San Diego, CA
Artisan baker grows wheat crop in San Diego County
SAN DIEGO — When you picture the many farms in San Diego County, you might picture avocados, oranges and other fruit, but wheat typically isn’t on the menu. One San Diego man is working to bring wheat back to Southern California.
A tedious task like weeding becomes a practice opportunity for Noris Velazquez.
“I can just weed the garden, and it becomes a martial arts training,” he said.
Velazquez is a martial arts instructor and artisan bread maker. The collision of his two passions has earned him the nickname “Kung Fu Baker.” He planted a quarter acre of wheat in December 2023, hoping to spark a resurgence of wheat farming in San Diego.
In the late 19th century, California was once the nation’s second largest suppliers of wheat, but by the 1880s, many San Diego farmers opted to grow citrus and avocados instead.
“Can one person do it?” Noris said. “Because ultimately I wanted to inspire farmers to go “You know, I’ve always wondered if I could grow a cover crop of wheat and not only get the cover crop aspect but also maybe something to harvest that I can use either in my family household or team up with a passionate baker in the area.”
His business, Sourdough Delight, focuses on putting only the best ingredients into his loaves. For Velazquez, that means baking bread with local ingredients, grown sustainably, without any pesticides. He is striving to create a flour that is more nutritious and heartier than the refined stuff from many wheat and commercial mills.
“I want that health and nutrition because flavor also follows that,” Velazquez said.
Bean farmer Mike Reeske donated a chunk of land on his farm, Rio Del Rey, as an experimental playground. He said they tried growing 25 different wheat varieties last year, before settling on planting a full field of a wheat variety called India Jammu this year.
“We produced quite a bit of wheat,” Reeske said. “And so I think this is going to be a signal that other people can do this.”
They are also using a technique called dry farming — cultivating crops without irrigation — which Reeske believes will appeal to struggling farmers.
“We have probably one of the highest prices of water in the United States here, so being able to dry farm a crop and not pay for the water cost is really important,” he said.
Months of dedication and hard work finally paid off at the end of May when Velazquez harvested the wheat. He will now let the wheat dry before threshing the grain to use in his bread.
“Clean food, grown with love and care, and respect for our land, to nourish the community,” Velazquez said. “Nature just does miracles.”
Copyright 2026 San Diego Union-Tribune. All rights reserved. The use of any content on this website for the purpose of training artificial intelligence systems, algorithms, machine learning models, text and data mining, or similar use is strictly prohibited without explicit written consent.
Shane van Gisbergen earned his sixth career pole and second of the 2026 season on Saturday, rocketing to pole position around NASCAR’s all-new 3.4-mile street course at Naval Base Coronado. He even touched the wall twice on his fast lap, pushing to the absolute limit.
“A little bit (surprised),” said Van Gisbergen, who went out with the first group of qualifiers. “I thought the track would be better, and I thought people would execute a bit better. As I said, it’s just so difficult. There’s three or four corners you’re seeing for the first time of the day, and it’s on your heater. Amazing. The Red Bull Chevy is really good. Thank you to Trackhouse for doing a great job from yesterday, and we just need to get the driver a bit better,” he concluded with a smile.”
Watch: SVG surprised to win Busch Light Pole at San Diego
Van Gisbergen bested Carson Hocevar by 0.0156s with a fast lap of 2:14.788s. Ryan Blaney will start third, Zane Smith fourth, and Todd Gilliland fifth. Blaney was a little bit quicker than SVG for most of his lap, but lost it through the final set of corners.
Daniel Suarez, Ryan Preece, Connor Zilisch, Michael McDowell, and Austin Hill will out the remainder of the top ten on the starting grid.
Project 91 driver Kevin Magnussen qualified 21st for his NASCAR Cup debut. Notably, championship leader Tyler Reddick spun out, but still reached 17th on the grid. Denny Hamlin is just 19 points behind him, and will start 26th.
Watch: Reddick loops it in Turn 2 during qualifying
Some other notable drivers very deep in the field include William Byron in 27th, Chase Elliott 30th, and an injured Christopher Bell 37th. He will have Brent Crews on standby, and may finish the race for Bell on Sunday.
Jimmie Johnson was the first driver to set a time, and showed just how tricky things were as he had to use the runoff area in Turn 2 to avoid an incident. Erik Jones also smacked the wall at the exit of Turn 16, but there were no red flags during the session.
NASCAR Cup San Diego ‘Anduril 250’ Full Starting Lineup
San Diego, CA
Neymar expected to return from right calf injury and play for Brazil in World Cup against Scotland
Neymar is expected to return from a right calf injury and play for Brazil in its final World Cup group match, coach Carlo Ancelotti said Friday night.
Neymar missed Brazil’s first two games of the tournament, including Friday’s 3-0 win over Haiti.
Ancelotti said Neymar would go through individual training on Saturday, train with the team on Monday and “will be available” for Brazil when it closes Group C play against Scotland on Wednesday in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Neymar is Brazil’s career scoring leader with 79 goals in 129 international appearances.
The 34-year-old midfielder has yet to practice in full sessions with the team since reporting to Brazil’s squad while nursing the calf injury.
Looking to play in his fourth World Cup, Neymar had tests on his calf last Monday to determine the progress of the injury that he sustained while playing for Brazilian club Santos on May 17.
There was widespread debate in Brazil over whether Neymar, whose first World Cup was on home soil in 2014, should have been called up for the tournament. He has struggled since returning from tearing the ACL in his left knee in October 2023 in a World Cup qualifier.
Neymar has four goals and two assists in eight matches for Santos this year.
-
Indianapolis, IN1 minute agoAll INdiana Politics | June 21, 2026
-
Pittsburg, PA8 minutes agoRockies top Pirates as Pittsburgh manager directs fury at umps over call on final out
-
Augusta, GA11 minutes agoDeputies investigating deadly crash on Mike Padgett Highway
-
Washington, D.C16 minutes agoJeanine Pirro vows DC Reflecting Pool vandals will be ‘prosecuted to the fullest extent’ | Fox News Video
-
Cleveland, OH23 minutes ago‘Very special’ wedding moved to Cleveland Clinic so father can attend days after quadruple bypass
-
Austin, TX26 minutes agoMultiple agencies responding to ‘major’ crash on FM 973 in Manor
-
Alabama31 minutes agoUnsettled Through Friday – Alabama Emergency Management Agency (EMA)
-
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/tl-upcycle-i-took-my-first-alaskan-cruise-here-are-7-packing-mistakes-you-should-avoid-and-what-to-bring-instead-tout-a648e8cb19fa4f50879919933ca6b4ed.jpg?w=400&resize=400,240&ssl=1 "I Took My First Alaskan Cruise—Here Are 7 Packing Mistakes You Should Avoid, and What to Bring Instead From")
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/tl-upcycle-i-took-my-first-alaskan-cruise-here-are-7-packing-mistakes-you-should-avoid-and-what-to-bring-instead-tout-a648e8cb19fa4f50879919933ca6b4ed.jpg?w=80&resize=80,80&ssl=1 "I Took My First Alaskan Cruise—Here Are 7 Packing Mistakes You Should Avoid, and What to Bring Instead From")
Alaska38 minutes agoI Took My First Alaskan Cruise—Here Are 7 Packing Mistakes You Should Avoid, and What to Bring Instead From $6
