The benign cantaloupe is causing widespread food poisoning problems but mainstream media is not really reporting it.

What started in Colorado has now spread much like the food chain and food distribution to other states. According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, at least 55 people across 14 states have been infected and eight have died in the deadly outbreak caused by Listeria-contaminated cantaloupe.

Arizona is one of the 17 states where known contaminated cantaloupes were shipped. However, the incubation period for the bacteria is about three weeks, although it can take as long as two months for listeriosis to develop after exposure to contaminated food.

Of the eight deaths confirmed so far, four were in New Mexico and two were in Colorado. Maryland and Oklahoma each have reported single fatalities.

Read more at Food Safety News

Buy your cantaloupes from local farmers. Allen’s Organics has the best cantaloupes that I’ve tasted all summer.

Eat me!

If your kids don’t know that fruits and vegetables grow on trees (like money), now is the time to drive them to Apple Annie’s Orchard in Willcox for some vegetable picking and apple eating.

I recently went to Apple Annie’s where the fields were a bloom with vegetables bursting with color and the air was cleaner and cooler than Tucson by about 7 to 10 degrees.

Take the short 75-minute drive from Tucson to enjoy the Oh My Apple Pie Contest. Nobody doesn’t like apple pie. A portion of the proceeds from all Apple Annie’s special events will benefit Andrea’s Closet, the Lupus Foundation of Southern Arizona, March of Dimes, and Youth Haven Ranch. For the last nine years more than $60,000 has been donated to these organizations.

Yours truly will be an apple pie judge along with Edie Jarolim, Tucson Guide contributing dining editor; Rita Connelly, Chow writer for Tucson Weekly; and hunky Adam Lehrman, Tucson Foodie blogger. It’s a sweet assignment but someone’s got to do it.

Come earlier and comb the fields for the freshest of produce or work off the pie eating and comb the fields afterwards. Here’s the calendar of what is ripe for the u-picking. Apple Annie’s also makes delicious apple-smoked burgers and if you come really early — apple pancakes.

U-Pick vegetables in Willcox

Before or after, you might also stop at Brown Orchards which makes some of the best apple cider on the planet. Fifteen pounds of apples go into every half gallon of pure unpasteurized, unfiltered, and no sugar-added lusciously liquid apple cider. Brown’s apple cider can also be found at St. Philip’s Farmers Market (recently voted best boutique farmers market in Arizona) and the Phoenix Downtown Market.

Brown's Orchard in Willcox

Brown’s Orchard sells apples, pears, and grass fed lamb. You can buy lamb cuts to go or taste the lamb when dining in Phoenix at Pizzeria Bianco or in Tucson at Primo at the Starr Pass Marriott.

Rest awhile. Talk to Marvin. Pick some pears and sip at the cider bar. This is “the country” or so this city girl thinks so.

Remember Stout’s Cider Mill right off the freeway? The place with the mile high pie closed its doors and we’re wondering if any other Willcox venture is going to run with the concept?

Another fresh fruit organic orchard I will have to try on another trip is Briggs-Eggers

If you have time, go to Willcox’s downtown which has two very hip wine tasting venues — Carlson Creek Vineyards (115 Railview Avenue) and Keeling Schaefer Vineyards (154 Railroad Avenue). Then drop into the Rustic Rooster (next to Carlson) for eclectic shopping for house and body and soul; cool stuff; great prices.

See you in Willcox.

10th annual roasted chile festival - Sept 17

10th Annual Roasted Chile Festival-September 17, 2011

9 am to 3 pm at Rincon Valley Farmers & Artisans Market

The Rincon Institute invites all to the 10th Annual Roasted Chile Festival at the Rincon Valley Farmers & Artisans Market in Tucson. Savor fresh roasted Arizona grown green chilies, chile ristras, locally grown pesticide-free and organic fresh produce and fruit, artisans, great food, activities and games for kids, live music and a beer garden.

The Cienega High School Band will perform from 9 to 10 am and John Grant & the Guilty Bystanders will perform from 10 am to 2 pm.

The annual Roasted Chile Festival has attracted up to 2,000 people who enjoy live music while supporting our diverse artisans and farmers. Purchase green chilies grown locally here in Arizona including hatch and poblano chilies. Vendors offer goods ranging from handmade quilts, aprons, handmade soap, handcrafted home décor, and fine furniture.

All funds from the beer garden and raffle will go to supporting the Rincon Valley Farmers & Artisans Market. The 10th Annual Roasted Chile Festival is sponsored by Coyote Creek and the Solar Store. Citi will be providing volunteers to help with the event.

On display will be a large scale 3-D model of the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine commissioned by Pima County Administrator’s Office as a way to educate the public about what the mine will look like if the U.S. Forest Service approves it. The display will be in the former “Wild Desert Nursery” office (behind the Barn) during the Chile Festival. The model, approved by Coronado National Forest staff, shows the mine’s open pit, which would go more than a half-mile deep, and its tailings and waste rock, covering more than 2,800 acres.

The Rincon Valley Farmers & Artisans Market is located in the scenic Rincon Valley between Saguaro National Park Rincon Mountain District and Colossal Cave Mountain Park. Check it out and enjoy the beautiful Rincon Valley. The event is located about four miles east of the entrance to Saguaro National Park Rincon Mountain District along Old Spanish Trail and two miles west of Camino Loma Alta in and around the big historic green and white barn. Visit the website or call (520)591-BARN (2276) for more information. Remember to support your local farmers and artisans by shopping the Rincon Valley Farmers & Artisans Market every Saturday.

The market is a project of the Rincon Institute which is a non-profit conservation organization dedicated to protecting the natural resources of the Rincon Mountain District of Saguaro National Park, the Rincon Valley and the Cienega Corridor. Visit the website for more information.