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THIS WEEKS FRUIT
Navel Oranges
Pleasant Valley Farm, Springville, CA
California Navel Oranges are considered to be the best Navels for eating out of hand. They have a thick skin that is easy to peel, are seedless, and have a meaty and sweet flesh that makes them a perfect snack. Navels are also great for juicing and cooking. Store out of sunlight for 2-4 days on the counter or up to two weeks in the fridge.
Ruby Grapefruit
Sundance Natural, Oceanside, CA
The Grapefruit is said to cross between the Jamaican sweet orange and the Indonesian pomelo, first documented in 1750. Red grapefruit was an accidental discovery of a red fruit growing on a pink grapefruit tree. Prized for their beautiful color and sweet flesh.
Hayward Kiwi
Chiechi Farm, Live Oak, CA
Originally known as the Chinese gooseberry due to its Chinese orgins. Hawyward Wright, a New Zealand nurseryman propagated his plants by grafting and they eventually became the preferred cultivar of growers due to their sweet flavor and thin skin. The kiwis are ripe and ready to eat upon arrival. Consume first or store in the fridge.
Fuji Apples
Alba Farm, Watsonville, CA
Fujis are a cross between Red Delicious and Ralls Janet, an heirloom apple datingback to Thomas Jefferson. Fujis are loved by many for their crisp, sweet, and juicy character. Store on your counter out of direct light for 4-5 days. Refrigerate after to maintain crispness.
Store out of sunlight for 2-4 days on the counter or up to two weeks in the fridge.
Hass Avocado
Sundance Natural, CA
Creamy in texture, nutty in flavor, with a small to medium seed. The Hass skin is easy to peel and darkens from green to purplish-black as it ripens. Store on the counter out of direct sunlight.
A NOTE FROM FARMER AL
Dear CSA Members,
Yesterday and today, have been incredibly beautiful here on the farm. “On a clear day, you can see forever”! Looking east, and across the Great Central Valley, I can see the Sierra Nevada Mountains one hundred miles away, completely covered in snow (thus, their namesake!) and just a bit to the north, is the Crystal Range. These mountains loomed large in my imagination as a young lad of twelve years old, when I first experienced the wilderness, as a member of Troop 23 in Berkeley.
From Berkeley, we were driven across the valley through old Sacramento (it was all old back then) in an open flatbed truck (with sideboards of course); all of us piled on with our backpacks…open air all the way! Totally illegal now, but it was just so much fun back then! We arrived at the Echo Lake Chalet, unloaded our gear, and started hiking the six miles over rocky terrain to our campsite on the shores of Lake-Of-The-Woods in Desolation Valley, just east of the Crystal Range. For the next three weeks we were immersed in the wilderness experience; camping, cooking over campfires, hiking, swimming in ice-cold rivers and lakes, climbing 10,000-foot mountains, and learning the lore of the woods. My love of the outdoors and my connection to nature were nurtured there over the next six summers. Little did I realize it then, but it was the first phase of a life-long journey from pine trees to peach trees.
It is a good day, like today, that I can see Pyramid Peak, the crown of the Crystal Range, gleaming across the vast central valley and reminding me of my earliest inspirations of nature.
