Stock these Apples to Wow Shoppers in Early October
The good times keep rolling in apple-land with new varieties landing each week! Need inspiration for your next order? Look no further. Here are six organic apples we know you and your shoppers will love!
And remember: the key to a strong apple set includes “something for everyone!”
OGC’s Friend Lane Selman Wants You to Eat More Winter Squash and Radicchio, Too!
This fall, Lane Selman, founder of Culinary Breeding Work (CBN), Professor of Practice at Oregon State University, and passionate produce fanatic, is partnering with OGC to help us encourage our community of farmers, retailers, and eaters to grow, buy and enjoy more organic winter squash and radicchio - two categories on which Lane is an expert!
We’re dedicating today’s Spotlight to introduce Lane’s connection to OGC and her years of work with farmers, researchers, retailers and chefs to expand these two exciting categories. (Spoiler alert: It’s happening and it’s delicious!)
Stock These Five Early-Season Apples!
The deluge of domestic organic apples has begun and now’s the perfect time to capture eager eaters' attention with some of the most delicious varieties available! The trick to creating a successful apple program is to bring in a mix of colors and uses to satisfy the needs of a wide range of shoppers. Alongside standard favorites like Honeycrisp, Fuji and Gala, these five apples will have eaters dreaming up all the ways they’ll incorporate apples into their menus this fall!
Cute and Craveable Kiwi Berries At Peak Season
Packed with vitamins and antioxidants, sweet and tangy organic kiwi berries are the perfect, poppable snack for eaters of all ages. Resembling a standard-size kiwi, but more similar to a kumquat in scale, this perennial vine is native to Japan, Korea, Northern China and far-east Russia.
NW Apple Season Off To a Delicious Start!
Northwest apple season is upon us, and OGC is looking forward to all the crisp, sweet and flavorful apples our region grows. From standard favorites to unique heirloom varieties and newer hybrids, there’s an apple for every type of eater.
OGC’s apple expert, Buyer Brian Keogh, shares a category outlook and early, mid and late-season varieties to round out a strong display. Be sure to download our Northwest-grown apple chart, too!
Little Garden Farm Represents a Big Dream Realized
This is the final chapter of our four-part series on Denison Farms’ transition with the story of Little Garden Farm.
Like Commonplace Farm and Riverland Family Farms, this small, family-run organic grower has benefitted from Tom Denison and Elizabeth Kerle’s commitment to ensuring the next generation of young farmers find success in an increasingly challenging landscape.
We wish Tom and Elizabeth the best as they enjoy their next chapter and hope you join us in supporting these three fantastic growers!
NW Grape Season, Short & Sweet!
Late-summer offers up some of the most deliriously delicious fruit the Northwest has to offer, and the brief but bountiful organic grape season tops the charts! With varieties that present plenty of excitement and nuance, these special grapes add interest to fruit displays. Shoppers will be sure to adorn their charcuterie, fruit bowls and desserts with supple, gorgeous grapes.
From Punjab to Corvallis, Riverland Family Farms Carries On A Legacy
“Our culture, language, music, food is all influenced by farming,” says Inder Singh of the fertile Punjab region in India that he, his business partner and brother-in-law Tal Singh, and their families hail from. “We’re a multi-generational family of farmers. My father farmed, as did my grandfather and many before him.”
California-Grown Organic Esquire and Keitt Mangos Long on Flavor!
Located in the Coachella Valley, near the Salton Sea, our friends at Corona College Heights have grown, packed and shipped citrus for over 100 years. They also market the only domestically grown, certified organic mangos!
Get To Know Commonplace Farm
Beyond just gorgeous specialty lettuce, chicories and fresh herbs, Jeremy and Ashli Mueller are using acreage purchased from long-time organic farmer Tom Denison to make the career of farming accessible to future generations.
From His Early Days at Good Time Trying Farm to Denison Farms, Tom Denison Reflects on Four Decades of Farming and His Decision to Retire
For over four decades, Denison Farms has been a household name to many shoppers in the Willamette Valley who have purchased their organic produce at area farmers markets. Tom is one of the earliest organic farmers in Oregon to find success at scale, and created a farming model that set the benchmark for many in the region.
Now, a year since the last pint of berries was sold under the Denison Farm name, OGC takes a look at how Tom’s decades of experience helped to make way for a new generation of organic farmers and his inspiring story of succession planning.
Join us as we share the four chapters of Denison Farms’ transition from Tom’s early days of farming and the sale of his life’s work to three next-generation Willamette Valley growers now coaxing crops from the land.
Okra is On! Give this Gorgeous Crop the Attention it Deserves
On a field trip to eastern Washington and Oregon this week to visit OGC’s growers in the region, farmer Alan Schreiber of Agricultural Development Group shared with us his beautiful and impressive okra crop. Standing in a field of chest-high plants, Alan offered a lesson on this under-appreciated fruit (yes, okra is a fruit that’s eaten as a vegetable).
Nearly One Year Since Devastating Wildfire, Whitewater Ranch is Harvesting Beautiful Blueberries for OGC
A long-time grower partner and land-steward, Whitewater Ranch is as picturesque a location as anyone could hope to farm. Bordered by the river on one side and hugged by a forested ridge on the other, the farm’s rows of blueberries are stunning against their natural backdrop.
Learn more about Whitewater Ranch, just one of the many dedicated growers OGC relies on to fill delicious packs of Ladybug Brand blueberries!
Downloadable Melon POP Cards
To help shoppers understand the alluring attributes of each organic melon, we’ve created a set of downloadable POP cards highlighting the best traits of every variety OGC sources from our growers in Oregon and Washington.
Tasty and Tantalizing Melons From Northwest Growers
Mid-summer has arrived, and with it, the luscious colors, flavors and intoxicating aromas we wait in anticipation for all year! Hefty organic Heirloom tomatoes, dramatically-hued eggplant, supple stone fruit and a favorite amongst OGC coworkers...Northwest-grown melons!
From the Slow Food Ark of Taste: Jimmy Nardello Peppers
Over 30 years ago, a group of Italian protestors stood at the base of the Spanish Steps in Rome and passed around a bowl of penne. The demonstration amplified challenges faced by the world’s food systems. Among them, a dire lack of biodiversity and investment in heritage crops and livestock breeds, consequences of conventional agricultural practices, inequity in labor and a loss of heritage and culture.
Vernon Peterson’s Equation for Achieving “The Higher Good”
Founded in 1893 upon the fertile soil of Kingsburg, California, Peterson Family Farm is more than just an exceptional stone fruit grower. Learn how Vernon Peterson has assembled a group of farmers and a team of workers he regards as a family to produce fruit that’s beyond organic.
Luscious Heirlooms Add Color and Curiosity to Tomato Displays
For many, summer is all about stone fruit and berries. For others, corn. But for eaters that prefer a trickle of tomato juice down their chin over peach juice, the season of sun-warmed fruit is all about the Heirlooms.
Deck Out Stone Fruit Displays with Downloadable POP
Click to download a set of stone fruit POP that will help your shoppers confidently select, store and enjoy their juicy gems at peak ripeness!
