A Peek inside at a Safeway Watermelon Grower plus recipe

I had the pleasure of being invited by Safeway to take a field trip to one of the local farmers that provides Safeway with their seedless watermelon supply.  Living on a dairy farm, I never turn down the offer of touring other types of farms if I can help it.  I find it completely interesting to learn about how food, other than milk, is grown or produced.

The bloggers/writers met up at the Marina Safeway in San Francisco where we then loaded onto the shuttle bus and drove the hour and a half to the Tracy, CA Safeway to pick up the other half of the group, including Perry and Sons, the farming family, before driving the short distance to the farm.

On our drive over, we listened to Art Perry, sixty-something year old watermelon farmer, passionately share his family history, about how his grandfather came to this country in 1925 as an immigrant from the Azores Islands, Portugal and settled in Manteca, CA to live, grow their own food and operate a small dairy farm. The family made the transition from dairy producer to watermelon/pumpkin farmer in the early 1960's.

Art, in his senior year at Cal Poly, {he remembered my father-in-law, George, attending Cal Poly the same time}, changed his mind from becoming an Ag teacher...... he "was pulled back to the farm", something within him was drawing him back to the family farm, even though his father, wanting better for his son, encouraged him to choose a different career.

Shortly after Art's decision to come back to the family farm after graduating college, the farm partnered with Safeway, providing the grocery store with its supply of seedless watermelons.  They have been in partnership with Safeway for over 60 years.  Art feels the relationship with Safeway has lasted so long because they have the same beliefs in running a business, "quality and service" and "loyalty".

Upon arriving at one of Perry & Sons leased farmland crops, in Tracy, we learned that they only plants their watermelons on "virgin" land.  Land that has never grown watermelons previously, produces a better, healthier and more plentiful fruit.  Perry & Sons are constantly "hunting" for new land for their watermelon crops.  After a season of growing watermelons, the land can then be planted with other types of crops, such as corn.

Largely depending on climate and heat, a watermelon takes approximately four weeks to grow from the small melon in the photo below to the "ready to eat" stage.

At every stop along the various stages of crops we were shown, there were all sorts of goodies for us to try, all made with watermelon and various Safeway products.  This was my favorite....
Watermelon Black Bean Corn Salsa....

Paul Gnomes, farming partner, showed us how to check if a watermelon is ripe for the picking.  All watermelons are hand picked when harvested, placed on a conveyor belt and will be at Safeway, ready for the consumer within 24 hours.

More goodies.......

Bees play a very important role in mini watermelon production.  A "pollinator" plant is planted at approximately a 3:1 ratio with the fruit bearing plants.  The bees must collect pollen from the pollinator plant and pollinate the fruit bearing plant for it to produce fruit.

This little guy was busy at work....

Perry and Sons also farm pumpkins.  Here Art poses with Steve, the Produce Manager from Safeway in a field of pumpkins..

Dessert time.....

Pumpkin muffin with cream cheese frosting was another favorite of mine...

Towards the end of the farm tour, we had the pleasure of meeting Art's parents, George {94 years old}and Violet Perry.  Together they stand among the four generations of Perry & Sons farm.

Coming from a farm myself, it was not surprising  to hear how passionate Art is about farming and how close his family is to one another.  There's gotta be that passion from within and love of the land to farm seven days a week.

I was pleasantly surprised however, to learn Safeway buys from local produce farmers on a large scale.  I shop many places for the food that feeds my family, but predominately Safeway, and now knowing they buy from local produce farmers as much as they can and having the opportunity to meet one of the farming families, gives me a good feeling about shopping there.

Okay, I don't have the exact increments for the Watermelon recipe, but these were the ingredients and this is what I would do.....

Watermelon Black Bean Corn Salsa

3 cups Chopped watermelon
1 can black beans, rinsed
1 can corn, rinsed
1 cup cilantro, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Mix together and enjoy!

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The Gravenstein Apple Fair THIS Weekend!

If you missed it last year, this weekend's your chance to check out the Gravenstein Apple Fair held at Ragle Ranch Park in Sebastopol. This is not your typical county fair where animals are competitively shown through 4-H {although there were some 4-H animals there to interact with}, this a sweet little country fair with live music, wine tasting, plenty of food and apple tasting with more of a festival type atmosphere. 

I'm hoping to bring the kids up this weekend, the weather should be perfect!  These pics are from a past Gravenstein Apple Fair, to give you an idea of what it's all about....

First things first, gotta eat your apple a day!

Because after the apple, comes the apple fritter.

Yum!

This was Paige's first experience with an apple fritter and she's in love.....my carb girl...

There were a couple of little rides, one being a mini canoe ride that the kids rode twice.

Back to healthy food.  Bryce wanted a peach.....my fruit and veggi {and beef} boy....

The fair had two stages that bands played on throughout the day and a couple of demonstration and educational areas where there were cooking demonstrations and farm talks.......none of which I was able to listen to, but that's what happens when you take two active kids to the fair.....no time to sit and listen.

There were animals to pet.

Angora sheep, thank you for the beautiful sweaters you provide us!

Angora sheep are beautiful.  It was a first for me to see one in person.

This guy kept head butting the mini pony next door......guess he needed some more personal space.

There was also a bee display which the kids and I loved as well.

The secret life of bees!

The kids got a kick out of being so close to bees and not being stung by one.

Then we got to sample some honey.

Our favorite was the raspberry honey.....really good!

We had birds to visit.

And lunch.  Typical fair food was served....garlic fries, gyros, corn dogs, tamales, pizza and of course hot dogs .....and much more.  They also had a wine and brew tasting at the "Sips & Suds" tent, which I did not venture over to......there's always next year.

I love antique tractors and they had quite a display of them.

They also had a ton of antique farm equipment such as this apple tree sprayer.

Every one of them in working order too.  It was really interesting for all of us to see the progression of farm equipment technology over the years.

Make your own rope demonstration.

And as promised, cotton candy to complete our day. 

I told them they could have some if they promised to behave on the 45 minute car ride home.....HA!

I'll let you use your own imagination on how that went.

All in all, I so loved this fair.  All the historical displays, celebrating the Gravenstein apple,  apple desserts, wine tasting, entertainment.....something for every age group.

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Casini Ranch Family Campground

This past winter we bought a camper trailer to stay at our county fair while Bryce shows his heifer, which is so much fun but living at the fairgrounds for five days isn't really like camping, in my opinion.....super early mornings, tending to the animals, no hook-ups and only a barely warm shower to use at the fairgrounds, parked in the middle of a dusty parking lot. 

Well, Casini Ranch Family Campground, on the Russian River, however, is amazing camping!  And we just found this out this past weekend.  

Let me show you.

Casini Ranch is set along the Russian River in Duncans Mills.  It's on 110 acres of land and has RV camping as well as numerous tent spots.  The RV spots we chose happened to be just a few spots down from the playground, which made it very convenient for the kids to ride their bikes to and from at their will.  Full restrooms with hot showers are scattered throughout the grounds if you don't want to use your RV hookup or are tent camping.

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Guinness Beef Short Ribs

 I thought with summer here and in full swing, I'd have MUCH more time to blog and have an easy schedule.....was I ever wrong....

I just returned home from the BlogHer Conference held in Chicago this past Sunday and only just now have had time to sit at the desk and bust out a post.....and it's not even about the conference because I still need to gather all of those pics which happen to scattered in every possible direction...phone, facebook, twitter, you name it.

So, in between dropping Paige off at gymnastics day camp and Bryce off at Lego Robotics camp, here's my recipe for delicious Guinness Beef Short Ribs.  Trust me, they taste better than they look....photographing meat {well} is something I am trying to accomplish in my life.  Considering we are a meat loving family, one would think I'd get enough practice in by now...

Okay, enough apologies and excuses.

Here's the beef.

Our freezer is at a bare minimum right now.  Digging through it the other day, I managed to dig out three packages of beef short ribs and decided to cook these all at once.

Sprinkle each rib with a generous amount of Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

Roll each piece in flour and braise in olive oil.  About 1-2 minutes per side, until browned.

Saute some onions in a dutch oven, add the braised short ribs and pour in one entire can of Guinness {but don't forget to save a sip for the cook}.  Pour in one cup of beef broth as well....but if you're like and beef broth didn't make it to your shopping list, use chicken broth instead.  Cover with lid and place in to a pre-heated 300 degree oven for about 3 hours.

Out comes some fall off the bone, savory, tender beef short ribs....the entire pot was devoured in little over 30 minutes...no joke.

Hope you're all enjoying a warm, slow moving summer in your part of the world.....or a pleasant winter if you're from Brazil, Australia, etc. :)

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Kenny Chesney's Blue Chair Rum ~ National Daiquiri Day

If you know me, you know how much I love Kenny Chesney's music.  If you know me REALLY well, you'll know about how I almost collided with his tour bus many years ago on the way to the Sonoma County Fair venue to hear him perform before he was as well known as he is today.

You know when you're going through tough times and you hear songs that "speak" to you?  Well, that was the connection I had with Kenny's music many years ago.....always have since day one and still connect today.  My kiddos love his music also, I think they know every word to almost every song he sings.

So when I was contacted about National Daiquiri Day {tomorrow July 19th!} and featuring Kenny Chesney's new rum line, I was all over it.  Kenny just launched a personal line of spirits called Blue Chair Bay Rum (White, Coconut, Coconut Spiced).   Kenny dreamt up and funded the entire venture himself.  I'd say he's All IN.

If you get a chance, check it out and maybe try out this refreshing daiquiri recipe to go along with it...I know I will!

No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem.

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Babes Showing Babies ~ Marin County Fair

We've been having a heat wave in Northern California the past week or so and smack dab in the middle of it was Dairy Show Day at the Marin County Fair.  

The Marin County Fair is a five day fair but the large animals are hauled in on 'show day' and then hauled back home the same afternoon.  This makes for a long day that begins at 5:30 a.m. with the kids {Bryce} washing his heifer before leaving the ranch and hauling her to the fair at 7 a.m.

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Crock Pot Honey Teriyaki Chicken

Just because it's summer doesn't mean you can't utilize that crock pot of yours.  I saw this recipe online and modified it to what I had on hand in the fridge.  So yummy, easy, light and perfect for a weekday summer night.

Here's what you need for success.....

Crock Pot Honey Teriyaki Chicken

1 1/2 pound boneless/skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon dried garlic flakes {I used Garlic Gold Nuggets}
2 teaspoons cornstarch dissolved in 3 Tablespoons water
Sesame seeds

*Put chicken into crock pot. 
Combine honey, teriyaki sauce, onion, ketchup, oil, and garlic. Pour over chicken. 
Cook on low for 3-4 hours or on high 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 hours, or just until chicken is cooked through. 

*Remove chicken from crock pot, leave sauce. 
Dissolve 2 teaspoons of cornstarch in 3 tablespoons of water and pour into crock pot. Stir to combine with sauce. Replace lid and cook sauce on high for ten more minutes or until slightly thickened. 

*Cut chicken into bite size pieces and return to crock pot - can leave chicken in and simmer on low or serve. 
Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve over rice.

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Fourth of July EASY Mini Dessert

Okay, so I'm sure I've found the EASIEST dessert EVER to be baked.......Mini Cherry Pies.  Seriously, this took all of 7 minutes to prepare and 13 minutes to bake.....DONE!  

And SO good!

Can you tell I love this recipe?!

And perfect timing....this can be very patriotic for the 4th of July.

Two things are all you need.....and a third if you wanna splurge.  Pre-made pie crusts by Pillsbury and canned cherry pie filling....that is it.

Here's what you do.....roll out that pre-made Pillsbury Pie Crust.  Use a 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter and punch out the dough.  Place into a mini muffin pan, gently.

Fill with your favorite canned pie filling.....I used cherry but blueberry would be great as well....or both! Bake these little gems for 13-14 minutes and you're done!  It is THAT easy.  Paige and I whipped these out in no time.

Yum, Yum, Yum.

The third, optional ingredient....whipped cream.  I suggest adding the whipped cream.....OH so good.

The only drawback....it's super easy to eat about five of these, in one sitting.  But I'm very thankful for easy, delicious desserts that most will love!

I'll be attending our home town parade and then a friend's BBQ, what are your plans for the Fourth?

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Patriotic Cocktail Recipes

My friends at Maestro Dobel Tequila and Three Olives Vodka are ready to help us all celebrate the 4th of July with their very patriotic cocktails to get the party started.  My favorite looking cocktails also happened to be the most brightly colored......Blue Devil-tini with tequila, Sideline Shooter and the Roman Candle.

Many times. at various parties thrown at our house throughout the year, I'll pick a theme cocktail to go along with the party and I think any one of these would be perfect for the 4th....or upcoming Labor Day as well.

Have a fun, safe and sparkly 4th of July!

Blue Devil-tini
 2 oz. Maestro Dobel Tequila
 ½ oz. Blue Curacao
 Splash Tonic
 Shake Maestro Dobel Tequila and blue curacao with ice.
 Strain into a chilled martini glass.
 Add tonic and garnish with a lemon wedge

Sideline Shooter
 1/3 oz. Three Olives Cake Vodka
 1/3 oz. Grenadine
 1/3 oz. Blue Curacao
 Layer in a shot glass!

Roman Candle
 3 oz. Three Olives Berry Vodka
 1/2 oz. Cranberry Juice
 Dash of Grenadine
 ½ oz. Blue Curacao
 Shake vodka, cranberry juice and grenadine in a shaker with ice.
 Strain into a martini glass
 Pour blue curacao gently down the side of the glass so it settles on the
bottom.
 Garnish with lemon twist

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