Submitted by Sue Kern
CLOVIS – Organic farmers have a dream that children will prefer nature’s candy, “stone fruit,” to junk food. Fresno, the leading grower of agricultural exports, leads the nation in residents that are obese and diabetic.
A group of a dozen organic farmers believe the time is plum ripe to stem that trend by allowing consumers to indulge in summer’s first fruits. They offer free samples to consumers of scores of varieties of stone fruit at a farm-to-fork festival they’ve named “The Organic Stone Fruit Jubilee.”This non-profit event was started 6 years ago by local organic farmers who shared a dream. A dream that one day people would meet the farmers growing their food and visit a farm to see it hanging ripe on the trees.
They dreamed that food, with its strength to nourish, would capture heart strings through taste. They dreamed that families would be baled together with the soft strong bonds of sharing and through fruit would connect to the farms and farmers that grow their food. Farmers would meet the families, they would laugh and then sigh, and would rejoice with smiling eyes, when children said they wanted to farm too.
We invite you to experience one day in that dream on Saturday June 22, from 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at MOA Oasis Gardens, a 10-acre farm at 5790 Indianola Ave., Clovis, CA. Tickets are $5 and kids under 12 are free. Tickets are sold at the gate.
The jubilee has developed a strong following over the last 5 years and is not to be missed by foodies, locals and rural tourists.
“It’s only a short drive to Clovis for Fresnans. Tourists are paying for a bus tour from L.A. to come to this event,” states Tara Hamilton, an organic farmer and volunteer with the Stone Fruit Jubilee.
Fruit tasting starts at 5 pm. This fun filled evening includes fruit tasting and sales of over 60 varieties of peaches, plums, pluots, nectarines and apricots.
Enjoy live entertainment, Farm Tours, Kids Craft corner, Jam Making demonstration by Joyce Kierejczyk, Japanese Tea Ceremony, flower arranging and a stone fruit recipe contest for stone fruit drinks, artisan treats and pies.
People can email tarahamilton@me.com for more information about the contest. Last year’s winners will be judging this years entries.
Keynote speaker at this year’s Jubilee is Manuel Jimenez with his Speech “From Farmworker to Farm advisor to Farmworker.” His story begins with his migrant great grandparents, his journey as a farmworker, and his later work with other immigrants as a Farm Advisor. Other speakers include Dr. David Wong & Natasha Uhlik Siebliss.
From Santa Rosa Plums, to La Feliciana peaches, Southmoon blueberries and Pakistani Mulberries, you will embark on a journey that’s plum ripe for the hearing.
