EDIBLE NOTABLES

EDIBLE NOTABLES AJ’S MARKET

Natural foods and everything else where you’d least expect it

BY LAURA SUTHERLAND PHOTOGRAPHY BY GENEVA RICO

Every time I go into AJ’s, I feel like I’m in one of those gags where a VW bug pulls up and 24 clowns get out. They just keep coming and coming and you can’t figure out how they all fit in one tiny car. At AJ’s in Soquel, it’s impossible to figure out how they pack so many gourmet goodies and carefully selected basics into such a small market. There’s also a butcher counter where you can order halal meat and Stagnaro’s fresh fish, or buy shawarmas, gyros and other fare to take away or consume in AJ’s glassed-in patio. Out front is a gas station and a drive-through car wash that wraps around the market and finishes next to the outside organic produce cooler. It adds up to the most unusual one-stop shop ever. It’s not like it feels crowded, either. Order your fish sandwich or hand-patted burger and cruise the aisles while you wait. It’s a living museum of cool food that will set you up for any occasion. Going to a BBQ? Grab a marinated halal chicken. Meeting your new boyfriend’s family? Snag a trendy Italian pét nat wine to impress them.

Need a last-minute birthday gift? Load up on items that people will think you nabbed from the hippest online purveyors, like Burnt Sacrifice’s Northwest Salmon BBQ Rub or Tiberino’s squid-ink-dyed Black Spaghetti with Capers and Paprika. The market’s origin story has serendipitous twists and turns, all fueled by hard work, human kindness and originality. When Akhtar Javed was a young man in Pakistan, he considered going to Dubai as a welder, but discovered he hated welding. Family connections in Denmark and the U.S. created possibilities in both places, but when he happened upon a child’s Viewfinder toy and saw a 3-D picture of the Golden Gate Bridge, he honed in on the U.S., landing in Sedona, Ariz., where he worked as a helper in a mechanics shop. One day his boss asked him to drive two women whose RV had broken down to their KOA campground and as they chatted in the AJ and his wife Ellianna car, they encouraged him to visit them in Santa Cruz. Fast forward a converted a rundown gas station couple of years—AJ leaves his job, drives through the night and stays into a singular local treasure. on their couch for a few days.

The market’s origin story has serendipitous twists and turns, all fueled by hard work, human kindness and originality.

After several years of working at Seagate and Harmony Foods, he realized he wanted to own his own business, and in 1987 purchased a rundown gas station with a U-Haul rental and a mechanic shop at the corner of Park Avenue and Soquel Drive in Soquel.

“AJ has always been a visionary,” notes his wife Ellianna. “He immediately eliminated the U-Haul rental and replaced the mechanics shop with a convenience store. At the time, gas stations had a few shelves with chips, candy and gum, and his was the first that was bigger. He also did thoughtful things, like adding a taller fence so the gas station lights would not bother the neighbors.”

In 2009, AJ and Ellianna replaced the old building and added the water-recycling car wash. “When we reopened, we still had convenience store food—milk, sodas, canned foods and a banana or two. But I wanted to feed my young family healthy food, so I convinced AJ that we needed more natural foods, and we started adding them step by step, eventually putting fresh produce displays out front.

“People who want to copy what we’ve done ask, ‘What is your template’ and we tell them, ‘There is no template, it’s just us.’ Because we had no experience, we made things up as we went along. Other people helped, like restaurant manager Thayr Loufti, who was known regionally for his Middle Eastern restaurants, but having no preconceived ideas of how to run a grocery store allowed us to think creatively.

“Early on I told AJ, ‘Let’s bring in a few things from your part of the world. There are no spice markets in Santa Cruz,’” says Ellianna.

Today there’s a tall South Asian spice shelf with everything you’d need for the most authentic curry, including mysterious chutneys and pickles. In another aisle are bindis, henna and incense. Like I said, it’s one-stop shopping—even for an exotic wedding where the bride needs henna designs drawn on her hands.

A quick word to the wise—before you explore AJ’s, don’t get into a food coma from first eating, say, a breakfast burrito with housemade chicken mango sausage or a Philly cheesesteak. You want to be sharp so you don’t miss the artichoke bread from Pescadero’s Arcangeli Grocery, the German grass-fed butter or the Canadian maple syrup that Ellianna loved on a trip to Quebec and imported to the store. The Marianne’s Ice Cream racks have more flavors (40+) than any place other than Marianne’s own ice cream shops.

That’s another strength. “We love local products,” says Ellianna, “like strawberries from Corralitos’ Sea Level Farm. They’re not large enough to supply the chain stores but are perfect for us, and I think they’re the best strawberries anywhere. We have unique buying options because we’re small. That, and another key to our success is our staff—we give them free reign.”

Take Leif Johnson, responsible for AJ’s mind-blowing selection of beer and wine. I counted 150 different beers on the shelf, most of them from small breweries with big reputations throughout the U.S. and Europe. And that’s not even counting the cooler, where you’ll find all kinds of fresh local award winners, like Sante Adairius and Alvarado Street.

Wines from Santa Cruz and Monterey counties have a three-sided, floor-to-ceiling display…and that’s just scratching the surface. “We focus on California wines but have plenty of smaller producers from Europe and around the world,” Johnson points out.

When I asked for a lesser-known local gem, he recommended the chardonnay from Soquel’s Assiduous Wines, so I added it to my cart along with some fresh baklava. Heading into the car wash, I sat back and sampled the buttery, nutty treats while the water jets massaged my car. Thanks to AJ’s, everything I needed for a planet-spanning dinner was in the backseat…except for the dessert, which was now just crumbs in my lap.

From deli sandwiches to exotic spices and everything in between, AJ’s Market breaks the mold.

AJ’s Market ajsmarket.com 5955 Soquel Drive, Soquel

Santa Cruz-based writer Laura Sutherland covers culinary, craft beer, wine and family travel for numerous publications and websites. A packing light fanatic, she always keeps a pen and a fork (and a mini roll of duct tape) handy wherever she wanders. LauraSutherland.net, @WanderandTaste, @TalkBubblytoMe

EDIBLE NOTABLES THE GREAT ESCAPE

Vintner Robin McBride shares childhood memories of Monterey, Black Girl Magic and other pivotal moments behind McBride Sisters—the wine company she and sister Andréa built from their bond and determination.

STORY AND ILLUSTRATIONS BY JASMINE SENAVERATNA

Long before she and her sister launched a national wine company, Robin McBride’s interest in wine was sparked at a young age—in Monterey.

“As a little kid, I tried to make wine under my bed,” she says with a laugh. “I learned wine was made from grapes, and grapes were made into grape juice and fermented. And I felt I could do that for sure. I had baby bottles from my dolls and would take Welch’s grape juice and put it in these bottles. And I’d put them in a cool dark place, under my bed and wait for them to turn into wine…until my mom discovered it, and asked, ‘What is this stuff cooking under your bed?’ I said, ‘Hey! Leave my wine cellar alone, I’m making wine over here.’ And she said, ‘Okay, girl, do you, I guess. Just don’t make a mess on the floor.’”

Now grown up with kids of her own and living in Oakland, Robin is planning a nostalgic birthday trip around Monterey this fall for her 17-year-old twins. Stops include the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Red’s Donuts, a childhood favorite.

Robin talked with us about growing up in Monterey, her more serious beginnings in wine and the business she and her sister Andréa launched 16 years ago.

Walk us through your early memories of Monterey.

My mom moved from Los Angeles with me before I was two years old. Way back in the ’70s, she was in a Volkswagen Bug, driving up Highway 1, and we stayed overnight in Pacific Grove, in a little bungalow on Lighthouse. Contemplating what was ahead for her, she decided to stay an extra day, took a look around…and ultimately decided Old Monterey was it. This was our spot. We lived in one house until I was 13, and then moved across the street. She’s been in that place for 30 years.

What was childhood like in 1970s monterey?

It was just me and her. It was kind of unique, because in the ‘70s, when I was a little girl, there was a lot of freedom. I spent a lot of my childhood out in that neighborhood, in little forests and streams, being in my head, so I was kind of a weird kid.

I went to all the schools in Monterey; I was a smart kid, I skipped grades…everything was just awkward. I tested out [of high school] when I was 15, and I loved science, so I went to MPC. I ended up working [one summer] when I was 16 at a company still there called Sierra Instruments. I would spend all day talking with the engineers, just learning about anything that piqued my interest.

My first career goal when I was five was to be a flower farmer—Monterey being very heavily rooted in agriculture, fishing,

Robin McBride (left) and her sister Andréa were raised on different continents but bonded over wine.

hospitality, restaurants, tourism and wine. I’ve always had this fascination with the process of growing things, making things, feeding people and the experience.

While I was geeking out being this manufacturing nerd, I started my own journey as a wine drinker, learning more about wine.

It wasn’t until early adulthood that you learned you had a younger half-sister who had been raised in New Zealand. What was that like? Andréa and I met, and then I understood where she comes from is very similar [to Monterey]. She had a similar experience being in New Zealand’s agriculture and wine country. And we were like, “That’s crazy!”

You unite, you have this wine connection. Is there an aha moment?

Andréa was going to USC. Monterey to L.A. is a bit of a haul, so we met in the middle. We ended up picking places in wine country. We were getting to know each other and learning about our pasts with this whole backdrop of wine. It became important to us and an important part of our relationship.

Unfortunately, our experiences weren’t always the best—going to places and not getting served, taking forever to get someone’s attention or to get seated. We just wanted to talk about sister stuff and drink some wine. And we thought, what if a Black woman had a winery or if we had a winery?

Then there’s a defining moment. She’s an athlete and a junior in college, gets an injury and she’s out. At the time I just had the twins and there was no way to go back to corporate America. It’s not a natural

place for me; I like to be creative.

We’re looking at each other, [thinking] what are we going to do here?

However, when we started looking into winemaking, wine is a very expensive business. It takes a lot of capital and a lot of time and a lot of land and facilities—none of which we had, including the money.

So what are we gonna do about that? Andréa’s uncle is a grape grower in New Zealand and we thought maybe we could start bringing over some of these wines from the small family-owned wineries where she grew up. So we start introducing folks to these amazing wines at a time when New Zealand wines were becoming popular [circa 2005].

There’s a lot of trial and error, and we had those experiences and learned from them.

I am process driven; I love the growing side of things; the winemaking side; the processes down to our packaging, finished goods, inventories, moving it around the country—that’s where I naturally sit. My sister is obsessed with marketing and sales.

We are the siblings that each of us always wished we had. When we found each other, we were so honored to have each other. This respect for our relationship as sisters, above everything else, is such a big part of why our business works.

Grapes for the McBride Sisters’ new chardonnay and pinot noir come from the Santa Lucia Highlands.

How did Black Girl Magic wines evolve?

In 2018, New Orleans had selected the first Black woman mayor and we were invited to participate in the Essence Festival at the mayor’s opening party. We had never been to Essence Festival before. We love New Orleans, [and thought], this is amazing! We’re going to bottle some special stuff and call it Black Girl Magic as a celebration.

The Black Girl Magic brand was created to be celebratory for a specific event.

In early 2020, we made the decision to distribute Black Girl Magic wines across the country—[an off-dry riesling, a rosé and a red blend from California]. But distributors were not seeing the opportunity, understanding the community, the brand, who would buy it.

Then we have a social justice movement and a lot of national accounts met with demands for the product. We saw consumers having a voice and demanding access to Black-owned brands, [saying to retailers], “These are the products we want to see on shelves.”

We were already ready. This wine wasn’t made in response to what was going on; we already had it in creation. It’s one of a hundred times where we bet on ourselves.

What wines are you excited about right now?

We just launched our first two reserve wines, which are Santa Lucia Highlands wines, a chardonnay and a pinot noir.

Our chardonnay label depicts the story about my mom in her VW Bug, going from L.A. to Monterey. It’s called The Great Escape. It’s Big Sur, Bixby Bridge, California poppies, her Bug. It has her initials on the license plate, and the sign shows L.A. behind her and Monterey ahead.

The Great Escape is also our version of escaping traditional California chardonnay. Showcasing the place where the grapes are grown [Escolle Vineyard] and the environment, with beautiful acidity, bright citrus notes and cooler climate fruit, pear, apple and beautiful minerality. It tastes like to Monterey to me.

Jasmine Senaveratna is a food and wine enthusiast, restaurant service director, and freelance writer and illustrator. She is inspired by food as culture, experience and personal story. Find more of her work at jasminesenaveratna.com.

EDIBLE NOTABLES Going Green

Discover the roots of this year’s trendiest flavor

BY RAÚL NAVA PHOTOGRAPHY BY PATRICK TREGENZA

A green wave has splashed down on Monterey Bay. All around town, restaurants, coffee shops and bakeries are turning green with Japanese matcha.

Chefs, bakers and baristas are finding inventive ways to feature the bright green powder of pulverized tea leaves. Matcha lattes are now ubiquitous at hipster coffee shops. The health conscious incorporate antioxidantrich matcha into smoothies and tonics. Pastry chefs add matcha to their desserts to blend sweet and savory. Even bartenders are mixing matcha into their cocktails.

The booming popularity of matcha represents a dramatic change from 46 years ago when Mitsuko Gammon first moved to the U.S. from Japan.

“At that time, your only option for tea was Lipton,” she recalls, laughing. “It was very difficult to find very good tea, much less matcha. Every time I wanted to drink good tea, I had to ask my mom, ‘Would you send me some?’”

Gammon owns Cha-ya in Monterey and serves as a de facto ambassador for Japanese tea, its rich heritage and its expansive variety. She has seen firsthand the growing demand for matcha and other Japanese teas. “I sell so much matcha now,” she observes. “It’s changed so much in 16 years.”

Born and raised in Tokyo, Gammon opened Cha-ya in 2005 when she saw an opportunity to share her passion for Japanese culture with the community. “I couldn’t find good tea, and I thought people should know more about Japanese green tea,” she recalls. Specializing in Japanese gifts, antiques and teas, Cha-ya made its debut in Pacific Grove. In 2008, Gammon relocated the shop to its current address in downtown Monterey.

STEEPED IN TRADITION

Cultivation of green tea (Camellia sinensis) originated in China, but the lightly bittersweet brew has large cultural significance in Japan. After Buddhist monks brought tea seeds to the country in the ninth century, Japan’s tea culture blossomed. Gammon sources Cha-ya’s teas from two regions with deep ties to Japanese tea traditions—Shizuoka and Kyoto.

Shizuoka Prefecture is located on the Pacific coast of Honshu, about halfway between Osaka and Tokyo, in the shadow of Mount Fuji. Tea cultivation there dates back to 1241, and this region now produces about 40% of Japan’s green tea, thanks largely to nutrient-rich volcanic soils, exceptional water quality and favorable climate.

Kyoto—and its southern suburb, Uji—have a storied history in tea Mitsuko Gammon was born in cultivation and ceremony too. While Tokyo and shares her Japanese tea drinking dates back more than heritage at Cha-ya in Monterey. 1,000 years in Japan, it wasn’t until the 16th century that the concept of tea as ritual took root. Kyoto is widely viewed as the origin of Japanese tea ceremony, and the country’s oldest operating tea house is in Uji.

You won’t find Japan’s tea titans on the shelves at Cha-ya. Instead of big brands like Yamamotoyama, Ippodo and ITO EN, Gammon sources teas from small producers. She is a longtime client of Den’s Tea— based in Southern California, but grown in Shizuoka—and a friend connected her to Azuma Tea Farm, in Wazuka, about an hour’s drive from downtown Kyoto.

Brewing Basics

Mitsuko Gammon—owner of Cha-ya in downtown Monterey—shares some tips for making matcha at home.

Tools Matcha is best enjoyed in a chawan (茶碗) or tea bowl. Look for a bowl that’s deep and wide for whisking the matcha, but will fit nicely in your hands. A bamboo tea scoop called a chashaku (茶杓) is recommended for measuring your matcha, but isn’t essential. You’ll need a bamboo whisk, or chasen (茶筅), to blend the powder and water.

Matcha Premium- or ceremonial-grade matcha is recommended for sipping. Store your matcha in a sealed bag in the cupboard. (Refrigerating or freezing isn’t recommended, since the delicate powder can easily absorb other odors.) Most matcha will keep for about a year.

Brewing First, pour some hot water into your chawan to warm the vessel. In a separate bowl to the side, discard the hot water from the chawan and soak the chasen. Using the chashaku, measure about one or two large scoops (about one teaspoon) of matcha powder, to taste, and put it in the chawan. Pour about a half cup of hot water over it for brewing. Matcha is best enjoyed at a temperature of 185 to 190° F. With one hand, hold the chawan in place on a counter. With the other hand, use the chasen to whisk the matcha back and forth in a W pattern (not in a circular motion) until frothy. Sip, savor and enjoy.

Care Clean your chasen by running it under hot water (no soap). It’s best to clean the chasen as soon as possible so the fine prongs don’t get clogged or damaged. If you make matcha frequently, you’ll need to replace the chasen every six months.

Gammon likens her rapport with these multigenerational operations to the farm-to-table movement. “I’m getting the tea from the growers sent directly to me,” she says. She has visited both farms, citing the picturesque beauty of the rolling fields of bright green shrubs and pristine air.

MATCHA MAKER

Despite its celebrity, there’s still a lot of mystery behind matcha for many.

At Cha-ya, Gammon often finds herself clarifying the difference between green tea and matcha. “They come from the same plant, but they’re not the same thing,” she emphasizes. It boils down to leaves versus liquid. “With matcha, you’re drinking whole leaves. With loose tea, you’re drinking the liquids.”

For a month before harvest, farmers put bamboo shades over the tea bushes to shield the delicate leaves from the sun. Without the light, the leaves become more tender and rich in nutrients, like vitamin C and antioxidants. Leaves are harvested by hand, steamed, dried, then stone ground to make matcha. “A big bulk of leaves yields just a little bit of matcha powder,” says Gammon. “That’s the reason matcha is expensive.”

But the higher cost for matcha—exacerbated in recent months by rising shipping costs due to the pandemic—hasn’t deterred Gammon’s regulars. “I used to order once every six months, now it’s every two months,” she says. “Matcha is selling like crazy!”

Gammon curates a selection that speaks to the variety of Japanese green teas. Some are for everyday drinking, others are a bit more luxurious.

Classics like sencha and matcha are Gammon’s bestsellers. Genmaicha—green tea mixed with roasted rice—is another popular pick. “It’s less expensive, but very comforting,” she explains. Hōjicha sees the leaves roasted instead of steamed before drying—“When you brew, it doesn’t even look like green tea”—and the caramel-colored concoction is a lowcaffeine option to enjoy in the evening.

But Gammon’s personal favorite? Gyokuro, a higher-quality green tea that’s grown in the shade for a month before harvest, much like matcha. It’s a delicate tea best enjoyed at a lower temperature, which slowly opens the tea leaves as they steep. “It’s delicious.”

Green tea isn’t one size fits all. “Some customers come in and say, ‘Hmm, I don’t like green tea.’ I ask, ‘How do you make it?’” She cautions how steeping green tea too long makes the beverage bitingly bitter and how some varieties taste better at hotter (or colder) temperatures. There’s a bit of art and a bit of science to brewing the perfect cup.

Gammon welcomes the burgeoning matcha market and expanding interest in tea, acknowledging the powder’s health benefits. “Any way you can drink matcha is a good thing,” she says.

“I don’t say ‘You have to drink it only this way’ or ‘You cannot do it that way’—you have to have flexibility.” She equally embraces matcha served whisked in a traditional chawan bowl or enjoyed as a latte for the ’gram. “Life is too short to drink something you don’t like!”

Cha-ya chaya4tea.com 118 Webster St., Monterey

Raúl Nava (he/him/él) is a freelance writer covering dining and restaurants across the Central Coast. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @offthemenu831.

Tea Types

Ryokucha 緑茶 Literally translating to “green tea” in Japanese, this covers a suite of green tea variations

Sencha 煎茶 Japan’s most popular green tea has a refreshing bitterness and is lightly sweet

Shincha 新茶 Also known as “new tea,” this is the first harvest of sencha with young leaves bearing a fresh aroma and sweetness

Bancha 番茶 A lower-grade green tea harvested at the second flush, typically in summer or fall, with bolder flavor

Kabusecha 冠茶 Tea shielded from the sun under straw mats (typically for one week) during part of cultivation

Gyokuro 玉露 A highly prized green tea grown in shade for three to four weeks before the harvest and picked only once each year, resulting in a tea high in theanine and chlorophyll

Genmaicha 玄米茶 Bancha blended with genmai (roasted rice) and hana (popped rice), lending the tea a full, nutty flavor

Matcha 抹茶 A fine powder made from green tea plants grown in the shade for three to four weeks before the harvest, with stems and veins removed from the leaves before processing, that is sipped (not steeped) as a beverage

Ceremonial grade is ground by granite stone mills for use in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies and Buddhist temples

Premium grade is a high-grade matcha powder made from young green tea leaves

Culinary grade is a lower-grade matcha powder suitable for baking and cooking, and thus slightly more bitter than premium or ceremonial matcha

Hōjicha 焙じ茶 While most green tea leaves are processed by steam, this variation sees tea leaves roasted over charcoal before drying, giving the brewed tea a caramel color and toasty flavor

Kukicha 茎茶 Sometimes called “twig tea,” this is tea made from stems and stalks of the tea shrub (sencha and matcha are made from tea leaves exclusively)

EDIBLE NOTABLES SWEET ON SWEET POTATOES

The incredible bounty of fruits and vegetables at Sea to Sky Farm

BY LAURA NESS PHOTOGRAPHY BY COLINE LECONTE

The unmistakable green weediness of tomato plant wafted up as we waded through the yellow-flecked entanglement, plucking sweet cherry tomatoes from the vigorous vines in the early heat of the day, tucking them into buckets made from our t-shirts, just like we did as kids. We laughed as the bees buzzed around us, taking aim at the flowers, shaking like miniature yellow trumpets in the warm breeze. “We’ll have these babies for weeks!” exclaimed Chris Laughlin, owner of Sea to Sky Farm in Bonny Doon.

Adjacent to the unruly cherry tomatoes, neat rows of young cucumbers, melons (galia, Charentais, honey orange snow leopard, piel de sapo, dark belle, sweet favorite, mini loves and ambrosia), eggplant, squash and six kinds of chile pepper plants including Jimmy Nardello and lipstick, were making haste towards fruiting. In the hoop houses behind us, one variety of blueberry was wrapping up, while others were gearing up for another season, along with raspberries. Everywhere, bees buzzed, undaunted by our presence.

Laughlin is a fourth generation farmer, who grew up in the Central Valley where her family grows almonds. Choosing Humboldt State for college introduced her to coastal living and a new love—surfing. “I have lived by the ocean ever since,” she says. “My husband and both boys love to surf, too!”

After seeing firsthand the impact of ocean issues like plastic pollution, acidification, coral reef bleaching and red tide, she chose to work with Ocean Champions. “I was drawn to their mission, which was to create a political environment where protecting and restoring the oceans is a priority of federal and state governments,” says Laughlin, who worked for the Capitola-based organization for 11 years, side by side with Senator Barbara Boxer, a strong champion of ocean conservation.

While searching for the perfect coastal farming opportunity, Laughlin consulted for the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary FounChris Laughlin founded Sea to dation, helping launch fundraising Sky two years ago on land that efforts and programs. “The health was once part of Shumei Farm and Route 1 Farms. of our beautiful Monterey Bay is a huge part of why farming organically, sustainably and ecologically is so important to me,” she explains.

In 2018, after seven years of searching, she was able to secure the 24-acre Bonny Doon property that used to be Shumei Farm, followed the next year by the 19-acre Rancho del Oso property at Waddell Creek, formerly farmed by Jeff Larkey of Route 1 Farms. The first parcel is the sky and the second is the sea in Sea to Sky Farm.

In the center of the Bonny Doon property, like a giant cathedral, stands a redwood grove, a solid core of coolness, where the temperature dropped 20° the moment I stepped under its welcoming arbor. Here, she plans to hold lectures and yoga classes someday. She also has plans for an event center, complete with kitchen and overnight accommodations. Her dreams are even bigger than her smile.

Beyond the grove, greenhouses were literally brimming over with starts of four different kinds of basil, squash, herbs and flowers. Outside, a couple dozen avocado trees in buckets awaited transplant to their eventual home. Everywhere, evidence of the backbreaking work

of farming lay strewn about. Each broken pipe, hose, tool and bucket, each discarded plastic flat that once germinated seeds, all are part of the trash heap of history. What you won’t find here are pesticides or fertilizers; this is a strictly organic farm.

On the flank of the highest hill on the property, the Blenheim apricot trees were putting down deep roots, along with pineapple guava and citrus. Below us, rhubarb, a shade loving plant, was struggling to establish itself in the crippling sun. And almost everywhere else in the deep brown soil, the tri-cornered leaves of sweet potatoes were valiantly staking out their territory. It’s these tubers that have established Laughlin as an anchor at markets like Wild Roots, Shopper’s Corner, Staff of Life and New Leaf.

Laughlin, who lives in Santa Cruz with her husband and two young sons, is clearly in her element on the farm, surrounded by promise and possibility, but also, to be completely honest, surrounded by the reminders of loss. Evidence of the 2020 August CZU fire that destroyed beehives, crop, trees, a water tank and hoop houses, is visible from almost every angle of this farm on Bonny Doon Road.

“The fire came right up to the house there,” she says. Darn close. Her mom lives there. But for the stalwart and pioneering spirit of neighbors like Ryan Beauregard, who stayed behind to fight the fire and save his vineyards and livelihood when others evacuated, Laughlin’s dream of having an organic farm in this sacred spot might have gone up in smoke. Several ceremonial sites important to the local Ohlone are off limits to commercial production, including a mini Stonehenge of rock around a small firepit where an elder had recently burned tobacco. She’s talking with tribal leaders about planting white sage, elderberry and coffeeberry plants there for them to tend and harvest.

The drought has turned the pond into a melted chocolate fudgesicle, but it doesn’t stop Laughlin from fantasizing about a big wooden deck where people can sit and admire a water-blessed future. A lone dahlia perched precariously on its 12-inch stilt, and she plucked it, handing it to me, the treasure it was. “My first dahlia! I love flowers. Everyone loves flowers. I need to grow more!”

She already grows amazing sunflowers and a huge variety of other blooms, along with a year-round rotation that includes everything from gem lettuces, chicories, spinach, broccoli, kale and carrots to pumpkins like cinnamon girl, polar bear and racer. She is considering a u-pick for the kids. Want potatoes? She has German Butterball, purple fiesta fingerling, Austrian crescent fingerling, French fingerling, banana fingerling and Purple Peruvian, plus winter squash. A four-acre fruit orchard puts forth five kinds of apples (rubinstar, gala, gravenstein, pippin, McIntosh), avocados, citrus, guavas, summer peaches and plums, and red bartlett, Bosc and Comice pears. No wonder Sea to Sky is a darling at farmers’ markets all over the Bay Area. This fall don’t miss the colorful harvest of sweet potatoes—red garnet, orange Covington and purple murasaki—that has made her a staple in Santa Cruz County kitchens.

Here’s to the stuff sweet potato dreams are made of.

Sea to Sky produce is available at nine farmers’ markets, local supermarkets and through its CSA.

Laura Ness is a longtime wine journalist who contributes regularly to Edible Monterey Bay, Spirited, Los Gatos Magazine and the Wine Industry Network, sharing stories of the intriguing characters who inhabit the world of wine and food.

Creamy, Cheesy Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

Courtesy California Sweetpotatoes

This is a sweet twist on scalloped potatoes. The combination of orange- and yellow/white-fleshed sweet potatoes makes a pretty presentation. All in all, it’s impressive enough for special occasions—it would be great alongside Thanksgiving turkey—but easy enough for weeknights, paired with a simple chicken breast or chops. Or served as a vegetarian entrée with a crisp salad.

To make the recipe your own, try using different colored sweet potatoes, your favorite type of cheese, different herbs (or none at all), or by using broth instead of some of the cream.

1½ pounds orange-fl eshed sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼-inch thick slices 1½ pounds yellow/white-fl eshed sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into ¼-inch slices 2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese 2½ cups heavy cream 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped 1½ teaspoons salt 1½ teaspoons pepper 1 teaspoon dry mustard ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg ¼ teaspoon garlic powder ¼ teaspoon onion powder

Heat the oven to 400° F.

Oil a 9-by-13-inch baking pan or a 2½- to 3-quart casserole dish. Layer about half of the sweet potatoes in the prepared casserole dish, overlapping them and mixing the colors. Sprinkle about half of the cheese on top. Add the remaining potatoes and set aside. In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the cream, thyme, salt, pepper, dry mustard, nutmeg, garlic powder and onion powder and cook just until bubbles appear at the edges of the saucepan.

Pour the cream mixture over sweet potatoes. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese, cover loosely with foil and bake until the sweet potatoes are almost tender, about 45 minutes.

Uncover and continue baking until the sweet potatoes are tender and the top is browned, about 15 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serves 8–10.