Saturday, August 14th     5:00 pm – 11:00 pm

Sunday, August 15th        6:00 am to 11:00 am

If you haven’t been to this farm event here in our neck if the woods, I highly recommend checking it out!  The Double T in Stevison, CA, is an organic working dairy farm loaded with history and agricultural artifacts that are amazing.  The Double T has been hosting this wonderful farm event for many years with the support of The Ecological Farming Association, through the EFA Heartland Project and their mission is this:

The Heartland Project seeks to strengthen the future of sustainable and family farming in the San Joaquin Valley by bringing together farmers and families and encouraging a closer understanding of food production. Join EFA and other local groups for education events and fun including local music, delicious food, berry picking, and more.

So take your family and enjoy this 2 day festival that will give you the opportunity to experience blue grass music, local foods, children activities, organic dinner,  draft horse driving class and much more you will find no where else in the Central Valley!

Below are a few photos from last year…

Heartland Festival ~ Double T Acres 2009

More info here…

www.eco-farm.org & www.thedoublet.com

Saturday August 7, 2010

9:00 am ~ 1:00 pm

California State University Fresno

Ag ~ East Lawn

Fig Fest 2010 arrives on the California State University, Fresno campus, offering tastes of figs and a variety of other foods, plus entertainment while raising money for Fresno State’s Ag One Foundation, Slow Foods Madera and the Bulldog Pantry.

The annual event, sponsored by the California Fig Advisory Board, is on the west lawn of the Satellite Student Union (Maple and San Ramon avenues, south of Barstow Avenue).

More than 1,000 foodies from throughout the state are expected to attend the festival, which features 16 Fresno, Visalia, Clovis and Madera restaurants and 11 food purveyors of everything from artisanal cheese and bread to biscotti and olives!

Among the vendors will be the Rue and Gwen Gibson Farm Market at Fresno State.

Fig Fest 2010 is an opportunity to sample fig dishes prepared by restaurants, sample fig products and learn what other foods go with figs. The ancient fruit is enjoying something of a renaissance as a trendy food.

Tickets:

$6.00 in advance   (available at www.californiafigs.com.)

$8.00 at the gate

Children younger than 12 are admitted at no charge.

The beneficiaries of Fig Fest are:

• Ag One Foundation, which provides scholarships and other support for students and programs in Fresno State’s Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.
• Bulldog Pantry, a student-organized and run off-campus food bank serving Fresno State-area neighbors in need.
• Slow Foods Madera is part of a worldwide movement promoting thoughtful, sustainable food practices.

There will also be a Fig Feast at the Vineyard Restaurant in Madera, that evening at 6:00 pm, 605 S.T st.  The cost is $90-per-person to benefit Slow Foods Madera.

For more information, contact Rebecca Hall at 559.243.8600 or rhall@californiafigs.com.

If you are a Facebook “liker”, then you are up to date on LC.  No excuse’s here but facebook has been a wonderful tool for reaching out to my local community, making it easier and quicker to share more information.

So…if you are a first time viewer or a frequent visitor, thank you for stopping by!

For now I leave you with our garden photos as a tribute to a very dear young man, Tyler Tompkins.   My family and I have had the pleasure of knowing Tyler for a short time, he has been called to a greater purpose but his spirit will forever be in our hearts and our garden!

With a heavy heart I want to share the beautiful bounty Tyler helped us create with love….

The Pick & Gather weekend on the farm venue seems to improve every year thanks to a group of hardworking locavores that have brought together all things local, with the best of the valley from foods to musicians.  The list is long of activities, entertainment, educational workshops, river fair and of course our tastey Hey Honey! Organic Lemonade will be there.  Visit the P & G website & facebook page where you can get details, tickets and all the daily farm buzz!

Now I want to share a little about the farm….

Riverdance Farms is a simple, eco-friendly working organic farm hidden along the Merced River in Livingston, CA.  It has been nurtured by some of our favorite local farmers who work with mother nature not against her, practicing permaculture principals.  If you are unfamiliar with this farming technique here it is in short from Wikipedia…

“Permaculture aims to create stable, productive systems that provide for human needs, harmoniously integrating the land with its inhabitants. The ecological processes of plants, animals, their nutrient cycles, climatic factors and weather cycles are all part of the picture.”

Every visit I make to this farm takes my breath away with it’s unpretentious preservation of nature, if only all farmers could harness such beauty for us to appreciate or cared about the wellness of our farmlands with this much respect.

See you at the “Pick & Gather!”

The new Turlock Certified Farmers Market opens its inaugural 2010 season

Friday, May 7 in downtown Turlock!

The Market will operate Fridays, rain or shine

May 7 through November 26, 8 am ~ 1 pm

located on north Broadway between Main and Olive Streets

The market will offer fresh locally grown produce from family farms, along with artisan products

Come enjoy a place to gather, purchase local healthy foods & support all things local!

Become a “Turlock Farmers Market” facebook fan for updates & share what you would like offered at your market!

Jacob Myers Park that runs along the Stanislaus River was the perfect setting for the awesome line up of earth friendly vendors and entertainment.

The day was busy with an Earth Day poster contest presentation entered by local school children, a family fun walk, interactive exhibits , free hazardous waste product disposals and a tire recycling drop off.

Despite the cool weather our Hey Honey! Organic Honey Lemonade was the drink of the day, hard to pass up a good cup of lemonade no matter what the temperature!

Thank you to all who came out for this local celebration and for all who made it happen….see you next year!      Visit our photo page to see more.

Earth Day Anthem

“Joyful joyful we adore our Earth in all its wonderment

Simple gifts of nature that all join into a paradise

Now we must absolve to protect her

Show her our love through out all time

With our gentle hand and touch

We make our home a newborn world”

~~~~~~~~~~

Spring has sprung with a burst of Earth Day festivities here in the Central Valley, find the closest to you and learn how to make a difference for your Mother Earth!

Your Earth Day Events:

Stockton April 18th

Modesto Junior College April 14th

Modesto Greceada Park April 17th

Riverbank April 10th

Madera April 23rd

Fresno April 24th

Visalia April 17th

Trelio Restaurant, owned by brothers Chris and Michael Shackelford. The brothers work brilliantly together, Mike the talented chef and Chris the passionate Sommelier. A visit to Trelio is sure to heighten all of your senses!

The smells of wine and delicate dishes are inviting and relaxing, you can hear the sounds of wine corks popping and happy customers engaged with their Sommelier. The candlelight presents the best ambiance of the dishes and you are always sure to have Chef Michael ask how your meal was.

The real beauty of this place rests in the knowledge knowing your food comes from a hard working farmer close by, and ‘local‘ doesn’t even hint on the passion the brothers have for supporting those in the Central Valley. Their menu is seasonal, meaning what is grown in the season. It is tasty and fresh, and they are often avid shoppers at the Vineyard Farmers Market in Fresno.

We had the pleasure of spending some time with Chris and Michael after the restaurant closed and really came to know these gentlemen. They are genuine, funny, and very knowledgeable about what they do and what is going on around them, especially when it comes to online technologies. With a very active following on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, they remain very transparent about what happens inside their restaurant.

Have a question of your own?

Just go ahead and ask them next time you visit Trelio & tell them Anna n’ Alex sent you!

]]> http://localchoicescv.com/2010/02/19/taste-of-local-at-trelio-restaurant-in-clovis/feed/ 0 Just Anna Trelio Restuarant Trelio Dish http://localchoicescv.com/2010/02/12/1525/ http://localchoicescv.com/2010/02/12/1525/#comments Fri, 12 Feb 2010 05:51:07 +0000 Just Anna http://localchoicescv.com/?p=1525 ]]> Congratulations to Kameron Olds winner of Turlock Farmers Logo Contest!

A home town look for the new farmers market beginning in May, check back in soon for all the details and logo to come.  In the mean time check out Kamerons very stylin’ website for his photos, blog, facebook & tweets!