California Bountiful - Summer 2024

Ag Alert is the newspaper of the California Farm Bureau Federation, reaching Farm Bureau agricultural and collegiate members. Agricultural members are owners and decision-makers on California farms and ranches. The California Farm Bureau Federation is a non-governmental, non-profit, voluntary membership organization whose purpose is to protect and promote agricultural interests throughout the state of California and to find solutions to the problems of the farm, the farm home and the rural community. Farm Bureau is California's largest farm organization, comprised of 53 county Farm Bureaus. Farm Bureau strives to protect and improve the ability of farmers and ranchers engaged in production agriculture to provide a reliable supply of food and fiber through responsible stewardship of California's resources.

A look at how wines of character are made

Fire up the grill! Chef shares recipes

Unique farm grows native plants for seed

Summer 2024

Flavors of SUMMER It’s peach season in California

Summer 2024

Features

4 From the editors 5 A la carte

12 The bold and the beautiful

16 Book reviews 26 Good for you 39 Now from Nationwide 40 Gardening 42 Ask a farmer 44 Take 5 46 It’s a bountiful life

Couple pursues “crazy dream” to grow orchids.

17 From farm to bookshelves

Young authors explore agriculture through creative tales.

22 From grape to glass

A look at how wines of character are made.

28 New beginnings

Farm sows seeds to repair damaged lands. 32 California farmers feed the world Where does the food go and how does it get there? 34 Living his dream Chef savors career, family and backyard grilling.

ON THE COVER: Natalie Tenerelli and her husband run a business that ships peaches to online customers. Meet the family on Page 6.

Photo: Bryan Meyer

californiabountiful.com 3

From the editors

VOLUME 47 • ISSUE 3

Peter Hecht Chief Editor of Publications

Barbara Arciero Managing Editor Linda DuBois Assistant Editor Caleb Hampton, Ching Lee, Christine Souza, Caitlin Fillmore, Ashley Hawk, Pat Rubin, Stacey Vreeken Writers Applemoon Photography, Steve German, Fred Greaves, Paige Green, Nicholas Koon, Bryan Meyer Photographers Nicole Love, Paula Erath

Grocery store aisles are packed with produce, meats and dairy products, along with frozen, canned and pantry items—and we’re grateful to the farmers and ranchers who produce this abundance. But we mustn’t forget the other professionals who help get these products from the farms to the aisles, such as processors, packers and distributors. In this issue, you’ll read about one of these important middlemen. Agricultural truck driver Alejandro Juarez transports around 6,000 tons of food per season from Central Valley farms to facilities that process them for retail sale. Read about his driving schedule, his other job duties, the daily and occasional challenges and why he finds his career rewarding. This issue also brings our annual tribute to the young winners of the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom’s “Imagine this…” Story Writing Contest. Meet the third through eighth graders who crafted creative tales illustrating the role of agriculture in our daily lives. We also feature a Yolo County farm that grows native plants for seed production, so land managers can restore wildlife preserves and other nature areas. You can meet an Orange County chef who uses local, farm- fresh peaches in several recipes and a high-desert family farm in Los Angeles County that grows them. Then there’s a chef who owns eight of Sonoma County’s most highly rated restaurants and shares several of his recipes ideal for outdoor grilling. You’ll also read about El Dorado County winemakers, California’s role in feeding the world, the ins and outs of orchid growing, a dairy farmer who finds her work “amazing,” five crops that grow only in California, the nutritional attributes of melons and how to grow marigolds in a home garden. So, enjoy this summer’s bounty as we celebrate all who help get it to our tables. Behind the scenes

Graphic Designers Brock Tessandori Business Development Manager

Subscribe:

To subscribe for yourself or as a gift, scan code, call 916-561-5552 or go to californiabountiful.com.

Contact us: California Bountiful, 2600 River Plaza Drive, Sacramento, CA 95833 916-561-5552 cbmagazine@californiabountiful.com californiabountiful.com Advertise: Contact Brock Tessandori at 916-561-5585 or btessandori@cfbf.com.

Now trending

@cabountiful

California Bountiful® (ISSN 0194-5165) is published quarterly by the California Farm Bureau Federation, 2600 River Plaza Drive, Sacramento, CA 95833 (telephone: 916-561‑5552). Non-profit periodicals postage paid at Sacramento, California. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to California Bountiful, 2600 River Plaza Drive, Sacramento, CA 95833. The California Farm Bureau Federation does not assume responsibility for statements by advertisers or for products advertised in California Bountiful, nor does the Federation assume responsibility for statements or expressions of opinion other than in editorials or in articles showing authorship by an officer, director or employee of the California Farm Bureau Federation or its affiliates.

identifies California Farm Bureau members

Summer 2024

a la carte

California remains the nation’s leading agricultural state, with more than $59 billion in farm sales, accounting for 11% of the national total, according to the recently released U.S. Department of Agriculture 2022 Census of Agriculture. Conducted every five years, the census also shows that of the state’s 63,134 farms, 62% are fewer than 50 acres and 90% are family-owned. To see the full report, visit nass.usda.gov/AgCensus. We’re still No.1

Say

hello to finger limes What looks like a tiny pickle full of caviar and tastes like citrus? Finger limes! About the size of a human thumb (thus the name), this fruit native to Australia is grown in several regions of California where other citrus fruit thrives. Inside the skin are small pearls of juice that burst open with a lemon-lime zest when bitten. They can accent salads, cocktails or marmalades, and are especially good over oysters or any seafood entrée. Seal them in an airtight container and refrigerate them for up to a month.

adds category Photo contest

The California Farm Bureau’s 43rd annual photo contest, open to members, is underway. The contest celebrates images that best depict farm life, with $2,500 in total prize money. This year, Farm Bureau introduces a new People’s Choice category, allowing the public to vote for their favorite photos. The deadline to enter the contest is Sept. 22 and voting is open Sept. 24 to 30. Watch California Bountiful’s social media channels for your chance to vote. If you’d like to enter the contest but aren’t a Farm Bureau member, it’s not too late to join. Find contest details and membership information at cfbf.com/photocontest.

2023 First Place photo by Cayden Pricolo

californiabountiful.com 5

Summer 2024

Story by Linda DuBois Chef photos by Nicholas Koon Farm photos by Bryan Meyer

As summer approaches, chef Rich Mead can count on multiple diners at his Corona Del Mar restaurant asking, “When are you going to have the peach pizza?” They’re talking about the prosciutto and peach pizza with pesto, mozzarella and fontina cheese, one of the most anticipated seasonal dishes at Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens, Mead’s outdoor restaurant at the back of a 7-acre nursery. “The saltiness and the fat of the prosciutto play off the sweetness and slight acidity of the peaches,” Mead says. The chef is passionate about incorporating local, seasonal ingredients into his menus, and California-grown peaches are among his favorites, both for sweet and savory dishes. He uses them in pork tenderloin, vegetable plates, salads, French toast and cocktails, and he makes a decadent peach crisp. Sometimes he dehydrates or pickles them for a culinary twist. Mead has had a lot of time to experiment with ingredients. The Washington, D.C., native’s restaurant experience began at age 15, interrupted only by a brief government job after college graduation. That ended when an adventurous spirit drew him west, where he cooked for and eventually owned several restaurants, including Farmhouse, which he opened in 2016. In the early 1990s, he started regularly visiting farmers markets and discovered the advantages of purchasing fresh produce directly from growers. “I found that the flavors and the textures were so much more vivid than what I’d been getting from the produce companies,” he says. Plus, he enjoyed making friends with the growers and began planning his menus around their future harvests. Local chefs and households nationwide savor family farm’s fruit Peach perfection

Chef Rich Mead of Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens in Corona Del Mar holds his popular prosciutto and peach pizza with pesto, mozzarella and fontina cheese.

restaurants and at 25 farmers markets per week. Sitting at about 3,500 feet, the farm’s high-desert climate is perfect for growing peaches, she adds. The trees thrive in the hot summers and frosty winters, and the dry soil curbs the risk of common fruit-tree fungal diseases. From about the end of June through mid-October, they handpick peaches and box them in-house for shipping, transport to farmers markets or pick-up. Between seasons, they prune the trees, maintain the water emitters, mow the weeds and sometimes take out trees or plant new ones. Challenges include mites when dust is stirred up or peach twig borer during moist conditions. “But the biggest challenge is the weather,” Tracie says, noting it’s becoming more unpredictable. Especially damaging is frost or heavy rain late in the season, which can destroy a crop.

Friendly partnership Among his farmer friends are the Tenerellis, who own a fruit orchard in the Los Angeles County community of Littlerock. Mead regularly buys the family’s stone fruit, including several of his favorite peach varieties. “I think their flavors are wonderful and they’re consistent also,” Mead says. Peter Tenerelli, who immigrated to California from Italy in 1932, started Tenerelli Orchards in 1975 following his retirement. Today it is run by his son John and his family. They grow several crops, such as nectarines, plums, apricots, cherries, pluots and mulberries, but about 25 varieties of peaches fill 60% of the 30 acres they’re currently farming, says John’s wife, Tracie Tenerelli. During peak season, they sell fruit to 30 to 40

Employee Senovio Solorio handpicks peaches at Tenerelli Orchards. Below, John, Tracie and Natalie Tenerelli and her husband Dan Cox all help with the Los Angeles County business.

Summer 2024

Besides pitching in at the farmers markets, each Tenerelli family member has specific roles in the business. John handles overall management and contributes to the hands-on farm labor. Tracie is the bookkeeper and helps pack fruit for Peaches.LA, a supplementary business run by their daughter Natalie Tenerelli and her husband Dan Cox, which ships peaches to online customers. John’s sister Andrea Tenerelli runs and publicizes the weekend farmers markets, with help from Tracie’s son Coby Nissen. And some longtime employees are like family. Pandemic pivot Until 2020, Natalie Tenerelli and Cox weren’t too involved with her parents’ farm. But when restaurants and farmers markets shut down during the pandemic, they wanted to do something to help keep the family business afloat. “We told John, if you grow the fruit for us, we’ll market it online and figure out a way to sell it directly to consumers,” Cox recalls. With no money for advertising, Natalie took to social media and found a network of friends and pre-pandemic customers willing to help spread the word about the farm’s peaches. They called the venture Peaches.LA and created its website, and online sales soon took off. “It became this really special thing to people during COVID,” Cox says. “When they didn’t have

Yellow or white peaches? It depends

There are hundreds of different varieties of peaches. Some are freestones, handy to cook with since the fruit easily pulls away from the pit, and some are clingstones, better for eating fresh since the flesh sticks to the pit. But it’s the color of the flesh that makes a significant difference in flavor. White peaches have a delicate, floral sweetness, and yellow peaches’ acidity gives them a more intense flavor. Tracie Tenerelli, whose family grows all types of peaches, says there’s a clear winner among the farm’s customers. “I would say in the farmers market, probably 75% of the people prefer yellow peaches,” she says. “The restaurants are really partial to the yellow fruit too.” She agrees with them. “White peaches, to me, are just sweet. They don’t have that real peachy flavor.” One of the farm’s most popular yellow varieties is the mid-season O’Henry. “We also have one called the Summer Lady that comes right along with that. Some of our guys nicknamed it Sangre de Toro—blood of the bull—because it has so much red juice. I used to be partial to the O’Henry, but Summer Lady, to me, has the most flavor to it,” she says. Rich Mead, chef and owner of Farmhouse at Roger’s Gardens in Corona Del Mar, says both white and yellow peaches are special for different reasons. Yellow peaches, with their more pronounced flavor, are more versatile, he says. “I prefer a high-acid sweetness because when you bake and cook with it, it turns out nicely,” he says. “But we use the white peaches too,” he says. He’s noticed that certain ethnic cultures prefer white peaches, and their milder flavor adds the perfect subtle sweet accent to some dishes, especially salads.

At left, Natalie Tenerelli and Dan Cox carefully inspect just-harvested peaches to make sure there are no cosmetic imperfections before placing them in the shipping boxes, below, to be sent to customers all over the country.

Chef Rich Mead serves prosciutto and peach pizza to diners—clockwise from left, Tina Sarrade, Jennifer Machitani, Shola Akimtola and Chris Farrell—at his Orange County restaurant. Below is Mead’s French toast with fresh fruit.

everything else—going to restaurants or doing activities—getting a box of unbelievable fresh fruit on their doorstep was such a treat.” Yet, even now, sales continue to grow. Customers come from every U.S. state, ranging from celebrities and sports stars to everyday families willing to pay a premium for tree-ripened freshness and home delivery. The founder of a nutrition-product business, Cox is accustomed to selling packaged goods online, but he’s found that shipping perishable fresh fruit has unique challenges. “All the fruit is perfect to eat, but when you ship it, 24 hours of rubbing against the foam in the box can exacerbate any kind of imperfection on the skin or even the slightest bruising that you wouldn’t even notice. So, we have to pick the top 10% of the most perfect pieces of fruit to ship out. It’s pretty labor intensive from that standpoint,” Cox says. “It would be very easy for us to pick early and put unripe fruit in the box. But we refuse to do that.

The fruit develops so much flavor in those last couple of days (on the tree). We want people to be able to open up the box when it arrives and pull a peach out and bite right into it either that day or the next day.” Each week, crew members have a routine they follow. “We take orders all week, print out the labels on Sunday nights and then pick, pack and ship on Mondays,” Cox says. Californians get the box of 12 peaches the next day and the other states’ residents in two days. Buying fruit from Peaches.LA “is not cheap,” Cox says, “but once people try our peaches, there’s no going back. They want more.”

Linda DuBois ldubois@californiabountiful.com

Summer 2024

September 19-22, 2024 Draft Horse Classic

Four Days | Six Performances! Competitions, performances, farm wagons, carriages, barn tours, and meeting the draft horses up close. Harvest Fair: Free Fun for All Ages! Art Show, Musical Entertainment, Exhibits, Trade Show

Nevada County Fairgrounds GRASS VALLEY, CA RV CAMPING ONSITE

SHOW TICKETS (530) 273-6217 NevadaCountyFair.com

With their showy blooms and tall, elegant stems, orchids serve as a brilliant centerpiece and well- received gift for any occasion. But shoppers often question buying such a seemingly fussy plant, says Alison Glasco, who co-owns an orchid nursery with her husband. However, this exotic flower holds a rugged secret. “There’s a big stigma about orchids being tricky to care for. But they’re actually really easy,” Glasco says. “The more you ignore the orchid, the more it will produce for you.” Glasco fell in love with the enigmatic plant after first falling for Bas van Eijk, a newly arrived Dutch flower farmer with generations of cucumber growers and cattle ranchers in his family. While Glasco had not planned on entering agriculture—she’d graduated with a degree in engineering physics—farming is what motivated van Eijk to relocate to the United States in 2013 after operating successful orchid farms in New Zealand. They discussed opening a greenhouse together on their first date, even though Glasco had never stepped inside one. “I was just in awe of this Dutch guy,” she recalls. “It’s quite a little bit crazy, but here we are doing this crazy dream together.” Getting started Six years ago, van Eijk scrolled through Google Maps looking for available greenhouses in California. These satellite images eventually revealed an abandoned structure along the Central Coast in Los Osos, and showing the same gumption that drove him from the Netherlands to New Zealand looking for orchid employment, he left a Post-it note for the owner of the greenhouse. By that summer, Glasco and van Eijk moved in and Cal Coast Orchids was launched. For the next two years, the pair focused on growing a wide array of Phalaenopsis orchids, nurturing each of more than 80 varieties through their final 20 weeks of maturity. Cal Coast Orchids imports its smaller, more compact, European style of Phalaenopsis orchids from Canada, where the plants grow for the first 80 weeks in bark, instead of the more familiar moss. Orchids found in most supermarket chains are larger and grown in moss, as most countries cannot export bark to the U.S. However, bark provides a superior potting material for orchids, Glasco says. beautiful bold and the The Couple pursues ‘crazy dream’ to grow orchids Story by Caitlin Fillmore • Photos by Applemoon Photography

Phalaenopsis orchids surround Cal Coast Orchids founders Bas van Eijk and Alison Glasco, who produce 3 million blooms each year from greenhouses in Los Osos and Half Moon Bay. The couple plans to reintroduce flower fans to the rare Cymbidium orchid next fall.

Summer 2024

Orchid care can be pretty basic once an orchid parent has a better understanding of the plant, says Bas van Eijk, co-owner of Cal Coast Orchids. Watering an orchid presents the first hurdle, as people tend to “over-baby” the plant with too much moisture. The secret lies in reading the roots, van Eijk says. Cal Coast Orchids chooses to plant its orchids in translucent pots to help buyers clearly see the roots and more easily identify when the flower needs water. Once all the roots of the orchid plant appear a silvery- gray, the orchid needs water. But if the roots are still green? They’re still full of water, van Eijk says. “If you can’t tell? Wait another day,” he says. Orchids grow as a hardy plant, capable of reblooming if there’s enough patience, van Eijk says. “It can take 20 to 30 weeks in a household to get a flower spike to rebloom,” he says. “It’s definitely a patience game.” First trim the orchid spike, or the stem with flowers on it, to the second node (the bump on the stem). The correct trim provides two opportunities for reblooming: one potential flower that grows from the established stem and a slow-growing rebloom that begins from the base of the orchid. If you’re having trouble reblooming the orchid, the problem is usually a doting plant parent. Try neglecting the plant to encourage more flowers, van Eijk says. “When a plant starts to die, it will shoot out flowers (to encourage reproduction),” he says. Stress the plant by taking it out of its happy place to a location with a lower temperature, light level and humidity, like a dark corner or a bathroom. In five to seven weeks, new spikes will start to form and the orchid can be moved back to its preferred space. secret to orchid care Sometimes neglect is the

“In nature, orchids grow out of bark, not sitting in a compacted moss bale,” she explains. “(With bark), the plant has a longer shelf life and better chance of reblooming because it’s being taken care of correctly and has a healthy root structure.” While Glasco and van Eijk looked to the orchid’s natural habitat to influence the potting medium, the environment chosen for the greenhouse itself is anything but wild. Van Eijk manages a sophisticated array of technologies he calls the “cockpit of the greenhouse” to provide the ideal, eco-friendly surroundings for their orchids to thrive. Cal Coast Orchids uses technology to set up tools like smart irrigation and sensitive climate controls to improve efficiency and reduce waste. A high-pressure misting system establishes an ideal humidity level without using sprinklers and fans. Automated, energy-saving curtains reduce the greenhouse’s energy usage by 70%, according to Cal Coast Orchids’ website. Van Eijk spends a couple of hours every day checking the different graphs produced by his sustainability systems. “Climate is extremely important for orchids,” he says. “But from day one, we wanted to make sure we conserve nature.” Continuing to expand After six months of setting up systems and tending to orchids in the Los Osos greenhouse, van Eijk and Glasco readied for their first year of sales. As 75% of their orchids sell during the spring, the couple prepared for a successful season in spring 2020. Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit. “We were ready to go and all of our customers came to us and said, ‘We are canceling orders,’” Glasco remembers. But the duo’s belief in their product, and the joy orchids bring, kept them focused on their ambitious plans as the pandemic spread.

Orchids at Cal Coast are grown in bark, far left, to mimic the flower’s natural environment and promote longevity. At left and above, Ignacia Chavez helps nurture each showy plant through its final 20 weeks of maturity.

shows no sign of slowing down. Today the greenhouse sells 100,000 orchids every Valentine’s Day and triple that amount at the Mother’s Day peak. But van Eijk “doesn’t like boring” when it comes to agriculture—which led him to his next goal of reviving the scarce Cymbidium variety of orchid. The Cymbidium produces a slender, oval-shaped petal, stacking several large blooms on a thin stem. This variety also has thinner, grassier leaves than the Phalaenopsis orchid and comes in deep colors and striking variegations. California was the “Cymbidium capital of the world” in the 1980s, van Eijk says, but the variety has since become a high-end collector’s item. The flower takes three and a half years to reach full maturity, driving up its price. Cal Coast Orchids plans to debut its first crop of cool- weather-loving Cymbidium orchids in the fall of 2025. The co-owners are taking a risk on this specialized variety of orchid, already securing a third greenhouse in Carpinteria and planting the flowers that will be sold in 2029. “It takes a lot of patience and making sure the customer has patience as well,” van Eijk says. “I’m excited to reintroduce the crop to the masses and make them more readily available for consumers across the country.”

“When a lot of people chose to halt production, we kept going,” Glasco says. “We thought people would want to buy something for their house to cheer it up.” Their instincts proved right: Three weeks before Mother’s Day, one of the greenhouse’s busiest days of the year, their customers came back. “They said, ‘We’ll take everything you have!’” Glasco says. “And that freight train never stopped.” As shoppers sheltered in place, they chose to feather their nests with flowers from Cal Coast Orchids, which began selling houseplants to keep up with the demand for plant therapy. Now the greenhouse sells nearly 600 varieties of houseplants. “We hadn’t planned on producing (houseplants). We were going to be strictly orchids,” Glasco says. “Now we offer a full one-stop shop of houseplants, succulents— everything from a 2-inch plant to an 8-foot tree.” The frenzy of the pandemic ultimately boosted business for Glasco and van Eijk, who opened a second greenhouse in Half Moon Bay. Both locations combine for a total of 7 acres of greenhouse space, producing 3 million orchids per year. Cal Coast Orchids fulfills wholesale orders, delivers to independent garden centers and sells to individuals online, loading a trailer with orders daily. Raising the stakes After six challenging years in business, Cal Coast Orchids

Caitlin Fillmore cbmagazine@californiabountiful.com

californiabountiful.com 15

book reviews

In Veg-Table by best- selling cookbook author Nik Sharma, vegetarians and omnivores alike will find an impressive variety of vegetable recipes with bold flavors, each with helpful tips on purchasing, storing and cooking.

Organized into chapters by plant family, Sharma’s work features more than 50 vegetables and their origins, biology and interesting characteristics. More than just a cookbook, this is an approachable educational volume on vegetables. From Chronicle Books.

The water cycle, raising livestock and the benefits of owls are among the topics explored in Imagine this…Stories Inspired by Agriculture . This anthology features seven entertaining tales written by the third- through eighth- grade winners of the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom’s 2024 “Imagine this…” Story Writing Contest. Enhanced by high schoolers’ creative illustrations, the stories inform the reader about agriculture while incorporating themes including problem-solving and self- confidence. (See story on Page 17.) From LearnAboutAg.org.

The World in a Wineglass by Food & Wine editor Ray Isle is an approachable guide that shows readers how to find artisanal and environmentally friendly wines that are also affordable. In almost 700 pages, Isle takes readers to hundreds of independently owned wineries in Europe, South America, Australasia, Africa and North America, including about 30 in

California. In an informal, conversational style, he brings the vintners to life and describes their wines in eloquent detail. From Scribner.

L.A.’s Landmark Restaurants: Celebrating the Legendary Locations Where Angelenos Have Dined for Generations by chef and culinary historian George Geary offers the city’s beloved restaurants’ recipes and the stories behind them. Full of historical photographs, the pages bring to life these iconic eateries, from Hollywood hangouts to neighborhood diners. Each entry features a short

The Soil in Jackie’s Garden , written by Peggy Thomas and illustrated by Neely Daggett, uses colorful drawings and catchy rhymes to follow Jackie and her friends as they plant and nurture a garden, make compost and harvest food. Designed for ages 6 to 8, this picture book gives young readers a crash course on botany basics, including the life cycle of plants, pollinators, soil composition and the critters and bacteria that keep soil healthy. From Feeding Minds Press of the American Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture.

California Bountiful’s Book Reviews highlight books related to rural living and California agriculture. To suggest a book, email cbmagazine@californiabountiful.com.

history of the restaurant, interesting anecdotes and favorite recipes. From Santa Monica Press. 16 Summer 2024

From farm to bookshelves

Young authors explore agriculture through creative tales

Story by Linda DuBois

Engaging stories about egg production, owls and rainwater were among the winning entries for the 2024 “Imagine this…” Story Writing Contest. Coordinated annually by the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom, the contest is designed to inspire students in third through eighth grades to learn more about where their food and fiber come from and hone their writing skills. Students are asked to select and research a topic relating to agriculture and then craft a fiction or nonfiction story that educates the reader about the topic. The winning stories are published in a book illustrated by high school art, graphic design and photography students. (See Book Reviews on Page 16.) As usual, this year’s winners found impressively imaginative ways to bring to life information about California agriculture, often while weaving in other positive messages. Among them are two siblings from the tiny town of Hickman in Stanislaus County. Braden Frantz educates readers about the importance of water and its life cycle through the adventurous journey of a raindrop named Blobby. Braden says he had fun with the names of his characters, including Dribble, Trickle and Sprinkle. “I looked up synonyms for raindrops to come up with them,” he says. His sister Hailey writes of the destruction and regrowth

caused by wildfire through the eyes of a book-loving Sequoia tree that dreams of becoming a librarian. She chose forest trees for her crop because she appreciates the wood and paper they provide. Colton Menezes tells about a lamb that is unvalued because of his small size but grows into an impressive show sheep. He hopes readers are inspired by the idea that “no matter where you start, you can become anything you want.” Similarly, Shayna Gomes writes about a calf that looks different from the others in the herd because of its breed. She hopes readers embrace the message that “everyone is different and should be celebrated.” All the young authors have high praise for the high school artists who illustrated their stories. “It’s like he took it out of my brain. It’s just perfect,” Hailey Frantz says. Joey Vega, who chronicles the adventures of a peach named Fuzzy, offers advice for students struggling with writing assignments. If you get stuck with writer’s block, he says, “just take a little break, have a snack, take a breather and then just go back after it.” Entries for the contest are due each year on Nov. 1. For more information, visit LearnAboutAg.org.

Linda DuBois ldubois@californiabountiful.com

californiabountiful.com 17

‘Imagine this...’ Story Writing Contest 2024 state winners

Illustrator: Sofia Matin Millikan High School, Long Beach Art instructor: Scott Coppenger

Illustrator: Andrea Fonseca Florin High School, Sacramento Art instructor: Alexandra Pease

“I learned that eggs are very good for you,” the author says. He hopes readers who are raising eggs learn that “you don’t want roosters because you don’t want chicks.”

The story was inspired by Colton’s own misfit sheep: “We have a sheep named Tillie that has a tail—and sheep aren’t supposed to have tails.”

Ethan’s Egg Business by Ethan Burton Plaza School, Glenn County Teacher: Jennifer Crane

Sebastian the Sheep by Colton Menezes St. Anthony’s School, Merced County Teacher: Andrea Hammar

A neighbor’s amorous rooster, Ronald, has trespassed onto Ethan’s egg farm to get to the hens. Ethan chases him off, but then devises a plan that will keep Ronald happy at his own farm.

Farmer Mr. Clark is unimpressed by Sebastian, the runt of his lambs, so he sells him. The new owner raises Sebastian into a big, beautiful sheep—and Mr. Clark buys him back at an auction.

Summer 2024

Illustrators: Drea Soto, Julianna Reyna & Amanda Kelly Calvine High School, Sacramento Art instructor: Corrie Soderlund

Illustrators: Vivian Ning, Vanessa Palafox & Savannah Farmer Monterey Trail High School, Elk Grove Art instructor: Monica Ortega

“First, I was told that I won regionals, and I was very happy … and then when I learned that I won state, I was the happiest kid in the world.”

“I learned about the importance of hunter animals. They can keep control of a population of rodents that could destroy crops.”

The Adventure of Spike & Fuzzy by Joey Vega Clairemont Christian Academy, San Diego County Teacher: Reyna Gonzalez A dog named Spike makes friends with a peach named Fuzzy. When Fuzzy is in danger, Spike runs to the rescue, but Fuzzy’s own natural defenses have protected him.

Hooty the Owl by Henry Moon Hale Charter Academy, Los Angeles County Teacher: Paul Rios Hooty, a great horned owl, loves his job of eating rodents and other pests. Hooty enjoys telling all about his home, his family, his remarkable abilities and his role in keeping nature balanced.

Illustrator: Djeffterline Jean Philippe

Illustrators: Iris Pichardo & Celina Ring Sheldon High School, Sacramento Art instructor: Theresa Nguyen Tran Vo

Florin High School, Sacramento Art instructor: Alexandra Pease

Braden chose to write about water because his dad is on an irrigation board. “He talks a lot about it at dinner. He’s a big inspiration in my life, so I followed his lead.”

“I hope people learn that color doesn’t matter and that agriculture is very important.”

The Raindrop’s Story by Braden Frantz Gratton School, Stanislaus County Teacher: Rexann Casteel

The Grand Champion by Shayna Gomes Scott Valley Options, Siskiyou County Teacher: Amy Hurlimann

Blobby the raindrop falls from the sky into a lake, travels through an energy turbine, down a river that irrigates crops and into the ocean, before evaporating back to his home cloud.

A calf named Benson is teased because he looks different from the other cattle on the ranch. But he is chosen by a girl to raise for the fair, and he goes on to become Grand Champion.

Summer 2024

Illustrator: Wangshuang Xie Elk Grove High School, Elk Grove Art instructors: Deborah George & Crystaline Owen

BIGGER THAN EVER! Special edition coming October 1st!

Don’t miss this unique 64-page issue packed with: Holiday gift ideas Recipes and DIY projects Stories about farmers Gardening tips and more Subscription includes access to print and digital content.

Hailey says she enjoyed the whole research and writing process. “‘Imagine this’ is eye-opening. You learn stuff that you didn’t think you’d ever need to learn.”

The World’s Best Librarian by Hailey Frantz Gratton School, Stanislaus County Teacher: Heather Yardy

Ruby, a Sequoia tree, witnesses a raging forest fire that destroys some of her friends, but her spirits lift when she sees thousands of their tiny seeds waiting to grow.

californiabountiful.com • 916-561-5552 SUBSCRIBE NOW!

to grape From

A look at how wines of character are made

Story by Stacey Vreeken • Photos by Fred Greaves

A vineyard is in every glass of wine you drink. So, too, are a thousand decisions that result in wines showing not only the character of the vineyard but the people who create them. What to plant where in the vineyard, when to pick and how to barrel and age the wine all contribute and reflect the preferences of the winery owner and the winemaker tasked with interpreting that vision. At Miraflores Winery in El Dorado County, owner Dr. Victor Alvarez has

established a winery and custom- crush facility that reflects the beauty of his agricultural heritage from Colombia and a focus on precision and quality obtained from his career as a pathologist. “The property was bought for its beauty and serenity,” Alvarez says. “Miraflores is very distinctive. Its wines are unique—the product of terroir, good growing techniques and excellent winemaking.”

Country estate setting The winery is set back on country roads outside Placerville, surrounded by vineyards, presenting an Italianate façade outside and marble counters in the tasting room. Touches of whimsy remind visitors they’re in Gold Country, including a stagecoach on a shelf behind the bar. Patrons enjoy tasting at the bar or at a seated tasting on the expansive patio. Recommendations and explanations are

Summer 2024

Vineyards surround Miraflores Winery in rural El Dorado County, left. With flavor influenced by soil, topography and climate, the winery’s grapes, right, are picked at peak ripeness. General manager and in-house sommelier Ashlee Cuneo, at right below, pairs food and recommends the wines that Fernando Abarca crafts.

offered by in-house sommelier and general manager Ashlee Cuneo, who also oversees food-and-wine-pairing events. “We are consistently rotating out the wines according to season and according to what we want to showcase next,” Cuneo says of the tasting menu, which peaks at about 20 options. With a specialty in pairing food and wine, Cuneo looks for wines that stand up to, enhance and are enhanced by food. “Miraflores is a winery of distinction and distinctive wines but also (one that) produces really great food-pairing wines,” she says.

custom-crush clients. In the latter role, he works alongside Cappelli, who is now a consultant. Wanting to showcase the taste of the fruit, Abarca crafts wines that he says “speak for themselves.” The philosophy is “less is more,” with as few additives as possible. “We want every single varietal to express its own flavor,” he says. What’s in the vineyard It starts with planting the right varietals to suit the climate. For Miraflores, at an elevation ranging from 2,200 to 2,900 feet in the rolling Sierra Nevada foothills, that means

Winemaking team Now retired in San Diego, Alvarez is a frequent visitor to the winery and trusts in Cuneo to present his wines and winemaker Fernando Abarca to craft them. Abarca understands exactly how a vineyard ends up in a glass. He worked part-time harvesting in the vineyard at Miraflores while a student from Mexico studying computers. In the style of wineries throughout history, Abarca was in 2007 asked by then-winemaker Marco Cappelli to apprentice. Today he makes all the wine for not only Miraflores but also for the winery’s

For winemaker Fernando Abarca, stirring freshly harvested grapes is “how you get to know each different varietal.”

warm-climate zinfandel, petite sirah, malbec and Barbera among the 16 varietals selected. “Each has a unique character,” Abarca says. El Dorado County has many microclimates and is known for being able to support a wide range of grapes. Each vineyard’s environmental factors such as soil, topography and climate combine to create terroir, or that site’s individual flavor profile imparted to the grapes. At Miraflores, the mature vines and nutrient-rich soils reflect the distinctive terroir there, and you “can see the results in the wine,” Abarca says. All 45 acres of vineyard are pruned and trained the same way. These decisions contribute to the ultimate taste of the grapes, picked at peak ripeness. At Miraflores, that’s 27 Brix for its estate zinfandel, for example. Brix

measures sugar content (ripeness), and the higher the number, the more sugar and higher potential alcohol content. Twenty-seven is a big number in the wine world, but “higher Brix makes more fruit- forward wines. What we like to show is the character of the grapes,” Abarca says. The choice of higher Brix is also a result of the elevation, which delays the growing season and ripening, pushing harvest into October. Into the barrel Most varietals of the freshly harvested grapes are put into stainless steel tanks for seven to 10 days, where they begin to ferment. “I really enjoy fermentation. Doing punch down, pulling the stems is my favorite part in winemaking,” Abarca says, referring to stirring the freshly harvested grapes and removing stems.

“It’s how you get to know each different varietal—how they’re reacting, changing: the colors, the flavors, the aromas.” Next the juice is pressed from the grape hulls, using a soft touch that results in fruity, less bitter wines, a signature taste at the winery. Then the juice is aged in neutral oak barrels, which imparts little oak flavor and which Abarca says allows the grape flavors to shine. “We don’t really like oaky wines because I think it hides the real aromas and flavors of the wine,” he says. The wine, depending on varietal, ages for more than a year in the barrels. Long barrel aging “cuts the tannins and smooths the wine,” Abarca says. “It develops the flavors they need through aging.” Pour a glass Right when a bottle is opened, Abarca says he wants “to smell the true smell of

Summer 2024

the wine.” For him, the aromas can be more than half of what he’ll expect from the taste of the wine, and from just the aroma alone, he can imagine how it will taste. What he’s looking for in a wine is to taste the fruit. “You have to swirl before you sip. By doing that, you’re aerating the wine,” Abarca says. Aerating opens up the wine, allowing more flavors to come forward. Of course, the missing ingredient here is food, and that’s Cuneo’s bailiwick. “When I became a sommelier, that was what I wanted to do: Pair wine with food and create an experience,” she says. “I was pleasantly surprised when I came to Miraflores at the extensive wines that they made that were extremely food friendly. Not only is the dish transformed with the right wine, but the wine is transformed with the right dish. It’s just so much fun.” Finally, how the wine is served enhances flavor, and while there is a shape of glassware for every style of wine, Cuneo says the fallback is a stemmed red wine glass, which “allows for the aromatics to come through” and is a nice everyday glass to use. Each decision—from grape choice, when to pick, barrel treatment and how to serve—ends up in every sip of wine you drink. At Miraflores Winery, they lead to distinctive fruit-forward wines reflecting the Sierra Nevada foothills. At wineries throughout the state, these decisions reflect winemakers’ styles, preferences and locales. All told, these decisions create California’s reputation for fine wines around the world.

Above, Ashlee Cuneo uses a wine thief to offer a taste from the barrel to server Cole Cuneo. Right, chef Liz Freeland prepares a dish designed to elevate the taste of both wine and food. Below, tasting room manager Madison Jana creates an experience for Alex and Tracy Morgan on the outdoor patio.

Stacey Vreeken cbmagazine@californiabountiful.com

MORE ONLINE Wine for the Miraflores Winery label is only one-third of the production at the El Dorado County site. What about the rest? Find out at californiabountiful.com.

good for you

Melons might be known in the produce world as a summer favorite because of their sweet flavor and high water content, but did you know they also contain high amounts of vitamin C, magnesium and potassium, which help prevent dehydration? That’s right! One cup of watermelon contains over half a cup of water, plus the potassium and magnesium help maintain a consistent fluid balance in your body. The mighty melon

Tips and insights from a registered dietitian

Story by Ashley Hawk

Watermelons and cantaloupes are the two most popular melons. Let’s take a look:

Taste: Watermelons have a sweet, juicy flavor, and their texture is crisp and firm. Cantaloupes have a sweet and slightly musky flavor with a softer, more tender flesh. Special nutrients: Watermelons contain lycopene, an antioxidant that helps prevent damage to cells in your body. Cantaloupe is rich in lutein and zeaxanthin, two antioxidants that give fruits and vegetables their yellow color. Growing conditions: Watermelons thrive in warm climates with plenty of sunlight and well-drained soil. They require a longer growing season than cantaloupes. Cantaloupes also prefer warm temperatures but can tolerate slightly cooler conditions. Both grow well in California.

Unique ways to enjoy melons Blend your watermelons with

Combine melon cubes with other fruits like berries, grapes and citrus fruits for a colorful and flavorful fruit salad. You can also add fresh mint leaves or a drizzle of honey for extra flavor. Dice melon into small pieces and mix it with diced tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, cilantro, lime juice and a pinch of salt to create a delicious and refreshing salsa. Serve it with tortilla chips or use it as a topping for grilled fish or chicken.

some coconut water to create the perfect sunny-day melon cooler! Get creative and slice your watermelons in horizontal rounds, then top with yogurt and berries to make watermelon pizzas. Surprise your taste buds by grilling or roasting melon slices. Simply brush melon slices with a bit of olive oil and grill them for a few minutes on each side until they develop grill marks.

Ashley Hawk is a registered dietitian with a master’s degree in nutritional science. To learn more tips and tricks to help you feel your best, follow her at @ashleyhawkrd .

Summer 2024

Farm sows seeds to repair damaged lands

Story by Caleb Hampton

In Yolo County, nestled among sprawling orchards and field crops, is a one-of-a-kind farm. Each spring and summer, Hedgerow Farms turns into a patchwork of yellows, greens and violets as its fields of native wildflowers come into bloom. For more than three decades, the farm has cultivated native plants for seed production, supplying land managers working to restore wildlife preserves and other nature areas. “We basically create our own superbloom,” says Julia Michaels, restoration ecologist at Hedgerow Farms. “We go out into the wild and, with permission, find big blooms of native wildflowers and collect a small amount of the seed.” Hedgerow Farms uses the wild seed to plant a field of the native species at its 300-acre farm near Winters, “turning a handful of wild-collected seed into thousands of pounds of seed.” The farm was founded in the 1980s by John Anderson, a veterinarian, environmentalist and farmer credited with pioneering sustainable agriculture methods such as hedgerows, rows of native trees and shrubs planted between fields. “He just started planting natives because he saw a need for it, learning along the way, and it became so valuable for the restoration community,” Michaels says. Anderson died in 2020 at the age of 77. Focusing on native grasses and wildflowers Hedgerow Farms produces around 400 species of native grasses and wildflowers, which it sells to government agencies and other land managers for use in ecological restoration projects, often after wildfires, floods or other disasters. “What we’re doing is amplifying the amount of seed that eventually goes back into the wild,” Michaels says. She likens the farm to captive breeding programs that help endangered animal species reproduce in captivity before releasing them back into nature.

Julia Michaels, restoration ecologist at Hedgerow Farms, stands in a field of milkweed grown for seed at the Yolo County farm for use in land restoration projects.

Photo/Fred Greaves

Jeff Quiter, left, farm manager at Hedgerow Farms, walks between fields of lupine and yarrow. Manolo Sánchez, right, collections expert at the farm, searches for native seeds to plant at Hedgerow Farms, above.

for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The department, which must go through a bidding process before making purchases, had to write special contracts with Hedgerow Farms, Martinelli says, because they had no competitors. “They were the only company that provided what we wanted.” One of the keys to the farm’s success, Michaels says, is the knowledge and experience of its collections experts. Originally from Chiapas, Mexico, Manolo Sánchez was working in Yuba City’s apple, peach and prune orchards in 2010, harvesting fruit and doing other traditional farm work, when his friend, Alejandro García, invited him to work at Hedgerow Farms. Since then, Sánchez and García have crisscrossed California, going as far north as Humboldt and as far south as Bakersfield, trekking through hills and creek beds to collect samples of native grasses and wildflowers to plant at Hedgerow Farms. “They’re some of the best botanists in the state,” Michaels says. Genetics matter The farm pays close attention to the genetics of each species, which is tied to a particular location, microclimate and soil type. “Every species we grow has a place it was originally collected from. We generally try to return the species back to that area,” Michaels says. “If we collect seed from a poppy from the Central Valley, we put the seed we produce from it back into Central Valley restoration projects.” In 2016, Martinelli of Fish and Wildlife began sourcing seeds from Hedgerow Farms for a restoration project in the Knoxville Wildlife Area, a nature preserve in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Napa, Lake, Colusa and Yolo counties.

Photo/Caleb Hampton

The farm harvests plants for seed from April through October, using machines similar to wheat or rice harvesters. The plants are then dried on tarps and put through combines to separate the seeds from the plant material. The seeds are cleaned and shipped to a warehouse in the San Joaquin County town of Tracy. Native plants grown at the farm include blue-eyed grass, poppies, lupine, sage and many others. Over the years, the farm has built an inventory of millions of pounds of native seeds. Hedgerow also has a farm in the Santa Barbara County community of Los Alamos, where it grows plants better suited to coastal climates and soil types. Because the farm is so unique in what it grows, “there’s lots of trial and error and learning from mistakes and experiences,” says farm manager Jeff Quiter. “There’s not a lot of research on stuff that we grow.” ‘Forging the way’ A handful of farms have adopted Hedgerow’s model. But for years, according to land managers, Hedgerow Farms was on its own in producing native plant seed in California, and it continues to lead the way. “They were out there alone forging the way for restoration,” says Stacy Martinelli, environmental scientist

Summer 2024

Legacy of land restoration “So much of the success of restoration depends on what species you plant and that depends on what is being made available through native seed farms,” says Michaels, who earned a Ph.D. in ecology from the University of California, Davis. While the farm prioritizes partnerships with land managers for large-scale restoration projects, it also sells seeds for 150 plant species on a retail website for people who want to plant native species in their home gardens. And it provides farmers with plants that make good habitat for bees and other pollinators. Hedgerow Farms, which takes its name from the rows of trees and shrubs that run along the edges of its fields, is itself an example of land restoration. Those rows, inspired by hedgerows Anderson observed decades ago in Kenya, create a corridor that stretches from the nearby Berryessa hills to the farm, transforming irrigation ditches into verdant creek beds where foxes, deer and rabbits scamper. The hedgerows also harbor beneficial predators that provide pest control for the farm. “They’re basically highways of habitat for birds and mammals and insects,” Michaels says. Today, when collections experts Sánchez and García hit the road to gather seeds from across the state, they witness the farm’s legacy in the landscape. “It gives me a lot of pride,” Sánchez says, “that I can drive by some sites where we’ve planted and see how the flowers are doing.”

Photo/Beth Savidge

The wildlife area is home to deer, bobcats and golden eagles, and draws hunters and other nature-goers. “There was an exceedingly bad weed problem in the wildlife area,” Martinelli says, referring to swaths of land taken over by the invasive yellow star thistle. “It was a challenge for wildlife to get through.” Fish and Wildlife is in the process of replacing 100 acres of thistle with native plants such as purple needlegrass and wild rye. “It was important for us to grow natives that were genetically similar to what should be in the wildlife area,” she says. “And that’s what Hedgerow offers. They collect the seeds themselves in the different lands and watersheds.”

Caleb Hampton champton@californiabountiful.com

Milkweed and monarchs Milkweed, one of the native plants grown at Hedgerow Farms, is the sole host plant for the endangered monarch butterfly. The flowering perennial has a thick, woolly stem and produces a milky latex that is poisonous to most animals. For monarchs, it is the only plant where they lay eggs, and its leaves provide the only food for monarch caterpillars. “We grow milkweed at our farm for restoration projects to try to prevent the monarch butterfly from going extinct,” says Julia Michaels, restoration ecologist at Hedgerow Farms. Recently, milkweed grown at Hedgerow Farms has provided seeds for ecological restoration of the Klamath River watershed, currently the site of the world’s largest dam removal. The river system near the California-Oregon border runs along one of the monarch butterfly’s North American migratory routes. “It’s a critical species wanted for many restoration projects,” Michaels says of the native plant.

Photo/Beth Savidge

Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48