Ladybug Letters

Calendula officinalis, the "official" marigold, here pictured growing in our gardens in the spring.

Piennolo tomatoes make fabulous dried tomatoes. Here are some fresh Piennolos getting ready for

Some mariquitas making themselves at home in a sunflower. I was surprised to see

The Ladybug's Lavender Labyrinth is coming into full bloom now. There are several varieties

Soda Lake, in the Carrizo Plain National Monument, is often dry for for long

One Sunday morning, years ago- 1987, to be exact- a beautiful balloon surprised us

Here's Jai harvesting Prickly Pear fruits, called "tunas" in Spanish. Jai also harvested LOTS

Celebrate Fall with Mariquita Farm! The Tomato season is really moving along now and

The sanctuary of the Watsonville Buddhist Temple was lined with huge displays of colorful

Sunflowers are SO COOL. Edible, ornamental , celestial Fibonacci equations playing out in the

The bedroom slash squash storage warehouse. If I leave the squash in the field

The first of this season's marigolds. I planted several thousand plants.   Mariquita Farm

These corn plants have to be 10 feet tall- or more! I'm 6'1" Here's

Our first marigold of the season. The variety is called "Chedi." Let me start

Hi Everybody: Tomatoes are ripening as I write these words to you. As our

Our farm isn't just a place for the wild creatures to take refuge from

My feet are tapping. In my head, I can hear a vigorous horn section

Pinus Sabiniana along the road to Carrizo Plain. My father did his doctoral thesis

My daughter, Magdalena, as a child in the greenhouse. She's 26 now.   My theory

Ziggy on guard under a Rosa gallica complicata. This old fashioned rose only blooms

My late dog, Red, helping me research labyrinths. This one is on the coastal

My grandmother once had a cat who had three kittens on the 15th of

Have you noticed that God didn’t create “The Farm of Eden?” It's one thing

I've got a counterintuitive tale for you. Several years ago, during the driest, dustiest,

"Every picture tells a story" they'll tell you. And it's probably "a thousand words"

Turkeys roaming in the labyrinth. Every day is "Turkey Day" at Mariquita Farm....but Thanksgiving

  A few of you might find the fierce looking chayote that I've put

Starr with a few crows in Palo Alto. I'm booted up, caffeinated, mouse in

Ripe fruit from the vine! Joel is my "cousin in law" from the Midwestern

  As I sit down to write this note to you I can hear

  "Give me two reasons why anybody would want to live in Texas," I

Our first Tomatopalooza of the season at Alladin Nursery in Watsonville. A "lollapalooza" is

Tomatillo de Milpa The Islas Marias are an archipelago in the Pacific some 60 miles

Green, unripe San Marzanos on the vine. Broadly speaking, there are two principal categories

Windmill at Mariquita Farm Water witching works like a charm. Or not. Some people

Young sage on left, nepitella (or Roman mint) by Samson, the "royal" cat. If

When I think about the desirability and feasibility of a farm saving its own seed,

Basil, the backyard gardener and amateur ethno botanist from Basel, took a step into

Samson watching over the Mariquita labyrinth Oh, my God, the violence lay hidden in

  Wild arugula growing in a lemon balm patch Here's an irony: My father

  Purslane, cultivated as a crop "April showers bring May flowers," goes the old

  A beachside fruit vendor in Ventura, CA With the tomatoes going into the

Mt. Shasta looms over Redding, CA   What's the stupidest thing you've ever done?

The pole bean patch has been laid out; gopher wire under the the ground,

Controversy was swirling at a recent school board meeting- "A REAL FOOD FIGHT!" read

Hi Mariquita supporters, We've been busy planting, weeding, and chasing the birds away from

The lemon arbor at Ganna Walska Lotusland in Montecito. Life gave me lemons...But this

The very warm, almost hot, afternoons that we've been having this past week could lead

Borders are interesting places. Yes, borders divide people into one side and the other

We've turned up three rusty, old horse shoes as we've gone about getting the "windmill

Mr Raccoon leaves big dirty foot prints on the stairway. It was the thump

Hi All: We got a soaking rain last week with our six inch deep

It was hot last Friday afternoon as I returned home from my produce deliveries

You're probably going to want a towel to protect your hand. We're doing our

A creeping mist hanging low to the ground kept me from seeing the great

"FAQs" are "frequently asked questions," and the reason they are frequently asked is because

Late summer is an especially busy time on the farm, with harvesting summer crops,

Our yard is full of "Naked Ladies." Or you may know them as "Pink

The only turkey bird native to California, Meleagris californica, went extinct 10,000 years ago.

    I Didn't your mother ever tell you "You can catch more flies with sugar

    In his effort to liberate India from the British Empire Mohandas Gandhi

    "Back in the day," as in "back in my great-grandfather's day," Watsonville

  Corralitos, where I live and farm, isn't on the road to anywhere, and

I have never been to Jalapa. I don't even know any Jalapeños, but I

People have been asking when the dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes and San Marzano tomatoes

Once upon a time in a land far, far, away Little Red Riding Hood

A little country schoolhouse in the woods adjacent to the site of one of

Fathers Day fell on June 20th this year and seemed to get more attention

We call them "Ladybugs" but they're beetles, not "bugs." Scientists call the Ladybug family

Planting a garden is a blatant act of optimism; even the tiniest seed takes

We planted the first stage of our little "milpa" this weekend. A milpa is

New potatoes are just that-new! And they're probably my favorite crop of the year. We're

The girl  was SO insanely sensitive, and yet her morbid fragility was somehow proof

As I cultivated my rows of young lime trees yesterday with my little tractor

Fidel is working out a grass roots level marketing program for his nascent farm.

I don't care what Marjorie Taylor Green or the other "researchers" from the Q-anon

The organic mantra is "feed the soil." Feed the soil, and the soil will

His supporters say it was a "heart condition" but opposition politicians claimed that the

When I was a kid here in California cauliflower was white. Nowadays consumers can

Askelon is a port city along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Today

We're still seeing rain and cold night temperatures, but spring planting is underway. The

"When life gives you lemons, make...." Yada, yada, yada, you know how the saying

"Do you bathe," she asked me. "Are you interested in personal hygiene?" I took

The time has come,' the Walrus said, To talk of many things: Of shoes

The humble kohlrabi and anoint it as the next "it" vegetable. Why not? Kale got the

I heard a mighty crash down in the forest below the packing shed but

Amigo Bob Cantisano was a true politician and I mean that in the best

Not all gifts arrive wearing a bow. One of the best gifts my father

Hi Everybody: For years now we've called the mixed produce boxes that we have been

Thanksgiving marks the end of the season for the farm in a way that

The Latin word, "radix," meaning "root," is the "root word,"  so to speak, for our

Concerning the Piennolo tomato, there's a noted Bay Area restaurateur who shall go unnamed because, despite

If you're not "at home" with ambiguity, surprises, and triage as a lifestyle, then

Starling is drying bales of Hoja Santa in the food dehydrator so our kitchen is

Covid creeps closer;  a worker on our landlord's farm fell ill and is in

Last winter, right before Covid erupted into our midst, I had the opportunity to

The potatoes in this week’s share box are “new” potatoes; that is, they have