Glashoff Farm Tour
On Sunday, October 17, 2010, CUESA organized a tour to Glashoff Farms (which grows berries, walnuts, persimmons, citrus, French prunes, and more) and to Shelly’s Garden, which raises hens for eggs as well as culinary herbs and tomatoes.
Maria Glashoff runs the farm with her husband, Larry Glashoff. Maria is also a part time dental hygienist. Their daughter Lizzy, pictured here, is one of three Glashoff children who have all worked on the farm over the years.
The Glashoffs are famous for their berries. They have several varieties, including boysenberries, blackberries and raspberries. In the summer they run a U-Pick operation in addition to selling their berries at the farmers market.
These are Triple Crown blackberry vines before they've been pruned for the winter.
...and these are berry vines after pruning. The Glashoffs train their workers, Ricardo and Domi, not to pick the fruit until it's practically falling off the vine.
These are the canes that have been pruned from the berry vines. They cut off the vines that produced this year; next year's berries will form on new shoots. These old vines will eventually be burned.
Lizzy stands by the berries under the shade cloth, which, along with the poles, was reclaimed from the nursery where Larry Glashoff works.
Insect pests are managed using organic methods. They use GF-120, which is a bacteria in a molasses formula. The molasses attracts the insects, and the bacteria renders the females sterile. The farm plans to start the process of becoming certified organic in the near future.
The Glashoffs raise beef cattle on irrigated pasture for meat for their own family's use. When we visited, we saw three newborn calves. These two had been born that morning. Photo by Barry Jan.
This brown calf was a day old.
Lizzy is returning to the farm after moving away, going to school, and working as an event planner. She is going to work on beautifying one area of the farm (near the cow pastures) to rent out for weddings and other special events. This will help diversify the farm's income.
Lizzy is a sixth generation farmer in the Suisun Valley, where the farm is located. Her father, Larry, is fifth generation and her mother is third.
As a child Lizzie participated in 4-H, raising rabbits, llamas, and chickens. In the 3rd to 5th grade she had her own egg business.
The Hachiya persimmons the Glashoffs bring to the market come from two old trees planted near their house. When she sells the fruit, Maria hands out copies of her mother's persimmon cookie recipe.
The persimmon crop is on the smaller side this year. When it's time for harvest, the leaves will fall off the tree first, leaving the fruits hanging like Christmas ornaments.
We visited the farm at the height of walnut harvest. This is the shaker, which grasps one limb of each tree at a time and shakes it until the walnuts rain down. The machine can also be used for almonds and prunes.
Tour participants gathered the fallen walnuts into buckets.
The Glashoffs' two full time workers, Ricardo and Juana, helped carry the buckets of walnuts to the shed that houses the huller. In the foreground are Concord grape vines the Glashoffs planted for the purpose of making jelly. In the background you can see the large wooden boxes into which the walnuts are collected.
This is Juana; she and Ricardo live in a house on the farm.
This hulling machine was built by hand by Larry Glashoff's father and uncle. It used to process all the nuts in the Suisun Valley. Ricardo is pouring the walnuts into the chute.
The nuts go into this tumbler, which removes the green outer hulls.
Ricardo sorts through the nuts and picks out the ones that didn't get hulled.
From there the nuts go up and into bins where they are dried at 105 degrees for 12-24 hours.
This propane heater blows heated air through the nut bins.
The hulled walnuts are stored in bins and then brought to a cracker in Woodland. Some of the nut meats go to a crusher, where they are roasted. Some of those roasted nuts are then made into oil.
When the green hulls are removed (and dumped on the orchard, where they'll decompose and go back into the soil), half of the total weight is lost. After the shell is removed, two thirds of the weight is gone. In other words, 3000 pounds of nuts yield only 1000 pounds of nut meat, which in turn yield only 50 gallons of oil. It's no wonder walnut oil is so expensive!
Maria makes jam and other value-added products as another source of income for the farm. They only make 24 jars in each batch and use less sugar than is contained in commercial jams.
The group stood in the middle of the road while Lizzy and Maria spoke to us. Not a single car came through the whole time we were at the farm.
The Suisun Valley used to be a pear growing region, but that's not economically viable anymore. Many of the old pear orchards have been replaced by wine grapes. The Valley's climate is similar to Napa Valley's. The County has been protective of the Valley's agricultural heritage and has worked to protect it and to keep farms viable.
In the background you can see the honor-system farm stand (see next slide).
The Glashoffs have an honor system-based farm stand where you can purchase products from the farm.
You just pick what you want and put your money in the box!
Thanks, Maria!
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CUESA (Center for Urban Education about Sustainable Agriculture) is dedicated to cultivating a sustainable food system through the operation of farmers markets and educational programs. Learn More »