Meet Brandon and Michelle Ross, of Ella Bella Farm in Corralitos, California. Brandon started farming organically in 1996 in the Capay Valley, when he founded Cache Creek Organics, a 300-acre farm abundant with diversity. In 1999, he moved his operations to Santa Cruz county, co-founding Ella Bella Farm with farming partners J. P. McDaniel and Jane Freedman (she was one of the co-founders of Dirty Girl Produce, now "manned" by Joe Schirmer). Their little daughter, Bella, contributed one-half of the farm's name. ("Ella" is Michelle's daughter, now seventeen.)
When I first visited Ella Bella Farm, it was located across the street from the present location, out on Corralitos Boulevard near the Corralitos Market. The first time I laid eyes on the farm was when I was riding around scouting out places for a farm dinner back in 2002. Brandon was loading strawberries on a truck, and he took time to usher us around the property, on a hillside next to a creek. I was impressed then with the diversity: strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, potatoes, a zillion kinds of tomatoes, peppers, you name it. That diversity has increased: I can't even name all the crops I saw during a brief visit today.
This photo was taken at the end of that visit, and it is this particular photo that threw my heart over the fence last January (2005), when I was considering whether or not to start this blog. Because Ella Bella, on that day, was as pretty as a little farm could possibly be. I knew I had to keep writing about, and showing pictures of, how beautiful farms are.
This is another photo taken at the prior location at Ella Bella Farm: the presence of the sunflower at the end of the rows of staked tomatoes was just a little bit of accidental poetry that had happened. I liked it.
Today's Ella Bella Farm visit had a specific intention: I wanted to know how they had fared yesterday for the Tour d'Organics events...but a phone call to Michelle produced an answer that shouldn't have surprised me: "Oh, we couldn't be there. We both work farmers markets on the weekends." Well, that didn't stop me from pulling into the long, dusty driveway on the farm.
There I found Brandon, peddling away on the cutest ride I've ever seen on a farm: his three-wheeled bike with a basket and a luggage rack. He'd scored it after a patient two-week wait from Craig's List...I want one! "I used to have to drive my truck all over the farm, but this farm is so small. I love it." Who wouldn't? Doesn't "Tricycle Farm" have a nice ring to it?
Brandon laughed as I got out of the car, "Too bad it's not as warm as it was yesterday." Oh, of all the days for the county to have temperatures in the three-digits. All the hundreds of bicyclists, some peddling thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred miles around the county, stopping at organic farms for rest and rehydration.
Even today, the noonday sun was a little too bright and hot to take many photos, but the farm is on the verge of bursting with fruit and vegetables and herbs. Here, each basil bush is about a foot tall, and the rows just go on and on. It smelled like a field of pesto!
Berries, white corn, lettuces, cucumbers, peppers, potatoes (the first since they've moved to the new location), tomatoestomatoestomatoes, beets, broccoli, romanesco (the Mandelbrot cauliflower, crazy stuff, I love it), garlic, onions, raspberries (golden and red), strawberries, and apples.
Besides that, Michelle, who used to own her own restaurant in Kauai, makes sea salts with organic herbs. (You can find these at River Cafe and Cheese Shop in Santa Cruz.) I use mine on new potatoes with a little olive oil.
Brandon and Michelle are particularly excited about this weekend, when Executive Chef Stuart Brioza and Pastry Chef Nicole Krasinski, both of Rubicon restaurant in San Francisco, will team up to produce a dinner at Ella Bella Farm. Beginning at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, July 30, the event will begin with a tour of the farm, and the dinner will spotlight their dazzling array of produce. Tickets are $90, and the meal will include local wines from Storrs Winery, whose many vineyards dot the Santa Cruz mountains. If you are interested, please call Michelle at 831-684-2808. (I will post the menu beforehand if I get it in time.)
Rubicon is just one of the many restaurants who buy from Ella Bella: at Chez Panisse, one will often see their berries featured by name on the menu. Aziza proudly names the local farms it supports on their website (bravo!), which includes Ella Bella. I'll be adding these restaurants to my Chefs and Farms map over at Platial.
If you're in the area, and want a fine experience on a truly beautiful organic farm, call Michelle Ross and make your arrangements. Note: the farm is all completely level, and walking it would be easy for anyone.
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About the Tour d'Organics...well, I think it's a mixed bag. I dipped my toe in at two farms, and had my own observations. I'll see what other farmers have to say. Cynthia, up at Love Apple Farm, said that only two people spoke to her the entire day. Out at Crystal Bay Farm, said that no one really walked out to look at the farm, just stood in the corner near the refreshments and cooled off. Yes, it was hot, and perhaps the people in Ben Lomond might have been borderline comatose from the insane heat.
But I got the feeling that the riders weren't into farms at all. At Everett Family Farm, the man who was doling out fruit and water said that someone had been available to show people the farm, but that not many people were interested.
I took the backroads up to Scotts Valley and Ben Lomond, and I passed dozens and dozens driving the long way between Everett Family Farm and Long Apple Farm. I waved through my sunroof at every single rider and group of riders, assuming they'd see my license tag and wave back. Not one did.
On a different level, I don't think the promoter really did a good job with his research or in promoting the event. The "history" of Ella Bella Farm was lifted in its entirety from an ancient website, one Michelle is puzzled still exists, and is no longer relevant at all. How hard would it have been to actually contact the farmers for their history?
Anyway, I just didn't detect a love of farms...just some people who clearly had a psychotic need to torture themselves in heat worthy of the Hell that awaits Ken Lay and the hijackers. (She said with a bitter laugh.) I felt sorry for them. But maybe they felt sorry for me, driving up a shady road with an open sun roof and the breeze in my gas-guzzling car. Maybe they felt contempuous, in a Steven Colbert way. I have no idea, but they didn't wave. Not once.
What really worried me was that the food served on the Tour d'Organics appeared to be completely vegan. Please tell me if I'm wrong, but if you were riding 100 miles on a hot day, wouldn't you want something more than couscous, carrots, yams, salad, and fruit for lunch? (And I thought I saw something that looked like granola bars. And a friend of Cynthia's had brought some of her homemade salsa and chips, too.) Wouldn't you NEED protein on such a grueling ride?
Cynthia told me she'd do it again, because it's all good for publicity, but that she thought it very strange that, all day long, maybe one in twenty people would walk the twenty feet to her farmstand (in the shade).
I'm visiting a new farm this week, and I'll see what that farmer's experience was with the tour. Especially because she is none other than the wonderful Amy Courtney, whose Freewheelin' Farm exists because of her bicycle. More on Amy soon: she is inspirational.
That's all for now.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a
new bicycle. Then I realised that the Lord doesn't work that way so I
stole one and asked Him to forgive me." — Emo Phillips
Thanks for visiting.
Hi Tana,
Very interesting to read your comments on the Tour d'Organics. I was one of the crazy psychotics riding my bicycle that day :-)
After reading your perspective, I think it's safe to say that the event fell a bit short of everyone's expectations. I left the event feeling that more could and should have been done for both farmers and cyclists.
From the cycling perspective, the route was difficult to follow and not very well designed. From the farming point of view, I was looking forward to seeing and sampling local produce, but honestly I didn't see any on offer.
Best stop of the day for me was Freewheelin', partly because Amy was so welcoming, but also because I was able to get a drink, having been out of water since half way up the day's long climb. I couldn't believe that there was no water available at the top of the long climb, on such a hot day.
I think the Tour d'Organics idea is great, and Santa Cruz should be a great venue. Hope we all do a lot better next year!
Posted by: Gary | 09 August 2006 at 09:22 PM