Garden and Farm
Harvest from Your Own Subtropical Paradise
By Joshua Burman Thayer | Illustrations by Helen Krayenhoff If you enjoy the pleasure of picking a lemon at home, you know the sense that we live close to paradise. Growing subtropical—and even some tropical—perennials around the Bay Area is possible because of our “warm-winter Mediterranean” climate. Microclimates in certain parts of the Bay…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
Produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. By Barbara Kobsar | Illustrations by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge By 7am on a typical Sunday at the Walnut Creek Farmers’ Market, Regina Gonzalez and the Garcia brothers, Julio and Adolfo, are unpacking, sorting, piling, and laying out their array of fresh organic vegetables…
Read More5 Herbs for Your Culinary + Medicinal Garden
By Anna Beauchemin | East Bay Herbals | Illustrations by Cheryl Angelina Koehler Looking to spruce up your springtime planter boxes with some fresh herbs? These are my top five medicinal and culinary herbs for growing in the home garden. Each makes a lovely addition to the kitchen and adds a vibrant dose…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
By Barbara Kobsar | Illustration by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge The holiday season is an especially good time to appreciate our farmers’ markets and the local growers, makers, and farm workers who supply so much valuable food to our communities every week through good times and bad. Paulina LaBelle and Alfredo Gonzalez are among the many helping…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
Produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. By Barbara Kobsar | Illustration by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge Snap Beans & Shell Beans Now is the time to scoop up fresh beans at your farmers’ market. Both edible-pod snap beans and shell beans (those you have to shell) are ubiquitous through…
Read MoreYour Backyard is a Garden of Eden
By Joshua Burman Thayer, based on interviews with John Valenzuela | Illustrations by Joshua Burman Thayer As a Bay Area horticulturalist devoted to encouraging home food production, I often find myself thinking about the Eastern Mediterranean. It’s the region where many of the important food crops we grow in Northern California originated. “Where…
Read MoreHow to Grow a Farmer
First-Generation Farmer Erin Eno Finds Community Through Growing Food on Mount Diablo Story and photos by Austin Price Erin Eno uses a hoe to cultivate her half acre of diversified crops growing near Mount Diablo. July 2019: The rising sun is just hitting the eastern face of Mount Diablo as Erin Eno pulls weeds on…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
Story and recipe by Barbara Kobsar Illustration by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge Produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. February Your secret for turning drab to delicious this month is the tangy juice, zest, and pulp of winter’s lemons and limes. Choose a common Eureka or Lisbon lemon if you want…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
Produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. By Barbara Kobsar Illustration by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge August Plums please the palate this month with their slightly tart or sweet honey notes. Over 200 types are grown in California (we see only 15 to 20 of these) and make up 90%…
Read MoreAt Flowerland
Coffee and a Witty Marquee Illustration by Cathy Raingarden Tooling up Solano Avenue, it’s hard to miss the big and welcoming vintage sign for Flowerland. Constructed in 1947 by the Pleich family, the building has always been a nursery, and it has always been Flowerland. “I purchased the business from Bob Willson in October…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
Produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. By Barbara Kobsar | Illustration by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge May Something unexpectedly sweet is at the farmers’ market right now. Known as Sweet Imperial, Vidalia, or Walla Walla—depending on whether your sweet onion hails from Southern California, Georgia, or Washington state—it’s also called…
Read MoreTeaming Up Against Toxins
Cal students and groundskeepers see beyond the spotlessly green fields by Rachel Trachten Monsanto probably didn’t see trouble brewing on a campus beach volleyball court. In the spring of 2017, UC Berkeley junior Mackenzie Feldman heard her coach tell the players not to chase the ball in bare feet if it went off the…
Read MoreHappy Acre Farm
Recipe for a Happy Acre Two young farmers, one selfie-loving mutt, and a baby in the broccoli crate By Cheryl Angelina Koehler Photos by Helena and Matthew Sylvester Recipe by Chef Anna Buss Jump to recipe Farming as a vocation often calls to mind dire reports on the demise of the family enterprise and…
Read MoreGarden Allies
Friends, partners, collaborators, cohabitors . . . Grown together, plants can be more than the sum of their parts By Joshua Burman Thayer | Illustrations by Cheryl Angelina Koehler Did you know that plants form alliances? Like humans, plants do better when they associate with other plants for mutual benefit, such as to procreate,…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
Produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. By Barbara Kobsar | Illustration by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge February Dense in texture but mild in flavor, cauliflower offers endless possibilities in salads, pastas, soups, snacks, sauces, hummus, and even mac and cheese. We find it in a myriad of colors these…
Read MoreTop Cap Mushrooms
It all started with a shiitake mushroom fascination. At the time, Morgan Proctor and Greg Olson both had administrative positions in urban offices and were living in a small space in Oakland with no outdoor area for plants. Given their shared interests in nature, nutrition, and gardening, and after being wait-listed at a community garden,…
Read MoreAn Edible Hedgerow in the City
An Edible Hedgerow in the City By Joshua Burman Thayer “Thrush in a Fig Tree” illustration by Rigel Stuhmiller In our densely packed urban areas, space is at a premium. Courtyards, corridors, driveways, and narrow strips along property lines can seem lost for gardening use, but there are strategies for filling those zones with plants…
Read MoreFall Planting Guide
Gardener’s Notebook by Joshua Burman Thayer As the days shorten and the stress of the sun lessens, we’re in a prime window for planting perennial evergreen species that can provide your household with edible abundance. That window stays open from early October until the third or fourth day of our first big storm, when the…
Read MoreMeet the Local Wild Cherry
Meet a Local Wild Cherry: Prunus ilicifolia On a recent stroll along the north bank of the Carquinez Strait in Benicia, I came upon a California native plant loaded up with edible cherry-like fruits. Prunus ilicifolia, aka hollyleaf cherry, evergreen cherry, or simply California wild cherry, was called islay by California’s Salinan tribespeople. The Salinans…
Read MoreAsian Vegetable Seeds
Autumn in the Kitazawa Test Garden Story by Helen Krayenhoff | Photos by Scott Peterson Meet Maya Shiroyama, current owner of Kitazawa Seed Company. Established in Oakland in 1917, Kitazawa specializes in seeds for traditional Asian vegetables and also introduces newly bred varieties for home gardeners and commercial growers. Seed producers spend years trialing and…
Read MoreFeed Your Soil With Compost
While fall may be the best season to savor local fruits and vegetables, it’s also a great time to plant them. Thanks to a mild Mediterranean climate, East Bay gardeners can grow and harvest fresh produce all winter long. When planting your winter garden, make it thrive by feeding your soil with compost. Compost boosts…
Read MoreSharing the Bounty at MariLark Farms
A New Take on Giving Away the Farm By Rachel Trachten Charlie Costello wants to give you free tomato plants and teach you to save seeds. Last year, Costello gave 400 tomato plants to East Bay gardeners for their schools, urban farms, and homes. This year, he’s on track to share just as many, or…
Read MoreAvocado Adventure Chetwyn Farm
Avocado Adventure in Zone 16 Living the green dream at Hayward’s Chetwyn Farm BY CHERYL ANGELINA KOEHLER | PHOTOS BY EMMA NAJARIAN The tumbledown 1890s-era farm tucked into a barely accessible fold in the hills above Hayward was one of those properties real estate agents feel reluctant to show. In spite of its proximity to…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
Produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. By Barbara Kobsar | Illustration by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge PEARS It’s pear season! One of the earliest European-variety pears to arrive at market is the Bartlett, easily recognized by its bell shape, semi-soft flesh, and yellow-to-red skin color. The green-skinned d’Anjou; small, sweet…
Read MorePlant for the Future with Edible Hedges
Gardener’s Notebook Do you have a property line with nothing growing on the border or an annoying view of a road or apartment building? Plant for the future by installing an edible hedge. Pineapple Guava Originally from Brazil, pineapple guava (Feijoa sellowiana) brings together two valuable qualities: It’s tropical and also quite drought tolerant. This…
Read MoreSolstice Garden
Gardening at the Solstice We have arrived at the summer solstice, the time of year when daylight lasts the longest and the sun is as far north as she gets. Here are some ways to transition your plants from spring to summer growth. In North America, the month following summer solstice (which in 2018 was…
Read MoreGrowing Moringa
Gardener’s Notebook By Joshua Burman Thayer Moringa Can Be a Boon to Your Garden Have you heard of Moringa oleifera? An amazingly fast-growing perennial, moringa is edible from root to shoot. High in iron, it offers a nutritional boost to people as well as animals, and can be a real boon to your garden or orchard…
Read MoreGardeners’ Resources
Summer 2018 Gardener’s Notebook Crop-Swaps Share your garden’s bounty and come home with someone else’s at these free weekly crop swaps. Some swaps encourage trading gardening tools and materials, recipes, baked goods, and tips on getting more involved in your community. Arrive on time for the best selection. Meet your neighbors and be part of…
Read MoreNeighborhood Gardening
Grow Your Garden into a Local Food Network By Joshua Burman Thayer | Illustrations by Cheryl Angelina Koehler Small is beautiful. Henry David Thoreau’s most famous foray into agricultural writing arose out of observing a patch of beans he had seeded outside his cabin at Walden Pond. That simple act in the 19th century is…
Read MoreGot A2 Milk?
A Northern California farm family brings nutrient-dense dairy products to the East Bay By Colleen Riordan What’s new in dairy? High-tech apps, perhaps? Maybe not so much. Trending terms in the lexicon of dairy innovation are more along the lines of “sustainable nutrition” and “holistic landscape ecology.” These developments actually began a quarter century…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
Produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. By Barbara Kobsar | Illustration by Charmaine Koehler-Lodge May It’s caneberry season, and if you love those delicious blackberry hybrids—like Boysenberries, olallieberries, and Loganberries—you’ll want to head out to the farmers’ markets or Brentwood u-pick farms right now to get some.…
Read MoreMarch to Start Tomatoes
Now Is the Time to Plant Your Tomatoes Tomatoes take the full growing season to root, shoot, and fruit, so now is the time to get the stars of the summer into the ground. Plant them deep: Tomatoes have the awesome ability to launch root shoots into the soil from places where you have broken…
Read MoreSpring Gardening
Snatch that Space in Your Spring Garden We’re now in that great season of leafy green growth following the spring equinox. For gardeners, that means a special opportunity to plant “catch” or “snatch” crops. These are faster-growing edible species (harvested in 60 to 80 days) that can be tucked in around the longer-lasting summer crops before those main crops get a…
Read MoreTurmeric in the Garden
DIY Spice? Garden Treasure? What is this appealing plant that’s been popping up lately in California gardens? Here’s a hint: Like its relative ginger (Zingiber officinale), this herbaceous perennial’s best-known attraction lies beneath the soil. The deep orange-yellow rhizome (fleshy root) of the turmeric plant (Curcuma longa) is used widely in cooking in the Indian…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
By Barbara Kobsar Produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. February Hear that familiar “snap” coming from the kitchen? It means the new crop of California asparagus has arrived. Asparagus breaks naturally between its tender and tougher portions, so it needs only a quick bend to snap it in…
Read MoreCreating Layers in Your Food Garden
Good things from the lower layers of your food forest By Joshua Burman Thayer | Illustration by Cheryl Angelina Koehler Permaculture seeks to build harmony between people and nature. It calls upon us to care for the earth while producing food for our nourishment. Planting a food forest is one way to realize these goals.…
Read MoreWinter is the Time to Plant Bare-Root Fruit Trees
Gardener’s Notebook By Joshua Burman Thayer There’s a lot going on in a northern forest mid-winter, but you don’t need to head into the wilderness to see it. Just look around. Similar things are happening everywhere in nature, even in the mild and urbanized East Bay. Take, for instance, those fallen leaves. They serve many functions: They return carbon…
Read MorePlant a Tree Collard
Plant a Tree Collard Now is the time! By Joshua Burman Thayer As winter brings shorter days and cooler temperatures, our gardens enjoy a reprieve from the dryness of summer. More moisture comes not only from winter rains, but also from condensation as the dew point rises. The dew point is the atmospheric temperature (varying…
Read MoreIlluminoshi
Noshing on the Farm Jewish Food Pros Gather at Urban Adamah By Rachel Trachten | Photos by Lydia Daniller I’m here at Berkeley farm Urban Adamah, watching a cluster of fellow visitors making what appear to be mudballs, patting them into shape, then dropping them onto the ground. Nearby, another group is plunging their hands…
Read MoreSprout Your Kitchen Garden with Oakland-Made Orta Seed Pots
It was series of gardening mishaps that got Berkeley resident Anne Fletcher wondering: Could she come up with a way to keep seedlings and cuttings moist if she missed a day or two of watering due to travel or other distractions? A design consultant and home cook, Fletcher had repeatedly tried to grow seeds in…
Read MoreFat Gold Olive Oil
There’s a Writer Loose in the Olive Grove! A tale of two urban creatives gone wild in food and farming By Kristina Sepetys | Photos by Cheryl Angelina Koehler Meet two young olive farmers ready to start their first harvest. Kathryn Tomajan and Robin Sloan have no real farming experience, but here they are in…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
Story and recipe by Barbara Kobsar Illustration by Caroline H. Gould Choosing produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for flavor and freshness. AUGUST Now is the time to buy “shellies” (or “shuckies” or “shellouts,” as shelling beans are sometime called), since you might find some at the “in-betweener” stage at which they…
Read MoreWhat is a Food Forest?
On Plant Communities and Food Forests Permaculture concepts in action By Joshua Burman Thayer Plants, like people, thrive in community. As a landscape designer who works with permaculture strategies, I appreciate how nature evolves its plant communities so each member benefits from its associations with the others. That’s valuable knowledge to bring into the garden.…
Read MoreTouch-Up Pruning for Lemon Tree Health
Gardener’s Notebook Many Bay Area property owners enjoy great yields from their citrus trees, but most are unclear about when and how to prune them. The common wisdom is to prune in winter, but citruses, which have a sub-tropical heritage, are best pruned when there is no threat of frost or rain. Light touch-up pruning…
Read MoreMay in the Garden: The Three Sisters of Summer Adopt a Fourth
Gardener’s Notebook By Joshua Burman Thayer One of the great delights of walking the hills above the bohemian enclave of Berkeley is the chance to follow the system of footpaths that provide secret routes from one street to another. Oak tree branches frame enchanting views of the Golden Gate and the San Francisco Bay on…
Read MoreGrowing Food Near Native Oaks
Growing Food Near Native Oaks Is it possible to grow perennial food plants near native oaks? Yes, with the right plants and methods. Here in Northern California, we are blessed with many stoic and picturesque native oaks. Quercus agrifolia (coastal live oak), Quercus lobata (valley oak), and Quercus douglasii (blue oak) are all found in…
Read MoreCircling Back at McCormack Ranch
Old-style rotation of grains and sheep prevails at this Solano County farm Story and photos by Cheryl Angelina Koehler It’s hard to ignore the slim, white giants that stand waving their three long arms over the Montezuma Hills of Solano County. “Their red lights flash like devils’ eyes,” Jeannie McCormack says of the ubiquitous wind…
Read MoreHome Harvest
Wishing you had more planting space in your yard? There may be an extra piece of gardening real estate you did not realize you had. Growing food on fences and arbors can enhance privacy and also add to…
Read MoreMove Over Spinach: Miner’s Lettuce is Here
Gardener’s Notebook A recent rainy day off found me wandering the oak woodlands on the east side of Mount Diablo. As I ambled into Mitchell Canyon, I stopped to admire the rolling clouds upon the ridge, then looked down to find myself standing ankle-deep in a patch of Claytonia perfoliata, otherwise known in these parts…
Read MoreIn the Winter Garden
Right now, the Bay Area winter may be gently nudging or loudly banging on your door. If you’re a gardener, the transition into the cool season can seem abrupt and disappointing, but with steps taken now, you can boost plant growth and keep your beds productive through the winter months. 1. Mulch for Warmer Roots…
Read MoreYoung Hands in the Dirt
sharing the garden’s pleasures with kids By Joshua Burman Thayer Illustrations by Cheryl Angelina Koehler As a wilderness camp counselor and later as a naturalist with the San Francisco Unified School District, I had the experience of getting paid to interact with kids in nature. Leading trips around the dunes of Fort Funston and the…
Read MoreComposting to Save the Planet
BY CHERYL ANGELINA KOEHLER ◊ ILLUSTRATIONS BY LILA VOLKAS The real dirt on Farmer Al Courchesne of Frog Hollow Farm is some very rich humus indeed. Compost. Huge heaps of it. “We see this as a model for farming that could address climate change,” says Courchesne, whose conversion to the way of composting grew in earnest…
Read MoreFibershed
FIBERSHED Fashion gets a slow-food-style makeover By Jillian Laurel Steinberger Where does our clothing come from and where does it end up? We’ve grown accustomed to asking such questions about our food and our water, but why not about our fabrics and dyes? What if we could get sweaters, jeans, and hats made from locally…
Read MoreWhat’s in Season?
BY BARBARA KOBSAR ILLUSTRATION BY MARGO RIVERA-WEISS Choosing produce harvested at its peak is your sure bet for fabulous flavor and freshness. May Small grow pots of herbs and greens, such as those sold by Mariposa Microgreens, have become a popular item at farmers’ markets. If you have one, you’re happily snipping tender and tasty…
Read MoreLead in your soil?
BY STEVE CALANOG AND BIRGITT EVANS • PHOTOGRAPHY AND DESIGN BY JACK PERTSCHUK Over the years, we have heard many smart, inquisitive gardeners express concern, confusion, and fear about environmental contaminants in their soil. Lead is very often mentioned when talking about gardening. While urban residents may know they should be concerned, rarely do they…
Read MoreA PRODUCE PICKER’S COMPANION
BY HELEN KRAYENHOFF ILLUSTRATIONS BY MARGO RIVERA-WEISS Is it ripe? Is it ready? Will this one taste better than that one? What’s the best way to enjoy it? How do I grow it? Whether you’re in your garden or at the market, there are always these questions . . . Last fall we shared insight on…
Read MoreJAPANESE VEGETABLES IN THE GARDEN
By Helen Krayenhoff Since its founding in Oakland in 1917, the Kitazawa Seed Company has been an important source for commercial and backyard growers interested in raising Asian vegetables. Among the Kitazawa offerings are seeds for many traditional or heirloom Japanese vegetables, including a specific group known as dento yasai, which date back to the…
Read MoreWHAT’S IN SEASON?
BY BARBARA KOBSAR ILLUSTRATION BY MARGO RIVERA-WEISS When you’re at the farmers’ market, it’s all about what’s in season. Choosing from items harvested at their peak is your sure bet for fabulous flavor and freshness. AUGUST/SEPTEMBER Summer crops linger as midsummer fog backs off and our hot and sunny season arrives. It’s harvest time for…
Read MoreWeedy Greens
The Great Recession’s Latest Crop By Jillian Steinberger, M.A., BFQL | Illustrations by Bonnie Borucki Um . . . Did someone say, “Free food”? After six years developing an edible test garden for my landscaping business, I’ve come to regard weeds as crops. In times like these, you just can’t let a great—and super-local—source of…
Read MoreBugs in the Balance
Story and Illustration by Helen Krayenhoff On a beautiful spring day shortly after we moved into our new house, I noticed that the rosebuds on the bush in the front yard were literally covered in red aphids. I thought to myself, “I have to get out the insecticidal soap and blast those little buggers off…
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