The Farmers Market Box

It is the long hours of tireless work dedicated to each crop and each square foot of farm land, the impeccably beautiful food harvested for us day after day, week after week, the limited return for such work, the simple truth that farming is essential to our lives yet in a 21st century world technology is king. It is the amazement in my eyes that I can witness such an event as the farmers market unravel before my eyes – the summer months bringing hundreds of people to snatch a basket of figs, hold the perfect heirloom tomato or tear through ears of white corn, plucking what they deem is the best at the market right now. It is the idealism that the market represents and upholds, truth in food, in its honest and purest form. The food represents life and sustains livelihood. It is that which is most humbling. Humility is the essential ingredient to remember when you are making your next farmers market strawberry sorbet or pineapple heirloom tomato salad or piling fresh picked blueberries into a summer pie. It is the secret ingredient that reigns supreme and makes everything taste a little bit better for it.

The market was fast, hot, ripe and brimming with summer. Pudwill Farms stood out with its array of berries, currants, wild strawberries and figs – dozens of flats stacked high waiting for their new homes. Melons were everywhere I turned. I could have sampled my way through the market on different melon varieties alone (and I did!)…McGrath Farms proudly showcased their first harvest of cranberry beans while Maryann and her son Mark at Coastal Organics were the champions of heirloom tomatoes, selling a dizzying number of gorgeous varieties from cherry-sized to full one pounders. Their squashes may still be on the vine but tomatoes were beyond prolific and delicious. On the prowl for some sweet and mild pepper varieties, I found pimentos, lipsticks, hungarians and PADRONS!! The citrus was fading into the background while stone fruits were stealing the show. You could not walk 15 feet without seeing, smelling or tasting a peach, nectarine or a plum.
Yes, the farmers market was almost overwhelming to all of the senses. And as nothing is ever always as it appears, everything had to be touched and tasted, narrowing the field down to the tastebuds’ final thoughts. Decisions became more clear after a few rounds and dozens of fruit later. Below, I believe is the best of the best, coming from the proud farmers and their fertile soil that enriched crops that are worthy of grand display and the grandest of feasts. These farms are steeped in tradition and creation, balancing burden and skill with craft and ingenuity to stay ahead of the agricultural curve. The results do not demand respect, they command it.

GOING LOCAL~ Specialty Produce has been at the forefront of supporting local, sustainable and organic California farmers.  Its decades of business has thrived upon the bounty of produce provided by the small, medium and larger farms of our prolific producing state.  We are paying that forward with the addition of several new local farms in …

© 2007 Melissa Mayer RED WHITE AND BLUE July 4, 1776: “…We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish …

99 percent of the U.S. corn crop is actually maize (or field corn), not the sweet corn that we are accustomed to. Of the annual production of corn produced, 333 billion pounds of it is dedicated to feed corn. 179 billion pounds are diverted (and government mandated) to ethanol. 28 billion pounds are dedicated to high fructose corn syrup, while only 11 billion pounds end up in our cereals.
Commodity speculation and fuel costs have driven up prices. The world relies far too heavily on far too few crops (supply v. demand). Farm subsidies are given to big business farmers while the poor farmers, especially in developing nations struggle daily, never seeing a subsidy for their crops. Countries have began hoarding in fear of shortages while also attempting to combat food prices which effectually spikes future prices. Those countries so dependent on imports who have insufficient or infertile land conditions are generally the poorest countries who are unable to develop proper farming infrastructure.
What does this all mean? We need a 21st century solution to a growing problem of supply and demand, imbalance in farm subsidies and imbalance of trade. Food diversification, farming incentives, smarter globally-minded policies and a clear understanding that communities can feed communities are some practices that could lead to a solution. We are on the edge, either on the brink or at a turning point in the global food landscape. We can choose to ignore the realities or we can choose to be a part of the solution.