Chetwyn Farm's June Newsletter

Published: Thu, 06/18/26

Updated: Fri, 06/19/26

June News from Chetwyn

If I had written this newsletter on time, I would have been telling you about how cozy the house is with a fire going and the rain outside. But since I am writing it now, I can tell you how nice and cool the house is and that I am enjoying an iced coffee. There has been such a strange mix of weather since the beginning of the year and many of our crops aren’t sure what season it is. Our asparagus came up very early and went straight to fern stage. We cut it back to the ground and were happy when the plants came back with some spears, but not the harvest we had in years past. Our apple trees had a hard time knowing when to bloom, as a result we have some fruit the size of tennis balls, some the size of ping pong balls and some like marbles. There were even still some trees with bloom yesterday.

Baby Avocados!

Luckily the avocado trees don't seem to care about swings in the weather. They love the rain and sun and are happily soaking them both up. We finished our Bacon and Fuerte varieties a couple of weeks ago and will be bringing Carmen Hass and Hass to the market this month and into July. And that warm March weather must have been perfect for the bees to pollinate because we have trees covered with baby avocados for next year. Covered! Some will drop, but what a load these trees have started their year with.

We have 12 main varieties that we grow, but we also like to try other varieties just to see how they do. If they don’t make fruit or their fruit isn’t great, we know not to plant more and even will cut the tree down to make space for another tree to test. In spite of the fact that for years the variety “Sir Prize” gives us a very small amount fruit, we have kept it because the fruit is large (with a small pit) and so delicious! Well this spring it is covered with baby fruit. It is truly a surprise from our Sir Prize. If these little ones stay on the tree you will get to try one next spring.

We Love Our Chickens

Many of the animals on our farm have a job to do. The chickens not only give us wonderful eggs, but they are great at weed control. We have several gardens on the farm including one we call “the lower garden.” It is more like a small covered orchard. There are 5 cherry trees, 4 apricots, some apple trees, raspberries, blue berries….and LOTS of weeds. Anna has been trying to get ahead of the weeds, but they were starting to win the battle. We decided to get a new flock of chickens and have them live down in the lower garden to help with the weed control. As chicks they lived indoors, and then just a few weeks ago we moved them down to the lower garden. They are such a pretty flock and we are all excited for them start eating and scratching up the weeds. Between the dappled sunlight and the variety of colors, you need to looks closely at the photo to see our new girls.

Can you count how many we have?

Iced Ginger Lemon Turmeric Tea

In this warm weather, we tend to work outside and then do inside chores as it gets hotter outside. Having a cold drink wonderfully refreshing after toiling outside in the heat. So as the warm weather arrives, enjoy a chilled glass of this rejuvenating and healthy drink.

Ingredients

7 cups of water

4 lemons juiced

3 Tbs minced ginger

½ Tbs turmeric

Pinch of black pepper

5-6 Tbs honey (or to preference)

20 mint leaves

4-5 herbal tea bags

Directions

In a small container add honey and an equal amount of water. Shake until combined and set aside
In a large pitcher, add minced ginger, lemon juice, turmeric and pepper. Stir. Then add honey syrup, mint leaves and water. Stir to combine.
Add 4-5 sachets of your favorite herbal tea. Place in fridge to chill.
When your serve it, add a sprig of mint and/or a slice of lemon. Enjoy!

Have a wonderful rest of the month and stay awesome.

Cheers,

Dave and Anna

Chetwyn Farm

26048 Fairview Ave
Hayward CA 94542
US

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