At Fresh Choice restaurants we feature a complete salad bar. Every so often, we add watermelon radishes to the bar. These radishes, properly called Red Meet radishes, are unique in the radish family. Many people see them and think they are turnips. Once sliced, the insides are beautiful. The outer skin is white with green shoulders. The insides are a reddish pink, resembling a watermelon, thus, the name.

The radish is 3...

Here at Amapola Ranch we grow certified organic produce specifically for Fresh Choice Restaurants. Rotating crops, planning future crops and planting those crops on a timely basis is key to providing a continual supply of produce to Fresh Choice.
With the summer supply of heirloom tomatoes complete, it’s time to for the fall and winter items to be harvested. We have just begun our first pickings of butternut squash, pie pumpkins, radishes and, my new favorite, kohlrabi.
Kohlrabi is a member of the Brassica Oleracea family, more commonly called the cabbage family. It grows from a main root with the ball resting just on top of the dirt. It has long stems that resemble antennas with big bushy leaves on the top. The colors are...

Some people say farming is feast or famine, even farmers say it, and by golly, I’m saying it too. Farmers hang in there year after year hoping for the bumper crop, the one that beats the odds. The one planted on time, grew three times twice too big, harvested well and sold at a premium high price. Now, that’s what I’m talking about. But, no, when farmers talk together they may say, ” Well, a few years ago we really hit it well, sold all my alfalfa before the snow. Sure was a good year”. Of course, it may have been 10 years ago, but it seems just like yesterday.

Here at the ranch, we experience these kinds of things. We talked about how nice it would be if it could get warm and clear  so our tomatoes could...

¡Que tal esos melones! - "How 'bout them tomatoes?!"

Another Fresh Choice Farm

“Que pasa?!”

Hi!…my name is Jose A. I’ve been a farmer for over 30 years. I have a passion for growing the best organic produce possible. I am the Farm...

AMAPOLA RANCH

Amapola Ranch produces organic fruits and vegetables for our Fresh Choice restaurants, markets, and distributors. Our goal is to grow the finest, most flavorful, organically grown produce. The ranch is located on 123 acres in the Santa Barbara foothills, overlooking the Goleta Valley,...

If you are anything like me these days eating healthy means peering into the cold light of my freezer, choosing between 3 boxes labeled 600 calories, sticking a black bowl with 2 oz. of chicken pieces, some gooey sauce and 6 bites of broccoli in a microwave for 2 ½ minutes.  Once the microwave timer goes off I pull the tray out of the microwave, burn my fingers on the sauce that bubbled over on the beautiful black plastic bowl, blow on my burnt finger tips and sit down to a yummy 600 calorie 9 bite lunch.

I may feel good about consuming 600 calories at lunch or dinner but deep down the same voice that tells me 6 chocolate chip cookies can be countered by that 30 minute walk I am going to take later, tells me “feel good now because...