July 15, 2024, Orland, CA- My hosts have a “tomato problem”. The fruit is everywhere, on their ten acre spread. Lots of goodness has found its way to fruition here, on the south side of this earnest, and squared away, farming community, west of Chico.

The Central Valley is hot, as it always is in the height of summer, with the added burden today of a massive fire at a recycling plant on the edge of Chico, some twenty miles east. There have already been fires in Oroville, 40 miles to the south, and I could see the faint outlines of smoke to the north of here, as I drove into Orland’s neat and clean downtown.

Here on County Road 18, though, the air is cooling off and the fields are lush, drawing sustenance from the canals and the irrigation ditches that connect these tendrils of one of America’s prime breadbaskets. My hosts came here from the oven of Phoenix, about 18 months ago, and immediately felt a ton of relief, at the ambiance of being between two mountain ranges and the sense of contributing to food security.

Needless to say, 9/10 of the dinner plate was filled with goodies that came straight from the backyard: Potatoes and a good part of the salad mix. The meat was from down the road, but it was organic, too.

The road here from Carson City was a very clogged, slowed by construction along I-80 and CA 20, and much quicker on CA 32. Truckee was a fun stop, with mid-morning snack at Coffee And, and just people watching along Main Street. Families are just a joy to observe.

Breathing country air is, likewise, a joy-especially on a spread that is free of toxic pesticides. It’s been a reassuring break, to see the fruits of good folks’ labours.