04/29/2026
Many of you have reached out with empathy, sympathy, and questions. 😪❤️😪❤️ Here is a brief summary, more to come later.
Not wanting to cry wolf, we checked and checked again. We have found no live fruits after the precipitous freeze that happened a week and a half ago. It appears that the 2026 Ela fruit crop is lost.
Like so many of our neighbors, we did everything we could to protect the trees and fruit. Applying strengthening minerals as the cold front approached, we were running around the orchards like crazy. When the cold hit, 11 propane-powered giant wind machine fans ran all night, each like the rotor of a helicopter. They mixed any rising warm air back down to ground level to raise the ambient orchard temperatures. But everything had been so warm, and then it got so cold for so many hours (it was below freezing by 8pm and dropped down to 21°F) that it was just too much. The trees are all okay but the fruit died.
There have been other spring freezes. They are always sad, but usually after a few days, or a week, we will find at least some fruit remaining. This year is different. We are not finding any.
Our presence at farmers markets is going to be limited - luckily we've got all those jams, dried fruits, applesauces, and cider from running a zero-food-waste farm. And we DO have RHUBARB - gotta love those tough and tasty plants! So if you are near or THIS WEEKEND we will be there with our limited inventory 🥰
More stories on our workers, our amazing farmers market community, the businesses who've got our backs, the incredible hearts of our CSA and customer community, crop insurance, and how we are building this year for a strong future, all to come.
Domino effects are still playing out. Our heirloom tomatoes are still seedlings in a greenhouse and we may be able to bring those to some markets.
If there is something you'd like to know more about, please post in the comments below.
