 The moon was shining behind the clouds before daybreak, creating this stunning westward view from our farm. The warm, dry weather of the past few days is about to change as a storm system in the Pacific Ocean moves in. This photo depicts the calm before the storm.
 A turkey vulture, perched on a pole overlooking Rominger Brothers Farms, spreads its wings to warm up in the sunlight. Birds "sunbathe" to perform several important functions, such as drying their feathers after getting wet, regulating body temperature and killing parasites. It's not hard to see why these scavenger birds look spooky.
Our rice harvest is well underway in the Sacramento Valley. We produce medium-grain rice, which is also known as sushi rice. Before harvesting, the rice fields are drained of water. Then the combine harvester cuts the mature rice and transfers it to the bankout wagon in the field. Next, the bankout wagon transfers the rice into trailers, which haul the grain to Farmers' Rice Cooperative in Sacramento. Blue skies and sunshine are a welcome sight during the harvest. So far, our grain yields and quality look promising.
Graduate students from the Culinary Institute of America visited Rominger Brothers Farms for a farm tour, which included presentations by representatives of Winters-based Berryessa Gap Winery and Woodland-based Yolo Land & Cattle Company. At left, farmer Bruce Rominger leads a discussion about the farm-to-fork movement. At right, Mark Linder, agriculture liaison at the institute's campus in St. Helena, engages students in the conversation.
The almond harvest is underway at Rominger Brothers Farms’ orchards. Almond harvesting is a multiple-stage process. The nuts are shaken from the trees with tree shakers, then swept up into windrows with specialized sweepers. Next, a mechanical harvester machine pulled by a tractor collects the nuts from the windrows. Then the nuts are transferred into trailers and hauled to a processing facility. Our almonds are destined for processing at Capay Canyon Ranch in Yolo County.
Rachel Rominger, member of the Winters FFA, left, shows her lamb at the recent Yolo County Fair in Woodland, California. The annual fair includes the livestock show, at which the various farm animals are judged for their confirmation, while the FFA and 4-H members compete for showmanship awards. The event concluded with the livestock auction, right, where people bid on lambs, pigs, goats, cattle, rabbits, poultry and more. Rachel's lamb was purchased by the Woodland-based TS&L Seed Company. Rominger Brothers Farms was proud to participate in the auction, purchasing a goat and a lamb from Winters FFA members.
Rominger Brothers Farms hosted a farm tour for representatives of Pacific Coast Producers, the Woodland, California-based tomato cannery, and its client, Amy's Kitchen, an organic food company based in Petaluma. In the photo at left, Amy's Kitchen representatives listen to farmer Bruce Rominger, second from right, as he explains the details of the organic-tomato harvest. At right, tour participants also included PCP officials Andy Russick, left, and Rudy Lucero.
Tomato harvest is a 24/7 job at Rominger Brothers Farms. In this video by Cat Rominger, the night crew operates the harvester while trailers are filled with red-ripe tomatoes during a spectacular sunset.
We started harvesting our processing tomatoes here in California's sunny Sacramento Valley. These tomatoes go straight to the cannery and are processed within a few short hours of being mechanically harvested. Rominger Brothers Farms is proud to grow All-American tomatoes that will be enjoyed by people around the world.
Sunflowers are at peak bloom and they don't get any prettier! The honeybees are buzzing around the field, pollinating the flowers. This crop is destined for sunflower oil production.
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