News from the Farm | March 11, 2024
As Dru wrote last week, we’ve had a lot of grey, cold, and wet days over the past couple weeks and months. The rain has been perfectly (or rather, unfortunately) timed to come right as things just start to dry out, which gets in the way of planting and weeding that will be crucial for abundant harvests in a late spring. Plus too many grey da [...]
News from the Farm | March 4, 2024
It feels like it has been a long winter! And this coming from a gal who spent the first many years of her life in Vermont where there are snow days into April! Even though last year we had more rain in inches than this year, it seems like there have been many more cloudy, cold days. Maybe my bones are just getting older – after [...]
For Your Furry Friends
Your furry friends have so many reasons to be excited about your deliveries! Our collection curated for cats and dogs continues to grow. You’ll find nutritious food to help keep them happy and nourished, along with some handmade, family-owned special treats to keep their tails wagging.
Dog Days
Quality Dog Food
We’ve carefu [...]
Winter Wellness – Citrus Fruits
The days are getting longer, but we’re not out of the winter cold and flu season just yet. Plus we want to thoroughly enjoy this season’s fresh citrus fruits before turning our thoughts to spring. To help us eat more citrus, and as a reminder of their many wide-ranging health benefits, we offer these tasty recipe temptations and some great [...]
News from the Farm | February 26, 202...
When reporting on any farm news, it almost always seems like we need to start with the weather. Because it does have a big impact on what we do!
Last week, we started off with more wet, grey weather and by the weekend it was sunny and in the high 60s. February 23 and 24 looked quite different from this time last year when we had snow! By Satu [...]
Heart Health
February is American Heart Month. Each year, this is a time to spotlight heart disease by bringing awareness and sharing how to take steps to prevent this deadly disease.
Proper nutrition can play a huge role in building a resilient heart, which is why it is important to make good food choices. As you plan healthy meals, it can be easy to [...]
News from the Farm | February 19, 202...
“My mom and I speak to each other through the flowers we grow. The joys and triumphs of our flower fields and bouquets are etched into the smile lines around our eyes and each late frost that hit our spring flowers or gophers that found our tulips has added a wrinkle to our furrowed brows. We gawk over seed catalogs together, wondering whet [...]
Coconut Angel Cream Cake
A friend offered me an inspiration for a new cake. He was reading a history of the Tiki Room at Disneyland, and learned that the original concept for the Tiki Room was to be a restaurant run by Stouffer’s. And on the menu was Coconut Angel Cream Cake. It was a delicious sounding cake, but…
Read More
News from the Farm | February 12, 202...
Today’s Farm News covers two small ways you can get involved to help combat food insecurity. It’s a huge, complicated problem, but that means that any measures to chip away at it are important.
First, our CSA donation program. We’ve gotten a few inquiries recently, thus wanted to explain how it currently works! On a week that you don’t want [...]
Lucky Dog Cuisine
Eating a variety of vegetables, fruit, whole grains and high quality protein isn’t just for people! Janice Elenbaas co-founded Lucky Dog Cuisine after having fed her own dogs fresh whole food recipes for years. “What lucky dogs,” her friends would say, upon hearing what great food she provided them.
After a long career in health care, Jani [...]
News from the Farm | February 5, 2024
This time of year, late January and early February usually ends up involving a lot of watching, waiting, and then suddenly springing into action on several fronts.
Sheep:
This time of year is lambing season. Our first lambs were born last week, a set of twins followed by a set of triplets and as of Monday morning (February 5) we’re now up to [...]
News from the Farm | January 29, 2024
For the past 44 years Dru and I, Andrew, Judith, and others from the farm have been attending the EcoFarm Conference, a gathering of farmers, activists and researchers probing the potentials of organic and biologically-driven food and farming systems. Our participation started with a first gathering of farmers in the shade of a large walnut [...]
News from the Farm | January 22, 2024
Alliums (onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, scallions, and chives) are staples in most cuisines and are found in home kitchens around the world, making it easy to take them for granted. Like all produce though, they too have different varieties, seasons, nuances, and quirks. They have interesting backstories and are grown with love and care on [...]
News from the Farm | January 22, 2024
Alliums (onions, garlic, leeks, shallots, scallions, and chives) are staples in most cuisines and are found in home kitchens around the world, making it easy to take them for granted. Like all produce though, they too have different varieties, seasons, nuances, and quirks. They have interesting backstories and are grown with love and care on [...]
News from the Farm | January 15, 2024
It’s amazing what some rain can do. In the fall, a bit of rain washes off the layer of dirt and dust and rejuvenates everything. That kind of rain isn’t enough to refill our streams or turn the hills green – that’s what the winter rains are for. At this point, the hills around us are green again, a welcome site after months of brown. M [...]
Winter Wellness – Elderberry
Winter wellness is a balancing act of trying to stay active during the limited daylight hours, rain, cold and snow, while eating nourishing in-season root veggies and citrus and avoiding the cold and flu bugs being passed around! We could all use a little extra immune support, and although there’s no universal remedy for preventing or gettin [...]
Winter Wellness – Elderberry
Winter wellness is a balancing act of trying to stay active during the limited daylight hours, rain, cold and snow, while eating nourishing in-season root veggies and citrus and avoiding the cold and flu bugs being passed around! We could all use a little extra immune support, and although there’s no universal remedy for preventing or gettin [...]
News from the Farm | January 8, 2024
Dear CSA friends,
We are back and rested after a much-needed end-of-year break. After a good deal of greeting, handshaking and backslapping this morning at 8am our crew is in the fields, evaluating how we did in leaving our crops to rest over the past few weeks. As of now, things look good- lots of carrots, broccoli, greens, cabbage, potato [...]
Sacramento Food Bank & Family Ser...
In 2022, Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services (SFBFS) and their partner agencies distributed 34.3 million pounds of food, 11.7 million pounds of which was produce. With over 300,000 people in Sacramento county facing food insecurity,– the inability to access affordable, nutritious food—we are honored to partner with the SFBFS and o [...]
News from the Farm | December 4, 2023
It has been one of our customs to try to condense our year in review into a final, last gasp News from the Farm for the year, recalling the past 12 months now fading in our rear-view mirror.
Every morning the partners and managers roll in about 10 minutes before the official start of the day to ask and answer “what do you have on your list t [...]
Yolo Food Bank
We are honored to work with amazing Food Bank partners to share fresh organic fruit and vegetables that, together with our customers, are donated to the food insecure throughout California. This week we had the opportunity to visit and have conversation with Yolo Food Bank, serving the same county in which the Barsotti-Barnes family’s [...]
News from the Farm | November 27, 202...
We are rapidly approaching the end of the calendar year, and the end of the Full Belly Farm year (December 9) is even closer.
These approaching milestones usually lead me to reflect upon the past year and plan for the upcoming year. Something that’s been on my mind more than usual recently has been the “C” in CSA, community. Who is in our co [...]
News from the Farm | November 20, 202...
The storm clouds that had been flirting with us for a week dropping a few drizzles became serious Friday evening. The field activities, cover crop planting and terminating tomato and pepper fields, stopped. We parked tractors and seeders inside and reveled in the feisty winds and the melody of rainfall.
The heavy clouds were generous, releas [...]
Preparing the Perfect Turkey
We are happy to again offer healthy delicious Pasture-Raised Turkey from Ferndale Farms. The family has been raising turkeys on their 3rd generation farm since 1939.
Ferndale turkeys are grown in harmony with the seasons, — they are pasture-raised during the summer months and grown in a free-range environment during the winter [...]
News from the Farm | November 13, 202...
It’s another flower update! Flowers are a big part of what we do, so we want everyone to be in the know.
As described last week (which you can read here), this time of year is when we plant most of our spring flowers. On Thursday and Friday, the flower team aided by some interns and Alfonso’s group planted about 2/3 of our bulbs (tulips and [...]