Wildfires, Agriculture and Water Wisdom

What you’ve heard on the news this week is true: California is burning again. Historically high temperatures along with lightning strikes (rare for us in NorCal) have created chaotic conditions. Thankfully, the 34 Butte County Lightning Complex fires are being contained as of this writing and pose no threat to the community. So we at […]

Posted on August 25th, 2020

Farm to Table, Now More Than Ever

  Once upon a time, I was a youngster growing up in Brooklyn, New York, in a neighborhood dominated by apartment houses, asphalt and concrete. As such, I never thought about how we got food (other than going to the supermarket), or what food looked like in its natural state. As far as I knew, […]

Posted on August 6th, 2020

The Harvest Is Coming!

Look at these sweet little nut-buds. The openings, called hull splits, ensure that these will become actual edible almonds very soon. Hull splits are the opening of the almond husks that allow the nut meats to finish developing and dry. Specifically, for all you nut nerds (we resemble that remark): according to The Almond Doctor, […]

Posted on July 24th, 2020

Why Squirrels Are Nuts About Nuts…and Other Nutty Fun Facts

At my home, we have—well, I won’t call it an infestation of squirrels, but many uninvited furry guests. They’re cute and entertaining, but they don’t clean up after themselves, and my potted deck garden is where they like to live it up. Which got me wondering about why squirrels are as nutty for nuts as […]

Posted on July 14th, 2020

This Independence Day, Celebrate Family Farms

Family farms are so important! In fact, according to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the USDA, more than 90% of farms in the U.S. are classified as small family farms. That’s a lot of family love grown into our food supply. But due to factors that include climate change, giant agribusiness and […]

Posted on July 2nd, 2020

We Couldn’t Do It Without the Bees

Maisie Jane's Honey

Meet one of our biggest business partners: the honeybees! The importance of bees for almonds is so valuable that the relationships between almond growers and the beekeepers we work with go back for years. Almonds, like many crops, are not self-pollinating. So between January and March we depend on bees coming into our orchards to do […]

Posted on February 12th, 2019

Healthy Food for a Healthy Planet

Almond Orchard

Did you know that an acre of almond trees grows 450 pounds of protein and 260 pounds of fiber and the “good” monounsaturated fats that helps keep your heart healthy? But the trees don’t only have healthy food value—they can have health benefits for the environment as well. In fact, a well-managed almond orchard could […]

Posted on January 17th, 2019

Orangutans Love Maisie Jane’s Nut Butters—No Palm Oil!

orangutan

Here’s another reason to love Maisie Jane’s nut butters: we don’t add palm oil to any of our products! And that should make the orangutans happy because the big demand for palm oil has led to the destruction of their natural habitat. In various parts of the world—Indonesia in particular—the natural landscape has been clearcut […]

Posted on January 8th, 2019

Why Maisie Jane’s Supports Future Farmers of America

Maisie Jane Hurtado

Future Farmers of America (FFA) holds a special place in our hearts here at Maisie Jane’s. After all, this family business actually started as an SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) back when the owner of the company, Maisie Jane Hurtado, was still in high school. FFA’s SAE program teaches students a wide variety of skills they […]

Posted on January 3rd, 2019

What Could We Do with Almond Hulls?

Almonds and Almond Hulls

Did you know that for every pound of almonds produced we’re also left with two pounds of almond hulls? That adds up to about 40,000 tons produced in California each year—an enormous amount of potential debris! Luckily, there are many uses for almond hulls. For example, ground hulls are rich in sugar, nutritious minerals and […]

Posted on October 16th, 2018