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Independently owned, organic grocery store. Our Annex serves prepared foods and offers a selection of wine and beer. Our florists are here to help you with fresh local cuts and dried bouquets.

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10367 San Pablo Ave.
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Home / Archives for Fruit

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring…

January 20, 2017 by WineAndBeer

Rain pounded and the wind howled at our house last night. The majority of Northern California experienced similar storms. 
Many of our farmers in the Sacramento, Yolo and Solano counties got more than ten inches of rain between New Year’s day and last Friday.  That’s more rain than they got the entire winter of 2014-2015.
Just about everything a farmer does is harder during wet, cold winters. Imagine their work for a moment. I certainly don’t choose to garden during a storm. But a farmer has to be outside tending the land despite wild weather.  Harvesting vegetables during storms means walking in the slippery mud while being hammered by the elements.  And they can’t pick citrus at all when it’s raining:  climbing wet ladders with muddy boots is too dangerous.
Big storms and freezing temperatures almost always damage some crops. Each of our farmers does what they can to harvest as much as possible during the dry spells. While they try to maintain quantity, this type of weather has an effect on produce prices. It’s the result of lower yield and lots of product loss for the farmer.
All this writing about the downsides of rain is not intended as a complaint. These are just the realities people growing our food manage daily during the winter.
January is the month we need lots of rain.  Generally speaking vegetables don’t thrive the first month of the year. There is not enough sunlight in the short days.  So, this is the way mother nature intended. Moisten the ground now to prepare for later.
After last week’s rains, the Drought Monitoring Center declared the “extreme drought” officially over for most of Northern California, including Sacramento, the Bay Area and Yolo and Solano counties where many of our farmers grow their crops. Click here for more information about the current state of the California drought.
Next time you are in shopping for fruit or vegetables, take a minute to think about the weather conditions of the farmer who harvested that kale or saved that orange from a storm.
See you soon!
-Sarah

Filed Under: Blog, Know Your Farmer, Organic farming, Produce Notes, Sustainability Tagged With: Agriculture, California, Citrus, Drought, Fruit, Kale, Northern California, Oranges, Organic Farming, Produce, Rain, Storms, Vegetables, Wet Weather

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OPEN EVERY DAY
El Cerrito: 8:30am to 8:30pm, seven days a week
Berkeley: 8:30am to 8:30pm, seven days a week
Annex : 7:30am to 8:30pm
Wine opens at 9am
EL CERRITO STORE
10367 San Pablo Ave.
(510) 526-1155
Seven days a week 8:30am-8:30pm
EL CERRITO ANNEX
10367 San Pablo Ave.
(510) 526-5150
Every Day 7:30am-8:30pm
Wine: 9am-8:30pm
BERKELEY STORE
1336 Gilman St.
(510) 526-2456
Seven days a week 8:30am-8:30pm

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