Earth Day Farmers Market in Windsor

This past Sunday was the official Earth Day Farmers' Market in Windsor. We luckily had some chard, broccoli, cauliflower, herbs and eggs for sale. The chard has held on since last year! It is "Bright Lights" chard and it is "decorticated". I had to look up that word...it means that the ribs are soft enough to be eaten. It also means "de-boned" but that doesn't apply to vegetables, does it?

I have finally given in to recognize that folks don't know our connection to the restaurant, Zin, so now it is officially on the sign. "Zin Restaurant's Eastside Farm".
One of the things I love about Farmers Market is that it slows you down. As a vendor, you don't always have customers right in front of you and this gives you an opportunity to talk to your neighboring vendor or catch up with friends wandering down the aisles with their kids. We were lucky enough to have our friends, owners of Syrah Bistro in Santa Rosa, stop by to visit. I consider their son to be part of our family! You can see why!
Happy Earth Day! Go plant something! We are now planting only food crops or plants that feed the bees. The bees like some VERY pretty flowers!

Have you seen where Summer has gone?

I can't believe how fast Summer zoomed past. CRAZY!!! I am just now sitting down share our exciting tomato news only to realize that this all took place 3 weeks ago!

Windsor Farmers Market holds an annual Tomato and Pepper Festival the first Sunday of September. Included in that festival is a tomato competition/judging. Last year we won: First place in the purple-black tomato category with a "Cherokee Purple", first place in the yellow category with "Olga's Round Yellow Chicken" (you've gotta know we HAVE to grow that one!) and third place in the red category with our Florentines.

This year I am proud to announce more ribbons!!!

We won first place in the purple-black category with "Paul Robeson", named after the famous actor, second place in the white-yellow category for "White Queen" and...drum roll please...BEST OF SHOW for Paul Robeson.

Farmer Jeff has worked very hard to produce tasty tomatoes. We don't water them as much as other growers do. We have smaller tomatoes, but the ribbons show they have been judged and deemed BEST!!!

Hot Summer = Crush

Right now, I could really use some sleep. We are working a lot of hours, doing a lot of events, I have a lot of paperwork to do...BUT it was too damn hot to sleep! Once I woke up I found myself listening to the traffic on the road and started counting the trucks going past that were hauling grape bins. (Honestly, they DO make a different sound!)

Crush is on in full force. We were at a wine tasting the other night along with other wine industry folks and one of the guests was on the phone with her staff discussing which grapes had been picked that day. Crush waits for no man...or woman.

The Farm is also going great guns. The peppers are not only at peak production, they are turning red! It is very cool! The eggplants are coming in, too. We have some really beautiful "white tango" eggplants, white looking Japanese eggplant, that are most prolific. We have something like 6 or 7 varieties of eggplant. One of them is finally popping out its fruit which is like little fat purple striped fingers.

Not only do we have the farm to look after, but lots of events. This Saturday we are serving "tastes" at the Kendall-Jackson Tomato Festival for, get this, 2,000 people. OYE!!! Farmer Chef Jeff is serving "Not Your Grandma's Tomato Aspic". It tastes like the freshest tomato salad you have ever had, but cold and jiggly! Farmer Chef Jeff calculated he would need 23 gallons of the base. Once again...OYE! He roasted some of the tomatoes to give them a deeper flavor. Brilliant! Okay, so that is one event.

Sunday is the Windsor Farmers' Market 7th Annual Tomato and Pepper Festival. We have entered some tomatoes for judging and have high hopes for a ribbon or two! Last year we won 3 ribbons! In addition to the tomato judging, the Windsor Farmers Market in cooperation with Windsor and El Molino High School Culinary Arts program is building the World's Largest BLT. Farmer Jeff is donating the bacon necessary to build the 135 foot sandwich! He put the bacon into the smoker last night at midnight and was back at the smoker this morning at 6 am to turn it off. He will go to the culinary class at Windsor High School at 8 am to talk to the students about the process of making bacon.

To add to our already full plate, we are also appearing at the Saturday night event, Range to Plate - An Evening Celebrating Sonoma Grown Meats. Farmer Chef Jeff created a recipe the event with lamb, the meat he was given to showcase. He created: North African Lamb Sausages with Eggplant Charmoula and Toasted Almond and Mint Cous Cous. YUM!!!

Well...that is what we have to get ready for so I had best go get myself in gear for the day! Have a great weekend!

The Real Cost of Organic Produce

We grow produce organically. We are not certified as an organic producer, however, we follow all of the same rules of pesticide control (natural/insecticidal soap) and fertilizer (natural/fish emulsion) that certified organic farms use.

Farmer Jeff and I repeatedly hear, while selling at Farmers Markets, that the produce sold at said Farmers Market is expensive. Not only is this a "probably won't break even this year" endeavor (land cost, materials cost, labor cost, fuel cost) but "we" farmers sell our produce for less than what SAFEWAY is charging!!!

Tonight, just for comparison (and to counter all of the folks that complain about the prices!) we went in Safeway grocery store to price the produce.
Organic Swiss Chard: $2.89 per bunch. We charge $1.50 per bunch. The difference? Ours weigh exactly the same and were grown no more than 4 miles away. They are also picked and sold on the same day.
Organic Tomatoes - Standard Variety: $4.99 per pound
Heirloom Tomatoes: $6.99 per pound.
Eastside Farm Tomatoes: $3.00 per pound; we pick and sell on the same day
Non-Organic Nectarines: $2.00 per pound, same price as our...but we couldn't give them away. No one was interested.
Non-Organic Cucumbers: $1.00 per cucumber, same price as ours, but ours are organic.

So, now I know what people will pay if they buy it at the regular grocery store. I can only guess that those complaining at Farmers Markets just don't pay attention to the prices in the stores.

There are so many great reasons to buy from Farmers Markets:

• The produce is picked at its peak.
• The food is grown on a small scale
• You can support your local farmer
• The food is grown locally (usually! Be sure to ask where the farm is!)
• Less gas is used to transport the food than if grown out of the area
• More varieties are available of each food group because mass produced produce only uses a few varieties due to "heartiness" or decent if picked while green.

We hope to see you at Market! Happy Tuesday! (Bring your own bags!)

Tomato Love

Heaven, I'm in Heaven...no, actually, I am in Healdsburg and the tomatoes are RIPE!!! I picked these tonight, initially thinking that we would have a basket ready to sell tomorrow morning at the Windsor Farmers' Market. Can you tell that didn't happen?

I couldn't help it. I asked Farmer Jeff to bring home some basil and goat cheese so I could make a dinner of freshly picked and sweet summer squash, some of our market neighbor's incredible "Chinese Striped" garlic (Tom Noble's Armstrong Valley Farm), and these lovely little tomatoes.

Represented above are tomatoes with names like Matt's Wild Cherry, Yellow Marble, Mirabel, Sprite, Sweetie, Isis Candy, Green Grape and Red Fig. I love these names! I promise more pictures.

Okay, I have had folks requesting more recipes, so here you go. This is what we had for dinner tonight.

First Summer Tomato Spaghetti
Serves 2-3 (depending on whether or not you go for seconds!)

Salted boiling water
6 oz. dry spaghetti
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 cup yellow onion, sliced
2 cups fresh summer squash, diced
*Squash blossoms can also be used along with the squash
2 tablespoons basil, thinly sliced
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup tiny cherry tomatoes (or cut in half)
2 ounces goat cheese, soft kind

Method:
1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add salt once it has boiled. *No need to add oil, just use a gallon of water per pound of pasta. Add the spaghetti and stir to separate the pasta.
2. In a large, COLD saute pan, add the oil, garlic and red pepper flakes. Turn on the pan.
3. When the garlic starts to sizzle, add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring while onion is cooking.
4. Add the squash and stir. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. Add the white wine and stir until the wine is almost gone. Add the basil and cook another minute.
6. Check the "done-ness of the pasta. I bite a piece in half or break it in half and look at the center. If you see more than a dot of white (uncooked) then let it cook longer, about another minute. If you just see a dot, NOW ADD THE TOMATOES to the squash and gently stir to heat the tomatoes. *JUST HEAT the tomatoes.
7. Quickly drain the perfectly cooked pasta and add to the saute pan and stir. Add a little of the pasta cooking water, about 1/3 cup or as needed to keep it moist.
8. Divide the pasta into 3 servings (I know this is a strange number but this is how much I usually make so we can have a little more!) by first removing the pasta and putting onto the plate.
9. Next scoop out the squash and tomato mix onto the top of the pasta.
10. Break the goat cheese into little lumps/nuggets and then a good grind of fresh black pepper.

Enjoy!