The FruitLife

Celebrate National Fruit at Work Day 2022

By Julie Collins on September 27, 2022

You’ve been waiting all year for it—now the time has arrived. That’s right, the 7th annual National Fruit at Work Day is here! Tuesday, October 4, 2022, marks this not-so-solemn observance that …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

The FruitGuys Awarded B Corp Best for the World

By Pia Hinckle on July 13, 2022

The FruitGuys has been named a 2022 Best for the World™ B Corp™ in recognition of its exceptional positive impact in the Community category. Best for the World is a distinction granted to Certified B …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, GoodWorks, The FruitLife Tagged With: BCorp, BCorps, best for the world, BestForTheWorld, BFTW2022, BLab, community, FGCF, fighting hunger, fruitguys, fruitguys community fund, helping small farms, Lovin Spoonfuls, red h farm

Women Growing Change: The Class of 2022 FruitGuys Community Fund Grantees

By Pia Hinckle on May 5, 2022

A diverse group of women farmers dominate the 2022 class of grantees for The FruitGuys Community Fund, the nonprofit’s 10th year of providing grants to small farms and agricultural nonprofits that …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News, GoodWorks, The FruitLife Tagged With: 5 loaves farm, agricultural leaders, agroecology commons, BIPOC farmers, boston area gleaners, carlson's island view orchard, cooperation operation, costello urban farm, earthseed farm, farm to fight hunger, fruitguys community fund, Grants, huerta del valle, movement ground farm, over the moon farm and flowers, philly forests, red h farm, sakari farms, small family farm, small farms, Small Grants Big Impacts, songhaven farm, soul flower farm, stonefield farm, sustainability, urban food forest at brown mill community garden

2021: A Year of Positive Impact

By Sheila Cassani on February 1, 2022

As we reflect back on another challenging year, we are incredibly grateful for our clients and their positive impact on people and the planet through The FruitGuys GoodWorks Programs. Together in …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, GoodWorks, The FruitLife Tagged With: 2021, 2021 Impact Report, b corp, Doing Good, donate-a-crate, Feed Hungry, fight hunger, GoodWorks, small farms, sustainable agriculture

The FruitGuys Community Fund Announces 2022 Grant Cycle

By The FruitGuys Community Fund on December 22, 2021

Small Farms are critical partners of the environment with a special role in its stewardship and as agents of climate stabilization. The FruitGuys Community Fund provides grants of up to $5,000 each to …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, GoodWorks, The FruitLife Tagged With: small farms, Small Grants Big Impacts, support small farms, The FruitGuys, The FruitGuys Community Fund

Featured Farm: Fruit World

By Pia Hinckle on December 3, 2021

Fruit World is famous for its extraordinary Sky Ranch Mandarins, a clementine grown on farmer Bianca Kaprielian’s grandfather’s ranch, which sits atop one of the area’s tallest foothills and is named …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: california citrus farmers, california family farms, citrus, family farms, Farms, Fruit World, mandarins, Sky Ranch Mandarins

Winter Citrus Guide

By Pia Hinckle on December 1, 2021

Winter is the peak of the citrus season. Officially beginning on the winter solstice (December 21), the bright shades of orange, red, pink, yellow and green of citrus add brightness and light to the …

Filed Under: Diet and Health, Farms, Food, FruitGuys News, Nutrition, Produce Glossary, Recipes, The FruitLife Tagged With: beet and orange salad, blood orange vinagrette, california citrus, california citrus farmers, cara cara orange, citrus, citrus farmers, finger limes, grapefruit, heirloom oranges, how to eat mandarinquat, how to use citrus, lemons, navel oranges, Orange sale, oranges, winter citrus, winter fruit guide, winter fruit salad

Donate, Don’t Cancel This Holiday Season

By The FruitGuys on November 2, 2021

As the holidays approach, we want to thank you for your business, which has supported our family-owned and operated company through this transitional recovery year, and share how you can easily …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, GoodWorks, The FruitLife Tagged With: Donate a Crate, GoodWorks, holiday donations, holidays, how to donate fruit

Leitica Velazquez wins Caplan Scholarship

By Pia Hinckle on September 30, 2021

Leticia Velazquez, The FruitGuys Midwest Operations Manager, was one of four people chosen for the prestigious Frieda Rapoport Caplan Family Business Scholarship Program for 2021. The program …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: ERTC, family business, Food Safety Modernization Act, Frieda Rapoport Caplan Scholarship, Frieda's, immigration reform, small farms, United Fresh Produce Association, United Fresh Washington Conference

Fall Fruit Guide 2022

By The FruitGuys on September 2, 2021

The Fall equinox on September 22 marks the transition to shorter days across our hemisphere. Autumn also brings an abundance of tasty fall fruit, especially the peak of apple, grape, and pear season. …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, Food, FruitGuys News, Nutrition, The FruitLife Tagged With: apples, asian apple pears, different kinds of persimmons, fall, fall fruit, fall fruit guide, grapes, guide to fall fruit, how to extract pomegranate seeds, nutritional benefits of Asian pears, pears, persimmon, what's in season

B-eautiful Gifts from The FruitGuys

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 20, 2021

This year is flying by and that means that gift season is just around the corner! As a B Corp, one of our goals for this year was to deepen our relationships with other B Corp companies and our …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: b corp, chocolate, coffee, fruit gifts, healthy snacks, Holiday Gifts, tea

Announcing The FruitGuys Community Fund 2021 Farm Grantees

By The FruitGuys on August 5, 2021

Despite funding setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, The FruitGuys Community Fund, a nonprofit founded by office fruit delivery pioneers and certified B Corp The FruitGuys, is pleased to announce …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News, GoodWorks, The FruitLife Tagged With: 2021 grantees, 4MG Farm, Petaluma Bounty, Sankofa Community Farm, small farms, Small Grants Big Impacts, The FruitGuys Community Fund, The FruitGuys GoodWorks

First Farm Visit of 2021: Rancho Charanda

By Miguel Esteban Robles on March 3, 2021

I visited Paul Rodriguez's farm, Rancho Charanda, in Redlands, CA on February 24, 2021. I had been worried about taking the time because of all of my other responsibilities in the office, but …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News, GoodWorks, The FruitLife Tagged With: farm visits, fruitguys community fund, nopales, rancho charanda, small farms, southern california farms, sustainable agrculture, xoconostle

Rebecca North Honored by EcoFarm

By Pia Hinckle on February 5, 2021

Rebecca North, The FruitGuys Senior Buyer and chief Fruit Detective, has been awarded the prestigious 2021 Golden Pliers Award from the Ecological Farming Association (EcoFarm). According to …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News, GoodWorks, The FruitLife Tagged With: diversity in farming, ecofarm, ecofarm 2021, equity in farming, golden pliers award, small farms, sustainable agriculture, sustainable food systems, women in agriculture

Doing Good in the Worst Year: Our 2020 Impact Report

By Pia Hinckle on February 2, 2021

2020 was a terrible year and yet the generosity of our community allowed us to bring healthy food to nearly two million people: neighbors in need, frontline healthcare workers, and public school kids …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, GoodWorks, The FruitLife, WorkLife Tagged With: 2020, 2020 Impact Report, b corp, Doing Good, donate-a-crate, family business, FareStart, fight hunger, Francis Ford Coppola, GoodWorks, how to fight hunger, how to help farms, Impact Report, North Beach Citizens, Philabundance, Project Open Hand, small farms

Farm Grantees Make Progress Despite Pandemic

By The FruitGuys Community Fund on September 18, 2020

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 …

Filed Under: Farms, GoodWorks, The FruitLife Tagged With: family farmers, Farms, microgrants, pollinators, small farms, support small farms, sustainable agriculture, The FruitGuys Community Fund, wind power

4 Tips for #ParentingInAPandemic

By Julie Collins on September 15, 2020

Imagine this: It’s a pandemic. You are working from home. Your son is in preschool, but due to poor air quality from wildfires today, school is canceled. You are feeling constantly guilty because you …

Filed Under: Diet and Health, FruitGuys News, The FruitLife, WorkLife Tagged With: childcare, communication, family life, home office, pandemic, pandemic parenting, parenting, planning, working from home, working mom, working parent

The FoodWorks Fund: Fighting Hunger & Helping Small Farms

By The FruitGuys on September 2, 2020

The FruitGuys has created a new non-profit project to support its long-standing hunger relief mission. The FoodWorks Fund, a fiscally-sponsored project of Community Initiatives, provides direct …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, GoodWorks, The FruitLife Tagged With: chris mittelstaedt, community initiatives, COVID-19 crisis, fighting hunger, food-banks, GoodWorks, helping small farms, hunger, hunger relief, local charity, non-profit, The FoodWorks Fund, The FruitGuys

Bernard Ranches is in a Fight to Save its Business and its Citrus Trees

By Pia Hinckle on August 23, 2020

“I had a terrible dream one night,” says Vince Bernard, founder and farmer of Bernard Ranches, who has watched the COVID crisis cut into his sales so much that he may not be able to afford to water …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Bernard Ranches, citrus farms, COVID-19 crisis, farmers, heirloom oranges, orange trees, oranges, Valencia oranges, Vince Bernard, water

Founder Chris Mittelstaedt on the Covid Recession in the WSJ

By FruitGuys Staff on July 22, 2020

The FruitGuys Founder, Chris Mittelstaedt was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal about the economic effects of the Covid-19 crisis on small businesses. Read the full article in PDF …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife, WorkLife Tagged With: chris mittelstaedt, Covid Recession, Covid-19, entrepreneurs, fruitguys, small business owner, The FruitGuys, wall street journal

Summer Fruit Guide 2020

By Pia Hinckle on June 10, 2020

Summer for many of us is tied to the memory of a perfect piece of fruit: the cherry eating contest with your sister you won that June; the first bite of the ripest peach you ever tasted in July; the …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, Food, FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: blueberries, bronx grapes, cherries, David Mas Masumoto, peaches, stone fruit jam, strawberries, summer fruit, summer fruits, suncrest peach, what fruit is in season, what's in season

The 2020 FruitGuys Community Fund Grantees

By The FruitGuys Community Fund on May 13, 2020

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 …

Spring Fruit Guide 2020

By Elisabeth Flynn on April 1, 2020

It’s a spring like no other, with most of us hunkered down at home and waiting for the waiting to be over. While we wait, you can enjoy the bounty of spring fruit that The FruitGuys will be bringing …

Filed Under: Diet and Health, Food, FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

The FruitGuys Response to COVID-19

By The FruitGuys on March 5, 2020

March 2020 We will get to the other side of this---together. We wish you, your employees, your vendors, your customers, and their families the best, and especially good health. Please let us know of …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, Diet and Health, Farms, Fitness, Food, FruitGuys News, GoodWorks, The FruitLife, WorkLife

Engage Employees With Citrus & Keep Them Healthy

By Elisabeth Flynn on February 18, 2020

The sky may be gloomy, but citrus fruit--oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes, grapefruits, pomelos, buddha’s hand, yuzu, and kumquats--is at its peak, bursting with color and natural sweetness. It's …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, Diet and Health, Nutrition, The FruitLife, WorkLife

We’re B Corp Certified!

By The FruitGuys on January 9, 2020

The FruitGuys is now a certified B Corp, joining the ranks of socially-responsible companies such as Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, Kleen Kanteen, and Clover Sonoma that all make a commitment to …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, GoodWorks, The FruitLife

Your Winter Fruit Guide

By The FruitGuys on December 13, 2019

Winter is upon us, so it's time for our winter fruit guide. In some regions that means the coming of blustery, frigid weather, and bundling up beneath layers of clothes. Others enjoy a more mild …

Filed Under: Food, The FruitLife

Fruition of the Ugly Truth

By Phat Beets Produce on December 12, 2019

Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on December 2, 2019 on the Phat Beets Produce blog. It is re-published here, with permission and unedited. Find out more about The FruitGuys many …

Filed Under: GoodWorks, The FruitLife

Fighting Hunger Through Our Donate-A-Crate Program

By The FruitGuys on November 12, 2019

As the holidays approach, we want to thank you for your business, but also share how The FruitGuys Donate-a-Crate program makes it easy to forward your fruit delivery to your local charities during …

Filed Under: The FruitLife

2019 Corporate Holiday Gift Guide

By The FruitGuys on October 29, 2019

The FruitGuys has a range of tasty and distinctive options that make holiday gift-giving easy, not to mention delicious and healthy. You’ll delight clients, vendors, business partners, and employees …

Filed Under: The FruitLife, WorkLife

5 Fruits That Boost Your Immune System

By Jack Owens on October 7, 2019

There are a few general tips to help prevent and shorten colds: wash your hands often; make sure you get enough rest, drink tea, exercise, and keep an eye on your stress level… and eat …

Filed Under: Diet and Health, Nutrition, The FruitLife, WorkLife

The Tale of the Bronx Grape

By The FruitGuys on September 17, 2019

What's the best table grape you’ve ever eaten? We think it will be replaced by the organic Bronx seedless table grape from Lagier Ranches in Escalon, CA. These tiny globes of pleasure have been …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, Food, The FruitLife

Why Seasonal Fruit is Good for You

By Jack Owens on August 16, 2019

Eating seasonal fruit is one of life’s great joys, and it’s good for your body too. Seasonal fruit is also a great reward for employees because it boosts their health and morale all year long. …

Filed Under: Diet and Health, Food, Nutrition, The FruitLife, WorkLife

Eat the Endangered Gravenstein Apple

By Pia Hinckle on August 1, 2019

“Farming is a complex math problem,” 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 …

Filed Under: Farms, Food, GoodWorks, Recipes, The FruitLife Tagged With: dave hale, Farms, Gravenstein Apple, Gravenstein apple farmer, John Kolling, lee walker, orchards, Sebastopol farmers, slow food ark of taste, sonoma county, stan devoto

Summer Fruit Guide

By The FruitGuys on July 9, 2019

Summer means long days and late sunsets, picnics, and days at the beach. For many of us, it means slowing down and getting outside to enjoy more of nature—and no matter where you live in the U.S., …

Filed Under: The FruitLife

The 2019 FruitGuys Community Fund Grantees

By The FruitGuys Community Fund on April 29, 2019

The nonprofit FruitGuys Community Fund announced 15 farms from 12 different states were selected to receive nearly $54,000 in grants for environmental sustainability projects ranging from installing …

Filed Under: The FruitLife

RIP to the Remarkable Karen Morss

By Pia Hinckle on March 11, 2019

Karen Morss, aka the Lemon Lady, an author, pilot, and pioneering Silicon Valley–entrepreneur-turned-farmer, died in December 2018. Karen was a passionate producer of the most fabulous Meyer lemons …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

A Fruitful New Year

By Erin Giordano on January 8, 2019

Happy New Year to you! We say this sincerely. Our fruitful connections, we value them dearly. We’re grateful for you and the part that you play in helping The FruitGuys succeed every day. The …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Growing into My Own with The FruitGuys

By Shannan Slevin on October 31, 2018

From an early age, some people know exactly what they want to be when they grow up. For instance, the freshman in high school who knows right away they want to go to medical school. Or the student who …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

The FruitGuys Holiday Gifts

By The FruitGuys on October 4, 2018

Fall is a perfect time to start thinking about holiday gifts. December will be here before you know it, but not to worry! The FruitGuys has a range of tasty and distinctive options that make giving …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Seasons Change: Fall Fruit

By Elisabeth Flynn on October 2, 2018

The arrival of autumn marks a time of transition. We return to school and a “regular” work schedule (no more closing down early on Fridays to head to the beach!), we don our jackets, and we welcome …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Celebrate National Fruit at Work Day

By The FruitGuys on September 27, 2018

You’ve been waiting all year for it—now the time has arrived. That’s right, the 4th annual National Fruit at Work Day is here! Tuesday, October 2, 2018, marks this not-so-solemn observance that …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Deadly Harvest

By Elisabeth Flynn on August 15, 2018

The Farm-to-Table movement of the last decade has celebrated local farmers and their rural lifestyle. Sustainable farming is a wholesome and noble occupation that provides nutritious whole foods to an …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News

Fruit Storage 101

By Elisabeth Flynn on July 19, 2018

Heatwaves are forecast across much of the U.S. this summer. This is unwelcome news for most of us—sweaty commutes, poor air quality, and less time to enjoy the outdoors. Snacking on fresh fruit is a …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

The FruitGuys Gift Guide

By Miriam Wolf on November 30, 2017

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Time to string the lights or kindle the candles. Time to drive cloves into an orange to make the best-smelling room freshener imaginable. Time to savor a …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

How to Celebrate National Fruit at Work Day 2017

By The FruitGuys on September 28, 2017

Can a selfie ease hunger or increase health? It can if it’s posted this October 3, National Fruit at Work Day! Eleven cities will host banana giveaways where you’ll have a chance to selfie your way to …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

The Gravenstein Apple: Savoring a Taste of History

By Stephanie Rosenbaum Klassen on August 3, 2017

What does history taste like? For some lucky Californians, it tastes like the sweet-tart, aromatic Gravenstein apple. First planted in Northern California by Russian trappers in 1811—nearly four …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Q: What are the Rough Brown Spots on My Apple?

By The FruitGuys on September 7, 2016

Q: What is the rough brown texture on the top of some apples, and is it edible? A: Known as “russeting,” it is a brownish corky or netlike texture that appears on certain varieties of apples and …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News

Heroes of Fruit History

By Kjerstin Johnson on August 24, 2016

When we bite into a crisp fall apple, we generally don’t think about the centuries of cultivation, ongoing scientific development, or countless tiny agricultural advances that put that piece of fruit …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: cananing, Cesar Chavez, fruit history, innovators, luther burbank, pomological, seedlings

Fruitful Visits

By Shannan Slevin on July 27, 2016

Frecon Farms, in southeastern Pennsylvania, is as rich in history and community as it is in apples and stone fruits. Founded in 1944 by Richard S. Frecon and his wife, Martha, the orchard started as …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apples, family farm, frecon farms, pennsylvania, stone fruit, sustainability

The Little Apple That Could

By Heidi Lewis on July 27, 2016

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 …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News

Live from the Hedgerow

By Shannan Slevin on June 29, 2016

Embracing the dry June heat of San Joaquin County is a small price to pay when exploring the grounds of Lagier Ranches. This 120-acre family-run farm in Escalon, CA, is rich in trees and small fruits: …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Escalon, fruitguys community fund, Lagier Ranches, pollinator hedgerow, sustainable

Got Bees at Work?

By Julie Collins on May 24, 2016

In 2015, the side lot next to The FruitGuys headquarters in South San Francisco was a gravelly, unused, weed-infested strip of land. Today it’s abuzz with activity, transformed into a cozy home for a …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: beehive, honeybees, office garden, pollinators, sustainability

Ode to the Apricot

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 17, 2016

I have been given a copy of Robert Palter’s The Duchess of Malfi’s Apricots, and Other Literary Fruits. It’s a great reference book if you like those moments of clarity when writers unravel the human …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: aprium, plum, plumcot, pluot, spring, stone fruit, summer

What’s in My Mix?

By The FruitGuys on March 23, 2016

Q: What’s in my mix? A: You can see a list of what’s in your mix and where each item was grown in just two easy steps: Find out what kind of mix you have. Look on the side of your box, and you …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Ask TFG, fruit box, harvest, mix pages, what's in my mix

Two Fruit Guys to the Rescue

By Michelle Dixon on February 24, 2016

FruitGuys Los Angeles Operations Manager Michelle Dixon shared this email with the company on February 24, 2016, recounting the selfless and heroic actions of two of her staffers who found themselves …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: fruit heroes, Los Angeles, rescue, selflessness

Coming of Age

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 27, 2016

I owe the birth of The FruitGuys to the creative power of, well, desperation. It was 1997. My wife, Pia, and I had been married for a year and were living in a small one-bedroom apartment in San …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: Anniversary, chris mittelstaedt, fruitguys

Apples for All

By Heidi Lewis on December 16, 2015

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, …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: apples, diversity, judging apples, variety

Winter on the Farm

By Heidi Lewis on November 10, 2015

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 …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: california drought, rain, storm, winter on the farm

From Law to Lambs

By Heidi Lewis on September 18, 2015

“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 …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: bear track farm, lambs, local farm

Where Does The FruitGuys Produce Come From?

By The FruitGuys on September 17, 2015

Q: Where does The FruitGuys produce come from? A: Our produce is sourced from small family farms near our regional production hubs when seasonally possible. Due to seasonality and weather …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News

Great Grape

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 13, 2015

I have to admit that as a kid growing up on the East Coast in the 1970s and ’80s, I didn’t really know what real grapes were. I mean, I knew what they were, but somehow I thought that the two …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, Black Seedless Grapes, Concord Grapes, grape, grape freshness, grapes, grapes ripening, Muscat Grapes, Perlette grapes, Red Crimson Grapes, Red Flame Grapes, seedless grapes, Thompson Seedless

From Pastry to Plow

By The FruitGuys Community Fund on May 26, 2015

Chocolates and Tomatoes Farm in Poolesville, MD, is a four-acre farm that strives to be sustainable, colorful, and delicious. And while we didn’t choose Chocolates and Tomatoes for a 2015 The …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News

Less Time to Chill

By Pia Hinckle on April 23, 2015

Cherries are finicky trees. They don’t like it when it gets too hot, when there’s not enough rain, and when it doesn’t stay cold enough during the winter. For the last few winters, California’s …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: California, california drought, Central Valley, cherries, chill hours, chilling, drought, fruit trees, warm winters

Why is the skin loose and puffy on some of my tangerines?

By The FruitGuys on January 28, 2015

Q: Why is the skin loose and puffy on some of my tangerines? A: Those are delicious satsuma mandarin oranges! They have a naturally loose, sometimes bumpy peel. At first glance, people sometimes …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: mandarin, Satsuma, Tangerine

Hungry for Farmland

By Stephanie Rosenbaum on July 31, 2014

Clear Spring Farm, PA. If you live in an eco-conscious region fighting to preserve its local family farms, chances are you’ve seen bumper stickers such as “Know your farmer, know your food.” “I …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: crops, Farms, land value, local farmers, small farms, the future of farms

What are Gravenstein apples and how can I order them?

By The FruitGuys on July 29, 2014

Q: What are Gravenstein apples, and how can I order them? A: We're so glad you asked! Ripened in the warm summer days and sweetened by cool evening fogs, delicious sweet-tart Gravensteins are a …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: ask the fruitguys, gravenstein apples, Slow Food USA

Buy a Box; Save an Apple

By Miriam Wolf on July 25, 2014

Like the snowy owl and the snail darter, foods can be endangered too. If farmers stop growing your favorite variety of tomato because it’s too hard to ship or too prone to pests, we come that much …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: California, endangered, Farms, GoodWorks, gravenstein apples, sebastopol, SlowFoods, special

How can I tell when my stone fruit is ripe?

By The FruitGuys on May 13, 2014

Q: How can I tell when my stone fruit is ripe (or ready to eat)? A: To protect stone fruit during delivery, such as peaches, plums, nectarines, and apricots, we send it to you on the slightly …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: nectarines, peaches, plums, ripening, stone fruit

Perspectives on Drought Part 1: Alexis Robertson of Skyelark Ranch

By Alexis Robertson on January 29, 2014

Recently, California’s growers and water districts approached Governor Jerry Brown to declare California in a state of drought. It has been one of the driest winters on record and the state’s …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: california drought, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, drought, drought on the farm, farm animals, farm shares, skyelark ranch

Is it true that The FruitGuys is not offering vegetables anymore?

By The FruitGuys on January 25, 2014

Q: Is it true that The FruitGuys is not offering vegetables anymore? A: After five years of providing the best mix of excellent organic produce that we could find each week, we have decided to …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: fruit mixes, vegetable box, vegetable crate, vegetable delivery, vegetables

California’s Bitter Drought

By Pia Hinckle on January 23, 2014

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 …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: california drought, california farms, drip irrigation, drought, dry weather, farm, fruitguys community fund, hoop houses, how to conserve water, solar water pump, water saving tips

Eat Fruit & Be Happy

By Alexander Scaletta on January 22, 2014

BOYERTOWN, PA -- You may think “farmer direct” and “local produce” are trendy concepts invented for the millennium, but Boyertown, Pennsylvania’s Frecon Farms has been getting their fruit directly …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: alex scaletta, apple, apple farm, apples, cider, frecon cidery, frecon farms, heritage apple varieties

Navels from the Orange Patch

By Heidi Lewis on December 19, 2013

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 …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: allen freeman, arizona farm, citrus, navel oranges, orange patch, phoenix farm

10 Fun Facts About Citrus

By Alexander Scaletta on December 12, 2013

Once again, we have felt a monumental shift in the weather here in the valley. Pleasantly warm fall days have given way to frosty mornings that turn into short frigid days. Many trees have been …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: antioxidants, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, citrus, citrus in winter, facts about citrus, farm shares, frost on the fruit farm, lemons, meyer lemon, nutritional value of citrus, oranges

The Crate Masters

By FruitGuys Staff on November 19, 2013

fruit crate art courtesy of asliceintime.com ephem ·era: paper items (as posters, broadsides, and tickets) that were originally meant to be discarded after use but have since become …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: California State Railroad Museum, ephemera, fruit crate art, fruit crates, produce crate label art, Schmidt Lithograph, vintage labels

Animal Farm

By Kim Jordan on November 19, 2013

By Kim Jordan Snipes Farm and Education Center in Morrisville, PA, was one of five farms awarded grants in April 2013 from The FruitGuys Community Fund, established in 2012 as a fiscally sponsored …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News

Arizona’s Own Valley Farms

By FruitGuys Staff on November 11, 2013

At 4,000 feet, the Willcox area in Northern Cochise County, AZ, was known as the “Cattle Capital” in the Old West days. Situated near Dos Cabezas Mountains, Willcox is now a major producer …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Arizona, arizona farm, chris grallert, local farmers, organic farming, sustainable farming, valley farms, willcox

The Last Pixie Show

By Friend 's Ranch on October 23, 2013

Ever wonder what an Ojai Pixie does during the off-season? Well here is a little insight about the secret lives of out-of-season Pixies. Lately some friends of mine, during our usual after-school …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: california farms, citrus, fall on the farm, farms in fall, friend's ranch, ojai, ojai pixies, pixie tangerines, pixies, Tangerine, tangerine tree

Appreciation: Marcella Hazan, 1924-2013

By Pia Hinckle on October 22, 2013

My very dog-eared copy of The Classic Italian Cookbook by Marcella Hazan has the following inscription: “Many happy hours in the kitchen, with love, Mom, Christmas 1986.” I was 21 years old when my …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: art of italian cooking, godmother of italian cooking, italian cooking, marcella hazan, pia hinkle, regional italian cooking

Russeting on Apples & Pears

By The FruitGuys on September 5, 2013

Q: Why do some of my apples have brown patches on the top? Are they still good to eat? What about the spots on pears? A: It is known as russeting. Russeting is a brownish, corky or netlike texture …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Asian Pear, bosc, danjou, pears, Pippin, russet

Apple Farmers Benefit from Grav Box

By FruitGuys Staff on August 30, 2013

Every September, when apple season is just hitting its zenith in most of the country, the harvest is already fading in Sonoma County, CA. This area of California is where the Gravenstein Apple reigns …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News

Tales of Tomato Season

By Seth Wright on August 29, 2013

As I drive around the valley, everywhere I look, tomato plants are quickly growing larger. Watching them grow is torture because tomatoes have been on my mind since they went out of season early last …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: andrew brait, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, capay valley recipes, cherry tomato, early girls tomato, farm shares, full belly farm, heirloom tomato, Heirloom Tomatoes, heritage tomatoes, organc tomatoes, roma, slicer, Tomato, tomato season, tomatoes

Ten Tasty Facts You Probably Didn’t Know About the Peach

By Seth Wright on August 14, 2013

Peaches have been on my mind lately. They are my favorite fruit, and they grow bountifully and beautifully in the Capay Valley. Many of our farms here cultivate more than one variety, and I feel …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, farm shares, national peach month, nectarines, nutritional value of peaches, Peach, peach pits, peaches, stone fruit

The FruitGuys featured in the New York Times

By FruitGuys Staff on August 7, 2013

The FruitGuys Gravenstein Apple Box was featured in the New York Times Dining & Wine Section on August 8, 2013. Gravensteins: They Make a Dessert That Much Sweeter …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: Gravenstein, gravenstein box, gravensteins, heirloom apples, new york times, ny times

Save The Gravenstein

By FruitGuys Staff on July 29, 2013

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” —Martin Luther (1483–1546, a German monk and church reformer) In a world awash with Red Delicious …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: apple cider, apple farms, apple pie, apples, artisan, cittaslow, Farms, Gravenstein, gravenstein apple fair, gravenstein farmers, heirloom fruit, lee walker, sebastapol, slow food, slow food ark of taste, sonoma county

Profile: Olson Family Farms

By Heidi Lewis on July 28, 2013

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. …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: apricots, california farms, Central Valley, nectarines, olson family farm, olsons, organic farming, peaches, plums, stone fruit

What Does “Organic” Mean?

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 27, 2013

Why Investigate the O Word By Pia Hinckle & Chris Mittelstaedt From their humble back-to-mother-earth roots, organics have moved solidly into the mainstream food business, now a growing …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: beyond organic, organic certification, organic farming, organic label, organic labeline

Handling Organics

By Miriam Wolf on June 26, 2013

Certification for a Fruit Seller By Miriam Wolf Rebecca North, the national buying and quality assurance manager for The FruitGuys, spent more than five months and 350 staff-hours on getting …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: beyond organic, ccof, certified organic, organic certification, usda organic

What’s in a Name?

By Charlene Oldham on June 26, 2013

Labeling Claims Cause Confusion in “Natural” Market Natural. Sustainable. Organic. Beneficial. Whole grain. Gluten-free. Cage-free. GMO-Free. Local. Consumers are constantly enticed by labeling on …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: food labeling, food labels, gmo, natural food, nutrition labels, organic food

A Little Apricot History

By FruitGuys Staff on June 19, 2013

from Good Humus Produce, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop A combination of Royal and Blenheim Apricots From the Luxemburg Gardens in Paris to England’s Blenheim Palace to the imperiled orchards …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Apricot, apricots, ark of taste, blenheim apricot, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, farm shares, good humus produce, heirloom fruit, royal blenheim, stone fruit, summer

Lots of Heat Means Good Eats

By Seth Wright on June 12, 2013

By Seth Wright, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop This 2013 has been an unusually hot and dry spring here in the Capay Valley. The rain, which usually occurs from January until the end March, …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, farm shares, figs, melons, stone fruit, summer harvest, summer on the farm, warm weather

New Family Farm

By Heidi Lewis on May 23, 2013

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 …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: California, draft horses, family farm, farm horses, fruitguys community fund, horsepower, horses on a farm, new family farm, organic farming, sebastopol, sonoma county, sustainable farming

In Our Spring

By Jeff Main on May 8, 2013

by Jeff Main of Good Humus Farm, Courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Image courtesy of Good Humus Produce With the passing of the 2013 equinox a few weeks ago, and all the warmth and wetness …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: apricot blosoms, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, cherry blossoms, equinox, farm shares, good humus farm, hawks, jeff main, spring, spring flowers, spring on a farm, summer, tulips

Apple Blossom Time-Lapse

By FruitGuys Staff on April 23, 2013

1913 was a crazy time. It was the year Igor Stravinsky and Vaslav Nijinsky staged the ballet The Rite of Spring. Nowadays, we are accustomed to the dissonance and seemingly tonal chaos of Stravinsky’s …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apple blossoms, blooms, blossoms, gabriel farm, hale farm, pear blossoms, spring

The Bee Beat

By Heidi Lewis on April 18, 2013

Notes From a Freshman Beekeeper By Heidi Lewis 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 …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: bees, colony collapse, colony collapse disorder, honeybees, how to help bees, how to help pollinators, pollinators, what's killing bees

What’s Killing the Bees?

By Eileen Ecklund on April 18, 2013

Beekeepers Report Huge Losses Over Winter By Eileen Ecklund Spring is in the air. Across the country, trees and other plants are bursting into flower, and bees are busy pollinating them. But this …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: bees, ccd, colony collapse disorder, honeybees, how to help bees, pesticides, pollinator friendly plants, pollinators

Farmers on Food Safety

By FruitGuys Staff on April 10, 2013

By Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop When I first heard the term “food safety” I knew that even the term itself was a problem, representing an approach to …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: CAFF, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, e coli, family farms, FDA, food safety, Food Safety Modernization Act, full belly farm, organic farming, sustainability

Voices From The Field

By FruitGuys Staff on April 3, 2013

From Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop In April of 2013, we wanted to let folks learn a little bit more about the people who work at Full Belly Farm, so we interviewed one of the …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, farm irrigation, farm shares, farm workers, full belly farm

The Farm Bill

By Tanya Tolchin on March 25, 2013

Why Farmers Need to Be Activists By Tanya Tolchin Courtesy of Food Politic, Journal of Food News and Culture Many small family farms switch into gear in late winter and early spring to get …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: family farm, farm bill, farm bill extension, farmer activists, farming, farming issues, industrial agriculture, organic, organic farming, organic farms, small farms

Durst Organic Growers

By Heidi Lewis on March 23, 2013

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 …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: deb durst, deborah durst, durst family farm, durst organic growers, family farm, Farms, jim durst, organic farming

FruitGuys Serving Sizes

By The FruitGuys on February 14, 2013

Q: How much is a serving of fruit? A: In terms of our mixes, we generally consider one piece of fruit equal to one serving. If a mix includes small citrus, like pixie tangerines, or small stone …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News

Ruesch Century Farm

By FruitGuys Staff on January 16, 2013

Have you ever been browsing in an antique store and found a wooden box with rakish teeth on it? It could be a hand cranberry rake, a farm implement of yore. Possibly the same kind that farmer Brian …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: cranberry farm, fresh, harvesting, organic, rake, ruesch century farm

Snack Healthy and Smile!

By The FruitGuys on January 15, 2013

SmileSnack Turn your desk into an individual wellness station. Fruit Yourself Order a SmileSnack Mini weekly and enjoy healthy, fruity snacks throughout your work week. Each SmileSnack Mini …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: fresh fruit snacks, fruit snack pack, healthy snacks, smile snack, smilesnack, snack pack

Diorama Drama photo contest

By FruitGuys Staff on January 11, 2013

Congratulations to Sue Potter, of Novato, CA, who submitted the winning photo! Public votes determined the finalists, then FruitGuys employees each received one vote to cast for their favorite photo …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: diorama drama, fruit guys photo contest, fruitguys photo contest, photo contest, smile snack, smilesnack

Hale’s Apple Farm

By FruitGuys Staff on November 13, 2012

In Fall, you can’t miss the explosion of roadside color that is Hale’s Apple Farm as you drive along Route 116 just north of Sebastopol, CA. The riot of piles of brilliant gourds can cause the unwary …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: david hale, hale's apple farm, sebastopol, sonoma county

The Fall Finish Line

By FruitGuys Staff on October 25, 2012

Image courtesy of Good Humus Produce, Capay CA by Jeff Main of Good Humus Produce, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop OK. Can we finally stop and say summer is finished? We have crossed what …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, end of summer, fall on the farm, farm shares, good humus produce, jeff main

Where Does My Fruit Come From?

By The FruitGuys on October 15, 2012

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 …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: farm, fruit, produce, source, where is the fruit grown, which farms do we work with

Subsidizing Big Ag

By Charlene Oldham on October 11, 2012

Small Farms Left Out of Farm Bill By Charlene Oldham When the first “farm bill” was created in the late 1930s to help family farms, horses and hand plows were as common on farms as Model …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: ag reform, agricultural reforms, Agriculture, big ag, corn subsidies, factory farms, family farming, farm bill, farm politics, farm subsidies, farmers, farming, farming issues, farming reforms, Farms, food, food politics, food subsidies, health, HFCS, high fructose corn syrup, junk food, organic farmers, organic farming, processed foods, rice subsidies, small farmers, snap, soy oil, soybean subsidies, sustainability, wheat subsidies

The Tipping Point

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 21, 2012

Can you smell it? Can you feel it? Is it the way the light shifts or how the little events in your day change—traffic patterns, morning routines, a heavier jacket? Thoreau wrote in his first book, A …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: autumn, beginning of winter, fall, falling leaves, leaves falling, seasons

Will I Get Plastic in My Box?

By The FruitGuys on September 14, 2012

Here at The FruitGuys, we work hard to make sustainable choices. We started packing our farm-fresh fruit in reusable boxes printed with water-based inks and constructed of approximately …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News

Are You Eating GMO Foods?

By Charlene Oldham on September 13, 2012

Food labels can be a consumer conundrum for health-conscious shoppers trying to steer clear of sugar, saturated fat, and foods packed with preservatives. If you buy your groceries in California, you …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: California, G.M.O., genetically modified, genetically modified organisms, GM, gmo, GMO foods, gmo fruit, GMO vegetables, GMOs, how to avoid GMO, non-gmo, prop 37, proposition 37, what's GMO

Marty’s Angels!

By The FruitGuys on September 6, 2012

No, it’s not a new TV series—Marty’s “angels” are Angelcots, a special variety of apricots grown exclusively by Marty Maggiore and his family in Brentwood (Contra Costa County), CA. Every year, at …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Angelcot, angelcot farm, angelcot farmer, Angelcots, Apricot, marty maggiore, white apricot

August Field Notes from Riverdog Farm

By FruitGuys Staff on September 6, 2012

Courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop 8/6/12 The mystery white peach orchard was so prolific – both high yielding by the sheer number of fruit but also by size – this year that we are sun-drying …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: august crops, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, csa boxes, farm shares, green houses, hot summer on the farm, perseid meteor shower, riverdog farm, star gazing, white peach orchard, wildland fire

Ode to a Grav Grower

By Pia Hinckle on August 14, 2012

Lee Walker has been farming with his family in their Graton, CA, apple orchard his whole life, except for a tour in the army and a few years playing pro baseball. Lee has kept growing Gravenstein …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: apple orchard, California, graton, Gravenstein, Gravenstein Apple Presidia, gravenstein apples, gravenstein box, gravenstein orchard, gravs, lee walker, slow food russian river, sonoma county, walker apples, walker family

The Peach Party

By Jeff Main on August 9, 2012

By Jeff Main of Good Humus Produce, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop In August of 2012, we had the Peach Party, our midsummer thanksgiving to all the bounty that comes our way, year after year. …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, farm shares, good humus produce, jeff main, O'Henry Peach, Pleasure of the Peach, The Peach Party

July Field Notes from Riverdog Farm

By FruitGuys Staff on August 2, 2012

From Riverdog Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop July 2, 2012 Summer crops are beginning to fill the fields and coolers; pallets of beets and greens are sharing space with summer squash and …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, fall greens, farm shares, greenhouse, guinda, riverdog farm, squash harvest, summer crops, white peaches

Fresh Fruit Storage and Ripening Tips

By The FruitGuys on July 2, 2012

Here are some basic storage and ripening guidelines for fresh fruit. Most fruits are best kept in a cool, dry place, such as on a countertop away from sunlight and heat. Humidity can speed up the …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: how to store, refrigerate, when is my fruit ripe?

Lifelong Farm Romance

By Paul Muller on June 28, 2012

Image courtesy of Full Belly Farm, Guinda CA By Paul Muller of Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Sunday Mornings start the week in a relatively quiet and reflective time here …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: agrarian economies, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, chickens, cows, farm chores, farm shares, farm tasks, full belly farm, lifelong farm romance, Paul Muller, rural producers, small farmers, stewardship, wendell berry

The Royal Blenheim

By FruitGuys Staff on June 13, 2012

From Good Humus Produce, courtesy of Capay Valley Farmshop From the Luxemburg Gardens in Paris to England’s Blenheim Palace to the imperiled orchards of Brentwood and Gilroy, California’s …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, farm shares

The Obesity Era

By Pia Hinckle on June 13, 2012

The Weight of the Nation is a Must See By Pia Hinckle America today (circa 2012): one-third of our adult population is obese; another third is overweight. That’s 75 percent of our more than 311 …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: america, american obesity, obesity, obesity epidemic, rethink your drink, weight of the nation

Hearts of Stone

By Julie Collins on June 11, 2012

“The Prunus family is so wantonly profligate, dallying with any sibling, cousin, and even offspring that chances by, it is surprising they aren’t illegal in some states.” —Jack Straub, 75 Remarkable …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

What’s the Difference Between a “Hybrid” Fruit and a “GMO?”

By The FruitGuys on June 6, 2012

Q: What is a GMO? A: A GMO, or Genetically Modified Organism, has had its DNA altered via genetic engineering to make it more disease, pest, or chemical resistant, or to include desirable …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: genetically modified fruit, grafting, hybrid, labels

This Week at Good Humus Produce

By FruitGuys Staff on June 6, 2012

by Annie Main, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Image courtesy of Good Humus Farm, Capay CA When I am unsure what to write about I always take a walk around the farm-it is an easy place to …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Annie Main, bumper citrus crop, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, cherry crop, farm shares, farm transition, late rains, late spring, This Week at Good Humus Produce, western spotted fruit fly, wet spring

May Notes from the Field

By FruitGuys Staff on May 31, 2012

From Riverdog Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Image courtesy of Riverdog Farm, Guinda, CA May 7, 2012 Mild weather and sunshine have boosted crop growth in the field and in the …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, farm shares, May Notes from the Field

Summer In May

By FruitGuys Staff on May 24, 2012

Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm, Courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Resting in a prominent corner of our farm, under a native black walnut tree, there’s an enormous Allis Chalmers crawler …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Allis Chalmers, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, chicken coop, chickens, farm in may, farm irrigation, farm shares, fresh strawberries, full belly farm, Judith Redmond, melon field, Rye Muller, spring on the farm, warm spring, Watermelon

Research, Education & Farming

By Judith Redmond on May 16, 2012

By Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Years ago, when I was studying at the University of California, I noticed that there was research being done on “organic” …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: agricultural research, Agriculture, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, changing climate, cooperative extension, Education & Farming, farm shares, fertilizers, food and water watch, full belly farm, herbicides, hot spring, Judith Redmond, organic farming, organic farms, pesticides, Research

April Field Notes

By FruitGuys Staff on April 26, 2012

From Riverdog Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop 4/2/12 It’s getting close to tomato transplanting time. The plants, all 80,000 (about 9 acres) of the first seeding, have been ready to go from …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: april, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, riverdog farm, spring, spring fields, spring frost

Take a Bite of a Pixie

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 16, 2012

Several years ago, I made the mistake of telling my young daughters that I had brought home Pixies for us to eat. They gasped in horror. It was during their Peter Pan phase, and I had been spreading …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Fifth-Generation Family Farm: Friend’s Ranch

By FruitGuys Staff on April 16, 2012

Friend’s Ranch in Ojai, CA, is a regular supplier of Pixie tangerines for The FruitGuys. The Friend family and its descendants (now into its fifth generation of family farming) have been growing fruit …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: citrus, fall, friend's ranch, ojai, ojai pixies, organic growing practices, pixie tangerines, summer, tangerines, winter

Why do some citrus have seeds and some don’t?

By The FruitGuys on April 11, 2012

We asked tangerine farmer Emily Thacher Ayala from Friends Ranch in Ojai, CA. She told us that seedlessness in citrus is a naturally occurring genetic mutation. In the last century, growers have …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: ask the fruitguys, oranges, seedless citrus, tangerines

Farm Hands: Lessons of a Farm Intern

By Becca von Trapp on March 22, 2012

By Becca von Trapp of Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Well, folks, the rain has finally come. Here at the farm, we are heaving a collective sigh of relief as we are finally able …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: becca von trapp, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, farm hand, Farm Hands: Lessons of a Farm Intern, farm shares, full belly farm, interning at a farm, rainy season

Mick Klug Farm, Saint Joseph, MI

By Heidi Lewis on March 8, 2012

By Heidi Lewis The USDA classifies family farms as “any farm organized as a sole proprietorship, partnership, or family corporation.” But a cold definition is never the whole story, is it? Mick …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News

A Full Belly Crew Member

By Alexander Scaletta on March 7, 2012

Courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop In March 2012, Nolan O’Brian, one of the Full Belly Farm interns interviewed orchard manager, Jesus Jacobo Garcia. Where were you born? My hometown is called …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News

The Almond Festival Arrives In The Valley

By FruitGuys Staff on February 29, 2012

By Dru Rivers of Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Almond blossoms are everywhere at the moment on Full Belly Farm – filling the air with honey scented smells and brightly …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: almond blossom festival, almond queen, Brooks, capay, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, capay valley recipes, Esparto, farm shares, full belly farm, guinda, Rumsey, rumsey town hall

Talking About The Weather

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 14, 2012

There’s a fast-paced, smart device game called “Fingerzilla” that lets you rain Godzilla-like destruction down upon virtual cityscapes and towns using only your finger. While being at the helm of such …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: citrus, cruz ranch, drought, dry winter, Ed Magee, farming, nectarines, peaches, ronnie gutierrez, small farms, stone fruit, Weather, winter

The One Percent

By Thomas Nelson on February 10, 2012

By Thomas Nelson, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Farmers, seed and equipment suppliers, food distributors and retailers, NGOs and community members from across the country, came together last …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: blue heron farm hand crafted gourds, bonny scott, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, carl rosato, deborah koons garcia, eco farmers, edofarm conference, farm shares, food aggregation hubs, full belly farm, good humus produce, hilary hodge, multi-farm csa's, orangewood farm, paul cultera, sacramento natural foods coop, stewards of sustainable agriculture award, susties, symphony of the soil, the last crop, the one percent, woodleaf farm

Customer Service Answers Some Fruit Quality Questions

By The FruitGuys on February 7, 2012

Fruit Quality Grab Bag Winter can bring some challenges to keeping fruit at the appropriate temperatures during transport. Our buyers, packers, and delivery people do their best to keep fruit …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: ask the fruitguys, bananas, black bananas, customer service, green bananas, how to ripen bananas, puffy tangerines, Satsuma, satsuma mandarin, soft tangerine

Sustainability, Resources, Food Safety are Hot Topics

By Heidi Lewis on February 7, 2012

Winter Farm Conferences By Heidi Lewis The Monterey Peninsula is one of the most beautiful spots in the world, but it wasn't just the sparkly ocean breeze dancing through the pines that brought a …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Agriculture, eco farm, eco farm conference, ecofarm, ecological farming, family farms, farm conferences, organic farming, small farms

Red Navel Gazing

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 6, 2012

Citrus season is in full swing now, with all sorts of farm-fresh specialty fruit coming in. We see everything from Navel Oranges to Satsumas to Clementines to Ruby Red Grapefruits to Cara Caras. We’re …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

February on a California Farm

By Paul Muller on February 3, 2012

By Paul Muller of Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop It is a fine Sunday morning. The sun is shining on a windless, cloudless blue sky. The light frost last night kissed crops …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, dry winter, farm shares, february on dry farm, full belly farm, low rainfall, orange crop, rainfall deficit, winter crops

The Lemon Lady

By FruitGuys Staff on February 2, 2012

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 …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: California, farm, farming, karen morss, ladies, Lemon Ladies, Lemon Ladies Orchard, lemon orchard, meyer lemons, organic, organic farming, organic grower, organic growing, organic lemons, women

Of Bananas

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 6, 2012

The 1878 edition of A Domestic Cyclopídia of Practical Information, published by Henry Holt & Company, explained to eager readers the uses for the banana: “It is eaten raw, either alone or cut in …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: banana history, bananas, imported bananas, south america, tropical fruit, where do bananas grow

From Bacon Broccoli Bites

By FruitGuys Staff on December 7, 2011

Capay Valley FarmShares Member Jay Edwards on Why He Loves His FarmShare I love my Farmshare because it’s turned me from being mostly carnivorous to a solid omnivore, even dabbling in …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, capay valley farmshares, farm share, farmshare

What Does a Farmer Do in December?

By Judith Redmond on December 1, 2011

By Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Each season on the farm has its own tempo. The harvest overwhelms everyone’s attention for most of the year. The lambing …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, farming in winter, full belly farm, perennials, seed catalogs, seeds, winter, winter on the farm

Bear Track Farm

By FruitGuys Staff on November 19, 2011

Betty Hui is powered by fruit. She has to be, she has a busy life. As The FruitGuys Retentions Specialist, she zips up, down, and around the San Francisco Bay Area visiting customers and keeping …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News

K is for Kiwi!

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 18, 2011

It’s hard to let go of things that were ingrained in my brain as a kid. I still feel nervous if I take food out of the kitchen to eat somewhere other than the table (“not on the rug, Chris!”), and …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: fresh kiwi, how to eat kiwi, Kiwi, kiwi vitamin c, nutritional benefits of kiwi

You Say Hachiya, and I Say Fuyu!

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 12, 2011

My wife is on the East Coast for FruitGuys business, and I’m flying solo. My teen and preteen zombies, formerly known as my children, start rising at 5:45 every morning and usually grunt through the …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: fuyu persimmon, hachiya persimmon, how to eat nutritional value

FruitGuy Noir: Ginny Grapefruit

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 4, 2011

It was the kind of month that gave a grown man a hangnail—the really nasty kind that snags easily on wool sweaters in the dry fall air and requires Neosporin and a superhero Band-Aid. I had been …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: citrus, fruitguy noir, grapefruit, health benefits of grapefruit, nutritional info grapefruit, winter

Reflecting on Summer”¦

By Jeff Main on October 26, 2011

By Jeff Main of Good Humus Produce, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop It seems like a long time since I’ve had a chance to touch bases with all of you, as a matter of fact, it has been a long …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: aging, autumn, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, fall, good humus, good humus produce, growing older, harvest, local, nature, older farmers, organic farming, summer, sustainable, young farmers

Steamboat Acres Historic Pear Farm

By Pia Hinckle on October 14, 2011

The Sacramento River Delta was at the center of the California Gold Rush. The northern California town that would be the future state’s capital was the gateway to the goldfields in the Sierra Nevada …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: courtland pear fair, laura neuharth, organic pear farm, organic pears, pear fair, pear farm, pear farming, pear orchard, steamboat acres, tim neuharth

FruitGuy Noir: Sunset Bully-lard

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 11, 2011

Yes, this is Conference Room A, Building 12. It’s about 10 a.m. That’s the Strategy Squad, and they've been here since 5 a.m. Something about reassessing their core. Some confusion was reported from …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: 20th Century Pear, asaju pear, Asian Pear, asian pears, fall, gabriel farm, pears, shinseiki, subarashii kudamono, winter

Ideas of Passion

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 7, 2011

By Chris Mittelstaedt It’s a strange feeling when someone dies who affected your life but whom you never knew personally. I’ve found myself grieving over the passing of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

A Day in The Country

By Judith Redmond on September 14, 2011

courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Top chefs and food purveyors, representing 27 of northern California’s most innovative and creative restaurants, 13 wineries and 8 farms with tastings of their …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: a day in the country, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farmshares, full belly farm, winters, yolo county, yolo land trust

Coco Ranch

By Pia Hinckle on September 7, 2011

Coco Ranch in Davis, California is a labor of love for the House Family. Jennifer and Greg House met at the University of California Davis where they were both studying agriculture. Their certified …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: coco ranch, family farming, global warming, organic apple farm, tomato farm, Weather, young farmers

Irene Hits Farms

By Pia Hinckle on September 7, 2011

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 …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: east, east coast, Farms, hurricane, hurricane irene

Getting Back Up

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 2, 2011

I’ve always been a pretty active person—something 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 …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: chris mittelstaedt, east coast farms, fall, farming, Farms, hurricane damage, hurricane irene, Weather

O’Modern O’Henry!

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 26, 2011

By Chris Mittelstaedt When O’Henry peaches start to appear, I think of O. Henry—the turn-of-the-century American short story writer who wrote The Gift of the Magi, a story about a young married man …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: fall, o'henry, O'Henry Peach, peaches, stone fruit, summer

The Grav-ity of Change

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 14, 2011

Change has come slowly but steadily to the foods we’ve eaten over the last 70 years. While there has been no acute onset to clearly demonstrate the difference between the food of today and yesterday, …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: apples, California, fall, Gravenstein, gravenstein apples, gravenstein history, sonoma county

Great Gravenstein! This Heirloom Apple has a Story to Tell

By FruitGuys Staff on August 13, 2011

Joe has his hands in his pockets, rocking heel to toe gazing into a crate of Gravenstein apples. Barbara Walker, who operates the Walker Apples’ booth, listens to Joe with full attention whilst her …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Gravenstein, Gravenstein Apple, gravensteins, lee walker, sebastopol, sonoma county

Plu…ots

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 4, 2011

Maybe you think I write too much about my kids. I kind of agree, but man, do they give me good material. Last week, for example, when I told them we would be getting pluots for this week’s cases, they …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: Angelcot, aprium, floyd zaiger, hybrid fruit, plumcots, pluot, pluots, stone fruit, summer, Twin Girls Farm

The Pits

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 15, 2011

It’s summer, and I’m 12. We’ve been riding around the block for the last month on our banana-seat bikes. We are a motorcycle gang, with playing cards duct-taped to the back struts of our bike frames, …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Big Apple Goes Green

By Pia Hinckle on July 9, 2011

High Line gets high marks By Pia Hinckle New York has become a leader in urban green renewal. On a visit in June, I found that most of Broadway is now a bicycle path, Times Square is a pedestrian …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: bike path, green city, high line, new york, new york high line, nyc high line, urban gardening

Ripe On Time

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 1, 2011

We’re so organized it’s almost bewildering. All week long, we’ve been going down the checklist helping the kids get ready for camp. “Sleeping bags?” “Got it, Dad!” “Flashlight?” “Daaadd! I’ve got …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: how to pick a ripe nectarine, how to pick a ripe peach, nectarines, peaches, ripening tips, stone fruit, summer

Hartland Cherries: Kauffman’s Fruit Farm

By Heidi Lewis on June 24, 2011

By Heidi Lewis How many people say “worth two in the bush!” when they enter the town limits of Bird-in-Hand in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania? We don’t know, but FruitGuys buyer Jessica says …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News

Whole Earth CSA—Waddell, Arizona

By FruitGuys Staff on June 22, 2011

“In the hierarchy of healthy vegetables, heirlooms are at the top,” says Shyryn Joy. She explains this statement by adding that “they’re closest to their natural order and have the most integrity.” …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News

Health Per Acre

By Judith Redmond on June 8, 2011

By Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm, courtesy of Capay Valley Farm Shop Despite heavy rain, a surprisingly large group of people turned out for the Full Belly Open Farm Day. While we couldn’t …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, full belly farm, health per acre, navdanya, organic farming, organic farming in india, rain, spring, sustainability, sustainable farming

Old Style Custom Meat Market

By Reed Adam on June 1, 2011

By Reed Adam, Capay Valley Farm Shop At first glance, the almost-completed Manas Ranch Old Style Custom Meat Market, located on Highway 16 just east of Esparto, appears identical to the packing …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: capay, Capay Valley, capay valley farm shop, custom meat market, esparto california, manas ranch, manas ranch meats, manas ranch old style custom meat market, small meat farms, sustainable meat, yolo county

Balance the Beat

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 15, 2011

My daughters are in a rock band. One plays bass and the other drums. My 10-year old drummer has a problem with The Go-Go’s song “We Got The Beat.” “I keep losing my beat,” she says. “Have you looked …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: Apricot, aprium, hybrid fruit, nectarines, peaches, plum, plumcot, pluot, stone fruit, stone fruit hybrids, summer, summer fruit

News From Good Humus Produce

By Annie Main on May 11, 2011

By Annie Main of Good Humus Produce I went for a bicycle ride to Esparto on Sunday, Jeff and I had breakfast at Zach and Nicole’s house. I took my camera and stopped for some photos. I took …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: capay valley farm shares, capay valley farms, cover crops, fertilizer, good humus, good humus produce, mustard, soil, spring, wheat

Seedless Citrus

By FruitGuys Staff on May 5, 2011

Q: Why do some citrus have seeds and some don’t? To find out, The FruitGuys asked Emily Thacher Ayala, farmer at Friends’ Ranch in Ojai, CA (Ventura County). Friends’ grows Pixies, not the …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: citrus, friend's ranch, friends ranches, organic citrus, organic oranges, pixie tangerines, seedless tangerines

A Berry by Any Other Name

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 2, 2011

I’m still processing the post-dinner conversation with my kids during which they debated whether feet were officially weird and whether vegans who watch the TV show Glee should be called “vleegans” or …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: albion, albion strawberry, camerosa, camerosa strawberry, chandler strawberries, chandlers, seascape strawberry, strawberry shapes, strawberry types, types of strawberries

FruitGuy Noir: A Handy Case

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 25, 2011

I was soaking my hands in a mixture of Palmolive and probiotic yogurt when I got the call. This was the moment I had been waiting for. Three weeks undercover playing a retired hand model making a …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: fruitguy noir, hand model

Cover Me

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 18, 2011

“Dad,” my daughter says as I get home from work, “Mom was on a field trip with us today and said, "'Hey gang!’ It was so embarrassing.” She looks at me unblinking as if I should understand. “Dad!” she …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: baia nicchia farm, cover crop, cover crops, erosion control, farm steward program, Growing season, improving soil quality, tomato seedlings, weed reduction

Wearing It On Your Sleeve

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 12, 2011

I’m not a good poker player. I generally say what I think, and you can read the thoughts I’m not saying across my forehead as if it were an electronic billboard streaming data for all of Times Square …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: berries, organic strawberries, spring, strawberries, Strawberry, summer

The Importance of Pollinators

By FruitGuys Staff on April 11, 2011

On Saturday, March 12, 2011, a small contingent of FruitGuys joined Cub Scouts from Santa Rosa and participants from the Volunteer Center for Sonoma County at Gabriel Farm in Sebastopol, CA (Sonoma …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News

How Broccoli Will Save Strawberries: Organic Farming Practices Leave Pesticides Aside

By FruitGuys Staff on April 8, 2011

Broccoli Shortcake. Mmmm, can you picture it? Golden cake, florets of green broccoli, and a cloud of sweet whipped cream... What? Doesn’t sound appealing? Do you prefer Strawberry Shortcake? But …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: crop rotation, harmful pesticides, integrated pest management, iodide

Green Oranges?

By The FruitGuys on April 8, 2011

Ever see a green-tinged orange and wonder if it means the fruit isn’t ripe yet? The FruitGuys asked one of its citrus farmers, Emily Ayala of Friend’s Ranch in Ojai, CA (growers of the fabulous Pixie …

Filed Under: Ask the FruitGuys, FruitGuys News Tagged With: friend's ranch, how to pick a sweet orange, ojai california

A Modern Desert

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 4, 2011

I wasn’t really a very good student. Luckily in elementary school, I had a great teacher who helped me after school with spelling. Her name was Mrs. Unruh. She used to devise little tricks to help me …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: community, food access, food desert, Food Revolution, healthy affordable food, healthy food, importance of fresh produce, Jamie Oliver

Cherry Blossoms

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 28, 2011

The sadness of Japan’s natural disaster brings back memories of Katrina for me (my folks are from New Orleans, and I have relatives there). There are those natural routines in the world that we look …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: cherry blossom festivals, cherry blossoms, disaster relief, japan, natural disaster, red cross, spring, wendell berry

Almond Queen: Visioning Capay’s Future

By FruitGuys Staff on March 16, 2011

By Hallie Muller of Full Belly Farm In March of 2011, our small community celebrated a 96-year old tradition: the official crowning of the Almond Queen. In a valley rich with history, this is a …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: almond blossom festival, almond orchard, almond queen, capay valley farms, capay valley vision, esparto high school, full belly farm, future farmers of america, grange, hallie muller, hoes down festival

Graft

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 14, 2011

My daughter broke her pinkie when she was ten years old while battling to catch a football in a Hail Mary melee on the school blacktop. She had surgery to pin the bone together so it would grow back …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: crop diversification, diversify, farming rechniques, fruit trees, graft, grafting

128th Avenue Freeze Out

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 28, 2011

Planning farm visits into California’s Central Valley can be fun. The farmers we work with always remind me of the directions. “Chris, when you come out here, make sure that you take Road 204 but only …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: California, Central Valley, cold snap, farmland, frost, rural roads

Winter into Spring

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 21, 2011

When I was in college, we’d pack the elevator with students, turn off the lights, and yell “Molecule!” The car shook in the shaft as we bounced off of each other and the walls, finally tumbling out …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: cold-storage, produce storage, seasonal change, storage life, storage temperatures

A Leafy Valentine

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 14, 2011

It’s been a long time since I begrudgingly stuffed hard, heart-shaped candies into Snoopy valentines for my New Eagle Elementary School compatriots. A world away from irregularly shaped hearts made …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: photosynthesis, Valentine's Day

Jack LaLanne 1914-2011: Grandfather of the Wellness Movement

By Pia Hinckle on February 7, 2011

Obituary Jack LaLanne was a typical teenager. He ate fast food and candy, loved soda pop, had acne, and didn’t exercise much. But at age 15 his mother took him to hear a lecture by health food …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: Jack Lalane, Jack Lalanne, Jack Lalanne obit, Jack Lalanne obituary, obituary

Stems and Leaves on My Plate

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 7, 2011

There is a scene in The Jerk where Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters are eating at a “fancy French restaurant.” After they splurge on “fresh” wine (“This year! No more of this old stuff!”), Martin …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: mandarin oranges, mandarins, stems and leaves

Capay Valley FarmShares: Collaboration Brings Small Farms to City Tables

By Heidi Lewis on February 7, 2011

From a satellite view, Northern California’s Capay Valley looks like a green quilt caught between the folds of the Coast Range. This makes it good for farming with plenty of clean water from Cache …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Capay Valley, capay valley crate, capay valley farm shop, capay valley farms, terroir

FruitGuy Noir: “Fruit Circus II – Training Day”

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 10, 2011

She was an outcast. A contortionist with a lowercase “c.” “I’m desperate,” she said as she walked into my office on her hands and put her card on my desk with her foot. It looked like she’d worked all …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: Dancy Tangerine, Duncan Grapefruit, Honeybell, Minneola Tangelo

A Citrus Family Holiday

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 7, 2011

So you made it through the holidays (Happy New Year, by the way!) and now you’re wondering what it was all about. Why did cousin Barry wear a kilt and rugby socks to your grandmother’s holiday dinner, …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Obama Signs Food Safety Act into Law: Small Farms Are Exempted from Some Provisions

By Pia Hinckle on January 7, 2011

On January 4, 2011, President Obama signed into law the $1.4 billion Food Safety and Modernization Act, the most sweeping overhaul of the nation’s food industry in 70 years. The law will give the …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: FDA, food and drug administration, food industry, food inspections, food recalls, food safety, food safety act, food safety and modernization act, obama, small farms, usda

Three Sisters Garden

By Heidi Lewis on January 7, 2011

Farmers Tracey Vowell and Kathe Roybal came to farming after careers in the restaurant world. Tracey was managing chef at Frontera, a Rick Bayless restaurant in downtown Chicago, where she helped …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: beans, corn, huitlacoche, illinois, kankakee river, popcorn, squash, Three Sisters Garden

FruitGuy Noir: Satsuma Rainbow

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 13, 2010

Calls were flying in like bats through a window at a mosquito family reunion. It was just my luck that someone had forgotten to smack me with two fistfuls of citronella aftershave. It was that kind of …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: how to eat satsumas, Satsuma, satsumas

I’m Just a Bill

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 6, 2010

Have you heard about the food safety bill that the U.S. Senate passed in December of 2006? If made law, it will radically change the way U.S. food is grown and processed. The lead story in our online …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: food safety, food safety bill, regionally farmed apples, satsumas, sustainable farms, sustainable practices

New Food Safety Bill Passes Senate: Amendments Support Smallest Farms

By Pia Hinckle on December 3, 2010

The U.S. Senate passed the Food Safety and Modernization Act (S. 510) on November 30th, 2010, the most sweeping overhaul of food safety regulations of the century, spurred by food-borne illness …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: family farms, food safety, food safety and modernization act, food safety bill, small farms

Winter Work: How Farmers Finish up the Year

By Heidi Lewis on November 29, 2010

What does winter weather mean for you? A change in work wardrobe from grey to black? From seersucker to faux fur? Maybe a change in your bike commute? We contacted two of the farmers we work with to …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: Agriculture, farms in winter, Weather, winter on a farm, winter on the farm

Being Frank with Ben

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 7, 2010

Ben Franklin is known for a lot of things. From signing the Declaration of Independence and later the Constitution to kicking back with his buddies for a bit of experimenting in electricity, …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apples, beer, Benjamin Franklin, vegetarian, workplace health

Crazy Halloween Names

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 31, 2010

I hope you had a scary and spooky Halloween week, the kind that would make proud the scarf-wearing kids from Scooby-Doo. Mine was terrifying, and it started like this: I came home from work and asked …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: halloween, how to eat a pomegranate, pomegranate, pomegranite

LBAM—Two Countries, One Moth

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 25, 2010

I try to stay out of agricultural politics. I’d rather support farmers by buying their wonderful produce without having to testify on their behalf. Sometimes, however, circumstances land on your …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: agricultural politics, apple farm, apples, blue moon organics, California, farmers, light brown apple moth, New Zealand, quarantine

How Do I Love Bee?

By Heidi Lewis on October 7, 2010

Farmer-Beekeepers Count the Ways Honey from bees is quite the miracle. Why does it taste so good? And why does it have so many healing properties? Many scientists have studied the organization of …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, bee hives, bee pollen, beekeepers, beekeeping, beekind, bees, gabriel farm, honey, honey bees, royal jelly

Passion, I See, is Catching

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 4, 2010

Mr. Brown is in the kitchen, head down, looking for a spork. Ms. Bright walks into the room and heads to The FruitGuys crate. They smile at one another, nervous to acknowledge the habit they have both …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, Passion Fruit

As The World Tilts

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 10, 2010

Time for this year’s installment of that Fall classic: “As The World Tilts” (SCENE: FADE IN - A FruitGuys crate sits on an office kitchen counter; orange-bristly sunlight streams in through the …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apples, fall fruit, late summer peaches, pears

Mother Knows Best 2010

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 7, 2010

My mother-in-law, in her infinite wisdom, always makes sure to let her grandchildren know that peeling fruit is not a good idea. “Don’t be Mr. Peeler, the vitamin stealer,” she tells them. I’ve always …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: antioxidants, apple skin, apples, cancer, fall, harold mcgee, Nutrition, pears, peels, phytochemicals, vitamins

Celebrate with an Apple

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 23, 2010

Our FruitGuys softball team has a motto: “More runs than injuries.” Up until last week, we hadn’t yet won a game, but we were wildly successful with our safety goals. Mom would be proud. This past …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apple, apples, article, harold mcgee, pear, pears, pome, pome fruits, softball

It Takes a Village: California Town Saves Heirloom Apple

By FruitGuys Staff on August 13, 2010

The Gravenstein Apple is dear to many apple lovers for its tart taste and superior juice, sauce, and pie abilities, but it is especially dear to the residents of Sebastopol, CA (Sonoma County) where …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: ark of taste, article, Gravenstein Apple, gravenstein apple fair, Gravenstein Apple Presidia, Presidia, sebastopol, slow food russian river

The Great Local Fruit Shark

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 9, 2010

During Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, and my all-things-marine-life son is loving it. Between South African great white sharks that launch themselves into the air after yelping seals, and the …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, Discovery Channel, local produce, regional produce, Shark Week, suport small farms

Tale of a Scientist Farmer

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 19, 2010

Ed Magee spends his days thinking about sunlight. When he isn’t working on his 38-acre orchard of white peaches and nectarines in Vernalis, California, he’s in a lab studying the energy of …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, E & M Farm, E&M Farm, Ed Magee, Farm Steward, nectarines, organic farming, owl box, owls, peach orchard, peaches, scientist, sustainability, white peaches

Fruit & Veggie Magic

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 12, 2010

Fruito the Ripenificent was a world famous fruit magician. For years he had competed for top billing against Vern the Vegetastic until Vern suffered a fatal injury while trying to extricate himself …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, nectarines, peaches, ripeness, ripening fruit, stone fruit

Sustaining Sustainable

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 6, 2010

As an ex-suburban Philadelphia kid now turned Californian, I find myself drawn to stories of the underdog. Gosh knows the Philly area is full of tales of heroes on the brink who have pulled it back …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Riding the Peach Train

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 21, 2010

In the pantheon of great lyrical misunderstandings, I remember this: summer sunlight circa the mid-1970s and me dancing around our living room while singing at the top of my lungs to the “The Age of …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, nectarines, Peach, peaches, pluot, stone fruit, summer

Pest Policy Questioned: Panelists say Quarantines Unfair to California Farmers

By Pia Hinckle on June 16, 2010

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 …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: alliance to stop the spray, article, blue moon organics, California, chris mittelstaedt, commonwealth club, farming, LBAM, light brown apple moth, pesticides, quarantine, stop the spray

The Season of Cherries

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 14, 2010

I have many favorite fruits but cherries hold a special place in my heart. Maybe it’s because their harvest period is relatively short; or maybe it’s because they just taste so good—whatever the …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, cherries, cherry season, fresh fruit, Kauffman's, Kauffman's Fruit Farm, seasonal fruit

Preservation Harvest

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 7, 2010

When the price of corn started going up in Exeter, California due to high demand for ethanol, Mr. Herrera, an owner of 22 acres of family farmland, nearly plowed under his 40-year-old plum orchard. …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, family farms, organic, preservation harvest, ronnie gutierrez, small family farms, small farms

Capay Valley FarmShares

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 1, 2010

In elementary school, some friends and I went through a phase where we had dreams of being city planners. We diagrammed a world of baseball diamonds and arcades and woods with bike paths that somehow …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, Capay Valley, collaborative, CSA, FarmShares, take home, TakeHome, Yolo Country

FruitGuy Noir in Peachy Keen

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 24, 2010

Nick fell into my office crying like an Italian sub forced onto sprouted wheat that had run aground on Mixed Metaphor Island. “Fire all morta-della-pedos!” he shouted in meat panic. He was in …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, Peach, peaches, White Peach, Yellow Peach

A Peachy Mothers Day

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 10, 2010

Chrissy W., a Fruitguys customer service expert, flies me back to South Carolina on a magic carpet woven just for Mother’s Day from matriarchal memory threads in a southern storytelling …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, mothers day, Peach, peaches

Of Rabbit Holes & Writing Desks

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 3, 2010

Nessie, the six-month-old chocolate lab, tears through the house wanting nothing more than to lick the cat until it becomes her friend. A puffed up and spitting blur of fur trailed by a bottle brush …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, cherries, cherry, early peaches, peaches, spring, stone fruit

Office to Home; Inside to Out

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 26, 2010

In my daydreaming mind, skyscrapers in cities all across America turn Chia Pet and sprout Alfalfa as a cover crop on their roofs; highway medians spontaneously erupt with tomato vines causing traffic …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, strawberries, take home, TakeHome

Swords into Ploughs

By Heidi Lewis on April 20, 2010

It’s quiet at Kokopelli organic berry farm except for the occasional proud exultation of a laying hen. Farmer Dr. Shepherd Bliss loves it that way; the quiet gives him peace after his own …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: agropsychology, agrotherapy, article, california farm link, ecotherapy, farmer veteran coalition, farming therapy, farms not arms, fvc, healing, kokopelli, Shepherd Bliss, swords to ploughshares, veterans

Banana Jungle

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 19, 2010

Every summer when I was kid we would visit my grandparents in New Orleans. My dad’s folks lived in Metairie, a parish just outside the city near Lake Pontchartrain in a small, brick, one-story house. …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: acid reflux, antacid, article, Banana, banana trees, bananas, louisiana, magnesium, manganese, new orleans, potassium, serotonin, vitamin b

The Sound of Cold at Night

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 12, 2010

As a kid, I always looked forward to springtime. Winter didn’t just mean less sunlight and standing at a bus stop early in the morning in a red down jacket trying to quickly mound up disparate …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, crops, farming, frost, fruit trees, may full moon, spring, spring frost, Weather

Chris Mittelstaedt’s LBAM Testimony

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 6, 2010

Chairman Florz, vice-Chair Maldonado and esteemed members of the Senate Committee on Food and Agriculture – thank you for taking the time to hear testimony today about the light brown apple moth and …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: LBAM, light brown apple moth, News

Mothra Update

By Pia Hinckle on April 6, 2010

In March, California held senate hearings on the status of the state’s eradication program for the Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM). FruitGuys founder and CEO Chris Mittelstaedt testified in defense of …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, LBAM, light brown apple moth, News

The Spring Transition

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 5, 2010

In the fruit world, spring is the hardest time of year. Summer brings its abundance of stone fruits, Fall its apples, pears, persimmons, and pomegranates, and Winter all varieties of citrus that grow …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, blueberries, grown in USA, local, regional, spring, stone fruit, strawberries

Seeds for Schools

By Heidi Lewis on March 30, 2010

What could be a more evocative image for our future than a child's palm-full of seeds? A shipment of seeds from The Natural Gardening Company in Petaluma, CA arrived at The FruitGuys last week …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: FFVP, fresh fruit and vegetable program, fruit for school, fruit grant, school fruit, usda

A Natural Belly

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 29, 2010

My daughter walks into the kitchen like a drill sergeant as we are getting ready for dinner. “OK everyone!” she yells. “Belly check!” We all look at each other as she approaches my wife. “Shirt UP!” …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, belly, belly button, fructose, fruit sugar, high fructose corn syrup, honey, mercury, sugar

Plum Tree Tales

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 23, 2010

The plum tree in my backyard is awake with white blossoms that shine silver in the moonlight and cluster on the dark wood branches like downy-snow. These small, soft, flowery nests attract wobbly …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, blossoms, photosynthesis, plum tress, plums, spring

Deep Thoughts on Nature: An Ode to Jack Handy

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 15, 2010

Have I mentioned how impressed I am with nature? I mean, all those things it does for us, like make the trees magically bud and the gnomes come out and those talking cloud creatures. Even after the …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: vitamin C

Camp Garbology

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 8, 2010

I’m a chaperone on my son’s 3-day, 5th-grade outdoor education trip. We’re on a bus heading back from a camp in Santa Cruz. As my head bobs against the cool glass window, I’m jarred out of a twilight …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, carbon footprint, compost, composting, conservation, energy footprint, garbage, garbology, leftover food, reducing waste, waste

Fruit Olympics

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 2, 2010

Bob: “Jane, we’re here in client services where Engineering is finally getting the chance to redeem themselves against Outbound Marketing. It’s been a tough winter Olympic season for Engineering whose …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apples, article, break, citrus, cruz farm, Gala Apple, minneola, Minneola Tangelo, olympics, Pinova Apple, sports, winter season

Ponce Upon A Time. . .

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 21, 2010

Day 26: The marsh of cubicles has cursed our party. We lost Lenny two days ago to the gurgling fried dough found in the quicksand pits of a budget-planning meeting. Sue has been eating the native …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, citrus, copy machine, cubicle, fruit, grapefruit, minneola, Nutrition, office, Tangelo, Tangerine

Layers of Health and Goggles

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 15, 2010

Lily, my four-year-old niece, who says things like, “Daddy, are you satisfied?” or “Mommy, what does the word "comely" mean?” decided last weekend that when going to swimming lessons one has a duty to …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: activity, ageing, aging, article, clothing, exercise, fit, Fitness, fruit, health, healthy, humor, stress, stress reduction

The Book of Citrus

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 9, 2010

Jonathan Sauer, in his book Historical Geography of Crop Plants: A Select Roster, notes that “Almost nothing is certain about the natural geography and ecology of truly wild citrus. Both the …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, citrus, grapefruit, lemon, lime, mandarin, minneola, murcot, Murcott, orange, pixie, pomello, pomelo, pumello, pumelo, Satsuma, Tangelo, Tangerine

The Lessons of Nature

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 1, 2010

When we look for lessons in life, it’s not often that we can say: “Hey, check with the slime mold.” However, in The New York Times science section, there was a story about how researchers in Japan …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, eco farm, ecofarm, Farm Steward, FruitGuys Farm Steward Program, Kauffman's, Kauffman's Fruit Farm, natural world, nature, owl, owl box, owl boxes, owls, PASA, peaches, rodent control, science, stone fruits, sustainability, sustainable

Profile: Chaffin Family Orchards

By Heidi Lewis on January 22, 2010

Oroville, CA - Oroville is a gold rush town in Butte County, CA. Oro means gold in Spanish, and during the Gold Rush prospectors stampeded over the area in a greedy frenzy. When Del Chaffin came to …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, avocado, Chaffin Family Farm, chaffin family orchard, cherries, chickens, citrus, cows, eggs, figs, fruit trees, heirloom fruit, jam, land management, lemons, mandarins, olives, Peach, peaches, persimmon, pesticides, pests, Satsuma, satsuma trees, sheep, symbiosis, table mountain, wool

Cirrus Nimbus in: The Guarantee

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 19, 2010

Once upon a time, there was a little girl (she was a Libra for those who follow that stuff) whose mother was an amateur meteorologist. She dreamed of growing up and becoming the best weather …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, astrology, cirrus, cold, fruit, guarantee, meterology, Weather, winter

FruitGuy Noir in “Like a Fish Needs a Motorcycle”

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 12, 2010

I was already on my second cup of hot water with lemon when the phone rang. “FruitGuy, are you experienced with Vegans?” The voice on the other end didn’t sound alien but I wasn’t taking chances. …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: antioxidants, article, Blood Orange, citrus, fish, fruitguy noir, motorcycle

Start Me Up

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 4, 2010

At dinner one night, I announced a grand holiday idea: “I think we should road trip this year when we go visit my folks,” I said enthusiastically. My wife and kids just stared. “Come on! No airports. …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apple, article, caffeine, coffee, energy, kids, new year, road trip

Gimme a C for Citrus!

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 7, 2009

When I was 15, I had two secret wishes: first to become a ninja, second to be an astronaut. As I was already practicing my throwing-stars and rubber nunchucks skills in the backyard, I decided to join …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: aloe, article, astronaut, citrus, grapefruit, harold mcgee, medication, medicine, ninja, on food and cooking, vitamin C, winter fruit

FruitGuy Noir: Citrus Rules

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 30, 2009

I was on the outs with the in-laws. Thanksgiving had added lesson number 816 to my little black book of lessons I should have been born with. You know that kind of book—we all keep one. It starts with …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, citrus, in-laws, lessons, noir, orange satsuma, satsumas, Thanksgiving, turkey, Twin Girls Farm

Letter from Chris

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 20, 2009

It's Bike To Work week! We're big supporters of physical activity here at The FruitGuys. Check out our article below about biking to work. Do a search for "bicycle coalition" + your city to see what …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: Arkansas Black apple, bike to work week, exercise, video

The Fountain of Fruit

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 20, 2009

Day 26: The marsh of cubicles has cursed our party. We lost Lenny two days ago to the gurgling fried dough found in the quicksand pits of a budget planning meeting. Sue has been eating the native …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: humor, workplace wellness

Taste for a Red Bouncy Ball

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 20, 2009

Here are two things that happened within a half an hour of each other: first, I was in a book store looking for a gift when I spied a rack of books that, for lack of a better description, can only be …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, blueberries, slow food

Once in a Mango Nectarine

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 20, 2009

When I first came across the Mango Nectarine, I felt David Byrne of Talking Heads fame well up within me. I couldn’t help but ask the big lyrical questions: “Am I finding myself in a hot-sun snack? …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Orange Smiles

By FruitGuys Staff on November 20, 2009

The Valencia oranges in the crates this week are especially juicy. When divided into sections, each segment appears to be a little juice pouch. They are wonderful chilled, divvied, and shared. The …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: citrus, Valencia oranges

Chris Mittelstaedt Featured in Entrepreneur Magazine!

By FruitGuys Staff on November 20, 2009

Our founder/CEO Chris Mittelstaedt was featured in the September 2008 issue of Entrepreneur magazine. …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: pr, publicity

Early 20th Century-Pear in the 21st Century

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 20, 2009

Technology and life in general advance so quickly around us that sometimes it's hard to imagine what the future will really hold: What products will last? What will become obsolete? Sure, there are …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, asian pears, Nijisseiki Pear

Lifetime Contribution to Sonoma County Agriculture

By FruitGuys Staff on November 20, 2009

Congratulations to longtime friend and farmer Lee Walker. Lee is being awarded the “Lifetime Contribution to Sonoma County Agriculture” by the 2008 Sonoma Harvest Fair. The Harvest Fair is an annual …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: apple farm, apple farmer, lee walker, sebastopol

Way Back Machine

By Heidi Lewis on November 20, 2009

Recently Google celebrated their 10th anniversary. In honor of their birthday, they posted one of their oldest indexes. A search unearthed The FruitGuys very first webpage and a flashback to the early …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, farming, flash backs

As the Season Turns: from Grapes to Persimmons

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 20, 2009

Here’s Jeff. . . Fruit Friends – I’ve been taking a break from writing the weekly newsletter and wanted to formally introduce Jeff Koelemay who has been filling in for me. In the spirit of the …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: fruitguys, introduction

A Fruitful Holiday Season

By Jeff Koelemay on November 20, 2009

Fruit + Mouth = YUM When you read a digital clock, do you try to make equations out of the time? When you're driving, do you calculate factors of the mile markers and add license plate numbers up to …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, Satsuma, Zipper-Peel Mandarin

Bees vs. Seeds

By FruitGuys Staff on November 19, 2009

Many FruitGuys customers love seedless mandarins and grapes - they've become increasingly popular and even expected. But did you ever wonder how they get the seeds out? There are many varieties of …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, seedless grapes, seedless mandarins

FruitGuy Noir

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 19, 2009

The Case of the Crate on the Web They were standing around the FruitCrate when all heck broke loose. Jane was trying to convince John that "grapefruit" descended from a dinosaur egg-sized fruit-grape …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, fruit delivery, humor

Myth Buster

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 19, 2009

By Chris Mittelstaedt On May 12th, 2007, the kids are still awake. My daughter has a quizzical look on her face as she skeptically slides her freshly-lost tooth under her pillow in a legal-sized …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apriums, article, gmo, humor, hybrid fruit, tooth fairy

As The Orchard Turns 2

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 19, 2009

[SCENE: In a box on the back of a farmer's truck on the way to The FruitGuys.] NECTAR: To be or not to be! That is my question. Whether it is better to suffer the branches and soil of an …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: humor, nectar, nectarines

Fruit = Intelligence

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 19, 2009

Fruit is so good that scientists think it may make chimps smarter. "Chimpanzees remember the exact location of all their favorite fruit trees," wrote Matt Walker on Earth News (A BBC.com website). …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, chimpanzees, Earth News, fruit trees

Heavenly Angelcots

By Heidi Lewis on November 19, 2009

“They're here! They're here!” The FruitGuys' buyers exclaim as if they were kids and a favorite rapscallion uncle has just pulled up in a convertible Caddy with a trunk load of fireworks. FruitGuys’ …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: Angelcot, Angelcots, apricot variety, article, heavenly angelcots, hybrid, Maggiore

Back to Suburban Nature

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 19, 2009

By Chris Mittelstaedt Wayne, PA, June 1981. It’s a hazy and humid gray-blue Saturday, and the summer beetles are whistle-clicking as I push the riding mower backward out from the garage. I’m in …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: Angelcots, article, California peaches, cherries, fruit mime, nectarines

Cats and Peaches

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 19, 2009

When my grandfather was in his 80s, weak and suffering through the New Orleans summer heat, a dark yellow cat appeared at his back door in Metairie, Louisiana. The house was raised on cinder blocks …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, cats, how to pick a peach, peaches, white peaches

Good Morning Starshine

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 19, 2009

Here are two things that I secretly wish sometimes: 1. That interpretative dance was an acceptable way to start a company meeting. 2. That I hadn’t tried to leap from my desk and spin on the …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, farming, video, white peaches

Profile: Johnson Orchards, Ukiah (Mendocino County) CA

By Heidi Lewis on November 18, 2009

Nestled in the Ukiah Valley, sandwiched between the famous Napa Valley and the redwoods of Mendocino County, is Johnson Orchards, a family farm for more than a century and home to some of the tastiest …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News Tagged With: article, family farming, Johnson Orchards, Ukiah Valley

Farm Profile: Lehman’s Orchard (Michigan)

By Heidi Lewis on November 18, 2009

Steve Lecklider wasn't always a farmer. He was a professional clarinet musician playing classical music in South Bend, Indiana. Now he runs Lehman's Orchard with his parents, both retired teachers. …

Filed Under: Farms, FruitGuys News

Orange You Glad I Said Persimmon

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 18, 2009

There are always times you regret. Like when I was six years old, and I only knew two jokes. One was the standard knock-knock joke—“Knock, knock,” “Who’s there?” “Banana.” “Banana who?” “Knock, …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: beta carotene, persimmon

Get Back!

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 6, 2009

Here's the thing about modern living. At 40 years old, I can form a rock band that gets top billing in my living room. Rehearsals are quick, and I tower over my band mates who barely crest four feet, …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Mr. Brown and Ms. Bright

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 30, 2009

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Bonne Automne

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 16, 2009

We just got back from a trip to Southwest France to visit Jacky, my wife's ailing 82-year-old grand cousin. She's a very sweet lady who slaps your face when she is happy with you, lives in the tiny …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Watering for Winter

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 5, 2009

My three-year-old niece takes a sip from her paper water cup and stops mid-gulp. Her pink Minnie Mouse ears are slipping. She purses her lips intently, tilts her head back and looks skyward as she …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Squeaky Pear

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 25, 2009

I'm just about to climb the Grapevine on I-5 South into LA when I get the call on my cell. "Papa," my daughter's voice sounds thin like she's trying to hold back tears. "Is Squeaky with you?" She …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

The Art of Asian Pears

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 18, 2009

It's my humble opinion that Asian Pears are not only one of the tastiest of all fall fruit treats but also one of the most beautiful. The flavor of the different Asian Pear varieties plays in your …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

The Friendly Butterscotch

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 14, 2009

Scott, the Firebird-drivingm, WYSP-FM-listening, tan and mustachioed manager of the Friendly's ice cream restaurant in the King of Prussia mall, is scowling at me. I'm only a few months into my first …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Swimmer Meet Orchard Walker

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 31, 2009

I took a late vacation in 2009 - one week at the end of August up at the Russian River in Northern California. We rent a small house that's down a bumpy one-lane road, up and over hills, and through …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Spoon at a Pie-Knife Fight

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 18, 2009

I felt pretty good going into Sebastopol’s Gravenstein Apple Fair as a rookie pie judge last weekend - just little bites I kept telling myself. As we sat under the tent around a card table, our chairs …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apple fair, apple pie, pie, pie contest

Shadows

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 14, 2009

"Mama, I woke up at 3:19 this morning!" my 8-year-old daughter announces to my wife. My wife, who has the superhuman ability to raise just the end of one eyebrow as if tugged on an invisible string, …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Purple Hair and Purple Plums

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 7, 2009

Popi's brown Chrysler smelled of warm leather, 70s dashboard plastic, starched shirts, white mint Tic-Tacs, and something atomized that I couldn't quite make out that felt powdery and sticky in the …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Captain Chlorophyll

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 3, 2009

It comes up all the time. In cafes, at dinner parties, just chatting with folks on the bus in the morning: "When you play "superhero," what's your special power?" Sometimes I say underwater breathing, …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

A Peach of Memory

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 20, 2009

By Chris Mittelstaedt At this time of year, new varieties of peaches come in and out of harvest each week, evolving from early June tartness to the cinnamony-sweet notes of late August. As I track …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

FruitGuy Noir in The Blueberry Trail

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 6, 2009

It was 2 pm when Jane called and asked for my assistance. "The IT department did it again," she sighed. "Where is he?" I asked. "In the server room." I walked past the IT team and heard the high …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Coming up Triple Cherries

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 8, 2009

I'm not a big gambler. I never knew when to hold em' or when to fold em' and if I walked away I wouldn't know where to go, or if I should saunter or skip or something. My first trip to Vegas was only …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

As The Orchard Turns

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 26, 2009

[SCENE: Orchard. Dappled sunlight falls softly. Ripe fruit hangs on trees.] DAD: Nectar? NECTAR: Yes, dad. DAD: Well, son, we have something to tell you. Mom and I have been thinking that …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Season: Winsummer…?

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 11, 2009

Some things just seem impossible to have together: a blizzard in Miami in July; midnight and noon at the same time; flippers and feet. But once in a while a strange convergence of natural coincidences …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

You Never Can Tell with Bees

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 20, 2009

Sometimes things just don't work out. Take the time I wanted to build a hovercraft from a lawnmower. Or the time that a 6th grader convinced me that if I sang Pink Floyd's “Another Brick in the Wall” …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Fruit Games and Rain

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 13, 2009

If I were a betting man, I'd wager most of you know about the board game "Hi, Ho! Cherry-O." It's a simple game, originally released in 1965, where a spinner tells players how many cherries they gain …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Muscat Love

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 30, 2009

FruitFriends, most of you now understand the way popular culture and random-access memory connects us to fruit. This week's newsletter started out no differently when I heard there would be delicious …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Fruit On First

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 2, 2009

This March in History: March 1938. Abbott and Costello debuted their famous "Who's On First" baseball routine for a national radio audience 71 years ago this month, and their classic comedic gem …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Federal Fruit and Presidential Palates

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 16, 2009

Whether corner, cubicle, home, or Oval, The FruitGuys believes all offices are created equal in their right to have fresh fruit and nutritious fare available in the workplace. In honor of Presidents' …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

ORANGE = EGNARO

By Jeff Koelemay on December 8, 2008

The sound is deafening. In the post-Thanksgiving haze of sleeping babies and whispering adults tip-toeing on sock feet, the plastic-on-plastic rumbling of the Boggle game sounds like a string of …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

This Week in History: 7 letters, rhymes with Puma…

By Jeff Koelemay on December 1, 2008

1938 - Bartholomew Cubbins takes off first of 500 hats 1957 - IBM 704 plots Sputnik's exact orbit over a period of six days 1981 - Kwicky Koala premiers following The SuperFriends Hour, 8 am …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Here’s Jeff…

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 11, 2008

Fruit Friends—I wanted to formally introduce Jeff Koelemay, who has been filling in for me. In the spirit of the FruitGuys family, Jeff is not only a longtime employee who has done everything from …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: fuyu, persimmon

The Fonz and the Grapes (Aesop’s “Happy Days”)

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 3, 2008

By Chris Mittelstaedt Early November 1975. Richie, Chachi, and Ralph Malph are drinking milkshakes at Arnold's Drive-In Restaurant, swapping wholesome fantasy stories about catsuit-clad rock star …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, fonzie, happy days, the fonz

Move Over Charlie Brown, it’s the Great Pomegranate!

By Jeff Koelemay on October 27, 2008

By Jeff Koelemay Dracula and Linus walk into a Halloween pumpkin patch. Linus says, "Hey, are you waiting for the great pumpkin too?" Dracula strokes his pointy chin and looks a little embarrassed. …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article, fall, halloween, health benefits of pomegranate, how to eat a pomegranate, October, pomegranate

How to Measure Taste

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 6, 2008

"Dad," my seven-year-old daughter, whispers. "Yes," I grunt. She's standing next to my bed at 6 am on Saturday morning. "Do you have a ruler?" I open one eye. "Huh?" I croak. "A ruler," she says. …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Play it again Passion

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 21, 2008

In a past post, I wrote about Passion Fruit. A lot of you had questions about this tasty, interesting and fun fruit. I wanted to play this newsletter one more time for those of you who missed it just …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Exchanging Summer for “Sha-na-na-na-na” Fall

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 8, 2008

The first time I traveled out of the United States, I remember going into a bank with my parents to change money. This was sometime in the 80s when you still had to go to a bank or currency exchange …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

In Which Bartlett Pear Meets a Figalump

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 24, 2008

As you may have learned last week, Bartlett Pear, known to his friends as Many-of-Two, or Two for short, was a wondrous kind of fruit, that is, A Pear Who Wondered. One end-of-summer-day that we'll …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Silly Old Pear

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 18, 2008

Bartlett Pear, known to his friends as Many-of-Two, or Two for short, was hanging on a tree at Jelich Ranch in Portola Valley, California, singing proudly to himself. He had invented this little song …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Flames that quench

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 28, 2008

Red Flames may not be what people want to hear about in a month of record wildfires, but these are the delicious thirst-quenching kind. Red Flame Grapes are the first eating grapes of the season to …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: article

Lava lamp of fruit

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 14, 2008

So it's a hot summer day at work, and you're looking through The FruitGuys fruit crate thinking about what would be the most refreshing piece you could pick when the light glances just right off the …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

A History of Apricots in the USA

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 30, 2008

My wife recently finished writing a book with two other authors on California legal history. In it, she wrote of the early industry in the San Francisco Bay Area. It's hard to imagine amongst the …

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Peach Fuzz

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 16, 2008

1992: Twenty-two years old, and I'm an East Coast transplant living the San Francisco writer's dream. I've been taking a fiction workshop out of a woman's home in Noe Valley. It starts when she has …

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Duho! The Donut Peach

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 2, 2008

Don't be afraid - this is not Homer Simpson's donut. This donut is not fried or powdered or sugared. It's not meant to be dunked or hoarded or stuffed into some flour-covered, winking baker's …

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The Days of Our Earth

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 26, 2008

"Like Fruit in the FruitGuys crate, we see the changing of the seasons, because these are the days of our earth!" Organ music dramatically plays as we fade in on peaches and a handful of apricots in a …

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Spokes and Snaps

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 12, 2008

We're big supporters of physical activity here at The FruitGuys. Dan challenged the office to competitive commuting during Bike to Work week 2008: Bridget is racking up 15 to 30 miles a day, Scott's …

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The other stuff we do

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 6, 2008

The college application process was not an easy one for me. I didn't know where I wanted to go to school, and I certainly didn't know how to encapsulate my essence in an essay. I finally settled on …

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Hues, Blues and Pears in Haikus

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 28, 2008

It's transition time: the time of year when all of a sudden you look up and notice that the light is waking you up before your alarm clock and evening is stretching longer with warm and pleasant hues. …

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Low-Down on the Banana Show

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 21, 2008

We've had some questions recently about the availability and rising cost of bananas in the grocery store. We've still been able to provide bananas to those clients who want them, but I thought it was …

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Nature’s Kiss

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 14, 2008

Here is what I loved back in 1978: White Tic-Tacs and flying with my dad in his small single-engine airplane. Every year our family would load up and skim the clouds from Philadelphia to New Orleans …

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Spring and Wellness

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 7, 2008

When April rolls around, the sunlight beams a little brighter, the days last a little longer, and I start to think about spring cleaning. The piles on my desk that I haven't moved in a month twitter …

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Road-Trip Dreams

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 31, 2008

During Spring Break one year, we road-tripped up to Seattle. Wildflowers, lush green pastures, and snow-dusted mountains filled the windows of our car as we roll north on I-5. My son looked up from …

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Clues to the Berry Blues

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 17, 2008

In a city filled with gumshoes and private eyes, there's one guy they call to fill in the blanks when it comes to fruit investigations. That's me - FruitGuy noir. I got my start way back in 1974 - you …

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Panning for Gold Nuggets & Temple Oranges

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 10, 2008

There's "Gold" in them-there darn citrus groves! Spring is the darn-tootinist time of the year for citrus, and we've got different varieties in our FruitCrates depending on where you are in the …

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Mothra versus California

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 3, 2008

In "Mothra Vs. Godzilla," Mothra devastates a city while in its larval stage only to re-emerge from its cocoon to join Batra in the fight against Godzilla. Together they save society at large, and the …

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Why Kick the Soda Habit?

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 10, 2008

Because soda, and diet soda, in particular, is one of the most common drinks available in offices, I wanted to share with you an article I saw in the Tuesday, February 5, 2008, New York Times by …

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NEWSFLASH: Lawn Darts Aerate Soil Like Worms!

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 27, 2008

I thought I had the Great American Novel by the tailback in 1995. I grew up in the suburbs where old Pennsylvania farmland - the kind painted by Andrew Wyeth - had been mixed and cooked into 3/4 acre …

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Terrell

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 21, 2008

Usually I like to keep these newsletters upbeat, fruit-filled and funny (hopefully you're laughing with me and not at me) but I feel I would be doing a disservice if I didn't note with great sadness …

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It’s Cold Outside, but What Does it Mean?

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 14, 2008

When I was in college, we'd pack the elevator with students, turn off the lights, and yell - "Molecule!" The car shook in the shaft as we bounced off of each other and the walls, finally tumbling out …

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This Year it’s Personal

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 7, 2008

One of the things that I love about the culture we have here at FruitGuys is that our business is personal. Some might think that's a dangerous strategy - how much do you really want to know about …

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FruitGuy Noir in “Fruit Circus”

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 24, 2007

It was midday when I got the call. I knew from the voice on the other end of the phone that I was in for a doozy. And that was before he said, "Buddy, you're in for a doozy." I pulled on my coat, …

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Nature as Medicine

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 10, 2007

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The Sensational Inspirational Satsuma

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 3, 2007

Ronnie Gutierrez stopped by to drop off a fresh harvest of Satsumas from his 6-acre grove in Porterville. Ronnie has worked on converting this farm from conventional to organic. His hard work is …

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Give Thanks & Cleanse Palate

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 26, 2007

Ah, Thanksgiving memories. Take for example that holiday in the mid-80's when my dad was in the basement, sprawled flat on his stomach on the cold-concrete floor, with his hand in the sump-pump which …

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The Battle for Middle Earth and Middle Girth

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 11, 2007

San Francisco Bay was invaded in 2007 by 58,000 gallons of oil and fuel after a container ship hit one of the support beams of the Bay Bridge. Super FruitGuys Rebecca and Bridget jumped into action …

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A Fruit Surprise October 29, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 29, 2007

This story cracks me up every time. . . My daughter walks into the kitchen, holding a chess board. "Dad, can you play chess with me?" Surprised, I say: "Sure, do you know how to play chess?" Her …

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Fall Market September 24, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 24, 2007

One of my fondest childhood memories of fall was going with my mother to the Lancaster Farmers Market on Lancaster Pike in Strafford, Pennsylvania. The market was inside a huge old fluorescently-lit …

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Cute as a Pear Fairy

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 17, 2007

My girls are on the playground twirling with their arms held out. "Let's play the Fairy Game," they say. They don't say it very loudly, but somehow, almost telepathically, all the six-year-old girls …

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The Annual Fall Fruit Opera

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 8, 2007

It's that time of year again: "Newsletter Classics." The time when I re-run an oldie but a goodie. The actors may have changed slightly but the characters and the plot are always the same. …

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Spreading Happiness September 3, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 4, 2007

During my freshman year in college, everyone made each class choice seem dire and grave: "Are you sure you're making the right choice? This is the rest of your life you're talking about here." To let …

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The Face of Fruit August 20, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 20, 2007

Cruising south on the I-5 outside of Kettlemen City, the bow of the minivan cuts into the asphalt like a compass needle fixing us on a distant center of magnetic attraction known as Legoland. The kids …

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The Fruit Report

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 13, 2007

Harvest Flyer Crates I know we've found a great piece of fruit when, during the taste testing, my mouth starts acting involuntarily, and I can't stop eating fruit until there is nothing but pit left …

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Flavor Pacifists July 30, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 30, 2007

Most fruit is named for the farmer (or someone close to the farmer) that cultivated it. Sometimes it is named for a fantastical image that the fruit conjures in mind. Take for example the Elberta …

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Russian River Gravs July 23, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 23, 2007

The Russian River in Northern California bends quietly through the thick redwood covered hills of Sonoma County. Communities of shingled, dark wood river houses are tucked into the musky groves and …

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California Dreaming July 16, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 16, 2007

I grew up pretty naive. Before moving from my home town of Philadelphia in the early '90s, I didn't know what to expect of Northern California. I thought that nude beaches were the punch line of a …

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FruitGuys Bananas on Youtube.com July 9, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 8, 2007

I have a confession to make. I love being The Banana. And I just made my world-wide debut on www.youtube.com/user/fruitguys. My fruit-buddy Beth Lisick was with me at an event in Las Vegas recently, …

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Blueberry Who . . .? July 2, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 2, 2007

When Dan, our produce buyer, announced on Friday that we would be getting blueberries for the Harvest Flyer and Organic crates this week, Jeff, our distribution manager told us this. Jeff: "When I …

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A Summer Poem June 25, 2007

By FruitGuys Staff on June 25, 2007

Here's my little poem, I've sprinkled it with rhyme Tis an ode to the fresh sweet tastes of fruit in summertime. Week one of grapes has now arrived from warm California sun We've found again the white …

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Tree-zilla! June 11, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 12, 2007

Here's a riddle: What non-human life form looks like a tree, is a gigantic herb and produces a single flower from which 20 hands grow??? If you're thinking of "Tree-Zilla," that terrifying jungle …

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Who Are We? June 4, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 4, 2007

Remember when you were a kid and first heard about Swiss Army knives -- "It actually has scissors in it?" What couldn't it do? Finding out about the extras that the things you use have is an important …

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Blake’s Fruit May 21, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 21, 2007

Blake Carlson started his farm in 1985 along with his wife, Lisa. They grow grapes, peaches, nectarines, plums, and pluots in the central valley of California. Together with their crew of pickers, …

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Office Heros April 30, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 30, 2007

Mr. Jackson is down on one knee, silver stopwatch in hand. He's smiling and calling out times as runners cross the orange cones at the finish line. Our entire fifth-grade class is bumping up against …

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Match point: Summer April 23, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 23, 2007

Did I ever tell you the story about the spring I thought I was Bjorn Borg? The entire top drawer of my dresser was filled with deep-pile sweatbands. As it warmed up from winter into spring I'd trade …

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The Hit and Miss of Spring Strawberries April 16, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 18, 2007

It's Saturday afternoon and I'm racing around to re-print the newsletter. Every Friday I get together with Dan, our produce buyer, to go over what is new and unique in the crates for Monday. This …

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Semper Ubi Sub-Ubi Arpril 9, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 9, 2007

We all wore togas to our Latin Club party my senior year in high school. I wasn't a great Latin student, but I lived by the motto developed by our Latin club members - semper ubi sub-ubi, "Always wear …

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Guy Noir and the Grapefruit April 2, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 2, 2007

April had a knack for making my life complicated. So when April walked through my door on the First, I couldn't help but feel like a fool. "Trick or Treat," she said with a smile. It was all show and …

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Sailing the Seas of Learning March, 26 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 26, 2007

Erin, our FruitGuys marketing maven, was cooking dinner last week while her son played at the kitchen table with his Playmobile pirate set. He pumped his men up for battle: "It's gonna be dangerous. …

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Muscat Love, the Non-Sequitor Flashback March 19, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 19, 2007

It's 1980, and yes, I'm wearing Izod. My dad has a consulting gig with a large hospital group in LA, and we're on a flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. Tray table down, window shades up, my folks …

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FruitGuy Noir: The Case of the Case on the Web February 26, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 26, 2007

They were standing around the FruitCrate when all heck broke loose. Jane was trying to convince John that "grapefruit" descended from a dinosaur egg-sized fruit-grape that used to grow under …

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Daydream #12: it could have happened by the fruitcrate February 19, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 20, 2007

Bob is standing next to the FruitGuys crate, cutting an avocado in half. Jane's new soft-soled shoes make her quiet like a cat as she walks to the fruit. There's a song in the air that Jane can't …

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And now for something completely different February 12, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 12, 2007

During mid-winter, I feel like I need a carnival sideshow to keep me motivated. "See the 12-foot-tall Giraffe Man who eats leaves from the tops of trees! Dare to pet the terrifying, two-headed, …

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Dan at the Eco-Farm Conference February 5, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 5, 2007

I've been writing about the travels of our fruit buyer Dan a great deal lately. There are two reasons - first is that Dan is very active in seeking out great farmers to work with, and second is that …

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The Orange Test

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 29, 2007

I think that we sometimes forget that technology is found as equally in shop class as it is in an iPod. Technology doesn't have to be wi-fi or silicon-based to be exciting or accessible to us. It can …

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Detective Dan and the Citrus Freeze January 22, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 22, 2007

You've probably heard a great deal this week about the citrus freeze that attacked California just like Mr. Cold-Miser laid it down over South Town in a fit of stop-animation history. With all the …

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Super Banana Lady January 15, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 15, 2007

I've always had an affinity for wacky superheroes. Something about doing good while being a geek just cracks me up. Take the Wonder Twins, Zan and Jana, and their pet monkey Gleek, for example - part …

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Connection January 8, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 8, 2007

It's the little things that keep me going. The bits of life that compress into diamonds that make me laugh and feel connected. Like the time my friends Matt and Maria ordered an elegant seafood meal …

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Happiness is. . . Folate & Fruit January 2, 2007

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 2, 2007

Well, you made it through the holidays. Mom assured you that she would be "just fine" on the floor of the guest bedroom while dad noted that the blow-up camping mattress smelled like the battleship he …

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I’d like to give the world a Cara-Cara December 26, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 27, 2006

It's 1982, and I'm feeling nervous. Expectant, happy adult faces stare up at my two younger sisters and me as we stand in the spotlight of the annual holiday talent show. My mom is crouched on the …

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Red light, Orange Light, Pink Light. December 17, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 19, 2006

We're up in Cloverdale heading into the misty wet clouds on a small mountain in Sonoma County. Raised a suburban Philadelphia kid, I lucked out by marrying into my wife's family, which on her mother's …

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Transition Tanslations December 11 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 11, 2006

Several seasonal fruit transitions always remind me to look up and notice the changing time of year. The most obvious is the change from summer into fall when we see the end of the stone fruit (fruits …

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Let’s Make a Modern Myth December 4, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 4, 2006

Demeter, the wife of Zeus, mother of Persephone, goddess of the harvest, is biting her nails. Her hair is a mess, and she's still in her pajamas/toga. She looks like she's been up for months. …

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Annual Satsuma Poetry Slam! November 27, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 27, 2006

Yes, it is the annual Satsuma Zooma slam. A fruit-based poetry slam that churns through a metaphorical blender here at The FruitGuys to produce a smackin' smoothie of fruit love. It also seems to …

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FruitGuy Noir in: “Rome & The Pink Lady” October 30, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 30, 2006

She was a red but with a hint of golden-green about her. I found her hanging around with the ones they said were a bit sweet and tart. They called her Lady. She corrected them calmly: "It's Pink …

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Amazing Asian Pears October 23, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 23, 2006

With a wink to the great tradition of sarcasm, Dan tells me that his fruit-buying skills are so good that he can tell the difference between the Niitaka and Shinko Asian pear by the way it hangs on …

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Dan at The Apple Farm October 9, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 9, 2006

Dan cut west over the Sonoma hills and headed toward Mendocino. The dark-steel-grey refrigerated FruitGuys truck hummed along as he descended into the Anderson valley, following 128 west through the …

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Fruit of Passion! October 2, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 2, 2006

The definition of "passion" is varied and nuanced. Some dictionary descriptions focus on desire for another person. Others list anger and violence as a form of passion. However, my favorite dictionary …

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Ode to the Fall Transition September 25 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 25, 2006

Lo' the waning of the peach Makes me to the fruit box reach For that fresh and tasty pear That apple that puts the wind in my hair Even on that patch of balding where Nothing flows but cool …

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The Night of the Morning of the Gala September 18, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 18, 2006

Here's why the Gala apple came in handy. On a Friday night, I'm playing host with eleven other parents to 30 kids (mine included) for an overnight stay on the USS Pampanito - a World War II submarine …

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Kadota and The lightness of Bee-ing September 11, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 11, 2006

At one company meeting, Jeff, our distribution manager, told us a great story about how on the second day of a rafting trip on the Snake River in Idaho when he was 10, he and his dad woke up early on …

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Battle for the Universe Rages. Titan Runs to Mommy. September 5, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 5, 2006

Recently our distribution manager (and resident Greek myth scholar) returned from Greece where he found an ancient "B-roll" of video on the mythic history of the fig. Here is a transcript from that …

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Sonoma County Unique August 28, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 29, 2006

This time of year, I like to write about Lee Walker and his family farm. Lee's grandfather (Arthur Upp) planted the first Gravenstein apple orchard on the property in 1912, and the apples we have in …

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O’ My Henry! August 21, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 21, 2006

Dan's trips to the heat-soaked central valley of California are providing us with a taste explosion. He is in search for the O'Henry peach. You can recognize this fruit from its dark red color and …

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Getting Fresh with the Banana August 14, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 14, 2006

In 2006, the San Francisco Bay Guardian editors awarded us with their Best of the Bay selection for "Best Banana in your inbox." They held a party to celebrate all the "Best of" winners at San …

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The Kingsburg Connection August 7, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on August 7, 2006

During a heat wave in August 2006, our produce buyer Dan has been suffering it more than most. On his long fruit-finding trips to the central part of California, Dan sweats the details of delicious …

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Sweet & Fancy Memories July 24, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 25, 2006

It was 1982 — 7th grade at Valley Forge Junior High school. My shop teacher, Mr. Mickey, had the stereotypical nub of an index finger that he could put on his nose, so it looked like it was going into …

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The tantalizing Black Apricot July 3, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 3, 2006

The Black Apricot. Our trusty fruit scout Dan discovered these treasures in Kingsburg, California and brought them back for us to experience. Even seasoned FruitGuys staffers were left speechless …

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Magee & Flavor Supreme June 26, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 28, 2006

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 …

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Hector vs. Goliath June 19, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 19, 2006

The Aguilar family has been farming their land in Modesto for four generations. Serafin Aguilar (picture far right) and his two sons, Hector and Frank, share the duties of tending their crops. The …

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Fla-Fla-Flavorosa (republished 6/12/06)

By Chris Mittelstaedt on June 12, 2006

The folks around the office make fun of me when the flavorosa pluot begins to come in. I must have some synaptic cross-wiring because when I bite into the sugary-sweet flesh of the purple-plum looking …

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What happens at 3am? May 22, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 23, 2006

Dan, our produce buyer, is an amiable jokester. Quick-witted with a lanky frame that can mime the backdrop to any story - he's a natural at making people laugh. He glides smoothly amongst farmers, …

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The Family Tree May 15, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 15, 2006

It's mother's day, and I'm thinking about the perfect gift for my wife. Sure there will be the extra hour of morning sleep while I try to keep the kids tip-toeing around like secret prep-cooks - …

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The Banana Zone! May 8, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 9, 2006

Imagine a tree, a gigantic herb really, that produces a single flower. From that frightful and fantastic flower grow 20 hands. If this seems impressive and terrifying to you, if it puts images of …

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Wave A Magic Wand April 24, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 24, 2006

The kids are sitting quietly as we all read the adventures of Harry Potter and the students at Hogwarts school of magic. It's an obsession in our household lately, and the cat hates it. I go running …

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It’s All of This April 17, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 18, 2006

A two-year-old boy has a blonde peach-fuzz head, long eyelashes, and sky-blue eyes. He's toddling around the office after his dad - Erik, picking up trash. The inflatable blow-up bouncy-bounce is …

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The plane or the pilot? April, 10 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 9, 2006

It's 4:30 on a Friday afternoon at LAX. I'm waiting for my flight to San Francisco to board. A group of five-year-old kids wearing i-pod headphones is singing out of key and out of synch. People wait, …

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The Dog Days of Spring April 3, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 3, 2006

It must be spring because my son had his first little league game. An hour into the game, as tired kids slumped at their positions, the second to last batter hit a ball between first and second base. …

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Guns, Butter and Fruit – March 27, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 27, 2006

According to the March 18th, 2006 San Francisco Chronicle article "Apricots fall from favor," in 1980 24,900 acres of California farmland was devoted to apricots while only 14,500 are today. The …

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So then this guy walks into a giant banana. . .March 20, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 19, 2006

It must have been the time I was eating my Alpha-Bits cereal and watching "Letter-Man" on The Electric Company, that 1970s post-Sesame Street PBS show with the superhero who pulls letters from his …

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Cocktails Anyone? March 13, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 13, 2006

Here's my elevator pitch: George Cunningham, the grower of this week's Cocktail Grapefruit, could be the Tom Cruise of farming. In the 1988 movie "Cocktail," Cruise moved from New York to Jamaica to …

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Can-you-dew-it? Yes you can! March 6, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on March 6, 2006

I love Bob the Builder, that Canadian claymation contractor, if for no other reason that he exists in a world where happiness comes from having a pleasant conversation with an anthropomorphized …

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Blueberry Balance February 27, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 27, 2006

It's 6:00 pm on a Thursday night, the kids are hungry, dinner is ten minutes from blast off and I'm looking for the limbo stick. We pull two chairs back to back, lay the yard-stick across the chair …

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Keep Me Unwrapped!

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 20, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt I don't know if you caught the article in the New York Times magazine last week called Twelve Easy Pieces. It was about the growing business of slicing and packaging apples in …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife

Bananas are Driving Me Bananas

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 13, 2006

I want to offer my apologies and share with you the explanation for the inconsistency in banana ripeness over the last few weeks. On October 4th of 2005, hurricane Stan hit Mexico and generated …

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Give that Nature a Raise! February February 6, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on February 6, 2006

Have I mentioned how impressed I am with nature? I gave it a job review previously. I mean, all those things it does for us, like make the trees magically bud and the gnomes come out and those talking …

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Dog Talks to Apple Tree! January 30, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 30, 2006

You know a trend is emerging when the largest selling newspaper in the world picks it up. Last week The Weekly World News noted on page three that an apple tree was changing a man's life. After …

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A Boy and his Cara-Cara Janurary 23, 2006

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 23, 2006

Dad is on the hood of the family Volvo - jumping up and down and cursing. I'm 18 years old, it's the 4th of July weekend, and we're having a grand old time. Yesterday, I drove the family car into …

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A Friendly Ripening, December 12, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 12, 2005

Scott, the ice cream store manager, looks up from behind his bushy brown mustache. His feathered hair is a constant windblown reminder of his recent promotion and brand-spanking-new black Trans-Am …

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Memory in an Orange, December 5, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 12, 2005

I remember that the Thai police officer smelled like oranges. Out! He yelled, waving his finger and pointing at the three of us sitting in the Toyota minivans middle seat. No one moved. The Brit next …

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Mary Jo Banana and the Weiner Dog, November 21, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 21, 2005

It is Thanksgiving 1975, and our customer service FruitGuy, Erin Giordano is eight years old. Wild red hair and polyester, she is off at her aunt Dorothy's house in Glendale, California for the …

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Innie, Outtie, Beck or Fukumoto? November 14, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 21, 2005

Oranges are oranges, right? Not so. Did you know that the Navel orange we enjoy in California from late fall to springtime has many different varieties? Growers plant Navels with names like the …

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The new in the old, November 7, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 10, 2005

Saturday night and my kids are stuffing ice packs in their shirts. I am FREEEEZING!!! they yell while running around and laughing wildly. How wonderful to feel so excited by such simple, new things. …

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Arkansas Black Apples, October 31, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 10, 2005

The Arkansas Black is a dark, purplish apple and is thought to be a descendant of the Winesap. The Arkansas Black was said to be discovered in Benton County, Arkansas in 1870. These apples come …

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Satsuma Poetry Palooza, October 24, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 25, 2005

It happens once a year, and boy is it exciting. When the Satsumas come out, I make a point to wear orange knickers to the office and speak in verse all day long. Yes, it is the annual Satsuma Zooma …

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10 Acres and a Lady, October 17, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 25, 2005

John Smit emigrated from the Netherlands to California in the 1960s and purchased land in Linden to start a dairy. In 1969 he began transforming his dairy farm into an apple orchard. He was intrigued …

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Chewing on words, October 10, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 12, 2005

What does nutrition mean? According to dictionary.com, it is: 1. The process of nourishing or being nourished, especially the process by which a living organism assimilates food and uses it for …

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Change and Shift, October 3, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 12, 2005

Fifty years ago, words like nutrition and wellness meant steak and eggs; today, they mean isoflavonoids, antioxidants, and fruit in your office. While our long-term perspectives on food change as …

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Musing on Muir in Sacramento, September 19, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 19, 2005

In early September of 2005, I attended the Governors Obesity Summit in Sacramento, CA. The summit brought together 125 people from private, government, and social organizations who are trying to stem …

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The French Butter Pears are here!

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 19, 2005

I often feel like Steve Martin in the movie The Jerk. Not because I wear paper hats or have finally found my special purpose; but because when the French Butter pears arrive, I run into public places …

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What to say?, September 5, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 19, 2005

When I was born, my grandfather Popi planted a peach tree in the small back yard of his house in Metairie, Lousiana. He did the same three years later for my sister Jenna and five years after that for …

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Plum Body, August 29, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 19, 2005

When my sister was three years old, she loved plums. Dad called her the "plum body." She would go to the oven and pull down the small, bottom door that held the pots and pans. She carefully spread out …

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The Uni-Net, August 22, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 19, 2005

We want a story, my four-year-old girls said recently. Okay, I agreed. Once there was a king. Did he have a unicorn? Simone said. Yes, I said. But this unicorn had a net growing out of his head …

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Finding the Good Stuff, August 15, 2005

By FruitGuys Staff on September 19, 2005

A majority of the fruit grown in the U.S. comes from California. Much of that is within 300 miles of the Bay Area. If you are willing to dig a bit, some of the most exciting and unique small farms …

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The Report from the Bay, August 8, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 19, 2005

Thanks again for all your votes for The FruitGuys in The Best of the Bay readers poll for best produce delivery. I really am flattered. The awards were handed out last Thursday night at the Bay …

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The Magic of the Honey Dew Nectarine, August 1, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 19, 2005

My son, the seven-year-old Magician, who most recently waved his magic wand at his younger sisters and was disappointed when they did not disappear, asked how the Honey Dew gets into the Nectarine. …

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Oh My! An OHenry Beard of Bees!, July 25, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 19, 2005

When OHenry peaches start to appear, I think of O Henry, a turn of the century American short story writer, who wrote The Gift of the Magi, a story about a young married man who sells his watch to buy …

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The Magee Family Farm: July 11, 2005

By The FruitGuys on September 19, 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 …

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FruitGuy Noir: June 27, 2005

By Chris Mittelstaedt on September 19, 2005

I got the call around 11 am. She said a candy sugar crash had hit her place. This can be a tough town, I told her. There is always a gang of shady Hershey's miniatures egging you on from a clear …

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Sweet as Nectar

By FruitGuys Staff on July 18, 2005

We once spent a day driving through the Brentwood agriculture corridor hunting of the perfect nectarine. Brentwood is only a 90 minutes drive from San Francisco and is an ideal oasis near the …

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Apricots from the farm

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 5, 2005

In the middle of the summer, The FruitGuys truck turns twice a week down a dusty driveway off a bumpy two-lane road in Patterson, California to load up on freshly-picked apricots. The workers on the …

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Tango with your taste buds

By Chris Mittelstaedt on July 5, 2005

Straight from the central valley of California comes this weeks fab-four of summer taste explosion. Enjoy and as always – let the peaches ripen until they give slightly to the touch. Pluots and …

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Cling Peaches

By FruitGuys Staff on July 5, 2005

One of the things I love about peaches is that the taste of summer itself is captured in the peach at the moment of harvest. Peach varieties build in sugar as the days lengthen from May to late June. …

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Yogi Coudoux in a Pic-i-nic Basket

By Chris Mittelstaedt on May 10, 2005

The early 1980s warped me. As a pre-teen I watched too much That's Incredible. I went through a phase where I actually believed that I could achieve great acts like the nearly 7-foot-tall Yogi Coudoux …

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Climbing the food pyramid

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 29, 2005

The new Food Pyramid came out last week. Walt Handelsman drew an excellent cartoon for Newsday on Friday, April 22nd, 2005 in which an overweight Uncle Sam was lounging in a recliner with a …

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“C” is for Cold Turkey

By Chris Mittelstaedt on April 23, 2005

In the 1970s, as a fan of Sesame Street, Cookie Monster was my hero. There was not a better role model on the face of the planet to illustrate the process of getting your mom to make a fresh batch of …

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Drink More Water! (or get it in your fruit).

By Chris Mittelstaedt on January 3, 2005

In 1980, when I was in fifth grade, my family took a trip to the West Coast. After 7 hours on the cross-country flight listening to The Captain and Tenille's Greatest Hits, I couldn't stop humming …

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It’s Not Easy Being Green

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 23, 2004

By Chris Mittelstaedt Let's admit it; the holidays can be stressful. It could be your mother and father crammed into the guest bedroom telling you not to go to any extra trouble, and that they …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: apples, article, b vitamins, berries, citrus, depression, folate, Folic Acid, greens, holidays, stress, vitamin b, winter

Setting up Santa

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 22, 2004

At the age when a kid starts to wonder if the whole Santa thing is real, my sister and I used to try and catch him. From age 6 until 10 on December 25th we'd wake up to the Pennsylvania winter cold, …

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‘Twas the FruitGuys

By FruitGuys Staff on December 22, 2004

'Twas two weeks before the holiday when all at work; reports abounded and budgets began to lurk. The memos were posted in the kitchen with care; in hopes that The FruitGuys would soon be there. When …

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The Grapes made me do it!

By Chris Mittelstaedt on December 22, 2004

Welcome back from the Thanksgiving holiday. It is now edging into December and the last quality traces of domestic grapes are beginning to wane. This will most likely be the last cycle of grapes in …

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Let-Goa My Feijoa!

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 11, 2004

You may be saying: "What are those oval-shaped green things with little fronds on the ends?" They are called Feijoas. Anyone who knows Melanie, one of our superstar salespeople at The FruitGuys, knows …

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Who You Callin’ an Heirloom?

By Chris Mittelstaedt on November 1, 2004

When I found this week's heirloom apple (the Arkansas Black), I thought about being ten years old and accompanying my mom on an antiquing trip in the country outside of Philadelphia. We visited Ms. …

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We’re Gonna Zoom, Zoom, Zoom-a-Zoom

By Chris Mittelstaedt on October 26, 2004

The Boston Red Sox going to the World Series made me remember how much I loved the kids show ZOOM. It was based in Boston and they used to close the show with a rhyming, pre-rap snap game. Since it is …

Filed Under: FruitGuys News, The FruitLife Tagged With: fall, mandarin, Satsuma, winter, zoom