ILLUSTRATION BY TALI MILLER. Tali Miller is a sixth-grade student at Chico Junior High. Or, “Firing up Little Moe!” Little Moe was the name that my roommate, John, and I gave to the smaller of our two waffle irons during our senior year of college (its larger cousin was Big Red). Waffles were our morning sustenance that year. We’re not talking Eggos here—this was the real deal. We kept a quart of waffle batter in the fridge at the ready, and our kitchen was stocked with “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter,” purchased by the discountbulk tub-full along with a gallon jug of Mrs. Butterworths. (Look ..read more

All Massa famly hands help out with the harvest at Massa Organics. Opposite, Mit Massa and his girlfriend Lily Nilsson hitch a ride on the mandarin trailer to join Mit’s brother Mason Massa (above) in the orchard. Photos courtesy of Massa Organics. It’s a Gift Wrapped in an Orange Peel Taking front and center of the winter produce aisle is the beloved mandarin orange. Snackers of every age favor this palm-sized bundle of sweet, segmented goodness. We live in a region that specializes in growing mandarins, especially the Satsuma variety, which is named for the region in Japan where the strain ..read more

Print Salad with Apple-Fig Cordyceps Balsamic Reduction Course Salad Keyword apple, fig Servings 4 Author Dave Konyndyk Ingredients ½ large white onion fine dice 2 cloves garlic chopped 2 teaspoons butter ½ ounce olive oil 2–3 ounces dry red wine We used a Malbec. 6–8 ounces ounces chicken broth We used Better Than Bouillon thinned with water. 2–3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar 1 teaspoon finely minced fresh lemon thyme Ordinary thyme will do. 2 apples thinly sliced 5 fresh figs optional, thinly sliced ½ pound fresh cordyceps militaris ½ cup dried cranberries We use a reduced-sugar variety ..read more

Print Half-Shroom Burgers Dave Konyndyk, co-owner of Parasol Mycology, provided these recipes. About the half-shroom burgers, he advises, “Cutting your ground beef with cooked mushrooms is a great way to stretch your supply, add flavor, and eat less red meat. The consistency of the burger patty is just the same as usual when you dry fry and press the mushrooms to cook the water out. Oyster mushrooms and some others are known to help control cholesterol, so having a sizeable helping with your burger is a win-win.“Cooking with cordyceps mushrooms is a bit more exotic. If you can find them fres ..read more

Print Ducks ‘n’ Rice Salad Course Salad Keyword duck, rice Servings 4 -6 Author Emily Porter Ingredients Dressing ½ cup local olive oil ½ cup Champagne vinegar ½ teaspoon dried thyme ½ teaspoon dried dill 1 teaspoon black pepper 2 teaspoons salt ½ teaspoon sugar ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard Salad 2 cups cooked rice ¼ cup chopped celery ¼ cup diced red onion or shallot ⅛ cup diced bell pepper ⅛ cup minced carrot 2 tablespoons chopped parsley 2 tablespoons chopped mint 2 tablespoons chopped basil 1 teaspoon minced garlic 2 tablespoons chopped green onion 2 tablespoons dried currants, cherrie ..read more

Print Braised Duck on a Bed of Jeweled Rice To cook a duck and make this salad, Chico chef Emily Porter provides the way. If you’re in need of duck, check out lopesfarms.com, as Bruce and Christopher Lopes make their ducks available for purchase this December. Course Main Course Keyword duck, rice Prep Time 3 days days 7 hours hours Servings 6 Author Emily Porter Ingredients 1 Lopes Family Farm duck fully thawed 3-4 cups duck fat or 3-4 pounds butter yes! But feel free to halve the amount of butter ½ head celery chopped 1 yellow onion chopped 1 head garlic cut in half horizontally and no ..read more

A homecoming paves the way to a medicinal mushroom business David Konyndyk and Carissa Garrard built a sterile grow shed for the organic, adaptogenic mushrooms they grow. PHOTOS BY CANDACE BYRNE Growing medicinal mushrooms wasn’t top of mind when Carissa Garrard and David Konyndyk packed their bags and moved to Paradise. “After the fire, we were wanting to come back and help with the rebuild, to see what possibilities were there, and to help bring more economic opportunities,” says Garrard, whose family has lived in Paradise for six generations. The chance the couple was waiting for came when ..read more

The view from the six-row weeder opens to the world. The rice and duck harvests are in, the community dinner “Duck Five Ways” has been held, and we now take time to reflect on the past and look towards the future. Our family risked so much during their journey from the Azores to California. We Lopes feel a deep connection with our family who set out into the unknown in hopes of a better future. That spirit of determination, exploration, and perseverance echoes in our new venture as duck rice farmers and inspires future extensions of all we have learned. THE ELDER LOPES REFLECTS Grandpa John Sy ..read more

Too often, action plans resulting from community input get put on a shelf, and that is that. Not so with Heathy Shasta’s December 2020 Local Foods, Local Places Community Action Plan. Now, in fulfillment of one of the actions the report recommends, local residents can easily find local farms and ranches from which to purchase local foods. What led to this handy resource? To begin with, Healthy Shasta and other Redding partners succeeded in winning a prestigious grant, the Healthy Communities Grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency. These grants support efforts to mitigate negative e ..read more

Students in Redding’s Enterprise School District tackle food waste During food harvesting, grocery store stocking, large event catering, in every area food passes through on its way to humans, we waste perfectly edible food. Ambitious leaders in Shasta County are working on ways to reduce food waste, for both financial and environmental reasons, and one such individual is Dayshanay Kennedy, Program Coordinator at CalFresh Healthy Living (CFHL), who operates out of North Valley Catholic Social Services. CalFresh Healthy Living is the educational branch of CalFresh, providing nutrition and phys ..read more