A fashion edict of the 20th century was “only wear white between Easter and Labor Day.” Wearing white flapper dresses, knickerbockers, and shoes in summer has its practical purposes, and eating white fruit in summer has delicious ones. Have you noticed peaches and nectarines with white flesh this season? They have wonderfully cooling names like Arctic […]
The French called the tomato the pomme d’amour, or the Love Apple, for their belief that the exotic tomato had aphrodisiac powers. Tomatoes might not be responsible for romance in people, but eating tomatoes does seem to spark a lust for more tomatoes. Tomatoes are a member of the nightshade or Solanaceae family, which includes […]
At the Still Life Modeling Agency, the pomegranate gets callbacks all the time. You can see why—it’s such an intriguing fruit. Its beautiful maroon color, its little calyx crown, and it is burgundy skin, which looks like a worn leather suitcase packed full of mysteries, perhaps even love letters. When opened, it reveals a hive […]
Around the small Northern California town of Sebastopol, you see bumper stickers of all kinds. From the political to the apolitical to cosmic questions such as “What if the hokeypokey is what it’s all about?” But most popular among the tailgate calls to action is “Save the Gravenstein.” Townsfolk here have collaborated over the years […]
The avocado originated in south-central Mexico about 10,000 years ago. It was several millennia before wild avocado trees were cultivated and many more before the Hass avocado—the most common variety in the US today—was born in a California backyard during the early 1930s. Are Avocados Good for You? You might think that something as […]
To satisfy the sharp desire I had Of tasting those fair apples, I resolved Not to defer; hunger and thirst at once / Powerful persuaders, quicken’d at the scent Of that alluring fruit, urged me so keen. —John Milton, Paradise Lost Like most things of value in this world, apples seem simple on the surface: […]
In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. —William Blake Winter is finally here in drought-stricken California, and we’ve gotten a break from all that balmy, summerlike weather we’ve been experiencing. Hello, rain! Hello, frost! Hello, fog! Although we welcome all precipitation, most farms probably won’t be seeing any of the white stuff. […]
“Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you’re a thousand miles from a cornfield.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower Dick Blair and Betty Hui are second-career farmers. Blair spent 35 years as a Bay Area litigation attorney, and Hui is Key Account Manager at The FruitGuys in South San Francisco. When they purchased […]
Today’s strawberry, Fragaria ananassa, with its large, practically perfect berries is the culmination of selective breeding going back centuries to when strawberries were tiny, rare, and found only at the peak of summer. Strawberries are mentioned in works by Virgil and Ovid, yet they made no appearance in ancient Roman cookbooks. By the 14th century, […]
Farmer Allen Freeman with granddaughter Emery at the Orange Patch, Mesa, AZ. Phoenix and Mesa, Arizona locals may know the Salt River for tubing fun, but it also has a serious job of watering the luscious navel orange, grapefruit, and tangerine trees of Lehi Valley. One of the benefits of the Salt River is the […]
Olson Family Farms in California’s Central Valley is truly a family affair. Five generations have lived on the farmstead and worked the land since John and Anna Olson emigrated from Sweden in 1888. They bought a 22-acre parcel in Kingsburg (Fresno County) and planted peach trees. Back then, before trucking and refrigeration, peaches were hand-sliced […]
In Hamlet, Shakespeare’s Ophelia dispenses some crazy wisdom in the scene when she hands out flowers and herbs: “There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.” Miss O might’ve been referring to one of rosemary’s properties, known since ancient times—its ability to improve memory. Sprigs of rosemary were used as a symbol of remembrance and fidelity at weddings […]
New Family Farm of Sebastopol, California, was one of six farms awarded grants in April 2013 from The FruitGuys Community Fund, a fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives. An outgrowth of the company’s Farm Steward Program, the Community Fund gives resources to small farms for sustainable agriculture projects that contribute to environmental and economic health. […]
Notes From a Freshman Beekeeper Who is a bee’s favorite singer? Sting. Favorite band? The Bee Gees. Why do bees hum? Because they don’t know the words—OK, OK, enough of the second-grade jokes. It’s just that the bee situation could use a little levity: It appears that this winter may have been the hardest yet […]
Farming with Heart By Heidi Lewis The main ingredient in good vegetables, says farmer Jim Durst, is soil: “Feed the soil, and the soil will feed the plants.” Jim and his wife, Deborah, have been farming their land at the mouth of the Capay Valley in Yolo County, CA, since the 1980s. Jim caught on […]
The Season of the Navel Orange, Grapefruit, and Mandarin By Heidi Lewis The bright sunshine of citrus has begun streaming in! Although ostensibly citrus is available year-round, a series of citrus characters will step in and out of the citrus odyssey. We like to give them heroic epithets as Homer gave his gods and goddesses […]
Babies on Board By Heidi Lewis Oh de bitty babies, so cherubic in their little baskets. Heavenly creatures, berries were flowers before they incarnated into sweet gems that dance on our tongues. Berries are the babies of summer, triggering synapses and opening pathways to good memories. They’re the delicate fruit that are most often anthropomorphized […]
By Heidi Lewis You know what sweet summer cherries like? They like winter. That’s when they catch up on a little shut-eye and wake up refreshed. Many stone fruits and pomes need the chill hours to produce a good season of leaf, buds, and fruit. But man, when they’re ready—bada boom! Cherry season is here. […]
By Heidi Lewis Here they come, rolling into town— They get the hungriest looks from, everyone around— [drum fill”¦] Hey, hey, they’re the summer fruits! And they’re super duper cute! It may not quite be summer—but that point is moot! When summer fruits start to arrive in May, there’s a bit of a giddy vibe […]
Fruit dried on the vine or in the sun is the most ancient of food preservation methods known to humanity—and it’s still practiced today. Using the sun and the free hot air to dry fruit is another way farmers can be sustainable. It’s an efficient use of excess fruit that isn’t made into juice or […]
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