Riverdog Farm – Profile

Tim and Trini started farming two acres in Rutherford, CA in 1990. Gradually, after much trial and error, the farm has evolved into a very diverse, year-round farm that relies on a combination of wholesale, retail, farmers markets, and a 1,000-member Community Supported Agriculture program. They employ 50 year-round employees…

Autumn 2009 at Riverdog Farm

“Tomato harvest continues, although not at the pace it was just a month ago. We’re still busy harvesting peppers, eggplants, greenbeans, black-eyed peas, and of course, winter squash. We’re also busy seeding and planting many of our winter crops: kale, broccoli…”

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 20 – Shippers, Breakers, Pickers, Packers

It has been a great year for tomatoes weather-wise and also timing-wise; many farmers took the risk of planting early and the risk paid off. Another part of the equation is knowing when to pick tomatoes and who to pick them for. Back in April, Tim Mueller of Riverdog Farm in Yolo County took the time to explain to us the stages of a ripening tomato….

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…

Tomato Watch Week 18 – Riverdog Farm

In the film below, we visit with Trini Campbell and Tim Mueller of Riverdog Farm back in April after their tomato plants went in the ground. Tim tells us what the next few months will require to insure healthy, beautiful tomatoes by August: lots of attention, diligence, and a variety of essential oils that help to combat against an even wider variety of pests…

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…

We’ve Found Our Yolk

After performing a thorough battery of tests, Chef Canales thinks he’s found just the right eggs to create the lush, deep yellow pasta often only found in Italy. The secret is pasture raised eggs. Hens allowed to pasture ingest a much wider range of nutrients producing eggs that offer a certain richness necessary for our laminated pastas…

Tomato Watch Week 3

First wave of plantings at Lucero Farm, Full Belly Farm and Riverdog Farm.
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We’re at the beginning of planting season for Bay Area farms.
While asparagus and artichokes abound, Lucero, Full Belly and Riverdog Farms are also dodging spring frosts and making their plans for restricted water use.

Tomato Watch 2009 starts NOW!!!

All around the Bay hundreds of thousands of tomato seedlings are going into the ground—Week One of Tomato Watch 2009. Here at the Oliveto Community Journal we’ll be watching their progress, from the coast to the inland valleys, north to south. Tomato cam?!?!? Not exactly—we hope it will be better, richer. We’ll track a wealth…