With Spring in bloom, I’ve been receiving fresh inquiries about
the subject of a column written last year:
”
Good Morning! You mentioned in one of your articles about
Florence Trimbl sharing an organic produce delivery.
With Spring in bloom, I’ve been receiving fresh inquiries about the subject of a column written last year: “Good Morning! You mentioned in one of your articles about Florence Trimbl sharing an organic produce delivery. I was wondering if you could give me the contact information for the farm. I am interested in trying to get some more vegetables into my crew! I didn’t know Florence (I’m a new Gilroy person, only two years), but you painted a beautiful portrait of her in your column. I enjoy reading your columns. Keep up the good work. It takes guts to speak your mind … and to come up with new column ideas all the time! Thanks so much! Laura Glynn.”
It’s time to update what was once one of the healthiest secrets kept in Gilroy. Once a week, many Gilroyans drop whatever they are doing, and quietly make their way one by one to a stranger’s doorstep, where nestled in a shady area of the porch, a large stack of cardboard boxes awaits them, filled with lettuce, green onions, colored sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes, summer squash, carrots, Italian chard, beets, sunflowers, Japanese cucumbers, lemon thyme, or maybe the sweetest strawberries you’ve ever tasted. There are Gilroyans who split the cost of a box with a good neighbor, carefully dividing the dark heads of leafy greens and delicious baskets of tiny tomatoes the size of grapes that taste just as sweet. In joyful ritual, Gilroyans share purple Sicilian artichokes with each other, cardoons (cousin of the artichoke), and heirloom tomatoes, trying things they’ve never tried before, and sharing the recipes that come with their boxes.
Two small farms, High Ground Organics and Mariquita Farm (owned and operated by wife and husband team Julia Wiley and Andy Griffin with 20 years’ experience in organic farming) provide organic veggies to our area. Their very entertaining seasonal journal, ROOT, is online at: www.rootjournal.com and the CSA newsletter contains many seasonal recipes that match what comes in that week’s box. There are farm events and CSA news included as well. Anyone may be on this list. It’s especially popular with people living in the Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties.
For those new to the farm, there is a four-week trial membership offered. To find out if space is currently available, call (831) 761-3226. Get more information at ar*@*******ta.com and watch throughout the year for U-pick days, farm tours, and other member events. Saturday, May 31, is a U-Pick Strawberry Day at High Ground Organics for CSA members, August 23 there will be a Field Farm Dinner in Hollister, and September 13 is the tomato sauce U-Pick at Mariquita Farm in Hollister!
Studies show that eating organic food helps reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke and cancer. When I contemplate the fact that thousands of new chemicals have been introduced into our environment by the past 50 years’ of technological advances, I feel panic. But as they say, “Don’t panic, eat organic!”
This Memorial Day in Watsonville, there will be a farm dinner in the middle of the field at High Ground Organics. Joseph Manzare of Globe in San Francisco will prepare an elegant meal, featuring the produce of both farms. Josh Jensen of Calera Vineyards in Hollister will pour wines to match the courses. Owner Stephen will give a tour of his unique farm: half is in conservation and wild habitat rehabilitation, the other half is in organic farming, thanks to special easements that will keep the land that way in perpetuity. The beds of organic flowers and strawberries should be at their peak.
