2020 ~Maybe Not the biggest but....

Orchard del Sol and the 2020 harvest found us without Virginia, the matriarch. She is Ramon's wife, my friend and mentor. In the past 25 years she had never missed a pepper harvest. Stepping aside, she is letting her daughters and granddaughters fill her shoes. She was missed. Virginia Vargas, nos hico falta usted!

Thank you to all who participated and made our harvesting fun and enjoyable; Carmen, Carla, Jessica, Sofia, Briana, Sandy, Marni, and of course our ever faithful farm managers, Ramon and Eduardo. It was an interesting time.

The amount of kilos harvested was certainly less than normal but expected since we have been focusing on expanding our pepper plot in a different area of the farm.

VANILLA ~ My pet project. I harvested in November of 2019. Curing the beans takes more than 3 months. The results this season, just great!

The vanilla flowering of 2020, March to May, found me teaching Steven how to pollinate. The results may have been less than what he hoped for but his vine has a few impressive sized beans coming along.

What is new! Not too much. We have expanded the vanilla plantings. 2021 should prove interesting.