https://www.cloverfieldfarm.us/post/what-s-up-ready-for-u-picking-in-april

 

https://www.cloverfieldfarm.us/post/what-s-ready-for-farm-u-picking-in-march

Green Team 94803 Monthly Cleanup Day

Green Team 94803 invites you to our next Monthly Third Saturday Cleanup on February 17, rain or shine and also to our annual Earth Day Cleanup on April 20. Both events at El Sobrante Public Library. We bring the gear, all you have to do is be here. Our events are always fun and free! More information to come at KeepElSobranteBeautiful.info, and be sure to read our article on the Chamber website at: elsobrantechamber.com/category/blog/newsletter-articles/

Green Team 94803: Huge Illegal Dump Removed

With the discovery of a massive illegal dump at San Pablo reservoir in November, Green Team 94803 sprang into action with an email, aerial photos (by David Fuchs) and a NextDoor campaign. Supervisor Gioia had EBMUD cleaning it up in under a week and adding barricades.

We’re making progress keeping our town clean, as more businesses “pitch in” to help. For example, Toco Teahouse now has a public trashcan outside its front door. We’re working with Dorcas Moulton to restore and maintain the Chamber’s large planter pots downtown along SPDR, and have a busy group working together on these and other beautification projects.

Won’t you commit to helping make El Sobrante cleaner in 2024?  Again, you’re invited to join us at The El Sobrante Public Library on February 17, 10am, for our next Third Saturday Cleanup. See KeepElSobranteBeautiful.info, El Sobrante Neighborhood Cleanup on NextDoor nextdoor.com/g/97ipbmppl/ or email info@KeepElSobranteBeautiful.info. Together we are making a difference!

Organic Cuttings & Scions at Cloverfield Feb. 2024

Every winter the deciduous fruiting shrubs and trees at Cloverfield Organic Farm drop their leaves and go into dormancy. This dormancy is when we do our winter pruning and harvesting of cuttings and scions. The cuttings and scions are used for propagating new plants of desired fruiting woody shrubs and trees.

Starting or adding to your own home orchard or vineyard is most affordable when you propagate your own trees and shrubs from cuttings or scions. We have a diverse selection and they are very affordable. We have six varieties of grapes, 3 varieties of elderberries, at least four varieties of pomegranate, 3 varieties of figs, and many fruit trees and other fruiting shrubs.

We can help you cut the scions or cuttings off of the trees and shrubs we haven’t pruned yet. Others will be available in marked pots with loose soil mix and you just pick the cuttings you want to purchase and grow.

Each scion or cutting is between 6 to 12 inches in length and has at least two strong nodes with healthy buds. The bottom node with buds is for sending out roots, and the top node with buds is for growing the vegetative shoot (leaves and new growth). The scions will also have at least two nodes with healthy buds and are suitable for grafting or rooting.

Cuttings and scions are best potted up or grafted as soon as possible, but they can be kept refrigerated for a few weeks in a plastic bag with a moist towel wrapped around them. Dormant cuttings can be rooted directly into a loose soil mix. We use (and we also sell) our loose Cloverfield Soil Mix containing a mix of organic OMRI compost, composted wood chips, vermiculite, and a bit of our “Magic Mix” fertilizer.  The loose soil mix should be completely moistened with water before using, as dry compost can be hard to hydrate in a pot. The base of each cutting should be trimmed close to the bottom node of the cutting’s stem.

To root the cuttings, push each cutting deep into your loose soil mix to where only one or two nodes with buds are above the surface.. Most woody cuttings root easily on their own, but can benefit if treated with a rooting hormone. We sometimes dip the bottom cut surface of each cutting in kelp meal. A commercial rooting hormone can also work, but these synthetic hormones are not approved for organic growing. Since most cuttings will grow out leaves before they grow roots, they should be kept in an environment where the new top growth will remain humid enough to not dry out until the roots emerge. A greenhouse with shade cloth is excellent for many plants, though an outside space with either shade cloth or part shade from deciduous trees can work fine for hardier plants. When weather gets warmer and dry be sure to water the top growth regularly and keep the loose soil mix hydrated.  When it is cold in early spring, only water by hand when necessary as cuttings can rot if kept overly wet. Once they have sprouted roots they can be fertilized with a diluted fertilizer, which spurs good growth. Pot up the rooted cuttings into larger containers filled with quality potting soil, once they have a solid well established root system. In a few weeks after that, they will be hardy enough to be planted in their permanent spot in your garden.

Cuttings can also be purchased online and we will ship them to you or hold them for pickup:

https://www.cloverfieldfarm.us/product-page/organic-grape-cutting-wood

https://www.cloverfieldfarm.us/shop
Cloverfield Organic Farm is located at 501 La Paloma Rd., El Sobrante, CA. Our open hours for u-picking and touring the farm are Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, from 11-4 until the time changes in March; then the hours shift to from noon to five.

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Cloverfield Organic Farm U-Pick December 2023

We are so fortunate to have a growing season that extends year-round. Even in December the garden beds are bursting with green growth and abundant harvests. We welcome you to come u-pick every Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, during our open u-pick hours of 11-4.

Things that we expect to have available for u-picking in December include komatsuna (Japanese spinach), radishes, beets, limes, arugula, kale, collards, Swiss chard, mustard, horseradish roots, marshmallow roots, lettuce, pea tendrils, bay leaves, parsley, and beautiful bouquets of edible mixed flowers.

In the farm shed we have several dried herbs, such as St. John’s wort, epazote, rosemary, lemon balm, strawberry mint, catnip, apple mint, and more. We should have some packages of quinoa and amaranth grain too. Our jars of our raw unfiltered Cloverfield honey and bottles of organic extra-virgin Black Point olive oil make wonderful holiday gifts.

If the soil is not too wet, December can be a good time for planting. We have a selection of potted organic edibles for sale in our nursery – Asian orange daylilies, aloe vera, elderberries, Burbank spineless cactus, several different varieties of grapes, fig trees, pomegranates, gazania, strawberries, perennial herbs, and more.

No reservation is needed to come u-pick during our regular u-pick hours. For reserved tours and events, we have alternate times on our website that you can reserve at least four days in advance. Another reserved service that we offer is a guided horse interaction with Magic Ben, hosted by Karen Rose Mathews. We have free parking at 501 La Paloma Rd. Cash, Venmo, credit/debit cards, PayPal, and EBT are all accepted.  We hope you can come enjoy the seasonal abundance and beauty at our farm!

Red chard

Green Team 94803 Takes on Downtown Planters.

We are working with Dorcas Moulton and the Chamber to beautify downtown ES and revive the SPDR planters. After a review, we found that several businesses take beautiful care of their plants, while others are left untended. The Chamber provides pots and soil, and we have the plants. The problem is water. Not all businesses have spigots we can access. Each pot takes several gallons times 30 pots equals a lot of running back and forth with heavy buckets.  If your downtown business can help with water access, or adopting a few planters to water, please call or text Chris at 510-685-8163. More info on our website, KeepElSobranteBeautiful.info, or the Chamber’s blog page.

Green Team 94803 works in coalition with other groups and collaborates with our County Supervisor, agencies and interested community members. The El Sobrante library hosts our Third Saturday Cleanup at 10am each month and SOS Richmond liaisons with our unhoused neighbors. Our website, KeepElSobranteBeautiful.info, is updated regularly with a calendar of upcoming events, information about how to dispose of old items (often for free), and other useful information and organizing tools.

Our NextDoor social media posts keep reminding the community about those resources and our cleanup activities. That is how we organized the campaign to get the gigantic illegal dump near the San Pablo reservoir cleaned up. Thanks to Supervisor Gioia and Richmond Council Member Bana for making sure this was handled quickly. Now we hope to help track down the culprits and would love to see them prosecuted and fined to cover the costs of their illegal dumping crimes.

We are a regular presence at the ES MAC meetings and work closely with the ES MAC Cleanup and Beautification Subcommittee to advance our goals. Since we are a private group of volunteers, we can be faster and more flexible in handling issues that arise. One reason for that is our very active WhatsApp network, with a Green Team 94803 community and a number of task-oriented threads, like El Sobrante Heroes Adopt-A-Road, downtown planters and special events like Earth Day and Coastal Cleanup Day.

In short, we have a lot going on and are always seeking help and advice from volunteers, local businesses and community partners.

Most importantly at the moment, our effort is to restore the downtown planters and to get businesses to provide public trash cans and ash trays. The big trash cans have all been removed from SP Dam Rd. due to vandalism and damage. While we figure that problem out, we are asking for businesses to put a small trash can and a bucket with sand at their door so that patrons and passers-by can dispose of trash and cigarette butts without littering. No single business wants to spring for big trash cans or to cover the cost of disposal, but if multiple businesses put out a small can they can dispose of with their regular trash, that would be a big help.

El Sobrante is a small town wrapped-up in beautiful environs. The more our local businesses engage with Green Team 94803, the more effective we can be in keeping El Sobrante clean and beautiful.

The Mortgage Minute

New Developments in the Mortgage World of US Financial Mortgage Lending

1. FHA now allows us to count some of the income from ADUs-75% of rent cannot be over 30% of overall income. Previously only Freddie Mac allowed it.
2. Fannie Mae will now go to 95% loan to value on owner occupied 2-4 units. It was 85% on a duplex and 75% on 3-4 units.
3. Below market financing for owner occupied properties in majority minority census tracts-rates ½ to ¾% below market.
4. Freddie Mac is now allowing formerly self-employed people in the same field to be able to use fluctuating income from a job with under 12 months employment provided income is consistent with previous self-employment income.
5. FNMA is now updating its policy to allow one year of personal and business tax returns, when all self-employed businesses have been in existence for five years and the borrower has a 25% or greater ownership interest for the last five consecutive years. DU will be updated and apply this guideline on all DU loan casefiles created on or after January 1, 2024. Currently FNMA requires two years of personal and business tax returns unless the DU AUS has the finding for just one year of taxes. FNMA is now updating this policy to allow one year of personal and business tax returns, when all self-employed businesses have been in existence for five years and the borrower has a 25% or greater ownership interest for the last five consecutive years. DU will be updated and apply this guideline on all DU loan casefiles created on or after January 1, 2024.
6. On manufactured housing currently the guideline requires both the HUD Data Plate and the HUD Certification Label to be provided with photos on the appraisal. Effective immediately and mandatory effective January 1, 2024, based on application date, only one of the two will be required. This change does NOT apply to newly constructed manufactured homes, these items must be present on all new units.
7. Soft pull credit pre-qualification must be done through our secure portal. This enables people to see what they qualify for without impacting their credit score.
8. Update on CalHFA California Dream for All Program: Lottery system 90 days to get into contract. Must be first generation homebuyer earning under 120% of AMI. Coming early spring 2024.
9. We can use excess seller contributions to lower cost of mortgage insurance on conventional loans.
10. ]Fannie Mae will no longer count rental income other than to offset the monthly payment (no counting positive cash flow) unless the borrower has at least one year of experience managing rental property.

For more information please call 510-758-3035 or email ndonn@gemcorp.com