This newsletter is dedicated to the Japanese-American Internees The Oishi family was part of the farming community of Japanese immigrants and Americans of Japanese ancestry who were flower growers and founded, along with Americans of Italian ancestry, the wholesale San Francisco Flower Mart. Seizo Oishi, a Japanese immigrant who had worked long hours in the agricultural fields of California, eventually
Fruit World is famous for its extraordinary Sky Ranch Mandarins, a clementine grown on farmer Bianca Kaprielianās grandfatherās ranch, which sits atop one of the areaās tallest foothills and is named for its sweeping views of the San Joaquin Valley.Ā āThe topsoil is less than two inches and then solid granite, with a very high mineral content,ā Bianca explains. āThe
The FruitGuys Community Fund 2020 grantee farms have sent us their interim updates, and in spite of the pandemic, these farms and organizations have done some incredible work! These 15 small farms and agricultural nonprofits in 14 different states were awarded a total of $51,098.87 in funding for sustainability projects that reduce power use, increase yields, conserve water and soil,
During the COVID-19 crisis, small farms are showing once again just how essential they are to keeping our local communities fed, healthy, and functioning. The FruitGuys Community Fund is excited to announce the 2020 grantees chosen to receive grants up to $5,000 for sustainability projects that will reduce power use, increase yields, conserve water and soil, and promote pollinators.Ā A
āFarming is a complex math problem,ā sighs Dave Hale as he looks sadly at piles of wood chips that had been Gravenstein apple trees in the lot next to his thriving Sebastopol, CA, orchard. He tended them for decades before their destruction. āYou get to know each tree, and when something like this happens itās like losing 500 of your
The FruitGuys Community Fund, a nonprofit fiscally sponsored project of Community Initiatives, will award small American farms and agricultural nonprofits a total of $35,643 in 2015 for sustainability projects intended to have a positive impact on the environment, local food systems, and farm diversity. More than 70 applicants from all over the country applied for the 2015 grants. The eight
Clear Spring Farm, PA. If you live in an eco-conscious region fighting to preserve its local family farms, chances are youāve seen bumper stickers such as āKnow your farmer, know your food.ā āI donāt buy food from strangers.ā And āWhoās your farmer?ā Ā maybe on a beat-up pickup truck bringing boxes of kale to your local farmers market or on the
Like the snowy owl and the snail darter, foods can be endangered too. If farmers stop growing your favorite variety of tomato because itās too hard to ship or too prone to pests, we come that much closer to a bland, unified way of eating. In the case of the loss of fruit and vegetable varieties, a shrinking of biodiversity
Image courtesy of NOAA California Governor Jerry Brown declared on January 17, 2014, what farmers and ranchers have known for some time — the state is in a drought, possibly the worst one in living memory. Farmers, ranchers, wildlife, and consumers are all likely to be impacted by a third year of so far record low precipitation. Farmers are planning
āEven if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.ā āMartin Luther (1483ā1546, a German monk and church reformer) In a world awash with Red Delicious apples grown for their size, color, durability, and profitabilityābut definitely not their flavorākeeping heirloom apple varieties alive is vitally important. In Sebastopol, CA (Sonoma County),
Many small family farms switch into gear in late winter and early spring to get the farm season on track. On our farm we are busy ordering seeds, building new hoop houses, fixing fences, tuning up tractors, signing up our CSA customers, and dreaming of a great season. Ā Soon we will have tens of thousands of seeds to plant in
Farming with Heart By Heidi Lewis The main ingredient in good vegetables, says farmer Jim Durst, is soil: āFeed 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 to organic farming as a
The FruitGuys buys the best produce we can find from small and local farms whenever possible. Our regional hubs across the country allow us to create local networks of farms and produce wholesalers so that we can deliver produce that is grown as local as possible. The farms that participate in our Farm Direct program meet our quality standards for
Small Farms Left Out of Farm Bill By Charlene Oldham When the first āfarm billā was created in the late 1930s to help family farms, horses and hand plows were as common on farms as Model As and mechanized tractors. Today the $300 billion farm bill up for revision in Congress is a complex web of extensions and additions to
Thereās a fast-paced, smart device game called āFingerzillaā that lets you rain Godzilla-like destruction down upon virtual cityscapes and towns using only your finger. While being at the helm of such fiery chaos may make users feel invincible, the truth is that we are all at the mercy of the elements in ways we often forget. I am always reminded
Karen Morss is called the Lemon Lady. She started her suburban Emerald Hills, CA (San Mateo County), an organic citrus farm, Lemon Ladies Orchard, in 2004. She has done her part breaking glass ceilings in boardrooms and the wild blue yonder with careers as a software entrepreneur and the owner of a flight school geared toward women. She even tried
Note: This blog is more than ten years old. To get the latest updates on our GoodWorks program, click here.Ā In a year when more people continued to struggle with less, The FruitGuys GoodWorks program responded to the realities of the continuing hard economy by making micro-loans to farmers; increasing donations of fresh produce to food pantries; and promoting fresh
By Pia Hinckle While damage varied from state to state and even within the same county, Tropical Storm Irene hit many farms from North Carolina to Vermont hard. Growers reported everything from flooded fields and broken trees to collapsed sheds and damaged fruit. Unrepaired roads, washed-out bridges and power outages still occurring in some areas made it difficult to fully
Iāve always been a pretty active personāsomething that made coming down with a random medical condition all the more humbling. About a month ago I had an acute onset of achalasia, an uncommon disorder in which the muscles around the lower esophagus clamp down like a boa constrictor and restrict food and liquid from getting into the stomach. A FruitGuy
The Light Brown Apple Moth is an indigenous pest considered harmless to crops in New Zealand, Hawaii, Australia, and the UK, all countries that are free to export fruits and vegetables to U.S. markets while California farms currently face quarantines if it is found, a practice panelists at a recent forum called unfair to small sustainable farms. āWhy are American
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