Weekend Hippie: Sustainable and Simple Living

Santa Barbara Farmers: At The Saturday Market, part 2

Santa Barbara Farmers: At The Saturday Market

Meet Your Farmer: Five Loaves Farm, Santa Barbara

Five Loaves Farm, a three-acre non-profit farm tucked in the foothills of Santa Barbara, is a model community farm—producing organic food for distribution to families throughout Santa Barbara.

During my recent visit farm volunteers were tending to the crops and planting starters under the leadership of Emiko Corey, head farmer at Five Loaves Farm.  The farm uses organic and sustainable farming practices and grows fresh fruits and vegetables then distributes the produce to low-income families through Santa Barbara food distribution programs.

  

“Fresh produce is a necessary part of feeding our community, and should be available to all,” says Emiko Corey.  “Our intention is to grow excellent market quality produce for families who otherwise would only have access to lower quality food.”

Five Loaves Farm is funded by grant, church, and individual donations.  Food is distributed at no cost to the recipients. The success of Five Loaves Farm depends on community involvement and contributions — if you are interested in volunteering at the farm, please email Emiko, the Farm Manager, at emiko.corey@arocha.org or stop by the farm.

Five Loaves Farm Volunteer Mondays

• 6:00-7:00pm.
• 1001 Cieneguitas Road, Santa Barbara, 93110
• emiko.corey@arocha.org

 

Roots Organic Farm, Los Olivos, California

An Unrelenting Commitment to Fresh

Jacob Grant, organic farmer; Roots Organic Farm, Los Olivos

Featured Recipe: Rootsy Kale

Jacob Grant knows how to grow a sweet carrot. That’s why chefs, home cooks, and everyone in between call him direct or cluster around his stand at Farmers Markets, plucking produce from the tables, asking his advice on how to sauté Chidori kale, how to pair parsnips, or how he gets his carrots so sweet.

On the leased 25 acres Grant calls Roots Organic Farm, he plants what he likes, changing the variety based on what works best and what’s in season. A lifelong resident of Los Olivos, Grant apprenticed with Shu Takikawa, a well-known area organic farmer, taking what he learned from the expert to create a lifestyle and a cult of devotees all his own; he’s been farming by himself now for eight years.

What makes Grant famous in these parts is the quality of his product. “I make sure everything I put on my table has been picked that day, and I never sell leftovers,” he says. “Shu taught me how to grow with a higher standard of quality than others, and he left me with a lot of tricks on how to keep things fresh.” As for his legendary carrots, “They are just far superior in the fall and winter,” says Grant. “But you have to know when to pick them; that’s the secret.”

Excerpted from: Santa Barbara Independent

Photo by Paul Wellman

 

Shepherd Farms: Why Beans?

 

Santa Barbara Farm Stand: Jalama Road Family Farm Stand

Tucked among the windswept rolling hills of San Julian Valley, just past grazing cattle and the clapboard remnants of the Jalama Road schoolhouse sits Jalama Road Family Farm Stand, Santa Barbara’s newest farm stand. It’s not only a place to stock the larder with fresh veggies, baked delicacies and small batch canned goods, but it’s also your chance to meet new friends and support local farmers.

Read More at Santa Barbara View

For the stand's hours visit the Jalama Road Family Farm Stand Web site.

Santa Barbara Farm Stands: More Featured Farm Stands

Featured Farm Stands:

Fairview Gardens Produce Stand, Plow to Porch: Urban Farm Stand, Avalon Farms Farms Stand

Download Weekend Hippie's Guide to Santa Barbara Farm Stands 

View Santa Barbara Farm Stands in a larger map

Fairview Gardens

• Daily: 10a - 6p
  
• 598 North Fairview • Goleta
• (805) 967-7369

Known far and wide, Fairview Gardens Produce Stand has been a fixture in the Santa Barbara sustainable agriculture movement for over a decade. The self-service produce stand sits adjacent to Fairview Gardens' fields and the Center for Urban Agriculture.  Located on one of the oldest organic farms in California, the Center for Urban Agriculture at Fairview Gardens is an internationally-respected model for small-scale urban food production, agricultural preservation, farm-based education and community supported agriculture ( CSA ) for Santa Barbara and Goleta. Visit the farm stand and learn more at Fairview Gardens.

Plow to Porch Organics: Urban Farm Stand

• Tuesday - Friday: 10a - 5p
  
• Weekends: 12p - 5p
  
• 3204 State Street • Santa Barbara
• 805-895-7171

Pam Pleason's Plow to Porch Organics is an urban store-front farm stand: an extension of her CSA, and the only one like it in Santa Barbara. It's a great alternative when you can't make Farmer's Market. She brings together produce and provisions—granola and pies—from local growers. 

 

Avalon Farms Farm Stand

• Daily (but random): 10a - 5p
• 999 Veronica Springs Road • Santa Barbara
• 805-680-1218

Mark & Laurie Constable are the farmers (and owners) at Avalon Farms. The Farm Stand features what's fresh on any given day, and is a nice extension of their popular CSA (community supported agriculture) program. Bring cash, it's self-service. I brought home bags of blood oranges and some beautiful and yummy heirloom tomatoes. Visit them online at: SB Veggies

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Santa Barbara Farm Stands: Now Open

Featured Farm Stands:

Shepherd Farms and Ellwood Canyon Co-op Farm Stand

Just in time to take advantage of a truckload of summer fruits and veggies, Santa Barbara Farm Stands are open, packed full with a variety of fruits and veggies, affordable and a convenient alternative to Farmers Market.

View Santa Barbara Farm Stands in a larger map

Download Weekend Hippie's Guide to Farm Stands

Shepherd Farms

Visit Tom Shepherd's organic fields when you stop by his his just opened Farm Stand. The  stand features Shepherds' Greens—everyone's favorite—carrots, ultra sweet strawberries, and other seasonal fruit and vegetables. Plus once there, you'll have a chance to see his organic farm. 

 

     Shepherd Farms' Stand

• Monday, Wednesday, Saturday
• 11 AM - 3 PM
• 6701 Casitas Pass Road • Carpinteria

Tom has been a leader in the local food movement since the early 1970s, ensuring we move away from industrialized food production towards sustainable agriculture. Located on Highway 192 at the base of Shepherd Mesa, his forty acre farm sits on the richest alluvial soil in Carpinteria Valley. The mild climate is perfect for tender salad greens, sweet strawberries, root vegetables, and all row crops. Shepherd Farms also has avocado and persimmon orchards and a greenhouse for winter tomatoes and peppers.  

Ellwood Canyon Cooperative Farm Stand

Newly opened, and stock full of great produce, the Ellwood Canyon Cooperative Farm Stand. features produce from Ellwood Canyon Farms, Ebby’s Organic Farm, and Out of Step Farms.  The three farmers grow on a common property, so the farm stand collaboration makes sense.

 

     Ellwood Canyon Farm Stand

• Saturdays and Sundays
  
• 10 AM - 5 PM
• Langlo Road (end of road)  • Goleta

The farm stand is self-service, so bring small bills, pay for what you take, and enjoy. The prices are right and the veggies fresh, so it's worth the drive if you live in Santa Barbara. 

Meet Your Farmer: The History of Organic Farming

A just released oral history collection gives you the opportunity to hear stories about the history of organic farming in Santa Cruz, California. The new collection includes stories from  fifty-eight farmers, activists, researchers, and educators spanning from the early 1960s through today.

The High Line: New York City's Urban Renewal Project: On Its First Anniversary

 

The High Line, one of New York City’s newest and most unique parks, is in full bloom this spring as the park readies itself for its first anniversary on June 9.  The park blends wild, flowering plants and trees with sundecks, viewing platforms of the Hudson River and the city skyline, an amazing water feature, and a traffic-viewing theater all housed on an elevated trail that winds its way through three of New York’s most vibrant neighborhoods.

Rooftop Garden and Farm Tour: Brooklyn and New York City

Creative and forward-thinking New Yorkers have found a way to go locavore with innovative solutions. Ben Flanner and Annie Novak—-along with the chefs at places like ABC Kitchen and Soho's Crosby Street Hotel—are leading the way in a new kind of urban locavorism: rooftop farms and gardens. Flanner and Novak have transformed an old, unoccupied bagel factory in a corner of Brooklyn (Greenpoint neighborhood) into a rooftop farm complete with honey bees and chickens.

Farmers Market: Eat Local, Support Farmers

Buy local, and support your farmers.

Wow! What a season! The fruits and vegetables and culinary arts now available at farmers markets are the best of the year. The late summer meets the early fall, and the rewards are many! 

Shopping at a farmers market is the easy way to eat locally. The food source is known to you, in fact, the farmer is right at the stand, so ask any questions you need to about how something is grown, what's in season, and even how to prepare fruit and vegetables that are new to you. 

In Santa Barbara, eight farmers markets spread from end-to-end of town and happening on varies days of the week, make it easy to eat locally and healthy. Plus, you get to support local farmers while doing it.  Like many farmers markets, Santa Barbara's markets have grown quickly to now include almost everything you need to make a healthy meal for your family, while contributing to the local economy...including meat, eggs, fish, bread, pasta, vegetables, jam, olive oil, and fruit.

Find a Farmers Market Near You

Find a Santa Barbara Market Near You

New finds from Santa Barbara's Saturday market:

Organic Italian Eggplant

Fresh Pasta from Solvang Pie Company