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Business & Tech

Tomatoes Cap Year at Mill Valley Market Farm

The third in a series looking at small, organic farming with Wes and Doug Canepa of Mill Valley Market Farm.

The end of summer is a heady time on any farm, a time of harvest and celebration in the bounty of colorful fruits and vegetables the season brings.

At the of ’s Canepa family, September is the culmination of a year’s worth of work. On a small, organic farm like theirs, successes vary yearly and often are tempered by the whims of Mother Nature.

Any farmer experiences ups and downs, bumper crops and shortfalls and this summer was no exception for Wes and Doug Canepa. A rainy, cool spring extended into summer with few hot days. That was great news for the 3,000 lettuce starts planted earlier this spring; the crop was abundant and the last heads were harvested in August. Basil starts also largely flourished and even now show no sign of stopping. 

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But the cool weather was no friend to the Tuscan melons. No larger than a Texas grapefruit, these fragrant beauties came and went in the blink of a milkmaid’s eye - despite gentle care and yards of nitrogen-rich compost, a mere week’s worth were harvested and in-store this year.

Cool weather is anathema to the hardiest of tomato stocks, even the Bay Area’s own Fog Lifter varietal. In Glen Ellen, where the warmest August days can turn into chilly nights, tomatoes take their time to achieve optimum flavor and size. Planted in May, the 1,200 heirloom tomato starts that thrive in Glen Ellen’s micro-climate, mostly Aunt Ginny Purple and Cherokee, were expected in store by late July. With one little heatwave in July and lower than average temperatures throughout August, the harvest was delayed by almost a month. The last week of August saw the first box of approximately 60 pounds but Wes expects that to swell to 1,000 pounds per week as we get into October.

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The wet weather means that we won't see cucumbers this year. The crop fell victim to powdery mildew. A similar mildew got the table grapes.

The apple trees planted by Wes’s granddad Jim thrived this year and Wes expects some Sonoma beauties, mostly Gravenstein and Pippin varietals, to be in store before the end of the month. The heritage plum tree, too, basked in the not-so-hot weather but the solo tree is not likely to provide enough fruit for the store’s needs.

Don’t expect Mill Valley Market’s private label olive oil this year, either. Olive trees bear fruit bi-annually and are taking this year off. Once the tomatoes are in, it is time to prepare for the always busy holiday season at the store and prep the farm's soil once again for winter’s cover crops.

Over the past year, this series of articles about the provided a window into the vagaries of small-scale, family-run organic agriculture. We traversed the farm’s heritage and took in its seasonal stories - from , winter’s soil management and greenhouse building and onto and finally September’s tomatoes.  

I've enjoyed getting to know the Canepa family and savored the taste of Glen Ellen terroir in everything from olive oil and basil to spring garlic and golden raspberries. I hope you have enjoyed this sensory experience, too, by stopping in the store and asking “what’s local?”

The Canepas are sure to send you home, laden with homegrown produce.

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