The Magee Family Farm: July 11, 2005

In Vernalis, California the Magee family has a farm of white peaches and nectarines. Their house is bordered on one side by a row of peach trees that run into their backyard – a 38-acre orchard. They have a small tin-roofed packing shed on the property where, every week during this time of year, Melissa Magee personally inspects and hand-packs all of the white peaches for The FruitGuys. Last week Dan Lemley, The FruitGuys buyer, was at their farm to inspect the crop. Melissa showed Dan the White Lady peaches that were going to be harvested Friday for our Monday boxes. She also pointed out the Summer Sweet variety that would ripen over the next couple of weeks. The Magee’s have a unique philosophy of farming. Not only do they prune their trees to reach a shorter height of between 6 and 8 feet for easier picking but they also believe that by not treating their soil with nitrogen during the growing season their trees work harder to produce more sugar for their fruit. Check out the white peaches (the ones with no labels) and let us know what you think. We think they are pretty special.

Beth and The Banana

Back in the early 90s, I wanted to be a writer. I took a job at the San Francisco Bay Guardian as the assistant to the sales-rep who handled all the book advertising. I had business cards that actually had the word “literary” on them. I was making it! Beth Lisick, an aspiring writer, also started working at the Guardian around the same time I did. Beth, whose poetry slam fame is now something of San Francisco legend, has just come out with a great memoir called “Everybody into the Pool.” It’s worth picking up. She even recounts her experience as a FruitGuys banana for a day. Beth was the first of a growing number of artist friends who have donned the banana suit and given away FruitGuys bananas downtown. Entertainment Weekly compares her style and wit to David Sedaris, but I think she is funnier. You can check out their review at:

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/review/book/0,6115,1078764_5|109341||0_0_,00.html Enjoy!