Hello, good morning!
How are you all getting back into your routines?
I can tell you that getting back to shipping has been quite a revolution for the team, and for me too.
But still, personally, I'm happy π.
We're back after the summer and, although we have a lot of work, there's nothing better than sharing with my fellow farmers again.
That always fills me with energy to continue with this project: knowing that many of us are on this agricultural path.
Well, as I always tell you, in the countryside there are few opportunities for us to rest. Right now we are fighting another insect that gives us a lot of headaches.
Believe me, if I told you about all the bugs we have to fight, the newsletter wouldn't be long enough π
That's why today we're going to focus on a fly. But not the whitefly, I already told you about that a few weeks ago. It's the one that produces "sooty mold" on the skin of oranges, remember it?
Well, this other little fly I'm going to tell you about is different and causes another type of damage.
But enough with the mystery: today I'm going to tell you about the Mediterranean fruit fly.
This other little fly, the Mediterranean fruit fly, damages the fruit, but not the tree. You must be wondering why it goes straight for the fruit but not the tree π€. It's most curious...
It's because the fly loves sugar. That's right, their little wings aren't enough to reach the fruits that have a lot of sugar.
And imagine, with the sweet oranges and persimmons we grow around here, they go crazy!
So when the fruit has the sugar level it likes, it bites into the fruit and spoils it.
It really wreaks havoc... Just look at what it did to this persimmon π
Imagine you spend all year tending the tree so it produces good fruit and one day you wake up and see that this has happened to the persimmon. But hey, what can I say... working with nature is like that.
One more fact about the Mediterranean fruit fly: to this day, no way has been found to eradicate it. Of course, we can fight it, and that's what we do.
We fight them every year organically. For this, special fly traps are used, which are placed on the trees π³.
That's one of the jobs we've been doing in the fields.
Here, Antonio, who also has persimmon fields, is placing these fly traps I'm telling you about. This is what the trap looks like, look:
This work we are doing now is comparable, for example, to pruning... Or what I told you last week about weeding, it's a job we do every year because the little fly always arrives.
It appears without an invitation as soon as the temperature becomes pleasant and warm. Especially at night. Luckily, when it's cold, it disappears and no longer acts π.
The problem starts in spring, because not only do they arrive, but they also attack late varieties of oranges, for example, which we pick around May. Or they also wreak havoc on mandarins harvested in April.
As I told you, if the fruits already have the sugar level they like, they don't hesitate to arrive, bite, and ruin the fruit.
And not only in spring, but also in autumnπ.
Just before the cold weather sets in, they attack, for example, early mandarins. And also persimmons, which, as you know, we have in our community.
That's why Antonio, I, and other fellow farmers are currently working on placing traps.
Look, this marvel here is a field of persimmon trees, tell me if it doesn't make you want to take care of those little trees:
As I told you, luckily, we have an organic method to combat them π but... that's a topic for the next newsletter.
The field is calling me back to work!
We are still receiving orders and also harvesting. You know there's always hard work to do around here πͺπ½.
Remember to visit our website. It is now enabled for you to customize your box with this season's products.
I recommend you try the Osteen Mango, it's incredible π₯π.
Until next week,
A big hug!
