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In the fertile lands of Reedley, California, where development is fast encroaching on farmed and natural landscapes, the story of Roger McCahill stands as a testament to commitment and conservation.… Continue reading Landowner Testimonial: The Path to a Conservation Easement with Kings River Land Trust

Home. It’s more than just a place; it’s a living tapestry of traditions, a canvas of memories with our children and grandchildren, and a testament to the symbiotic relationship we… Continue reading A Steadfast Commitment to an Abundant Future

In the ever-evolving landscape of nonprofit land trusts, adaptability, and clarity are key components for success. One crucial aspect often overlooked is the organization’s name, a vital element that encapsulates… Continue reading Embracing Clarity – The Transformative Power of Renaming El Rio Reyes Conservation Trust to Kings River Land Trust…

Spending time on the land with you, our friends, is always good. 

The Bob Frisch Memorial Ride & Walk event allowed guests to touch and see up close what a healthy river and farming landscape looks like. The Reedley College campus is a beautiful example of our home here along the river. It is a snapshot of what El Rio Reyes is working to protect. 

El Rio Reyes exists to work with farmers and ranchers who want to protect their farms and ranches along the river so that the natural resources we all love and benefit from will remain for generations to come. There are landowners and managers in our community that want tools to address the changing environment and economics that play into farming and ranching in a growing state like California. 

Many of our local landowners want to keep their lands productive and always have the opportunity to let them grow. We offer landowners an option to help them be the best land managers they can be.

By supporting us, you ensure we exist for local farmers and ranchers who want to keep their lands in production and continue to provide jobs, food, and habitat. 

This event is a fun day with exceptional food, music, and friends, but more importantly it is a chance to focus on what’s so important in our landscape – people, farms, ranches, and the river. 

Thank you to everyone who came and supported El Rio Reyes and our home.

HUGE Thank YOU! Volunteers: Louie Long, thank you for guiding the walk, sharing your knowledge and work with guests.  Eric Antrim and Jack Kinney your talents abound and we loved hearing you play. 

Glenn Kinney, you make the poker game a reality and fun – thanks to you all!

Sponsors:

A special Thank You to Eilene Browne who painted this beautiful scene of our iconic Jesse Morrow mountain. This truly made the silent auction stand out! Thanks Eilene! 

The Beef Boutique is a local online supplier of western apparel and trend-right accessories. This special place, owned and operated by Brooke Helsel, donated a fun kids’ toy to our silent auction. They have supported us in the past and we hope you will support them too! Visit them https://www.thebeefboutiqueca.com

The Fresno-Kings Counties Cattlewomen are consistent supporters of our work. They live on the land and understand that protection of land and the way of life it provides is important. Thank you, again, Cattlewomen for your continued support – make sure to like them on Facebook and give them your support right back!

What comes to mind when you think about home? Is it comfort, familiar things? Maybe it is the satisfaction of knowing it, like an old friend. Or possibly you love sharing home with your children or grandchildren.

Home to us, at El Rio Reyes, is many of these things. To us it looks like farms, ranches, and places where we have made memories, our livelihood, and raised families, made friends.

Did you know that every year in California we pave over 50,000+ acres of farmland every year. Fresno County is not excluded from this impact. Drive around for a short while and you can see it.

Here along the river we have a spectacular but tenuous balance between people, food production, and nature. Part of fulfilling our mission at El Rio Reyes is to work with landowners who want to keep their land an integral part of this special equation. Our job is to make available to them the tools and partnerships they need to continue doing what they are doing, forever.

Farmland provides rich bounty, jobs, and a way of life. Our natural river environment provides rich resources, respite, and a way of life.

When you make a gift to El Rio Reyes you are investing in our work to provide landowners a tried and true tool that allows their land to be forever open and productive – providing what it always has to us all – the life and lifestyle we all love.

Have you seen the stickers or do you follow them on Facebook – My Job Depends on Ag? We want to take that a step further because we know that Ag Depends on Land. Land that without protection can easily be paved over and will never recover.

By next summer El Rio Reyes will have 80 acres of rich lands protected from development. Peace of mind for the landowners and peace of mind for us – that home will look like, be like, and do what it always has for us.

It’s your contributions to our work and your continued support has gotten us this far – 80 acres! But our work is far from over, we need your help to work with our growing list of farmers and ranchers who want to protect their lands for their families and our future generations.

Please join us today – make a gift that will outlast us all – to protect the lands that are our home. GIVE HERE

I make this for every holiday get-together. It’s so easy and nearly fool-proof, enjoy!

Ingredients: Heat Oven to 350 degrees 9-inch unbaked pie crust 1 cup light corn syrup 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 3 eggs, slightly beaten 1/3 cup butter, melted 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp vanilla 1 cup pecan halves (I often use the candied variety and it’s oh so decadent 😉

Directions: Prepare pie crust as directed. In large bowl, combine corn syrup, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, and vanilla; mix well. Pour filling into prepared pie crust; sprinkle with pecan halves. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until center is set. (toothpick inserted will come out clean when pie is “done”) Cool. Top with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.

Serves 8-10

Many people see the grape season as a sign of the end of summer, when nights grow cooler and days shorter. Growing up on a San Joaquin Valley farm which produced Thompson Seedless grapes, I felt the coming harvest not as an ending but a beginning.

I liked the rumbling of the gondolas coming down our driveway and the bustle of change. It was the start of a new school year, when everything surrounding me began to feel fresh and new. Those yet to be opened books and clean blackboards awaited me. My mother would drive me to school past vineyard after vineyard of rows smoothed for the coming trays, expecting the grapes to be laid for raisins.

Inevitably, it always seemed to rain on the first day of school, further instilling the feelings of refreshing the earth after a long, productive stone fruit season. The rain, however, was the dread of the raisin farmer whose crop needed the sweltering heat of summer to remain, beating down for a few more days to dry their fruit.

The San Joaquin Valley produces more than 60% of California wine grapes, and according to Marketplaceraisin grapes are grown on 165,000 Valley acres, although this number was double this amount just fifteen years ago. Nut trees have become more profitable, replacing grapes.

Still, it is a grand development since the first commercial grapes were grown in this region in

the 1880s and grape farmers began to edge out the wheat farmer with greater yields. One circular of the time, titled “Fortunes in Vineyards,” showed an illustration of a prosperous Fresno grape farmer’s parlor, his large family enjoying their riches. Next to it the lonely wheat farmer’s meager dwelling.

Landscapes, weather, and profits change. We see these as endings or beginnings, depending on our own sensitivities and sentimentalities. It is this time of year when I miss my family’s vineyard the most and those cool mornings as I began each new school year.

We found this yummy twist on salsa so we tried it – you know, to celebrate the grapes of the season and all’… and well, we loved it! Now, we are sharing it with you.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups seedless red grapes, chopped 1 avocado – peeled, pitted and diced 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper 2 tablespoons chopped yellow bell pepper 2 tablespoons chopped sweet onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro 1 tablespoon lime juice 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt 1 pinch ground black pepper Directions: Place the grapes, avocado, red pepper, yellow pepper, onion, and cilantro in a mixing bowl. Season with lime juice, garlic salt, and black pepper. Gently fold the ingredients together until well mixed. Refrigerate 30 minutes before serving.

Original recipe: Allrecipes.com

California produces over 90 percent of all plums grown in the United States and most of that production happens in Fresno and Tulare counties! According to the University of California Davis, approximately 250 varieties of plums grow here. These varieties are divided into two main categories: Japanese and European.

Plums are available from late May through October. For simplicity, plums are generally identified in the store by skin color – red or black.

Emerging research suggests that many varieties of plums can be considered a “superfood” thanks to their high level of antioxidants. Research conducted by AgriLife Research at Texas A&M University found that many varieties of plums and plumcots matched or exceeded the much-touted blueberry in antioxidants and phytonutrients associated with disease prevention. Plums are also fat free, saturated fat free, sodium free, cholesterol free and a good source of vitamin C.

SELECTION AND STORAGE

There are many varieties of fresh plums grown in California but most are sold in stores as simply red or black. The skin color has no bearing on flavor or sweetness, it’s merely a varietal characteristic. Plums have subtle differences in flavor from variety to variety, far more so than peaches or nectarines. Look for uniformly firm fruit. Avoid overripe fruit that feels “watery” or fruit that has shriveled skin. Plums will continue to ripen at room temperature. Once the fruit reaches your desired softness, refrigerate it to keep it that way. Plums will last for a week or more in your refrigerator.

Plums and plumcots often have a white or silvery colored “coating” on them. This natural, waxy, protective coating is produced by the fruit itself. Most of this coating is washed off in the packing process. Some varieties are considered too delicate for the packing line equipment and are packed carefully by hand, bypassing the washing process. Fruit packed in this manner is known as “bloom on” and is often considered more desirable for its “straight from the orchard” appearance. Regardless of the level of bloom on your plum or plumcot, all fruit should be thoroughly rinsed with water before eating. The bloom is completely natural and harmless but if you want to remove it completely, simply wipe the fruit with a cloth or paper towel.

Wanna eat some yummy plums… see Eileen’s favorite open face plum cake here!

(resource: familytreefarms.com/products/plums/)

Our board member Eileen shared this recipe with us since she loves it so much and since plums are perfectly in season… She tells us having this yummy cake for breakfast the next morning is just as good ;-)… oh and thanks Martha!

Martha Stewart’s Open-Face Plum Cake

Makes 2 cakes

(You can use apricots, nectarines, or peaches in place of plums.)

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

½ cup whole milk

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 large egg

9 or 10 large black plums, halved and pitted

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for pans

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter two 9-inch round cake pans. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine ¾ cup sugar, the milk, oil, and egg. Fold into flour mixture.

2. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans, and smooth tops. Arrange plums, cut sides up, over batter.

3. Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar, and sprinkle over plums. Dot with butter. Bake until tops are dark golden, plums are soft, and a toothpick inserted into center of cakes comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool. (Cakes are best the day you make them; but leftover cake is great for breakfast the next day.)