The Ginger One: Nectarines, white peaches, and plums--oh my!

So, there was an article in the most recent Edible East Bay about an area called Brentwood. It's about an hour from Berkeley and is loaded with farms, U-pick farms in particular. One thing I loved about summertime in Ithaca is going berry picking with my pals (especially Haley--I miss you Hale-bop!) There is a group called Harvest Time in Brentwood that has a website linking people up with member farms. The site is great, and it gives you a printable map of the area where the farms are located and what is in in season at each farm, each month. Ever since reading that article, I wanted to do a "U-pick crawl", hopping from farm to farm and eating/buying produce to take home and preserve. I got in touch with my pals Maggie and Jamie and set up a date!

When we arrived, I was blatantly aware of the vast difference an hour drive can make on weather outside of the "fog belt" where we live in the Bay Area. It was sunny in Berkeley, and a solid 63 degrees--really beautiful and pleasant. Once we arrived in Brentwood (silly me wearing jeans, sneaks, a t-shirt and sweater!), it was a different story--it was HOT! It felt like it was in the mid-90's and very dry. Thankfully I brought a pair of flip flops (which were great anyway because they were easy to clean all of the sticky fruit off of at the end of the day) and was able to roll up my jeans a bit to get down to work! The first few places were pretty busy, and certainly not very relaxing. They had families everywhere, they were mostly near the road, and offered very little escape from the heat. Not really what I expected for a day at a farm. I was hoping for a sultry stroll through orchards, a nice summer breeze now and again while taste-testing which ripe fruit I would pick to take home. As is turns out, the main things available were stone fruits (we just missed cherry season!), so I decided to load up on organic nectarines and white peaches at the first 2 stops, as they really were amazingly delicious. By the second or third stop, we were already getting pretty worn out, but still hadn't come across any plums, pluots, or figs. I was on a mission to get really good plums, so I was a bit bummed. We hopped in the car, headed in the direction of the highway home, and saw a sign--Canciamilla Ranch-- that seemed promising. This one looked off the beaten path-- a long, private road lined with trees and a few homes and outbuildings. After cruising down the lane for a bit, I started to get the relaxed feeling I was hoping this trip would bring. Once we pulled up to the ranch, we knew we had scored the perfect place to end our crawl. We parked in the shade and strolled over to the main entrance/farm stand. There was a sweet girl there who told us what was available. It was super laid back, there may have been one or two other small groups there and the prices were amazing. All of the organic stone fruit was only $1.00 per pound. We hung around with the ranch's animals for a bit--chickens, geese, and a bunny before grabbing a bucket and heading down into the fruit orchards. The view was incredible--a hazy mountain to the left and rows and rows of trees full of nectarines and two varieties of plums. The sun was hanging perfectly in the sky, giving off the most generous light for snapshots, and there was a gentle breeze that picked up just when you needed it to. It was definitely a magical and perfect end to the trip. After we paid (I also got beautiful pale blue, green and brown eggs and tomatoes), we chatted up one of the owners for a bit and then headed out. I would highly recommend this place to anyone wanting a really nice u-pick experience! Next post will hopefully be about the preserving I did with the bounty!