HI everyone!
Gosh how nice was the sun this weekend! We had so much fun! We went to our pool numerous times, played outside and the KIDS CRASHED HARD— hooray! Yesterday, we went out to Rainbow Ranch in Ojai to pick up our pixies for this week’s box. And let me tell you something funny.. we’ve never put pixies in a farm box before so hey welcome to the party pixies.
But to be real, we’ve never put them in boxes because we have never known a farmer that grows them organically but hey hey now we do. Everyone, this is Shiva of Rainbow Ranch in Ojai and he’s an organic pixie farmer! Shiva has owned his pixie ranch in Ojai for the past seven years. He has a five acre ranch on a beautiful south facing slope and it’s GORGEOUS. Yesterday he gave me a tour of the property and it was pure magic. His main crops are pixies and avocados but he is exploring small row crops like turmeric! Shiva’s soil health is one of his top priorities and he has an intense mulching system set in place. You can see the awesomely rich soil that is suppressed below the mulch. His mulching practice is hard work but he says it’s worth it after the leaves, wood chips and other ingredients compress the ground and prevents weeds from growing. And when you have your own five acre ranch, a natural organic weed prevention helps a ton! Shiva says that with last year’s heat wave, his avocado trees got fried. Right now, his trees should be in full production but there aren’t actually any avos on the trees. Fortunately Shiva is super optimistic and thinks things are looking good after the rains.
Shiva is currently only selling to a few bigger wholesale distributors and is super stoked to see his fruit end up in the hands of locals. Since he’s only halfway thru the season, we’re excited to keep putting his cute little pixies in our boxes! So for all of you small essential boxers out there, there will be more!!
Hey friends,
In last week’s email, we shared about dreaming of sending our farm boxes to LA and SD counties. Unfortunately we do not have the upfront cost for the packaging. Fedex is giving away business grants right now and we need your help! The first round of the competition is purely based off votes. So if you could watch this video and then click on the the link below and fill in the info! You’re allowed to vote once every 24 hours. And every single vote helps!