspberries love this spot in the lower quad of the farm

And, then we do have some veggies going in the Orchard beds

we will grow beans, cucumbers and melons
in the Orchard beds

We mix it up at the farm, just like we all are supposed to do with our diets
Makes for great balance, and that's what it's all about, right?

Let's do the hokey pokey and celebrate our fruits and veggies!

What fruits are you finding at the Farmers Markets these days?

Have any favorite recipes to share?

Orchard Gems

There is more growing in our Orchard at the farm than just fruit.

We've had great luck this summer with beans here. 

We are growing royal burgundy and blue lake beans. 

Royal Burgundy Beans have beautiful purple blossom 

These striking purple blossoms turn into dramatic looking beans 

providing a different flavor and color combination

to inspire our chefs as they get creative with summer beans. 

photo courtesy of Territorial Seed Company

At the girl & the fig right now, we are featuring a delicious entree: 

tomales bay king salmon with salt-roasted yukon potatoes,
summer beans, arugula, smoked paprika beurre blanc.  

As you may recall, we are also growing beans along the fence behind ESTATE. 

Beans are easy to grow and here are some great tips for growing beans. 

Beans along the fence at ESTATE in July and then a month later

beans going crazy at ESTATE

If you are lucky enough to have
beans growing out your back door,  

you might try grilling them. 

These are not weeds in this orchard bed, it is purslane.
Chef John particularly likes using purslane to enhance a salad.
And according to Cook Local food blog: "Purslane has long been considered a weed,
but you can eat it just like you eat a leafy vegetable.
The flavor is sweet, salty, and sour all at the same time.
It tastes like a succulent bit of romaine lettuce and
has more Omega-3 fatty acids than any other leafy green.
It is also high in Vitamins A, C, and B."
There are a lot of ways to enjoy purslane and our chefs continue to be inspired.

you could almost bite right into this cluster of apricots

We work hard to use all the fertile beds in the Orchard, 

but the real treasures there, of course are on the trees.

We have 49 trees in the Orchard including multiple varieties 

of peach, nectarine, persimmon, mulberry, plum, pluot, apricot, 

fig, pear and apple trees and one jujube tree! 

we won't be seeing these jujube fruits until the fall 

A pluot is a hybrid plant grown from a plum and an apricot.
They are about 70% plum and 30% apricot and look more like plums than apricots.
They are very sweet!

In our orchard, we have Flavor Queen Pluots, Dapple Dandy, 

Emerald Beauty and Flavor Grenade varieties.  

Pluots are sometimes also referred to as "Dinosaur Eggs" due to the strange dappled coloring on some types of the fruit.

Nearby the pluots and the apricots in the Orchard are our plum trees. 

We have Brooks, Green Sage, Late Santa Rosa, and Tom Cot plum trees. 

Did you know the history of plums dates back to the Roman Empire 

when more than 300 varieties were grown?

Late Santa Rosa plums

While we are enjoying all the summer fruit ripening now in the Orchard, 

we know there are still some gems to come, especially our signature fruit!

the Orchard figs are not quite there yet, but we are patient.

You can always enjoy the popular fig salad at the girl & the fig
but soon we will be making it with the fig "jewels" we harvest at our farm.

photo by Steven Krause for
Plats du Jour: the girl & the fig's Journey Through the Seasons in Wine Country

What are you doing with the summer fruit you are either growing 

or finding at Farmers Markets these days?

Summer's approaching...patience at the farm

In a few days it will be the official start of summer. 

While we certainly have already been enjoying the fruits of our labors at the farm, 

we are now preparing to really reap the rewards. 

radishes and onions this spring; photo by Cece Hugo

abundant garlic beds earlier this spring; photo by Cece Hugo

We look forward to enjoying what the chefs will create
from the 350 tomatoes, 100 peppers and 100 eggplants at the farm,
as well as all the herbs and other vegetables.

heirloom tomato & watermelon salad, a favorite at the girl & the fig
featured in our new book, Plats du Jour: the girl & the fig's Journey Through the Seasons in Wine Country
photo by Steven Krause 

photo by Steven Krause

wood roasted shiso peppers from ESTATE

Summer begins the time when a trip to the farm is not only 

about the work we need to do, 

but there is always the promise of leaving with something fresh in hand. 

We confess it is often challenging to wait for summer's bounty, 

but the knowledge of how things do change 

at the farm encourages us along.

apricot tree in the orchard in late April

the apricot tree now

A great article recently talked about how gardening teaches us patience. 

In The Telegraph, author James Alexander-Sinclair says 

"gardening is the last bastion of the patient, as nature cannot be hurried...

often the greatest pleasure is in the waiting: 

to appreciate the progress of the plant at every stage." 

We keep the image of something like our lemon verbena pots du crème

photo by Steven Krause 

as we wait for the lemon verbena to be ready. 

For now, though, as we anticipate summer, 

there are a few special things we are creating with inspiration from the farm.

What are you enjoying from your garden right now?

And what have you planted that you look forward to having this summer?