I rode my bike to the Santa Cruz Farmers Market in downtown Santa Cruz today. It was a surprise to see Nick Prevedelli of Prevedelli Farms in Watsonville running a stand there with one of his workers. They had about 14 kinds of apples and three kinds of pears—all organic—along with their homemade jellies, jams and such. Nick said the big heat waves in August ruined about 30% of their crop this year.
Several other Watsonville-based tables are also featured there, including Happy Boy Farms. Organizers have taken very serious steps to meet safety issues around the coronavirus at the market. Chalk lines are spelled out on the pavement to help people line up at 6-feet apart. Yellow tape helps people safely navigate shopping at each stand, with only three customers allowed inside the tape at a time. Masks, of course, are required at the outdoor event.
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The massive Glass Fire in Sonoma and Napa counties, which has burned 67,484 acres, is now 97% contained. That was one of the main culprits that sent us a lot of smoke several weeks ago. Officials expect to have full containment by Tuesday. The August Complex Fire in Mendocino National Forest is 76% contained. It has already burned a whopping 1,608 square miles or more than 1 million acres, making it California’s largest wildland fire on record. Also, the Zogg Fire in Shasta County is 100% contained. It burned 88 square miles.
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PG&E is running a series of power shutoffs around the Bay Area and in Santa Cruz County due to a red flag heat warning. The warning, mostly applying to the higher elevations, like 1,000 and greater, started up today and will hold over until 11am Friday. Around 6,024 PG&E customers in Santa Cruz County will have their power cut off. Overall 22,000 customers will lose power.
