AHO

Just wanted to get a quick post in while my hands were still sticky from the several shades of  orange and pomelo juice dripping I had down my arms earlier today at Cliff McFarlin’s sixty-five acre organic fruit ranch. Being from flat West Texas, I continue to be just as impressed at how quickly a you can end up in the foothills as I was the first time I drove east from here. We had a nice low cloud cover this morning to lend to the atmosphere.

You won’t have to find a mummified pear to get a taste of what people were eating in the early 1900s. You can find the answer to that question in Dave Mostin’s pear orchard in Lake County. He has trees that are 112 years old and they are still producing healthy sweet tasting pears. No kidding. It’s amazing. The trees themselves don’t look like anything special necessarily, they’re a bit thicker and more hardy looking than their younger companions, but it would be totally possible to walk out in the … Continue reading →

I visited Llano Seco in early December. Not only was the land stunningly beautiful, but the integrity of the hog operation was palpable. Good people running that show, good people who believe in what they are doing and do it well. The full profile of Llano Seco can be viewed at the AHO website here, but here a few of the really notable take away points that AHO subscribers should know (in order to appreciate the taste of that bacon all the more!) 1. A lot of hands on research … Continue reading →

AHO vegetable supplier Rancho Piccolo brings a little flavor of the old country to the Central Valley. Farmer David Silviera grew up in Portugal and the name of his farm, Rancho Piccolo means “small farm” in Italian. It comes out sing-songy every time I think it. RrrrancHO pICcolooo. Try it. It’s fun. The farm was beautiful, shades of greens and purples scattered throughout the fields, mixed with the blue line of the horizon and shared by lots of wide open space. And, going back to the theme of the old … Continue reading →

  I never ate an artichoke until I moved to California. It’s the same for a persimmon. The first time I ever saw one on my friend’s kitchen counter I made an amateur mistake and told her it was the strangest tomato I had ever seen. I’m looking forward to all the persimmon cookies that will be rolling out of the oven once the ones sitting on my counter are mushy enough to bake with. But what inspires this post is something that I’m enjoying about them right now this very … Continue reading →

The first farm I had the chance to visit this year was Highland Organics, a small 5 acre farm next to the foothills near Reedley, California.  It’s been a few weeks since my first visit. I came away with armloads of greens! You can’t help but feel great about your life when you’re eating that many big servings of fresh green plants. Seriously. I even ate some for breakfast a few days the week of Thanksgiving. FARMER VIDEO UPDATE: On my latest visit, Boua and Neng were planting the field with sugar … Continue reading →

  Hi organic produce lovers! Seeing as I’m going to be bringing you a fair bit if news on the California organic family farms supplying you with your fresh produce each week, I thought it only fitting that I introduce myself. My name is Amy Beth Beaver and I’m a California transplant from the great state of Texas. And yes, I do use both Amy and Beth as my first name.  I would say it’s not a far stretch to call me a wanna-be-farmer, a future homesteader and an all around honest … Continue reading →

The word abundance with all its derivatives is just about my favorite in the English language; right up there with home and welcome, happy and peaceful. By abundance, I’m not talking about a pile of stuff; I’m referring more to a mentality. A mentality that there is plenty, and plenty for everyone. This is contrasted by scarcity, a mentality that there’s not enough for everyone. And if there is enough, there’s certainly not enough of the good or the best stuff for EVERYONE so I’ve gotta get mine and hide … Continue reading →

Summer time and the livin is eeezeee, summer time and the cotton is hiiigh. My goodness, sweet corn and melons, stone fruit and green beans, bury me now, it’s not gonna get any better. Finally some 100 degree days; being 4th generation here in Kingsburg (with the 6th on the way) it’s not hot til 105 and we seldom get more than a handful of those. Besides, that’s why God put the Kings River here. Five minutes in Sierra snow melt on a hot day fixes a whole lot of … Continue reading →

It finally warmed up enough this week to feel like jumping into the pool. When I came up for air, it said to me “Welcome back old friend, we’ve been missing you.” Temperatures in the 90’s and not raining, what a pleasant change; makes you feel like picking peaches! When we get to summer solstice, I always feel like we’re half done with our season’s work. Even though we’re only 6 out of 20 weeks done with harvest, things get quite busy first of March and wind-up end of September … Continue reading →