Posts Tagged: UC Small Farm Program

You should taste it fresh

Question: What exotic fruit has been named as a flavor in Starburst candy, Ice Breakers gum, SoBe beverages, Vitamin Water drinks, Bacardi rum and even Axe body spray? Answer: Dragon fruit. (Hylocereus spp.) So while many of us may have tasted products...

Pitahayas, as packed at a small farm in San Diego. (Photo by Shermain Hardesty)

box of pitahaya fruit

At UC South Coast Research and Extension Center, the dragon fruit plants are currently in an orchard system, though new trellis trials will soon be under way. (Photo by Shermain Hardesty)

Cactus with pink pitahaya hanging from it has grown up a pole and out over a wire canopy, creating a tree-like form.

Pitahaya blooms at UC South Coast Research and Extension Center. (Photo by Shermain Hardesty)

Colors of ripe pitahaya flesh can vary between red, fuschia, pink and white.

Irvine Field Station white flesh pitahaya

Put down that zucchini! Pick up the ... bittermelon?

Welcome to August. Are you tired of summer squash yet?If your dinners have been overflowing with zucchini recently (like mine have), now might be a great time to try new varieties of otherwise familiar vegetables.One of the farm advisors I work with...

Looking for a farm or ranch experience?

This weekend, you're in luck. You can bring your favorite children to Kids Day on the Farm in San Luis Obispo County to churn butter, plant sunflowers, press cider, make a cornhusk doll and lots more. You can learn draft horse driving, go on a calf...

Bellydancing with your blueberries?

How about looking at Saturn through a telescope, picking your own cherries and blueberries, learning from UC Merced scientists how they estimate snow pack and water flow, taking a dip in the river, tasting local olive oil, wine and cheese, painting a...

Riverdance general store

Valley Land Alliance booth

A dip in the Merced River

Blueberry pickers