Successful first year at new Worsley Farms location in Point Reyes

Marin Organic farmer Peter Worsley reports that, after a slow start for the 2006 growing season, his rowcrop, raspberry, and espaliered apple operation out-produced expectations in its first year at his new location one mile north of Point Reyes Station.

        “It was a cold, wet spring,” he remarked, “and I guess it just took a while for the soil to dry out and warm up. Things just sat there, and then everything started growing around July 15.”

        Peter is a precision farmer and a meticulous craftsman of the earth. At his new farming location he has worked with the soil, adding calcium, raising ph, and improving aeration and drainage by incorporating cover crops.

       Peter has put in Gala, Fuji, and Cameo apples in beautifully espaliered rows that climb up a slight grade, giving visual form to the heirloom trees. The apples should  begin producing next year. Three varieties of raspberry had their first crop this fall, and continued to bear into November, offering tasty baskets at the Point Reyes Farmers’ Market, even on November 6!  Vegetables, including melons, corn, and especially dry-farmed heirloom tomatoes all did well. Peter also leases two acres of very fertile sandy loam just west of Tomales, where he grows potatoes, garlic, winter squash, and dry beans.