Be Californian Buy California Grown

Thank you to California Grown for encouraging me to connect with California growers and encouraging California consumers to “Choose California Grown” when they can.

I buy most of our produce from our local farmers market. Ever since I’ve made an effort to buy locally, I’ve gained knowledge of the different seasonal items that are available in my area.

I knew Fall season was upon us when I started seeing apples, cranberries, figs, grapes, pears, persimmons and pomegranates at the farmers market.

I also pay attention and make sure I try to buy California grown products when it is available. It helps with the local economy and I want to support the local businesses and farmers.

Being in California, we have a wide range of local produce and food choices and us locals, should take advantage of that. If you do not see a CA Grown label on products, you can always ask your grocers to find out which products are grown in California.

I received box of California Grown pears recently and it came directly from the farm where it was grown in Courtland, California.

I also received a letter directly from the pear farmer, letting me know about her family’s orchards and the types of pears she had sent me. How cool is that? I found that to be very cool and special. Especially since I always pass by these farms whenever we take a road trip up Northern California. I hope to visit at pear orchard someday.

While reading the farmer’s profile, I read a quote that got my attention:

“California has a lot of people and a lot of produce. It should be a no-brainer to put the two together.”
Her advice to California residents?  Take advantage of living in the heart of one of the most diverse food producing regions of the world.  “It’s all here and it’s fantastic!” 

From farm to table.

Three types of pears. Taylors Gold, Bosc and Seckel.

During our weekend long Thanksgiving celebration, we enjoyed the pears fresh, we enjoyed them in salads and baked them in muffins.

Spinach salad with pears, cranberries, pecans and served with vinaigrette dressing during Thanksgiving day lunch.

We had friends over for dinner and I used the pears for the plate settings. I thought they looked pretty and was just perfect for the season.

I was excited to use the pears in a muffin recipe since I’ve never had pear muffins before.

I have to say that these are one of my favorite muffin recipes. I used yogurt, whole wheat flour and turbinado sugar.

The ground walnuts use in the recipe made them hearty, they are mild in sweetness and very moist from the ripe pears.

I love the chunks of sweet pears in the muffins. My mom and I enjoyed these with our afternoon tea.

Muffin recipe coming soon.

You can also find other recipes for pears at the California Grown pinterest board.

Thank you again to California Grown for sponsoring this blog post. Please click here to learn more about all of California Grown growers. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective. All opinions are my own. #CleverCAGrown #spon

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If you are from California, do you buy CA grown products? 

For non-Californians, do you buy from your local farmers market?