December 22nd, 2011 by Catherine Meng
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After a particularly beautiful batch of Brookside Farm’s Meyer lemons arrived last week, we followed up with Welling Tom to find out what else is going on at their Brentwood, CA farm. Here’s what he had to tell us:
“Our Meyer lemons are some of the few things we currently have available. We also have a few Oroblanco pomelos already picked. Growing in the field, we have …
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September 7th, 2011 by Catherine Meng
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Yesterday at the Derby Street Farmers Market, Dirty Girl Produce’s Early Girl tomatoes completely SOLD OUT. There was this beautiful, jewel-like mound of them…and then in the blink of an eye they were gone. Thankfully, we’re planning well enough ahead to make sure we’ve got some for next week’s Late-Season Tomato Dinners (Sept. 13-16). One of the first confirmed menu items…
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August 17th, 2011 by Pastry Chef Jenny Raven
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As often as I come across a “perfect” piece of fruit, however, I rarely employ the philosophy of showcasing its perfection by serving it untouched; as Chef Paul Canales says, “the customer is not paying me to shop for them – I’m here to cook!” Only once or twice a year does a fruit come along that I feel is featured best by serving on its own, without setting it in a composed dessert context. That time has come…
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August 9th, 2011 by Catherine Meng
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Chef Jonah Rhodehamel takes us on a tour of the first tomatoes we’ve received from our friend Fred Hempel at Baia Nicchia Farm in Sunol, CA….
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June 21st, 2011 by Catherine Meng
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Today marks the first day of Summer 2011 and many signs of the season were on display at the Derby Street Market: fragrant basil, cherry tomatoes from Full Belly, summer squash & those knockout long stem Seascape strawberries from Lucero, and…
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June 3rd, 2011 by Bob Klein
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For our first field trip of 2011 we visited two farms in Contra Costa County––both in Brentwood. First we stopped at Brookside Farm, owned and operated by the generous and kindly Tom family: Anne, Quong, and Welling. Welling showed us what’s in bloom and described to us a little of the journey from earth to table. The Toms grow some of our Early Girl tomatoes, greens,…
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May 4th, 2011 by Catherine Meng
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Yesterday, we saw the first wave of the Lucero Organic Farm’s amaaazing long stem Seascape strawberries at the Derby St. market in Berkeley. Karen Lucero showed up at 2 p.m. when the market opened, and was sold out within three hours. Ben Lucero has been growing this same variety of strawberry for years, even after…
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November 23rd, 2010 by Catherine Meng
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The Derby Street farmers market was bustling today, in a pre-Thanksgiving-panic sort of way. But the sun came out and most of our farmers seemed ready for the hordes. And Maria Catalan was ready with samples of her salsa…
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July 29th, 2010 by Bob Klein
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Yesterday, I drove up to Rominger Brothers Farm in Winters, CA to visit our Floriani Red Flint corn and to see how our first crop of Otto File (another revered Italian heritage variety of corn for polenta) was doing. It just feels good to be up there, and I always learn something–occasionally amazing:…
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June 2nd, 2010 by Catherine Meng
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One of the wettest on record, the spring of 2010 has created some unique challenges for many of our farmers. We already know that the height of tomato season is estimated to hit later than usual & so we’ve pushed back our Annual Tomato Dinners to…
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