I'll be visiting Chico from time to time over the next several years since my daughter is now a freshman at the California State University campus in town. I like this leafy, historic town more each time I visit. I was last here in June, when I had a chance to check out the Thursday afternoon farmers market, which helps turn a couple of blocks downtown into a street party. The Saturday market has one row of vendors of  non-agricultural arts and crafts, and some live music. But this market is mostly about farm produce.

Chico's well-attended, well-stocked farmers markets are a testament to the town's community spirit. They are also a testament to the region's agricultural bounty and diversity. Chico is on the west side of the Sacramento River valley 90 miles north of Sacramento, within sight of the Sierra foothills. The region is one of the world's leading producers of crops ranging from tree fruit to nuts to rice. Hundreds of Southeast Asian, mostly Laotian, farmers have settled in California's Central Valley in recent decades, putting new crops onto the map. These relative newcomers are well represented in Chico's markets. 

Pomegranates, fuyu persimmons and Fuji apples

Recipes: 
How to Cut Open a Pomegranate
Six Things to Do With Pomegranates 

Price: $1/lb. for pomegranates
$1/lb. for apples
$1.50/lb. persimmons

Autumn Royal and Crimson grapes

Price: $5 for 2 baskets

brown rice

This rice is grown, packaged and sold by Gregg Massa and Raquel Krach, former tropical biologist who decided to try their hand in Gregg's family business, a fourth generation rice farm alongside the Sacramento River near Chico. They are gradually converting the entire farm to a certified organic operation, called Massa Organics, and share their land and harvests with wildlife, as much as possible, they say, in a brochure handed out with packages of the rice they were selling in the Chico market.