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6A Daily News – Saturday, November 2, 2013 Agriculture farm & ranch Farm-City bus tour The 8th annual Tehama County Farm Bureau Farm-City Bus Tour had people learn about the diverse agriculture in Tehama County. If you missed this tour, sponsored by Green Waste of Tehama, Rolling Hills Casino, Corning Ford and Andy Houghton Insurance, you missed a good one. Our first stop was Alderson Dairy and enroute Josh Davy, University of California Cooperative Extension Livestock & Range farm advisor, explained the Land Grant System, and how it is applied research and information on the county level. Marcie Skelton, county Courtesy photo ag commissioner office, explained her duties of Bob Steinacher of Maywood Farms with a Brown Turkey cutting that crop reports, and the has figs on it, or with a box of Fresh California Figs. At the 8th annual office monitoring state Farm - City bus tour. regulations about agriculture. Cattle ranchers need R Meats and Enjoy Store; ground crudely and now dried and a processor in brand certificates when Corning at Olive Pit; Los the oil fields have precise Fresno buys the dried figs they sell or ship animals Molinos at NuWay Mar- specifications. for either fruit or fig newout of state, from a brand ket; Reddding at Kent's The busy season at tons. inspector. Her office Meats. They have no trouble Eco-Shell is from Sepissues certificates for Each person received 8 tember to Dec. 31 when selling the fresh fruit and exporting the nut and fruit oz. Sierra Nevada cheese, the shell comes in. There some customers have been crops plus by-products. cheese recipes, cheese are 37 employees full with Maywood Farms for At Alderson Dairy, facts and a pencil. time. The walnuts are 27 years. Whole Foods is Mark told us about his Our next stop was a cracked to order, so the their biggest customer and family and how complete sur- meat stays fresh. 60% to they want the best quality. his father and prise. Eco-Shell 70% of the crop goes Maywood started organic grandfather with in 1990, and still market i n overseas. their families Our next stop was as organic. Richfield/Corncame to Tehama To keep the quality up, ing sends cat Maywood Farms, Mount County in 1952, litter to 28 Shasta Avenue in Corn- they are proud of their and milked a c o u n t r i e s ing, where we learned longtime workers of more small dairy of 20 around the about fresh figs. The trees than 20 years. The packcows like many world. Helen are pruned back each win- ing shed foreman has 27 of their neighCantrell, direc- ter to six feet in height so years with Maywood, and bors. His father tor of marketing they can pick from the the 30 workers in packing bought a house and sales for the ground and not need lad- shed are 70% women who and 25 acres for Crain family, is ders. They are pruned by are conscientious for a $25,000. They Jean manager of the hand, and the centers are quality pack. developed a A pallet of figs has 120 b y - p r o d u c t s open so workers can pick Grade A milk boxes, and they cool 2,400 in the center of tree. division. barn. The varieties are Black boxes per day. They place When walThe Aldernut shells are Mission, Brown Turkey, two pallets by the vacuum sons were intensive graz- ground it releases the tan- Kadota and Adriatic fan in the cooler, and the ing before it became nin, and that controls the grown on 172 acres, plus fruit goes from 90'F to politically correct. Since odor. Helen said they 50 acres of walnuts. Pick- 38'F in 4 1/2 hours. The 1985 Mark used pastures made pellets for wood ing every two to three pallets are covered with for cattle feed instead of stoves netting for air flow. and Haven days, seven days a week. having the cows in free Humane purchased the The figs are stored at Last year's wood prostall barns or corrals eat- ecoburn pellets for cat lit- duces the June crop of 31'F but because of the ing hay. His father had ter for over 100 cats and figs, and the figs that sugar content, the figs been using that method there was no smell. Eco- ripen from August to don't freeze until 27'F. earlier. Less than 5% of Shell experimented, November are on the new There are wind machines the dairies in California developed a formula and wood. The first crop is every 10 acres due to the use pasture. now they have a 75,000 usually large, juicy with March-April freezes. Mark monitored his ton business. Everyone received a less seeds and delicate in pasture production one one pint clam shell of 15 years ago the flavor. summer, and he got shelling plants paid to The heat in July and the fresh Black Mission figs, 30,000 lbs while a typical dump the shells in the steady hot north wind and a recipe folder as we permanent pasture pro- land fill, then co-genera- caused the trees to not put left. Figs are high in potasduces 12,000 lbs. He uses tion burned the shells to out the usual amount of sium and calcium, low in rye grass and ladino produce power, and now new wood, so it is a light sodium and cholesterol clover, and every three Eco-Shell takes walnut crop with only 8 pickers in free. years he seeds the pasture shells from Sacramento October this year. Lucero Olive Oil was with no til farming. In north if the shells meet Bob Steinacher and our final stop where we other words he doesn't their criteria. on hair and family came to Tehama put tear up the pastures, and nets Not only do they pro- County in 1981 and pur- beard/mustache they flood irrigate. duce cat litter, but they chased land to grow dried inorder to tour the bottling No commercial fertil- can grind the shells 15 figs but developed a fresh room. We learned the izer is used because the times smaller than flour fig market instead. He Lucero story, how olive oil cow manure the cows and it is used in cosmet- grew his fig trees from is produced and concludleave behind and the ics, facial scrubs, glues, slips in potting soil in his ed with olive oil tasting. clover give the grasses activated carbon, cabinet nursery. The trees are irri- The Millers Blend was enough fertilizer. He puts counters, hair dye, anti- gated by drip irrigation, peppery and a combina110 cows on a one acre slip surfaces, terrazzo and the trees use 2 1/2 tion of four olive varieties. pasture for 12 hours, and flooring, filler/extender, acre feet of water per year. I liked it. Asolano and when they finish milking abrasive blasting media, The pickers pick into Kornekie followed by the the cows go to a fresh one deburring, deflashing, buckets, that are dumped Meyer Lemon olive oil, acre in a 21-day rotation polishing media. into yellow totes that go to and the Mandarin Orange. over the pastures. It doesn't sound deliWe saw vials of prod- the packing shed where Sierra Nevada Cheese uct from 1/4 inch to the figs are sorted into cious but it truly was, Company in Willows on 1/325th inch in size, and firm pack with a 15 day Mandarin Orange olive oil road 39, uses Alderson they can grind shells into shelf life, or a ripe pack and Blueberry-Balsamic milk, and they make sharp more than 30 different with a five day shelf life. vinegar on vanilla ice cheddar, medium cheddar, standard media sizes. The different packs are 12 cream. A great way to mozzarella, Monterey They supply the raw prod- one-pint "open baskets," conclude another fascijack and jalapeno jack. uct to the manufactures. UPC coded 12 one-pint nating tour of agriculture We sampled the different The oil fields are a clam shells, and UPC in Tehama County. cheeses and it is smooth large consumer since coded one-pound clam and creamy. It can be pur- ground walnut shells are shells. Jean Barton can be chased at the following used in the drilling mud. at If the figs don't meet reached stores: Red Bluff at A & In 1920s the shells were quality standard, they are jbarton2013@gmail.com. Farmers tied to listeria outbreak plead guilty DENVER (AP) — Two Colorado farmers whose cantaloupes were tied to a 2011 listeria outbreak that killed 33 people pleaded guilty Oct. 22 to misdemeanor charges. Eric and Ryan Jensen entered the pleas in federal court in Denver to six counts of introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. Prosecutors say the brothers agreed to plead guilty without any concessions regarding sentencing. ''These young men are stepping up because it happened on their watch,'' Forrest Lewis, a lawyer for Eric Jensen, said in court. A sentencing hearing has been set for Jan. 28. A probation officer will issue a presentence report that will help guide the judge in imposing a sentence. The charges carry penalties of up to six years in prison and $1.5 million in fines. Lewis said in court that the brothers have no criminal record. The Jensens previously filed for bankruptcy. Officials have said people in 28 states ate the contaminated fruit and 147 were hospitalized. A statement from the Jensens' attorneys says the brothers were shocked and saddened by the deaths, but the guilty pleas do not imply any intentional wrongdoing or knowledge that the cantaloupes were contaminated. Both brothers acknowledged in court that they had processed and shipped tainted cantaloupe in July and August of 2011. ''We were in charge of the operation and we initially shipped a product that was adulterated,'' Eric Jensen said. The brothers have sued the safety auditor who gave their farm a ''superior'' rating just before the outbreak — the deadliest case of foodborne illness in the nation in a quarter century. The Food and Drug Administration has said the rare move to charge the Jensens was intended to send a message to food producers. Criminal charges are rare in food-borne illnesses, but under President Barack Obama the FDA has been more aggressive in pursuing farmers and food processors for alleged lapses. The Jensens' ''actions resulted in tragedy nationwide, and profound economic consequences for an entire industry, and has exposed them to these serious criminal consequences,'' U.S. Attorney John Walsh said after the pleas. Federal investigators said the melons at Jensen Farms in southeast Colorado likely were contaminated in its packing house because of dirty water on the floor and old, hard-to-clean equipment. The Jensens filed their lawsuit against PrimusLabs, a Santa Maria, Calif., food safety auditor that checked Jensen Farms in July of 2011. 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