The news of long-time farmers market vendors La Marea of the Sea opening a new restaurant in April spread like hot salsa among their legion of customers. Rudy and Maria Figueroa and family’s new bricks and mortar venue was a major achievement for the family that began years earlier. “I originally learned about food from...Read More
Springtime on the Central Coast reignites the unbridled optimism of home gardeners eager to grow their own food and flowers. The first question every home gardener usually asks is: “What to grow?” Scott Bender, founder and owner of Green Planet Organics, offers a wide variety of locally produced fruit and vegetable transplants as well as...Read More
The story of Zen Natural Foods and its owner Lisa Koda is as improbable as it is fascinating. It is part chance, part fate, and part of a higher calling for Lisa. Born in Tokyo, Lisa’s original career choice was fashion design. “I was fascinated by making clothes. I studied English literature in Japan, but...Read More
If anyone would ask you what Steve Jobs and Sandra Ward of New Natives have in common, the odds are pretty decent you’d be hard pressed to guess the answer, which is: they both started their businesses in their garages. “I began growing wheatgrass in my garage around 1980 or so,” Sandra recalled with a...Read More
Terry Beech, known to many as “the knife sharpening guy,” crossed the rainbow bridge last month at the age of 79. As is often the case, many of us expressed disbelief and shock. When I first watched Terry roll into the Aptos Farmers Market in his primo VW bus, I was bemused to watch as...Read More
July 2022 marks the 46th anniversary of the Monterey Bay Certified Farmers Market. To put it in perspective, the year was 1976; leisure suits and disco music were the rage, the internet didn’t exist, “Google” was still a noun, and many married couples that frequent our markets hadn’t even met yet. Even though farmers markets...Read More
It’s been said that a farmer works in acres, not hours. Sam Thorp of Spade & Plow Farms in Gilroy enjoys telling the story of his family farm in terms of acres. “My Dad (Mike), my brother Nick and I would always talk about having a smaller farm based on the community-supported ag (CSA) model....Read More
Stone fruit season is upon us! Cherries (and other stone fruit) are known as drupes, and this category includes peaches, plums, cherries, nectarines, apricots, and pluots. We’re fortunate enough to have some of the best stone fruit growers in the state at our farmers markets. Stone fruit season typically begins with cherries and the first...Read More
In the everyday hustle and bustle called life, it’s easy to overlook the countless points of light that provide us comfort and moments of happiness. When one of those lights leaves us, it can hit us like a board to the head. “You’re kidding?” is a common reaction when we learn of a friend or...Read More
I managed to catch up with Hans Haverman, a dad, fisherman, and fishmonger at the Saturday Aptos Farmers Market at Cabrillo College. It’s been a while since we last spoke, even longer since I’d seen his storefront, H & H Fresh Fish Company, at the Santa Cruz Harbor. Spending time with Hans is like having...Read More
