Food Tourism: Andy's Orchard

For many years, my sister-in-law has sung the praises of Andy's Orchard. And for many years, I haven't made the hour plus trip down to Morgan Hill. That was a mistake. Andy's Orchard grows over 100 varieties of stone fruit (they list 128 varieties of peaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, and cherries on their website) which they harvest fully tree ripened. The fruit is delicious and the variety is amazing. Andy's Orchard is worth the trip--I can't believe it took us this long to make it.

The day we visited, Andy's was holding tastings and tours (they hold 1 to 2 per month in the summer) and we tried at least 100 varieties of stone fruit, saw their stone fruit drying operation, and toured their orchards all while picking our own tree ripened fruit. It was grand.

The Best Edible Gardening Books (In My Opinion Anyway)

A few years ago, I knew almost nothing about gardening. I was terrible about keeping house plants alive--I used to run experiments in my head to see how long I could not water my plants before they wilted--but then we moved to the East Bay and everything changed. For the first time, we had a backyard of our own. Since moving to California, I had been enamored with the idea of growing my own food. At one point, I had tried to grow Kale and Chard in pots outside; I watered them maybe once a week and harvested what amounted to large micro greens: delicious, nutritious, but definitely not enough for two bites. When we moved across the Bay, I set my mind to learning to garden; my goal was to grow enough food in the summer months, so that I wouldn't need to buy produce from the grocery store. In the four years since making the move, I have learned so much and truly can call myself a gardener; I'm pretty proud of that.