Proper handling and preparation of eggs are important for safety. Eggs are a wonderful, nutritious food that come so conveniently packaged in their own individual shells. But raw eggs can harbor Salmonella – both on the shell itself and inside the egg, too. Egg shells can be contaminated from…
Be safe when handling raw flour Flour is, generally speaking, a raw agricultural product which has not undergone any treatment to kill pathogenic bacteria – such as E. coli and Salmonella – that can cause foodborne illness. Several disease outbreaks associated with flour and flour products …
A warm March followed by rain in April and May in many parts of California has set up the perfect conditions for the development of an unsightly and damaging tree disease called fire blight. Pome fruit trees like pear and apple, and other related trees like pyracantha, are all susceptible to this bacterial…
The Perennial GardenEXTERNAL IMAGEThe Perennial Garden is a showcase for hardy, drought-tolerant plants that grow well in Fresno area gardens with average care. They are able to thrive in spite of the Valley's challenging growing conditions: Full sun, summer heat and aridity, winter frost and fog, alkaline…
Learn the fundamentals of freeze-drying for long-term food preservation. In this one-hour class, you’ll explore how freeze-drying works and how it helps maintain food quality over time.We’ll cover practical applications, including preserving complete meals and freeze-dried snacks such as fruit and candy. The…
Vegetable Gardening - Handbook for Beginners Chapter 4.1.Harvesting time is based on personal preferences. “Gourmet” or “baby” vegetables are merely vegetables harvested when they’re small. Blossoms (e.g., squash blossoms) can be harvested for use in salads or other recipes. Harvest vegetables as early…
Vegetable Gardening - Handbook for Beginners Chapter 3.6. To discourage snails and slugs: pick and squish, put beer bait in a saucer, collect under a board, use copper collars, surround the area with the spiky fruit pods of the sweet gum tree, use abrasive surfaces such as eggshells, lift vine…
Vegetable Gardening - Handbook for Beginners Chapter 3.5. Disease pathogens are naturally always present in the air and soil. These pathogens become problematic only when all elements of the pest triangle are present. To avoid this, make sure your garden environment does not encourage favorable…
Vegetable Gardening - Handbook for Beginners Chapter 3.4. Weeds compete with crop plants for sunlight, water, and nutrients, so their growth must be limited to obtain a reasonable yield of any food crop. In vegetable planting, weeds can quickly shade out young crop plants as well as rob the soil of…
Vegetable Gardening - Handbook for Beginners Chapter 3.3. Disease, insects, and weed seeds are always present in garden locations. All these infectious triangle components must be present in order for one of these pests to become established. Diseases The likelihood of disease is less if the…
