Farmers' Market and Farm Stand

Cherry Tomatoes:  Available to "backers" in June

We will be back at the Farmers' Market and at the Farm Stand in June, with cherry tomatoes available to "backers".

Sunol Farm Stand:  Our farm stand is open Wednesdays (11:30-2:30).  In good weather, our stand is located at the end of our field, next to the Sunol Water Temple. If it is raining, we set up the stand inside our greenhouse.  In either case, park at the Water Temple parking lot, and walk in the gate that opens into our farm site. Open 7 months of the year (see below)

Menlo Park Farmers' Market:  Open Sundays from 9AM to 1PM.  Our stand is located at the west end of the market, across from the orchid guy. Open 8 months of the year (see below)

Cut your own herbs:  Bring scissors and ziploc to the Wednesday farm stand and cut your own herbs (a modest amount, for personal use only).  No charge.  Just check in with us first so we can give any specific information needed.

Yearly market schedule:  Main crops indicated

January:  Winter Greens

February:  Out of markets

March:  Winter Greens, Pea Shoots

April:  Out of markets

May:  Out of markets

June:  Squash Blossoms, Squash, Herbs, Edible Flowers, New Zealand Spinach

July:  Tomatoes, Squash, Frying Peppers, Squash Blossoms, Herbs, Edible Flowers, New Zealand Spinach

August:  Tomatoes, Squash, Frying Peppers, Squash Blossoms, Herbs, Edible Flowers, New Zealand Spinach

September:  Tomatoes, Frying Peppers, Winter Squash,  Sweet Peppers, Chile Peppers

October:  Tomatoes, Frying Peppers, Winter Squash,  Sweet Peppers, Chile Peppers

November:  Winter Squash, Frying Peppers, Sweet Peppers, Chile Peppers

December:  Out of markets

 

A growing family

Son of Blush:  Lucky Tiger

Our breeding program really got going with Maglia Rosa.  Then Maglia Rosa was used to create Blush, and now Blush now lends many of it's genes to it's offspring, Lucky Tiger. 

Lucky Tiger will be available exclusively this fall from Johnny's Selected Seeds.

For more info on our breeding, follow our Artisan Seeds blog and/or our Artisan Seeds Facebook page.

New Grey Dog Tea blend available

We have a new tea blend available -- A complex, robust, smooth blend for morning wake-up.  Premium Breakfast is now available at www.greydogtea.com.

Outstanding In The Field 2013

 "Bumble Bee" Cherry tomatoes -- on the menu

Guillaume Bienaime will be returning to do another Outstanding In The Field event on June 15th. You won't want to miss this event.  Tickets are still available.


  

Grey Dog Tea around the Bay Area

Grey Dog Teas at Draeger's Blackhawk.

Grey Dog teas are now available at the following locations in the Bay Area -- Draeger's (Blackhawk and San Mateo), Ashby Marketplace, Viognier Restaurant, Wente Vineyards (The Restaurant), Concannon Winery Tasting Room and Gather Restaurant.   Tins and tin refills are also available online at www.greydogtea.com

2013 Backer Pick

The "Backer Pick" is a pre-paid subscription for our produce that comes with a few perks.  To read more about it, click on the image below. 

We are now taking seed orders at growartisan.com

We can take orders and payments from outside the US, but we can only ship within the US.  If you are outside the US this might be a good time to make friends with an American.

Please take the time to rate our teas

Please help us build our brand -- Grey Dog Tea.

Many of us use the internet to research books, music, restaurants and a host of other products and services. In fact, internet "word-of-mouth" has been critical for the success of many small businesses. 

We are a struggling small farm, and 2012 was very difficult for us. We faced a number of severe challenges. On the bright side, however, our new tea business which was started with some close friends who became investors, was a very bright spot. 

We are very excited about our teas, as they are unique blends that people often respond to very positively. However, it is now critical that we get visibility for our teas as soon as we can. Perhaps the main risk (assuming our teas are good) is that a larger tea company will analyze our blends and put out something similar before we have a chance to grow. Essentially, we are at risk of being "scooped" unless we build the brand quickly. 

Fortunately, our teas will be recommended by Sunset Magazine's "test kitchen" in an article in their March issue. This will help with visibility. 

Another way to gain visibility quickly is to have a critical mass of reviews at online "tea rating" sites like Steepster. For this reason we would like to request that our customers and followers consider offering their honest opinions of our teas. 

For example, Chile Mint can be described and rated here

Grey Dog Tea: Free Shipping and Free Samples!

Grey Dog Teas are now available at www.greydogtea.com

We are deeply indebted to all of our collaborators who have encouraged our tea-making and partnered with us to make this spin-off business possible.

Order now and get free shipping for all tin refill orders, no matter how few or how many you order.

Until the end of January you can also request a free sample with every purchase.  Just request a free sample, and identify the particular tea you would like to try in the "special instructions" box.

Bumble Bee Buzz -- Grafting!

Bumble Bees (New from Artisan Seeds)  Photograph by Aaron Whaley

Pink Bumble Bee and Purple Bumble Bee are now available as grafted plants from Garden Life.  The Bumble Bees are also available this coming year from our collaborators at Log House Plants and Plug Connection.

Artisan Seeds is currently selling these Bees at www.growartisan.com and next fall bulk quantities of seed will be available from AP Whaley Seed. 

The story of Blush continues...

 

Blush:  Masterminded by Alex.  This tomato spawned a "rule" of breeding that we live by.

Blush was recently a taste-test winner in Pennyslvania.  Check out the tally sheet from the Franklin County Master Gardener's taste test (September 11, 2012)

Our julienne cherry tomato -- Blush -- was created when Alex (age 8 at the time) decided to cross his two favorite tomatoes.  It has been turning heads ever since.

Blush has also been very important as a parent line:  A few years ago, when we had accumulated a group of round, striped cherry tomatoes, they looked great, but didn't compete with Blush in flavor.  What did we do?  We held them back, and crossed every single one to Blush.  We think it was worth it, and now you can decide if you agree, because some of Blush's descendents are now available.

A little more history:  The year that the cross that created Blush was made, Alex participated in setting up crosses for our annual winter crossing list.  He chose 3 of the 19 crosses to be made that year, after the other 16 had been established (by a PhD-holding plant breeder with big plans).  The striking outcome is that about 90% of the value from that year came from Alex's 3 crosses.  The progeny from his crosses continue to permeate most everything we are doing.  

What was Alex's breeding secret?  He crossed his favorite tomatoes.

He didn't try to "fix" cool looking, but poor tasting, varieties.  He picked his 4 favorite tomatoes and suggested 3 crosses.  The striking results from that year spawned "Alex's Rule" of tomato breeding:  Cross tomatoes that taste great with other tomatoes that taste great -- because it is hard to get a mediocre-tasting tomato from two parents who taste great. 

Premium Frying Pepper Mix

Our 2012 Frying Pepper Mix

Includes Mareko Fana (Ethiopia), Dolce di Minervino (Italy), Padron (Spain), Aleppo (Syria), Ahi Amarillo (Peru) & Ahi Colorado (Peru)

Potimarron and Potimarron Jeune

Potimarron Jeune

Potimarron (Chestnut Pumpkin)

A few years ago we were filling some boxes of mixed summer squash for a restaurant customer. We didn't have quite enough, so we started tasting the immature winter squash, to see if any of them could fill in, in a pinch.

One of the winter squash varieties we were growing, Potimarron, did more than just fill in. It was better than any of the zucchini and patty pan already in the boxes. The flavor is clean, without bitterness, and the squash can be eaten like apples. On the other hand, there is a depth of flavor that standard summer squash do not have. Finally, the flesh is fine grained and dense, so squash can be grilled, souped and steamed. Light cooking is fine, because there is no bitterness to vanquish.

Over time, we have pretty much stopped growing summer squash. Instead, we harvest young Potimarron (Potimarron Jeune), and sell it as summer squash.

Potimarron, is also one of the main winter squash we sell. It is unparalleled for use in soups, and the soft orange skin can be pureed into the soup -- no peeling necessary. In fact, the skin is where much of the chestnut flavor is located.

People seem to be catching on to this squash. Last month, when we went to order seeds from Seed Savers Exchange, they did not have any bulk packages left. We were forced to buy lots of individual seed packets. So, if you want to try this variety this year, you may want to order seeds today.

A Stroke of Luck

Captain Lucky (photo by S. Anderson)

Green-When-Ripe beefsteak tomatoes like Cherokee Green and Malachite Box are crazy good. Their flavor is out-of-this-world. One reason they are not already featured on menus as prominently as Cherokee Purple and other beefsteak superstars is that they are hard to get from farm to chef efficiently. Because the optimum picking window is marked by very subtle color and softening changes, even the best picking crew will pick large amounts of under-ripe or too-soft tomatoes. The under-ripe ones usually never attain full flavor, and the soft ones can not be boxed, shipped and sold in time.

The super-hero tomato that fixes this problem, and may well bring green-when-ripe beefsteaks to the general populace is Captain Lucky.

Captain Lucky is a relatively new variety bred by Millard Murdock in North Carolina. It is essentially a green-when-ripe tomato that has a bit of surface color and marbling -- and this color gives a small farmers like us the cues we need to harvest it efficiently, at just the right time! We will be selling Captain Lucky fruits this summer, and packets of seeds next fall and winter when we launch the Artisan Seeds online store.

Mareko Fana Diversity

Some Mareko Fana peppers are red. Most are brown.

Mareko Fana comes in many shapes.

The Mareko Fana that Menkir Tamrat brought us two years ago is probably best characterized as a "land race". Some are short, some are long. Most are brown but some are red. Most are thick-fleshed, but some are thin-skinned and delicate.

We are going to be evaluating and playing around with the diversity of our populations for a long time to come. However, in the short term we are selecting for two types of Mareko Fana:

Mareko Fana: Brown and thick-fleshed. Excellent for making Berbere spice. We typically use these mature, and dry them before use.

Mareko Fana Red: Red, thin-skinned and delicate. Fantastic as a frying pepper. We typically pick many of these young, and sell (or eat) them as frying peppers. The taste is mild when they are young.

Directions to the farm

Location of our farm in Sunol

Red arrow indicates 4-way stop sign. Blue dot is the Sunol Water Temple. Yellow rectangle is our field.

We farm adjacent to the Sunol Water Temple, and the site is open from 9-3 on weekdays. Drop-in visitors and groups are welcome. Please contact us ahead to check on our availability. Our email address can be found in our blog profile.

Formal tours and/or educational workshops can be arranged by us, or by SAGE.