Cabrillo Farmers Market: Saturday Mornings

Jerry Thomas and his wife, Jean, have been farming sustainably since 1971. His peaches are not yet in season, but I often stop by for the garlic, the fingerling potatoes, and the flowers (a constant) that the Thomases sell.

Yesterday the booth was filled with ranunculas (5 bunches for $10), Japanese iris, and freesias. It smelled like heaven. Jerry also grows dahlias, and I look forward to them coming into season.

Jerry and Jean are the most "Amish" of the farmers I know. They are not online, they are not digital. Jean is a potter. They hosted one of the farm dinners early on, in their peach orchard across the street from one of the Storrs Winery vineyards. Yesterday, Jerry took an interest in my camera (Canon PowerShot Pro1); his eyes gleamed as he hefted it up to his face. When I explained about blogging, he got excited about that, too, and gave me permission to return to his place and take pictures. I promised not to get in his hair too much: the farmers are busy like a mother with triplets.

I also visited, as I always do, with Ken and Sandra Kimes, of New Natives (http://www.newnatives.com/ -- sorry, I haven't figured out how to make links in here yet!). At least once a week, I bring home pea shoots -- they are my favorite salad ingredient on earth, and I love turning people onto them. They also offer sunflower sprouts, micro greens, wheatgrass, and other greens. At the farmers markets, they are paired with a mushroom grower whose name escapes me at the moment. I'll get pictures next time. Sandra says their greenhouse is beautiful, and I'll get down there to photograph it soon. They are neighbors with the Thomases.

Another purveyor with a beautiful booth is Astone's Proteas. No, I don't cook with them, but they make beautiful centerpieces.

Typical purchases besides pea shoots are eggs ($3/dozen for mixed colors), asparagus, shiitakes or wild mushrooms if they're in season, avocados, seedlings from Cole Canyon Plants, baby beets (golden, preferably), and so on. Yesterday I couldn't resist these French red carrots—he told me the name and it went out my other ear and fell on the ground.

Yesterday I was at the market with my ex-husband and his wife (Miguel and Peri), and their two little boys (Rowan is seven, Aidan is nearly three). Peri and I go round and round about strawberries. I simply will never again buy a berry that has been sprayed with pesticides. She, while somewhat "good" about what the kids ingest, just can't pass up buying the strawberries, even though she knows intimately that they are flat-out poison. It's the only way she can get Aidan to eat fruit, by bringing him to the farmers market. Yesterday he went through a basket of berries and a large (organic!) orange, pitching a fit when the orange was not sliced quickly enough.

Aidan is a child who loves his strawberries, so I can understand Peri having a hard time refusing to buy them. When he eats a berry, that berry is demolished. And he invariably winds up looking like this.

Finally, just because they are beautiful, here are some more of Jerry's flowers: freesias, iris, and I don't know what the orange ones are, so feel free to enlighten me. [EDIT: We have a winner. Janine Thormann of Boulder, Colorado writes, "They are calendula.  I grow them in my garden, too - they make a wonderful infusion when the petals steep in a pure oil (olive or whatever you prefer - but olive doesn't go rancid)  on a windowsill for a month.  Put it on your skin and enjoy its healing power." Janine rocks.]

© 2005 Tana Anderson Butler, all rights reserved, period.

Comments

[MyKong]

Very nice. Sustain argiculture is the way to go

[max]

Tana, I was so happy to see this blog on SW. It's about time someone did something like this, and I can't think of a better person than you. And the strawberry dilemma gets to the core of all of our current issues with the food supply. But there's more, namely labor. Would you feel better if your friend only bought organic strawberries, but paid no attention to those who harvest them? Not to throw bombs here, but there is only one organic strawberry farmer in the state with a UFW contract (as far as I know): Swanton. Of course, people have a lot of things to worry about when they buy food, but there is a little too much complacency about the transformative power of organic agriculture. Of course, some farmers could be "fair" without a contract, but I don't think we should just assume that they are.

But the point was, that Swanton has had organic strawberries for the last week or so at the Berkeley FM. They're in Watsonville, I think, so you should be able to get some in SC.

[Tana]

MyKong, thank you for your kind words.

Badthings, I know Jim Cochran up at Swanton Berry Farm: I photographed him and his farm on a cold May day in 2003. (He's in the farmers photo gallery, and some of the food by chef Justine Miner, from RNM Restaurant in San Francisco, is in the Glorious Food gallery.) Swanton Berry Farm is one of the nicest stops along that whole stretch of beautiful coastline.

I am headed to the downtown Santa Cruz farmers market this afternoon, and if he's got berries, I reckon I'll see them. I know Dirty Girl's berries are coming in, so looks like spring is upon us.

Cheers!

[max]

Well, I feel really dumb unless you just added the Swanton link on the right.

[Tana]

Yo, Max. Don't feel dumb. I am still organizing things, and adding links. It probably wasn't there when you posted, but it's there now. Not ONLY that, but I visited Swanton Berry Farm yesterday, because they really are something special. Scored a half-flat of berries for $12. Woo hoo!