I Heart Farms

Phi Beta Keeper

I know, she doesn't look like a farmer. She isn't a farmer. Saturday, I attended our daughter's graduation from UCSC…my first college graduation ceremony ever. We knew Malaika was going to graduate with honors from the university and from her department, but what we did not know flabbergasted us.

I was flipping through the program and glanced down a page to see Malaika's name, one of twelve in her college, under the Phi Beta Kappa heading. WHAT?! I knew it was a big deal, but it wasn't until later, after come Googling and asking around just what a big deal this might be. 17 U.S. Presidents, 38 Supreme Court justices, and a slew of other people who can only be described as leaders, scholars, and more.

We're hoping it bestows a second round of free education for her: she intends to pursue a Ph.D. in neuroscience. (Her four years at UCSC were completely covered by a Regents Scholarship that included housing and more.)

My column today simply is to congratulate Malaika for working as hard as she could since she first set foot in kindergarten. She's a born student, an amazing artist (she paints, draws, does ceramics, etc.), and she has earned honors in almost every subject I can think of. Beyond that, she is a happy young woman who makes people feel better. She's a wit, a liberal's liberal, and an excellent cook—some of which I can lay claim to influencing her for the better.

Malaika, dearest: thank you for choosing your daddy and me to be your parents.

I promise to write more tomorrow: something important has come up.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: “ΦBK —  Greek initials of the motto ‘Love of learning is the guide of life.’” —from the Phi Beta Kappa website.

Thanks for visiting.

Historical Farming and Agricultural Developments in Santa Cruz

Five times a week, the Santa Cruz Farmers Market holds a market somewhere in the county. The oldest and largest of these markets grew out of the rubble of the 1989 earthquake, in the parking lot downtown where Ford's department store once stood. 

Last week, market manager Nesh Dhillon gave me the news that the market is celebrating by expanding into 20 new slots, featuring a variety of vendors that will enhance the market's cultural influence in our community. One new service:

A “veggie valet” program [will be] a free service for customers of the market. We have a spot in the market that has street/car access where anyone can check in their shopping bags, continue shopping or go retrieve their vehicle and pull up and get their food. This new service makes it easier to drive into downtown and shop at the farmers’ market. The service will be fully function April 28th.

In addition to the customary farms and hot food providers, the expansion will feature "live music, valet bike parking, arts and crafts, cooking demonstrations, information space for non-profit organizations, and expanded restroom facilities." The arts and crafts booths, a pilot project with The Tannery Project, will be sure to attract new visitors, as will the addition of new prepared foods vendors. I'm also very pleased to see that Sharp Quick, my knife-sharpening friend, Terry Beech, is being given a full-time spot.

Tomorrow's festivities will have live music (Harmony Grits!), a photo exhibit of the past 20 years (featured on the back wall of the market), cooking demonstrations by the inimitable Jozseph Schultz, and more. (Jozseph is re-opening India Joze, a Santa Cruz local legend, on May 1, much to the delight of his Jonezing fanbase.)

 

You can view and download the new farmers market map, above. 

• • • • • • • • • • •

(Pictured here: Jered Lawson and Nancy Vail, of Pie Ranch, affiliated with Mission Pie Shop.)

On a more personal note, I've been involved with an incredible project at the UCSC Library that is coming to fruition on Earth Day (April 22). Irene Reti, the Director of Regional History Projects, has for years cultivated her dream of creating an oral history of sustainable agriculture in our Edenic little part of the world. There have been so many passionate pioneers who've had a major influence on agriculture, globally, that it was time to gather these stories. 58 interviews with "large- and small-scale farmers, farm advisors, activists, educators, researchers, policymakers, farmers-market managers, food distributors, and other shapers of the region’s past 40 years of agricultural history."

From the UCSC Library's announcement: 

April 13, 2010
UCSC Library to launch new web site on Central-Coast sustainable agriculture and organic farming

While the project focuses on developments in Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, and Santa Clara counties, many of the interviewees have influenced the movement for sustainable food systems at the national and international level.

Local organizations represented include the Agricultural and Land-Based Training Association, Community Alliance with Family Farmers, California Certified Organic Farmers, Organic Farming Research Foundation, California FarmLink, the Ecological Farming Association, the Homeless Garden Project, UCSC’s [Farm & Garden] Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, the Life Lab Science Program, and the Wild Farm Alliance.

I was honored to have been asked to provide photographs of the faces of so many of these participants: so many are my friends and my heroes. The interviews fill 4800 pages of text, which ultimately will be printed in 10-edition bound set, available at local libraries.

The website is scheduled to go live on April 22 (Earth Day). Later this year and next: "The UCSC Library will feature an exhibit based on the project during Fall Quarter of 2010. A celebration will be held at the Science and Engineering Library on October 14. A reading will also take place at the Watsonville Public Library this fall. In 2011, a book of edited excerpts from the oral histories will be published by the UCSC Library and distributed by the University of California Press.

Contact information, should you need it, is linked at the Library's website, above. (Yes, you can order books.)

• • • • • • • • • • • 

Two more wonderful things about living in Santa Cruz. More to come on Slow Food and The Butcher, The Baker, The Wedding Cake Maker.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: ""Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed."—Herman Melville

Thanks for visiting. 

P.S. The tent cabins at UCSC are a beautiful reality! This photo was taken by Don Burgett, former apprentice, and current treasurer on the Board of Directors for the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden with me. More on Grow a Farmer soon, too!

The HELLman's You Say: "Real Ingredients" Don't Mutate DNA

(Graphic: created by me in Photoshop.)

Though I am loathe to give up top billing to YellowWallFarm.com—about my favorite thing I get to do is shine light on the good and beautiful in the world…well, I've got a barrelful here for Hellman's^® and their completely ludicrous and cynical misuse of the words "real ingredients" when listing what actually goes into their products.

I am aware that Hellman's and Best Foods are the most popular mayonnaises in this country. I am also aware that some people eat ground beef at Taco Bell and McDonald's, so clearly we are a nation who likes to play fast and loose with our food safety.

You might be lulled into a sense of food security with the sincerity of words like "real" and "natural," and even "organic" and "free-range" or "cage-free." Then, last evening another pro-food (real food, not corporate chemicals in boxes and jars) food blogger, "Genie," aka @egratto, tweeted this little nugget:

"So. Hellman's Mayo has an ad campaign claiming they're making it from real ingredients. Here's the nutritional info: http://bit.ly/bWPawC"

And that's when my insta-cynic knew I was about to launch out the gate for a horserace to be the first to find out…WTF, HELLMANN'S?

Yellow Wall Farm ~ Santa Cruz

Pictured above, my newest website design: a collaboration between farmer, Judy Rose Hasty, and me, for Yellow Wall Farm, which she and her husband, Allen, own. I'd received an email from Judy shortly before the EcoFarm conference in January, and mid-February, we hooked up. All I knew is that Yellow Wall Farm—I'll get to the name in a minute—was partnered with Freewheelin' Farm as the "hot weather crop" component of Freewheelin's CSA.

I drove up the road to the farm—one of my favorite roads in the county—and she met me at the gate with dogs a-barking and a big smile. Because all the farmers at Freewheelin' are young, I expected Judy to be one of their generation. I was happy to meet a contemporary of my own age—and that was just the beginning of our commonality.

So the website is still in development, but we'd like to get your input on recipe sites you like, particularly if they are seasonally based.

Obviously, there will be more to come here about Yellow Wall Farm, but I just wanted to have a fresh post up here because—would you look at that? Morning Edition is now following me on Twitter! (I'm @tanabutler.)

Leave your recipe recommendations in the comments, if you would. Thanks!

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." —John Muir 

Thanks for visiting! I'm excited about the new work lined up for springtime!

The Fruits of Our Labors

Please see a Community Announcement at the bottom of this post.

I can make no excuses about my absence here, except to say the past months have been fraught with challenges in our family—from health issues to difficult circumstances surrounding Logan's well-being. But I've been inspired by recent events, which I will share with you now.

Monday, a friend visiting from Toronto broadcast (yes, he Tweeted!) that he was seeking photographic inspiration. I suggested a visit to the UCSC Farm & Garden, and he accepted. The day was overcast, which is optimal for photography—no glare, no harsh shadows, and clear colors. We met my daughter up at the Alan Chadwick Garden, a two-acre terraced hillside garden that is predominantly orchard, but which also contains rows of vegetables—lots of over-wintered peppers and some Napa cabbages were present on our visit. 

It was the first time I'd been to the up there in February—everything was muddy, covered in mustard grass and other "weeds" (it's hard for me to call anything green a weed), and sloppily beautiful despite the disorder. The garden is so different in winter. All the bare stone fruit trees—with their gnarled, grey branches—contrasted with the citrus trees, which were bearing heavily amid their dense, dark, waxy leaves. To someone else's eye, there might not be much to see, but I was seeing things in a new way, and I loved it.     

Hottie Farmers: Go, Huffington Post

Apparently, this photo of Michael Irving is the shot seen around the world. After appearing in Edible Portland, Mike was the poster boy (literally) for the "Grow a Farmer" Campaign for the UCSC Farm. There, Mike had been both an apprentice and a Second-Year, selected to help mentor the next class of apprentices).

A couple of weeks ago, I got a note from a young lady named Eve, who works for The Huffington Post, asking me if I would submit some photos of cute or handsome or pretty farmers. I sent her a bunch, and she used a couple in this Huffington Post slideshow in which you can vote for the Hottest/Cutest organic farmer. Mike's currently running in third place, but Michelle Obama has an unfair advantage, I think. 

Other friends who appear in the slideshow are Daniel Paduano (Abounding Harvest Mountain Farm) and Rebecca Thistlethwaite and Jim Dunlop (TLC Ranch). I agree that Annie Novak, currently #2, is quite beautiful, but I don't think rooftop gardening is farming—the scope of the work simply cannot compare. 

The thought that originated "I Heart Farms" was this: I wanted anyone who saw my work to ask themselves, "Where's my pretty little farm? Where's my pretty little farmer?" (You get the point.)

No wonder these young people are my heroes. Anyone who farms with this level of care and commitment is beautiful to me. You?

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "Do you know what a farm is? 'Cause I just found out…and WOW. They're amazing. Turns out that if you put a seed in the ground, and then with some time, water, and a little love, eventually it grows up to be a corndog. Well, our nation's farms need your help. To donate $5, text FARMER to 90999 on your cell phone. If you won't do it for the farmers, do it for our Jolly Ranchers." —Stephen Colbert, for Farm Aid

Thanks for visiting.

To the Picker, Go the Spoils

It may not look like much to you, but there's gold in them-thar spills. The broken vines and browning leaves concealed a wealth of dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes out at Everett Family Farm, where I was invited to "glean" today. With the first major rainstorm predicted to begin tonight, Leon Vehaba called me to let me know that he had a crew of pickers out there, trying to save every last tomato they could. But no one could possibly pick them all, so I got an invitation to scrounge through the plants and see what I could come up with.

 

That's just part of it—I also got a flat of small yellow heirlooms, some butternut squashes, and a couple of pretty little pumpkins for Logan. My friend, Lindsay, brought her toddler, Julian, and remarked, "Look at all this food around us." We were surrounded not only by the waning tomatoes, but by rows of carrots, beets, broccoli, chard, kale, greens, and hundreds of apple trees of many varieties. Alongside us, three young men whom Leon had hired to pick were concluding their day's work by scooping up the errant squashes and apples. "Gleaning," they called it, and of course, it was.

 

"We all used to eat like this," she continued. "And now, full circle." Under the cloudy grey sky, it was easier for me to remember true autumn weather back east, and to feel connected to the seasonality of our food. I regarded the butternut, thinking of Mollie Katzen's recipe for curried butternut squash soup with shiitake mushrooms. 

There is a huge rainstorm bearing down on us, and I'm feeling a little like Ma Wilder on the Big Prairie—Bob's headed out for a couple of days, and I'm left with a paltry store of firewood, and a dubious amount of propane in our kitchen stove. I don't like the thought of being alone without power, but I have the comfort of having Lindsay and the baby and his father next door. (And their woodstove.)

And hopefully, tomorrow, I'll have the comforting scent of tomatoes roasting in the oven, so I can "taste a little of the summer," as Greg Brown says in Canned Goods, when the winter is beating its path through our part of the world. 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: "Let those December winds bellow 'n' blow/I'm as warm as a July tomato." —Greg Brown, Canned Goods

Thanks for visiting.

Real Food or Caloric Entertainment? #FAIL, Duncan Hines!

 

First: apologies for the wacky formatting of this post. Typepad launched a "new and improved" interface that is a colossal failure.

Pictured here: a beautiful artichoke display from Prevedelli Farms at the Food & Wine Farm to Table Harvest in Carmel on September 26. I went with Cynthia Sandberg as her VIP guest, and it was glorious. Because this is what real food looks like. Recognizable as food, not some Frankensteined mix of "ingredients" that have been machinated to lose all resemblance to something that nourishes your body cells and well-being.

If you've read this blog for any length of time, you know that I don't suffer fools gladly, especially on a day when I'm so grouchy that I could kick something for the pleasure of the pain to my foot. And you know that, on a few occasions, someone pimping promoting some fake-food item to ME has caused my innate cynic to haul out the Whack-a-Mole on them.

Case in point: an email this morning from someone representing that titan of nutritious real food caloric entertainment found inside a package inside a box, Duncan Hines. And this is what it said:

The Scoop Around Here

Pictured here: dried beans at Dirty Girl Produce's booth at the Sunday farmers market in Live Oak. Don't they make you want to run your hands through them?

I have no good reason for not writing in so long, except to say that life has been complicated and more than a little tough. We lost custody of our precious little grandson, Logan, last month, when he was restored to his parents. Fortunately, we will be having a shared custody situation again, with Logan's father, for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, Logan has started kindergarten, and absolutely loves it. He's happy, he sings all the time, and frequently says, "Wherever my Poppy goes, I'm going, TOO." Here he is pictured in our corn patch, sitting on a stepladder.

He helped grow that corn, he'll have you know.

• • • • • • • • • • •

I Ripped a New Whole (Foods), & Meet Leon Vehaba [I Rant, I Rave]

When I first started this blog in 2005, it was because I wanted people to ask themselves, seeing my pictures and reading these stories, "Where's my pretty little farm? Where's my pretty little farmer?" (Er, handsome/tall, as the case may be.) Case in point: meet Leon Vehaba. (Rave.) [Note: please click all horizontally-oriented photos to enlarge. The life-force is strong in the details.]

I first met Leon in 2007, at the UCSC Farm. He was helping with the annual Harvest Fair, and went out of his way to be helpful to everyone, with enthusiasm, intelligence, and what I know now is his characteristic warmth. Leon impressed enough people at the farm that he was chosen to be one of a handful of apprentices asked to stay through the winter, and mentor the next year's first-year apprentices. This honor is bestowed upon a very committed group of young people, and after his tenure as a Second-Year (or "Seconds," as they're called), Leon decided to stay in the area instead of returning to New York, so that he could join the Board of Directors for the Friends of the UCSC Farm & Garden. New York's loss is very much our gain.

Being on the Board is not the predominant reason Leon stayed in Santa Cruz, I have to confess. He was hired to manage the farm by Rich and Laura Everett, owners of Everett Family Farm, who clearly recognize Leon's capacity to turn vision into reality. I'm overdue for an update on the goat-wrangling and other activities that are part of the Everett's farm—one of the prettiest little farms you'll ever see. But I am remiss on weeks of writing, so I'll catch this lightning in a bottle while I can. It feels good to write. 

Pictured here: some of the beautiful hand-picked zucchini blossoms carefully tended by Leon, just a couple of miles from my house. Leon's specializing in these at the farmers markets—I don't think anyone else has them. 

If you can't get to them at the local farmers markets (Felton on Tuesday; Westside Santa Cruz on Saturday; Live Oak on Sunday), visit the farm in Soquel at 2111 Old San Jose Road, where their farmstand is open daily. 

These zucchini blossoms are a perfect example of how Leon thinks: knowing that Santa Cruz has a fairly adventuresome collective palate, and not noticing any other farmers offering the blossoms at markets, he decided to grow them. When he became enthralled with all the varieties and possibilities with heirloom tomatoes, I hooked Leon up with the very generous Cynthia Sandberg, whose brain he picked until he was satisfied that his offerings would be attractive and tasty. (Cynthia calls our ilk "tomato kooks." I'm fine with that.)

Leon brings to his work a culinary history (along with a Masters Degree in Sustainable Development), including a stint as a waiter/educator at Blue Hill Stone Barns in upstate New York. He cooks, cans, makes spice blends, and a whole lot of other stuff I can't even name: his skills in the kitchen are matched by his zest for life. Most of our conversations are food-centric: he's often asking me for my take on flavors, combinations, things to grow, and so on. "Value-added" is an understatement, when I view Leon's approach to farming.

Pictured here: Leon's custom salad blend: no limpid baby greens that wilt under a vinaigrette: these are a tad more mature and robust—though simultaneously retain their tenderness. My know-it-all-without-bragging-but-still-maintaining-opinions friend, Joe Cangelosi, loved this salad. (Joe, post in the comments, would ya? Thanks.)

Like every farmer I know, Leon can talk about food: like every farmer I know, he grows food because he loves to eat well. This is a fact that permeates my life, and the lives of all those people who are close to me. There is a depth of thought that attends most every meal, and it's one of the things I love best about living in a farming region. (Notice I did not say "California," or even "the Bay Area.")

Even my ex-husband, whose previous forays into the kitchen involved can openers and frozen entrées, has become an adept cook since his divorce. He's taking pleasure in learning how to shop for fresh produce. Well, more pleasure than he took before, let's say. I don't think he'll ever spend time pondering whether to buy peaches or blueberries, or to try the Ronde de Nice squash instead of plain (beautiful, dark green) zucchini.

So where's the rant, you may be wondering. I needed a good rant to get me out of the creative trepidation I've been experiencing, and a Media Relations employee for Whole Foods Market unwittingly handed it to me yesterday. Bless her heart: I won't name her, for she did nothing wrong. All she did was invite me to the opening of the second Whole Foods Market in Santa Cruz county. She had no idea she threw a lit firecracker into a pile of dry kindling. Bless her heart.

Mind you, I know that Everett Family Farm and other local farmer friends sell to Whole Foods. I don't have any kind of problem with that, of course: I want to them sell everything they grow. But if you read #6, below, you will see why I buy directly from the farmers, and encourage you to do so. And I won't care if you do want to shop at Whole Foods. (It's one place you can get the fabulous pastured eggs from TLC Ranch.) My daughter loves it. (I'm not through with her, though.) 

And now, a miniature rant, not without heart or reason.

Why I Won't Shop at Whole Foods (except for duck eggs, purchased individually and rarely):

1. Santa Cruz is the last place on earth that needs a Whole Foods Market, much less two of them.

We have these resources:

• New Leaf Community Markets (five in the county, and one in Half Moon Bay…see that word "Community?" It means something. It has history and depth and connections.)
• Staff of Life Natural Foods Market
• The Food Bin & Herb Room (more natural foods)
• Shopper's Corner (not such a commitment to organics, but locally owned since 1937, and has a great selection of the things I might be looking for)
• Deluxe Foods of Aptos (ditto what I said about Shopper's Corner) 
• Five SEVEN farmers markets weekly (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, three on Saturday, and one on Sunday)
• Public farmstands (UCSC Farm, twice a week; Everett Family Farm, Crystal Bay Farm, Love Apple Farm, and possibly others)
• Bakeries (that supply wonderful baked goods to local markets)
• VinoCruz; Soif Wine Bar & Store; K Wine & Liquors <--I edited this list, at the suggestion of Fran Grayson, who commented below)

FARMERS MARKETS

• TUESDAY: Felton
• WEDNESDAY: Downtown Santa Cruz
• FRIDAY: Watsonville
• SATURDAY: Cabrillo College [one of the very first in California] in Aptos, Westside Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley
• SUNDAY: Live Oak

2. Whole Foods doesn't know Santa Cruz.

A recent radio ad mentions the store's location on "Soquel Boulevard." Locals know there is no such street: the store is located on Soquel Avenue. Soquel Avenue runs from downtown south, until it crosses Highway One, when it becomes Soquel Drive. A moot point? Simple fact checking. And yes, this is a very minor point, but the ad irks.

And where is the store located? One block away from Shopper's Corner, which naturally has to have a negative impact on that venerated business.

3. Of all the counties in California, only San Francisco is smaller in size (and has over three times our population) than this county.

Maybe San Francisco needs a Whole Foods—though I think there are better options, certainly with the farmers markets. With our county's population at roughly 250K, I don't see the need for a megamart like Whole Foods. Much less TWO, that are literally THREE miles apart. 

As I noted after visiting Whole Foods in Monterey in 2006:

What was it like at Whole Foods (in Monterey)? I spent only $30, and part of that on medicine. My overall impression is that people are dazzled by all the choices—six artisanal bakeries with offerings up to your eyeballs!—but I don't need all the choices. My local natural foods stores (New Leaf Community Markets and Staff of Life) have ample variety in every regard, and what they don't have (a vast wine selection, e.g.), I can easily augment elsewhere. I wouldn't buy produce at Whole Foods, when it's so much cheaper at the farmers market, but if that's what people want to do, and are willing to do, and need to do, bully for them. For myself, I didn't have a single pang of envy or the feeling that I was missing something in never having been inside a Whole Foods, nor do I have any desire to return. I saw what all the fuss was about, and I don't need the fuss. Santa Cruz is covered. 

Razzle dazzle isn't for me. 

4. People don't call it "Whole Paycheck" for nothing. 

This is a universal nickname that isn't even a cliché. I saw tomatoes (in season) for $6/pound, when they were at that time selling for $2/pound at local farmers markets and farmstands. Can you spell "mark-up"?

5. I love my farmers, and I love my farmers markets.

This is really the heart of it.

Going to the market is like going to church for me. The good kind of church, not the kind where they want you Scared Straight! I see so many of my friends, meet new ones, and love the wholesome vibe—kids, music, pretty and healthy food grown with love. I like knowing and talking to the people who grow my food. 

Another case in point: not knowing the research or facts on pesticide use on avocados, I asked one farmer, the father of two young children, "Would you let your kids eat [this, that, or the other thing?" He said "yes" and explained his rationale. The "yes" would have been enough: I trust Josh Thomas, of Thomas Family Farm. They've been farming sustainably since 1971; his father, Jerry started it way back then. 

6. When I buy from the farm, the farm gets all of the money.

Whole Foods doesn't pay the farmers what they would make from direct sales. One family farmer told me that their direct sales comprise more than 95% of their income, between the farmers markets and the farmstand.

• • • • • • • • • • •

You get the point(s). Yes, I realize that Whole Foods is providing jobs, but I doubt those jobs offset the loss of income that would otherwise go to our local economy. Now, if the CEO of Whole Foods wants to move to Santa Cruz, maybe I'd shop there. No, no can do. See reasons 4, 5, and 6, above. Sorry, Mr. Mackey!

Where I'm transparently hypocritical: I buy some things at Safeway (toilet paper, etc., only things on sale with my Club Card). I buy some things at Trader Joe's (knowing it is owned by German brazillionaires*). I buy a very few things a few times a year at Costco. I shop BevMo's 5-Cent seasonal sales (for California wines). I buy my work tools (computers, cameras, etc.) where I can get the best price, usually online. 

Most of these things don't affect the money that I spend on locally farmed/ranched food.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't need another outlet to spend money that won't stay (mostly) in our local economy. My hypocrisy does know some boundaries, you know!

And so I conclude this with the simple thought that originated I Heart Farms. 

Where is your pretty, little farm? 

Who is your pretty little (big, hairy, short, young, old, rustic, etc.) farmer?

Mine are all around me, in the open air. And that is exactly as I like it. 

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write things worth reading, or do things worth writing. Benjamin Franklin

Farmers: they do things worth writing.

Thanks for visiting.

*Re: "brazillionnaire"...

An advisor comes up to George W. Bush during a meeting and whispers, "There has been a riot in Rio de Janeiro, and six Brazilians are dead." Bush asks, "How many are in a brazillion?"