Community, Local Produce and Talented Foodsmiths Help Carmel Valley Market Take Off

April 14, 2015 – this piece went live on the Edible Monterey Bay blog. Read it there.

Community, Local Produce and Talented Foodsmiths Help Carmel Valley Market Take Off

Story and Photos by Camilla M. Mann

April 14, 2015 – Farmers’ markets have evolved in recent years. No longer are they simply venues where farmers bring their fruits and vegetables. Certainly there is no dearth of farmers showcasing their freshest, in-season produce, but market stalls now also house artisanal foods, crafts, and services. The fledgling market in Carmel Valley’s Village is no exception. There are things to buy, things to try, and things that make you pause and squeal in delight. Yes, literally squeal.

Friday afternoons from 2pm to 6pm, the parking lot at the Carmel Valley Community Center is crowded with vendors and customers—some familiar faces and some new ones—for example, sixth-grader Jake Reisdorf, who runs Carmel Honey Company.

Jake excitedly explained how his business evolved from an assignment when one of his teachers at Carmel River School tasked the students with creating a website. Instead of setting up a fictional business, Reisdorf decided to pursue beekeeping. Now a student at Carmel Middle School, he has nurtured a school project into a successful entrepreneurial venture.

Reisdorf started with two hives last year. In addition to selling honey, he’s now at the point where he can deliver hives to people who want the pollination services of his bees. His eyes lit up when he proudly shared, “I don’t filter my honey. When you filter your honey, you’re taking out the pollen. The pollen causes the honey to crystallize—so honey-bee guys don’t like it—but it’s the pollen that can help with allergies.”

Farmers travel from just around the corner—such as Carmel Valley’s own Serendipity Farms –and from further afield. Cipponeri Farms drives from Turlock to peddle colorful tubs of dried fruits and almonds. Medina Berry Farm and Rodriguez Ranch come from Watsonville in Santa Cruz County and Avila Farms, out of Hollister, represents San Benito County.

The prepared items are just as varied and intriguing. Sharing a booth with Central Coast Juicery’s Mark Kaltenbacher is Shiho Fukushima whose food-related ventures include managing her family’s Ocean Sushi Deli, critiquing restaurants for Monterey County Weekly, and running a gluten-free catering company. Fukushima, under the umbrella of Gluten-Free Shiho, has recently launched Bone Dashi. Dashi means ‘broth’ in Japanese.

Her bone broth takes two days to make and she’s a devotee of its benefits. Suffering from leaky gut syndrome, Fukushima explains, “Bone broth—rich in collagen, gelatin, and amino acids—calms my gut.” So, along with Kaltenbacher’s raw, cold-pressed juices, Fukushima offers jars of her bone dashi, made with Fogline Farms chicken bones and beef bones from Morris Grassfed. One sip of her warmed, calming brew and I was convinced of its restorative power.

Another fun addition to the market community is the husband-wife team of Monterey Meringues. Leigh Zimmerman and Domenick Allen are making multi-hued meringues whose trademarked names pay homage to classic rock legends, including Oreo® Speedwagon, Nuts ‘N Roses™, Black-berry Sabbath™, and The Almond Brothers™.

Zimmerman studied the art of baking meringues and macarons at Le Cordon Bleu in London before relocating to Monterey with her family. Together Zimmerman, Allen, and their teenage daughter have added some flair and panache to the usually austere, white teardrop-shaped treat. Monterey Meringues’ morsels have crunchy exteriors around a billowy center. And, surprisingly, the cheerful colors are achieved with all-natural vegetable and fruit powders.

Along with Reisdorf, Fukushima, Zimmerman and Allen, market organizer Jerry Lami has curated a talented crew of vendors. You can purchase wood-fired pizza from Tricycle Pizza, infused vinegars from OMG Vinegars, Middle Eastern spread and dips from Hummus Heaven, and eco-friendly screened bags and totes from Bee, Bark, and Moss. In its infancy—last Friday was market number four—Carmel Valley’s Friday Farmers’ Market is already a veritable celebration of community, local produce, and talented foodsmiths.

At the Pop-Up Breakfast - Scotts Valley Farmers Market

Most of the time, my story-telling is with a pen and a lens. On rare occasion, I get a chance to "relax" and just do one or the other. Maybe it's an interview where the interviewee is providing the photos or a photo essay where I don't have to bother taking notes to write a piece later.

This weekend, I was invited up to the Pop-Up Breakfast at the Scotts Valley Famers' Market. And I just had to shoot some photos. I wanted to share a few of my favorites.

In the Market
This was one of the most photogenic farmers' markets I've encountered. Absolutely stunning.

In the Kitchen
What a truly delightful breakfast, prepared by Chef Heidi Schletch, of Feel Good Foods and Plumline Farm, and her team dazzled us with dishes cooked with produce and goods from the market purveyors. It was amazing.

In the Dining Room
I love that diners bring their own plates and utensils. The eclectic napkins, mugs, and glasses are festive and fun.

On the Plates
Beautiful food just tastes better, doesn't it?!? This definitely fits the bill.

Just for Fun
Not for the assignment - for sure - just for me! It was a great date with my Love...love mixing work and kid-free fun.

A Collaborative Feast: Santa Cruz’s Westside Farmers’ Market Pop-Up Breakfast

This just hit the Edible Monterey Bay blog. Click here to read the piece on the blog.

Written and Photographed by Camilla M. Mann

 

When Edible Monterey Bay approached Santa Cruz Community Farmers’ Market director Nesh Dhillon with the idea of collaborating on a pop-up meal, he picked breakfast. “Everyone does dinner,” he reasoned, “but no one does breakfast.”












On Saturday August 25th, Dhillon teamed up with Chef Kevin Koebel, and his organization Local FATT (Food Awareness Through Teaching), to present a menu that showcased regionally significant food at this farm-to-breakfast table pop-up event. Local FATT urges consumers and farmers to build full-circle food systems that blend knowledge, passion, intelligence, and integrity.

Imagine the jovial scene. Tubs of luscious berries crowd market tables. A string quartet roams the market, serenading the crowd with folk music and bluegrass tunes. Wrinkled padrón and shishito peppers are piled precariously into baskets. Bins of Red Kuri pumpkins signal that fall may be just around the bend. Market goers, hands curled around basket handles, stroll from one stand to the next and peruse the offerings while giggling among themselves and chatting with the vendors. And, tucked into a corner of the market, long tables and chairs are set-up with menus printed on heavy craft paper. Jam jars, mismatched coffee mugs, jugs of water, and wildflowers in mason jars line the tables. And in the interest of ecology—and a more festive, colorful table—event planners asked diners bring their own plates and flatware.

Along with Dhillon and Koebel, this collaborative feast relied on the Westside Market producers themselves and other unique local purveyors. Barry Jackson, the owner and winemaker of Equinox Champenoise, kicked off the celebration by mixing mimosas for the guests who numbered just over fifty. Made just blocks from where we sat, Jackson employs the traditional French méthode champenoise to give his sparkling libation a toasty, aromatic quality. “More flavor results from the contact with the yeast,” Jackson explains.

Roland Konicke, of Uncie Ro’s Pizza, manned his wood-fired oven which was used to cook most of the meal. Konicke stuffed
high-protein dough with scrambled eggs, Harley Farms chevre,
wilted greens, and house-ground fennel-molasses sausage with a touch of El Salchichero’s magic in it, and baked it at a high temperature until it bore his signature charred crust to make the hearty roulades that were served about mid-way through the meal.

Fiesta Farms delivered fresh eggs; Condor’s Hope Winery poured their rosé; Lulu Carpenter’s Coffee lined the tables with carafes of steaming artisan-roasted coffee; H&H Fresh Fish provided local king salmon; and Happy Boy, Route 1, Live Earth, Everett, New Natives, Twin Girl, Rainbow Orchard, and Companion Bakeshop all came together to make this meal incredibly seasonal, fresh, and unique.

Along with the Equinox mimosas, breakfast began with heaping bowls of fresh fruit. Blueberries, strawberries, cantaloupe cubes, and raspberries were macerated in a splash of sparkling wine with whole vanilla beans and magnificently garnished with fresh lavender sprigs and bachelor button florets.

The feast continued as Nicki Zahm, Director of the Foodshed Project, made her way around the tables with a heavy wooden board piled high with salty-caramel sticky buns that were slathered with house-made raw honey butter.

Wood-fire roasted salmon filets were served with a pool of persillade—think pesto but with parsley instead of basil—on one side and a wild mushroom-tarragon reduction on the other. Perfectly poached eggs sat astride wilted collard greens, topped with a vibrant nasturtium and drizzled with Meyer lemon juice and flaxseed oil. And Koebel cut his house-cured bacon by hand so that no two pieces were alike.

From start to finish the breakfast was a parade of delectable dishes that looked as exquisite as they tasted. Some people might eat at box-restaurants because they know what to expect. It’s predictable and it’s uniform. A dish at a chain restaurant in one city should look exactly the same as the same dish at the same restaurant in another city. That’s the point, right? But people who eat food that is hand-cut, hand-rolled, and handmade expect and really relish variations. Food made by hand is strikingly irregular. Gorgeously asymmetrical.

Because the goal of the pop-up was not just to wine and dine guests with seasonal goods, towards the end of the breakfast Dhillon and Koebel spoke to the group about the benefits of local, fresh foods and urged people to make informed food choices. Then they opened up the floor for comments and moderated a round-table discussion about the event. Some people had never attended a pop-up event before, others were veterans. Some people frequented farmers’ markets weekly for their fruits and vegetables, many didn’t. I was surprised by the show of hands when that question was posed. Koebel wasn’t. He said that that was about par: only about a third of the group regularly shopped at their farmers’ market. But, he said, it begins with awareness and education.

In that vein, Local FATT gave t-shirts to the kids that attended. My boys were thrilled and immediately pulled the wheat grass-colored shirts over the ones they were already wearing. When we left the breakfast and headed to a school pool party, they continued to sport the shirts. I overheard them telling their classmates about their morning culinary adventure.

I know that my kids aren’t completely typical. We tour our CSA farm annually; we visit organic dairies; we procure meat from our friends who hunt; we shop at farmers’ markets regularly. But I was so proud when I asked my 10-year-old what the term ‘local food system’ meant to him and he answered with knowledge, passion, and intelligence. “Supporting local food systems means that we eat food that grows here...you know, in our own community. When you cook with local food—and other people like it—they’ll be more likely to buy it.” Well said. I think Dhillon and Koebel would be proud, too.

Peach Party {Edible Monterey Bay BLOGPOST}

Santa Cruz’ FoodShed Project returns this week with a “Peach Partay” featuring ice cream making and peach grilling with The Penny Ice creamery, peaches and fruit tree lore from Frog Hollow and an educational stone fruit adventure with Food What?!

Click here to view this post on the Edible Monterey Blog.
Photos courtesy of FoodShed Project

Peach Partay: This Wednesday, Aug. 1 from 3-5pm, Downtown Farmers’ Market

Recent years have seen farmers’ markets blossom from just fruit and vegetable stands to weekly street fairs where those same local, organic farmers’ displays are now punctuated with arts, crafts, and food trucks. People don’t just go to farmers’ markets to pick up produce for their meals; people go to farmers’ markets to support local growers, shop, eat al fresco, and meet with friends. For many, a trip to the farmers’ market is a scheduled outing. It’s a weekly party. And, now, marketplaces are taking on another role—education and outreach.

This summer, the Santa Cruz Community Farmers’ Market (SCCFM) kicked off the FoodShed Project that focuses on the connections between farmers, food artisans, and the community inside our local foodshed. All of the FoodShed Project events are free and hosted at the Downtown Santa Cruz Community Farmers’ Market except the special September event – La Comida Del Pueblo de Watsonville – which will be at the Watsonville Farmers’ Market. A foodshed can be defined in a variety of ways. But, most simply, it includes where a food is produced and where a food is consumed and everything in between – the land on which it grows, the route it travels to get to market shelves, the tables on which it’s served, how it’s being prepared and presented, and the waste that is produced.

From its inception in 1990, the SCCFM has had the goal of providing educational programs within the community. With a grant funded by the United States Department of Agriculture under the Farmers’ Market Promotion Program, and in a partnership with the Ecological Farming Association, the FoodShed Project’s series is bringing that plan to fruition.

The FoodShed Project’s monthly events shine the spotlight on seasonal food items, showcasing them with tastings, talks, music, cooking demonstrations, and activities for the entire family. Youth from Food, What?! have been hired to lead educational scavenger hunts and lend helping hands during the mini cooking classes and demonstrations at each event. The FoodShed Project hopes to grow their partnership with Food, What?!— and nurture the local agriculture industry—by funneling young, food‐justice leaders into local agriculture‐related jobs in the coming years.

The FoodShed Project series kicked off in June with their Strawberry Bonanza and continues through October on the first Wednesday of each month.

Nicki Zahm, Foodshed Project Director, recounts how eighty or so people sat, two or three on a hay bale, eyes glued to the preparation of strawberry shortcake guided by Erin Lampel of Companion Bakeshop. Then Sandy Brown from Swanton Berry Farm took over the show, fielding questions about labor, pesticide use, and ecological practices in strawberry growing. After the presentation, the crowd dispersed and the Food, What?! youth leaders led market goers on an informative strawberry scavenger hunt, answering the questions posed on the posters located at various farmers’ market stands. “What do farmworkers call strawberries and why?” read one poster.

Throughout the Strawberry Bonanza, kids and adults alike visited the arts and crafts table and danced to the local bluegrass band Moonshine Jubilee. As the event neared its end Zahm came across her five‐and‐a‐half‐year‐old nephew, a spider man mask painted over his eyes. She asked him, "What did you learn about strawberries?" He folded his small body over at the waist, mimicking the action of picking berries, "Farmworkers call strawberries 'la fruta del diablo' because they work long days and have to bend over like this when they are picking."

The second FoodShed event, Livestock Lowdown, revealed some interesting food shed facts to market goers: chickens raised in feedlots have so little room they have to take turns laying down; pasture‐raised livestock is higher in vitamin E, beta‐carotene, vitamin C, and omega‐3 fatty acids; green pasture draws greenhouse gases out of the air and stores them in the soil where it increases soil fertility benefiting the environment. Local butcher Chris LaVeque of El Salchichero and Chef Brad Briske treated the crowd to a barbeque demonstration and tasting.

The FoodShed Project’s August event – Peach Partay – is this week. Wednesday, August 1, from 3‐5pm, at the Downtown Santa Cruz Community Farmers’ Market. Don’t miss the opportunity to celebrate peaches, those voluptuous, luscious gems whose flavors just scream “summertime!” Make ice cream and learn peach grilling skills from Kendra of Penny Ice Creamery. Listen to a guest from legendary Frog Hollow talk about fruit tree care and history. And follow Food, What?! on an educational stone fruit hunt. I’ll be there, picking up peaches, learning from experts, tasting delectable treats, and supporting local growers. I hope you’ll join me.