Blogs

When you think of Tomatoes, you think of a hot, balmy summer day. Tomatoes indeed are a subtropical fruit. They love the heat. So here we are, in the middle of winter and California growers are still producing Tomatoes. One of those growers is even mocking Old Man Winter. John Van Diepen has agricultural degrees from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and North Carolina State University. And with all of his ag smarts, he decided to grow Tomatoes…in the Sierra Nevada, in Pioneer, California. It happens to be at the 3,000 foot elev

The Pink Lady Apple is certainly hot, but have you tried the Cara Cara Orange? No, that’s not a typo. I didn’t stutter. That’s the name of the Orange, Cara Cara. It was found in 1976 on a farm in northern Venezuela, just outside Valencia, the capitol city of Carabobo. In town, you can find an empanada or two, and sip on a guarapita made with juice from this famous local pink Orange. The name of the farm this Orange came from happened to be the Hacienda de Cara Cara. It first made its way to Florida in the 198

Like so many other great apples, Minnesota 1711, or MN1711 as it was known as during development, was destined for the burn pile.  The Red Delicious, originally cut down three times before it was allowed to grow.  The Granny Smith, literally springing up from a pile of garbage.<

There are many fruits and vegetables that trigger a frown on the face of kids…and even some adults. But I don’t think there is any produce item that brings as much joy and smiling to a child’s face…than a Pumpkin. Pumpkins light up Halloween night, and light up the faces of kids. In the grocery stores and farmer’s markets, you are seeing bins of Pumpkins show up. From California fields in the San Joaquin Valley, growers tell me it is another “happy crop of Pumpkins.” The recent heat wave may c

I am so excited. You know this time of year there’s a lot of seed companies that are harvesting their fall crops of new fruits and vegetables.  And there are a lot of grape growers and stone fruit growers harvesting new varieties of peaches, plums, nectarines, and grapes. I’m very excited about this. I am very excited about some of the new Grapes growers are working on. You won’t find any of these grapes in the supermarket right now, but over the next few years, you will start seeing these brand new grapes. The one that I am most excited about looks pretty ordinary.