Full Belly Farm – Profile

“Fully Belly’s system includes: growing and marketing over 80 different crops; providing year-round employment for farm labor; using cover crops that fix nitrogen and provide organic matter for the soil; developing innovative marketing strategies; and planting habitat areas for beneficial insects and wildlife…

Signs of Summer

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…

Market Report #3: Late Spring

Everyone is out & about in their shirtsleeves but market wise, spring’s a little late this year. We visited the Derby Market on Tuesday and talked to Judith Redmond of Full Belly Farm in Yolo who said that due to the late rains, the ground has been too wet to work. Finally, this past week…

This Just In: Freshly Dug Potatoes

We’ve been getting the first local freshly dug potatoes from the Capay Valley for the past few weeks. The above beauties are German Butterballs from Full Belly Farm. When potatoes are freshly dug their skins haven’t had time to harden so they need to be refrigerated if kept more than a few days. They are creamier, less starchy, and sweeter, although the flavor is…

Market Report #3: ‘Crazy’ Cabbage, Goose Eggs, Red Romaine

Yesterday, Bill & Paul hit the Derby Street market just in time to see all the purple asparagus vanish. No bother. There was plenty else to ogle including ‘crazy’ cabbage from Full Belly Farm and beautiful red romaine lettuce from Riverdog Farm. Also, some massive goose eggs from Arthur Davis of Ludwig Avenue Farm and a few tips from Chef Canales on…

Introducing…The Fujimoto Farmers’ Market Report

ho better to tell us what we should be shopping for than Bill himself? So, we’ll be posting Bill’s Farmers’ Market Reports – full of fun facts, shopping tips, and insightful observations throughout the spring and into the summer. We’ll go shopping with Bill at some of our favorite farmers’ markets in the…

Dead Ripe – “It actually means something”

‘Tis the season of abundance and acute ripeness, as summer crops put all their remaining energy into their final fruits and seeds in one last attempt to be sown back into the earth. The farms themselves seem at their most beautiful, and the harvest months have a certain celebratory cheer about them, the true pleasure in a job well done…

Turning from Tomatoes & Toward the Persimmons to Come – Autumn 2009

We queried our farmers last week, just before the Autumnal Equinox on September 22nd, to get one last report as the tomato season comes to a close and to find out what is planned for the cooler months of fall.

Welling Tom of Brookside Farm had this to tell us:…

Tomato Watch Week 18 (Part 2): In which we also consider the eggplant

Chef Paul Canales hit up the Derby Street Farmers’ Market yesterday with daughter Eva in tow. The duo got a look at some of the recently ripe tomatoes at Riverdog Farm, Catalan Farms, Lucero Organic Farm, and Full Belly Farm. Tomato season should hit its peak in the next few weeks, giving the chefs time to evaluate…

Canales & Fujimoto Walk The Market

Yesterday’s solstice officially marked the beginning of summer, but already the markets are bursting with incredible produce. New things keep showing up every week; out of this world strawberries, followed by cherries and the rest of the stone fruits, summer squashes, pole beans, and…