February 14, 2019

Food From The Heart

Food From The Heart
Happy Valentine’s Day! Call us romantics, but we’re feeling the love here at Farm Fresh To You today. We love all of our farm box members who support local farmers, organic produce and sustainable practices. We love our family of passionate employees who share in our values and work hard as a team. We also love all of the amazing artisan food purveyors that we get to work with. If there’s one thing we really love, it’s delicious food, and it’s even better when we get to share it with you! Today we want to take a moment to introduce you to some of our partners that make their food with love.

We Love Jam

The owners of We Love Jam began making jam for fun from the Blenheim apricot tree in their backyard. Each summer, they picked fresh fruit from the 80-year-old tree and made jam to share with their friends and family. On a whim, they sent some jars to food magazines, and Food & Wine magazine loved it so much they called it the best jam they’ve ever tried in their February 2002 issue. Overnight, what started as a hobby became a successful business.
“We still make everything by hand and source our fruit from local farms. Everything is made in our own custom-made commercial kitchen. As owners, we are directly involved in every facet of this business. It doesn’t get more hands-on than this. It is very rewarding working with local farms and making our customers happy.”
We Love Jam

Theo

Theo is passionate about changing the world through chocolate. As the first Organic and Fair Trade certified chocolate factory in North America, they believe that the finest chocolate should be created in an entirely ethical and regenerative fashion.
“As a company rooted in cocoa, our mission is to create a more beautiful, compassionate, and enduring world by responsibly making delicious and inspiring products for everyone. This is why our co-founder Joe Whinney pioneered the first supply of organic cocoa into the US in 1994, and we remain committed to making amazing fair trade and organic bean-to-bar chocolate today. If you’ve ever had a Theo treat, we hope you’ll find that our love for creating delicious chocolate is evident in each bite.”

Theo

Old Dog Ranch

Old Dog Ranch is a fifth-generation family farm on the Calaveras River in San Joaquin County, California. The family has lived and farmed at the ranch since 1912. Growing up on the ranch (which is named for two of the family’s beloved, long-lived canine companions), Mollie Sitkin loved experimenting with ingredients picked from the fields and orchards just outside her kitchen door. Today, Mollie makes the Old Dog Ranch line of walnut snacks and walnut butters with organic Chandler walnuts from an orchard her father planted the year she was born.
“I’ve always loved serving delicious things to people and seeing them smile, but being able to grow the ingredients and make the snacks healthy takes it to a whole new level for me. Freshness and growing high-quality walnuts are the most important thing for our family business.”

Old Dog Ranch

Upper Crust Bakery

Upper Crust Bakery started baking bread 33 years ago in 1986. It was started by a husband-and-wife team Mo and Trudy Kalinsky in Northern California. Together, they made a perfect duo. He was passionate about the science of bread baking, and she was the face of the business and an amazing salesperson. Their son grew up in the bakery learning the craft.

Their son, Lorin, ended up building a career for himself in entrepreneurship and technology. He started a family of his own, and they split their time between living in the Bay Area and France. In 2013, his family relocated back to California. His love for baking was rekindled and with his parents’ blessing, he took over the business in 2017.
“It’s an exciting time to be in the good food business. We feel privileged to live in what is one of the most fertile, productive agricultural regions in the world. People are passionate about supporting local agriculture and eating well. Because of our presence at dozens of farmers markets across Northern California, our bakery has established unique links to many of the family farms and agricultural producers in our region. We source local ingredients and support local agriculture whenever possible, and we are proud to provide good food to our community.”
Upper Crust

Chivas

About 15 years ago, founder, Donna, learned about the nutritional benefits of drinking raw goat milk and decided to buy two French Alpine goats. Receiving 2 gallons of fresh milk a day, she taught herself to make cheeses, yogurts, ice creams, and eventually, soap! Donna used to have what her kids would call “alligator skin” -- super dry and flaky -- but, her homemade goat milk soap transformed her skin! Her friends and family loved the soaps so much too, that she kept making more. With the help of her daughter, Lauren, Donna’s DIY home project soon turned into what is now Chivas Skin Care. Donna and Lauren created the business because they wanted to share with others the same wonderful products that Donna had formulated for her family.
“Farm-fresh milk is the number 1 ingredient in all of our soaps, making each bar ultra-rich and creamy. Goat milk is the foundation of our soaps, and we believe that a high-quality soap like ours should be the foundation of any skincare routine. The better quality the soap, the less lotions and potions are needed. 
We use high-quality and all-natural ingredients in our soaps, which make them only that much more gentle, soothing and nourishing for the skin. We use food-grade olive oil, plant-based, essential oils, sustainable palm oil, and fair trade shea butter. We do NOT use any fragrances, perfumes, artificial colorants, preservatives or the like. When you read our ingredients list you can understand each ingredient. We always joke, “you really could wash your mouth out with this soap."
Chivas Skin Care

How To Add Their Delicious Products to Your Delivery:

CSA members - head on over to our online Farm Stand Market to customize your upcoming delivery. Market is open from noon on Thursday until 6 pm, 2 days before your scheduled delivery day. After you confirm your produce items, click the orange button "Confirm and Continue To Other Farm Products" to add the products to your delivery.

Not part of our farm family? Find out if we deliver to your neighborhood.