Welcome AZCentral readers!

McClendon’s Select is thrilled to be part of AZCVoices, a community of food and dining bloggers on AZCentral.com.

My husband, son and I work with my in-laws on our certified organic farm, McClendon’s Select, in Peoria.  This farm produces over 150 different varieties of organic fruits and vegetables throughout the year.  Food is absolutely central to who we are.  Being connected with what you eat means knowing who is growing your food and where it is coming from.  This blog is also our way of letting our customers know who we are and what we grow.   The start of every great dining experience, whether in a top restaurant or around a kitchen table, begins first on a farm.

We sell at two farmers’ markets during the season, Town and Country on Wednesdays and at the Old Town Farmer’s Market in Scottsdale on Saturday mornings.  One of our greatest pleasures is getting to talk to our customers and getting to find out what they are cooking and how they are eating. We also sell to many of the top restaurants throughout the Valley and Arizona and we work closely with these chefs to make sure that they have the freshest in local, seasonal organic produce for their menus.

So, here are some links to get an idea of who we are and what this blog is about…

A little introduction…
Bob Answers Your Questions
Change of Seasons
Handling Your Food
The Green House

I also use this blog to help answer a number of the questions we get at the farmers’ markets, from how to store organic produce to a little background on some of the unique things that we grow…

Care and Handling of Organic Produce
Iitoi Onions
Gilfeather Rutabagas

We get a lot of questions on how to prepare the produce we sell.  This farm is where I learned to cook, and more importantly, where I learned how to eat.  I am still learning, but I do like to share a good recipe, and no one knows more about how to prepare our produce than my mother-in-law.

Cauliflower Salad
What to do with a Persimmon
Marsha’s Shrimp Gazpacho

We eat out… a lot!  I like to write about the restaurants we work with, because the chefs we work with are as passionate and dedicated to serving wonderful food as we are about growing it.  One of the great rewards of what we do is getting to see how our hard work to grow food is transformed by their hard work in preparing it.

A seat with a view…
FnB = LuV
Nobuo… we missed you!
I would eat here again in a heartbeat!

I hope you enjoy reading!

Town & Country Shopping Center
Wednesdays from 8:30am to 2:00pm
4881 North 20th Street
Phoenix, AZ  85016

Old Town Scottsdale Farmers’ Market
Saturdays starting October 29th, 2011
From 8:00am to 1:00pm
Located on the Southwest corner of 1st Street and Brown in Scottsdale.
Brown is one block East of Scottsdale Road.  1st Street is two blocks South of Indian School Road.

In the interest of full disclosure, yes, I write about restaurants that we work with.  We pay for all our meals at these restaurants.  They do not pay me to write about them.