Hello all, There is a lot going on at Macala Orchards. First and foremost is the birth of our 5th grandchild Luca Uju Macaluso!
Meanwhile back at the ranch ...
Our Pomegranate Crop is progressing very nicely. We are already harvesting a few of the early ripening Pomegranates and refrigerating until we have enough to set up our first juicing. Looks like a good healthy crop this year.
The Guava Orchard is a very happy place with a great number of Guava fruit formed and growing on almost all of our trees. See a couple of pictures below.
We have been attaching shiny silver ribbon to our Pomegranate and Guava and Fig trees in order to keep birds off of them and from tasting the good fruit. Also ordered some netting to put over the Guava for bird protection but also other 4 legged critters that might want to try some of them as they are maturing.
We are picking figs lately and they are very good. Getting ready to plant more Fig Trees over the next few months.
We are harvesting oregeno, chives, Italian large leaf basil, thyme, tomatoes of several varieties including San Marzano and Roma, Eggplant (Nonna Genine made the best Eggplant Parmesan ever) and even our first peppers.
If you would like some dried Oregeno fresh let Genine or Nina know.
We have been growing from seeds Meringa Trees (thank you Jamie Kuhn) and we are getting ready to plan a few of them now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moringa_oleifera we have several starters available that we do not have the capacity to plant right now, so let us know if you would like one.
We hope to take delivery of our new Olive Press in September or October, so let us know if you have an Olive Tree with Olives on it this year and would like to participate in our first Community Press out at our ranch. This would involve harvesting your olives and bringing them to us at our Ranch near Diamond Valley Lake south of Hemet. We will mix with all other Olives and everybody will leave with some fresh pressed Olive Oil = Olio Nuevo.
Nonna Genine is busy today in her 'test kitchen' experimenting with Fig Walnut Jam made with our Figs and Walnut Butter. We are hoping to have enough that there will be a limited supply available for sale? Let us know if you would like to purchase any.
We are sold out of all other products, EXCEPT FOR POMEGRANATE JELLY. Go online to order or visit one of our retail vendors listed on the website. We are currently donating $1 from every jar sold to THE CITY OF HOPE! The City of Hope holds a special place in our heart as many of our family and friends have been treated there and we are grateful for the good work they do with cancer patients.
Lastly a tribute to Genine's Father Andy Oddi or Pappa D. Here is a picture of Pappa D's firepit out at the Olive Ranch which was literally the first development there when he and I and Gino would camp out there in the late 80's.
