File: Two wild turkeys walking near a crosswalk in Alameda, Calif.
Diane Kierse-Donohoe/Getty Images
Excerpt:
Piazza [the director of animal care and hospital operations at WildCare, a San Rafael wildlife hospital and education center] considers the birds to be an ecological asset. “They perform free, natural pest control as their favorite foods include insects and snails,” she wrote. The turkeys also help disperse seeds, aerate soil by foraging and clean yards by gobbling up acorns. “They are a good food source for various predators that people love such as bobcats and coyotes,” she added.
I live near the San Lorenzo Creek. There are always a group of turkeys that hang out on this one block on the other side of the creek. Sometimes when I’m doing my morning work-from-home walk I’ll stop by and say hi.
My street, a few years ago. They’d just started showing up, so it was a surprise. They come over maybe once or twice a week now. The dog is not happy about it.
Farmers in the Central Valley, as well as Yuba and Sutter counties, face a $550 million revenue loss from 20-year contracts to grow peaches with Del Monte, according to the Sacramento Bee. Many farmers haven’t made substantial profits from the orchards that Del Monte asked them to plant just a few years ago. Now, about 75,000 tons of peaches will likely go to waste, the outlet added.
from Eater YouTube
Farming Red Abalone in Santa Barbara
The Cultured Abalone is a red abalone farm in California, raising one of the rarest and most expensive shellfish in the world. In this episode of Vendors, we visit its Santa Barbara facility to see the entire process — from spawning and hatching microscopic larvae to hand-harvesting market-ready abalone. Once abundant along the California coast, red abalone was nearly wiped out by overfishing and environmental decline. Now, the Cultured Abalone Farm supplies top restaurants across the country with sustainably farmed shellfish.
Suhoor Fest will take place on Saturday, March 7, from 11 p.m.–4 a.m., in the parking lot of the NewPark Mall in Newark (2086 Newpark Mall Rd.). Admission is free. For additional details, visitHalalFest’s Instagram page.
Nigerian oxtails at
9jaGrills
303 Broadway. near Jack London Sq.
Oakland
Excerpt:
Open since July of last year, 9jaGrills has one of the broader menus I’ve seen among the East Bay’s Nigerian restaurants, running the gamut from classics like pepper soup and suya meat skewers to lesser-known (at least in the U.S.) favorites like stir-fried Indomie instant noodles and a whole stewed goat’s head.
Jessica, in SF Gate, gets my Zippo’s Pick for Article of the Week Award
Why do servers take your plate which still holds that last bite?
Excerpt:
*What these servers don’t realize is that the last bite is an unspoken cultural norm, a coy and often deliberate culinary exchange between dining companions. At the Last Supper, I suspect the apostles left a tiny nub of lamb on the seder plate for one of their own — or Jesus himself. During the first meal on the moon, I’m sure Neil Armstrong insisted Buzz Aldrin eat the last compressed bacon cube. Leaving a bite says, “No, please, you go for it,” or “Well, if you insist” or “Look at that perfect bite, I want you to have it.” *
