Felicia Friesema

Summer at the markets brings an embarrassment of riches and a bit of sensory overload. A prime example of this manifests when you walk by the Weiser Family Farms booth on a hot market day. Even feet away, you can't help being washed in the sweet musky scent of sun-warmed......

In a surprisingly unprecedented move, the nation's largest egg farming cooperative, representing, according to their website, "95% of of all the nation's egg-laying hens," has partnered with the Humane Society of the United States to ban barren battery cages and phase in more humane standards nationwide, starting as early as......

Yang Farms out of Fresno is a year-round vendor at the Hollywood Farmers Market, offering a wide variety of greens and vegetables. We love their yu choi and baby bok choi and we spied a really early crop of kabocha on their tables recently. But the thing that reins us......

The inaugural class of Master Food Preservers (MFPs) from the UC Cooperative Extension graduated 18 new MFPs on June 20th, and as soon as the ink dried on their certificates, they were gearing up to organize the next certification class. This is kind of astounding, as most cooperative extensions, both......

Another brand new potato arrived at the Weiser Family Farms tables this weekend, giving Weiser's purple and gold Laker Baker a visual run for its money. The Viking potato has a deep burgundy purple skin mottled with uneven splotches of pink, giving the effect of a beet juice dyed Easter......

Variegated Pink lemons eschew a few citrus norms, even if the name is a bit uninspired. For one, they come into season in the summer instead of the usual winter citrus season. Also then there's the obvious: pink flesh and a stripey green and gold rind. They're a standout in......

We started off this stone fruit season with such a bang. Big, bold, and luscious cherries and the arrival, even if late, of the first plums and pluots. But then word came from one of our favorite summertime purveyors of peaches, Tenerelli Orchards, that they lost not only the bulk......

Usually the color black in food equals burnt or charred. But a few black-hued foods have redefined things a bit -- Arkansas black apples, black chick peas, "forbidden rice," and of course this blog's namesake. But veering toward the vegetal, the black radishes now available from McGrath Family Farms are......

Central valley rains are wreaking havoc on the summer stone fruit crops, already a couple of weeks late to the party thanks to cooler weather. Drenched cherry orchards, many of them looking at one of the best seasons on record, have had to pack up early due to rain split......