Edible Monterey Bay - Winter 2023

edible MONTEREY BAY

Winter 2023 • Number 50

DATES • QOUIGN CHOCOLATE • HOLIDAY PEARS • KERNZA BEER • DIVE BARS • DEEP MEDICINE CIRCLE • PERMACULTURE • TINNED FISH

Celebrating the Local Food and Drink of Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Benito Counties

WINTER 2023 • NO 50

DATES • QOUIGN CHOCOLATE • HOLIDAY PEARS • KERNZA BEER DIVE BARS • DEEP MEDICINE CIRCLE • PERMACULTURE • TINNED FISH Member of Edible Communities

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Contents 4

GRIST FOR THE MILL

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EDIBLE NOTABLES

Qouign: Creative flavor combos reign in Santana Rodriguez’s chocolates and pastries; Dive Bars: In praise of an endangered species 14

LOCAL FOODS IN SEASON

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COOKING WITH THE SEASONS

A complete guide for the Monterey Bay area

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IN THE KITCHEN

PEAR PARTY

EDIBLE D.I.Y.

ORCHARD DREAMS

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DINE LOCAL GUIDE

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LAST CALL

BREWING SUSTAINABILITY Peter B’s Brewpub brings a new climate-friendly grain to the Monterey Bay

RECIPES IN THIS ISSUE 18

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FOODSHED

WINTER FARMERS MARKETS

BUILDING UTOPIA

For an intimate exchange with nature, take to the forest or plant your own

SECOYA

Head chef Diana Phipps’ upscale menu is anchored by local ingredients and the bold flavors of her Australian upbringing

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HOT DATES

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EDIBLE SUSTAINABILITY

Santa Cruz Permaculture provides hands-on solutions for a more sustainable food system and planet

WHAT’S IN SEASON

This ancient, versatile fruit comes in a variety of flavors and textures suited to both sweet and savory preparations

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Date Dadus Winter Green Salad With Roasted Butternut Squash and Pomegranate Vinaigrette Halibut With Brown Butter Pickle Sauce Pears in Spiced Red Wine Pears in Brandy Syrup Pears in White Wine With Saffron Bucatini With Sardines & Caramelized Fennel Green Anchovy Butter

Forget the partridge, but amp up holiday meals with these jewels

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ON THE FARM

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Visionaries Rupa Marya and Ben Fahrer farm major solutions, from the ground up

COVER PHOTOGRAPH Patrick Tregenza

EDIBLE PRESERVATION

CONTENTS PHOTOGRAPH Mark C. Anderson

DEEP ILLS, DEEP MEDICINE

YES, WE CAN

Tinned seafood has captivated social media; does it deserve a place in your pantry?

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DOWNTOWN DINING IN THE HEART OF MONTEREY

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PETER B’S BREWPUB

California Cuisine

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GRIST FOR THE MILL The annual get together of Edible publishers took place in Santa Fe in early November, coinciding with our deadlines for this issue and the Big Sur Food & Wine Festival.

I seriously considered skipping the meetings this year, but I’m so glad I went.

Not only did I have a chance to compare notes with other Edible publishers from throughout the continent, and meet iconic speakers like former Food & Wine editor Dana Cowin and Rancho Gordo bean genius Steve Sando—there were prizes, too!

After the sessions there is an awards ceremony—our campy version of the Oscars—and Edible Monterey Bay was one of three finalists for Best Profile and Best Profile Photography for the wonderful story about Moss Landing farmer Ronald Donkervoort, An Adventurous Life, written by Emily Beggs and photographed by Doriana Hammond. We were also a finalist in the category of Best Digital Program for our weekly e-newsletters. But alas, the awards went to other publications. There are some 80 edible publications, after all, and being a finalist is quite an honor.

Then something extraordinary happened. A brand new award category was announced, Publication of the Year. Edible Communities co-founder and CEO Tracey Ryder said the honor was going to a publication “that was exemplary in its efforts to connect with the community, their pursuit of their passion to share the compelling stories of their region and to growing their engagement with their readers and community partners.”

I was absolutely stunned when Edible Monterey Bay was called out as the 2023 Publication of the Year! I barely remember what I said when I went up to thank Tracey and stammer something about what a great team we have—which is totally true.

What I do remember is a feeling of elation. There is absolutely nothing comparable to being recognized by your peers and appreciated for all the hard work that goes into every issue of this magazine.

I’ll admit we have a huge advantage here in the Monterey Bay area, with delicious, healthy foods being produced everywhere you turn, interesting characters to write about, some of the best scenery in country and a deep pool of talented journalists and photographers. But what a spectacular way to cap an excellent year for Edible Monterey Bay. Much appreciation goes to our advertising partners for believing in us and supporting our work, and many thanks to all our contributors. This award is yours!

Happy holidays,

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

Deborah Luhrman deborah@ediblemontereybay.com 831.600.8281 FOUNDERS Sarah Wood and Rob Fisher CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Mark C. Anderson ASSOCIATE EDITOR Laurel Miller COPY EDITOR Doresa Banning LAYOUT & DESIGN Matthew Freeman and

Tina Bossy-Freeman AD PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Tracy Smith AD DESIGNERS Bigfish Smallpond Design Coline LeConte • tracysmithstudio Zephyr Pfotenhauer CONTRIBUTORS

Jeff Bareilles • Analuisa Béjar • Liz Birnbaum/The Curated Feast • Jamie Collins • Margaux Gibbons Ashley Drew Owen • Geneva Rico • Nadine Schaeffer • Jillian Steinberger-Foster • Patrick Tregenza • Michael Troutman • Amber Turpin ADVERTISING SALES

ads@ediblemontereybay.com • 831.600.8281 Shelby Lambert shelby@ediblemontereybay.com Kate Robbins kate@ediblemontereybay.com Aga Simpson aga@ediblemontereybay.com Fran Fitzharris fran@fitzharris.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Mick Freeman • 831.419.2975 CONTACT US:

Edible Monterey Bay P.O. Box 487 Santa Cruz, CA 95061 ediblemontereybay.com 831.600.8281 info@ediblemontereybay.com Edible Monterey Bay is published quarterly. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be used without written permission of the publisher. Subscriptions are $28 per year at ediblemontereybay.com. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please accept our apologies and notify us. We also welcome letters to the above address. Thank you.

Printed with soy ink on recycled paper

Deborah Luhrman Publisher

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DAVE’S Pacific Wild Caught

G OU

Santa Cruz

RMET ALBACORE

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EDIBLE NOTABLES

KILLER QOUIGN

Creative flavor combos reign in Santana Rodriguez’s chocolates and pastries STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK C. ANDERSON

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here are layers to the name Qouign (pronounced “queen”), much like there are layers to its flavors.

On one hand, it’s a nod to the uncommon laminated cake known as kouign or kouign-amann, what Qouign creator Santana Rodriguez calls, “the most flaky, buttery, decadent, pastry pastry there is.”

“Not a lot of people know it and it’s fun to explain, which fits into my vision of what I want the company to be,” says Rodriguez, a native of Soledad. “We’re going to research any and all desserts, chocolates and flavors, to learn as much as we

can and put that knowledge out there as much as possible.”

Qouign also refers to Rodriguez’s claim to the dessert throne.

“Maybe it’s because I’m a small, bubbly woman in a maledriven industry, but it was hard to prove to people that I belong here and I’m serious about my career,” she says. “I also want to tell those who are going to join me, ‘We’re going to build you, you queens, into someone to be taken seriously.’”

Rodriquez started her small-batch artisanal chocolate and pastry company three years ago, and sells mostly at the Salinas Farmers Market, but also online and by direct order.

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“As a baker, I’ve already messed up everything every single way, so I know there’s always a way to come back from it.”

“Chocolate embodies what I want to do,” she says. “Emphasizing where it comes from, its history, its beauty, all it can be, in all its intricate aspects—it’s not just a pretty thing to look at, but super versatile and super delicious.”

Intentions and branding, however, count little if the product isn’t popping. Fortunately, Rodriguez crafts flavor grenades that blow mouth and mind.

At the Big Sur Food & Wine Festival last year—amid a fury of enterprising chefs and sparkly stimuli—Rodriguez’s chocolates stood out, particularly truffles such as amaretto and almond; candy cap mushroom and rum; and caramelized white chocolate and honey.

“People tend to play it safe with chocolates,” she said after the 2022 event. “I like to

Santana Rodriguez treats candy molds “like a canvas” and works with flavor and color to craft creations like her “old fashioned” (below left), formed to resemble a fire pit. “I feel like food can have a personality,” she says.

take eccentric flavors and introduce people to what they wouldn’t normally taste.”

The BSFW truffles proved so popular 1) a festival-goer started stuffing truffles in her purse; and 2) Rodriguez exported some flavor combos to her weekly farmers market appearance in Salinas (9am−2pm Saturdays), where she also sells baked goods like heirloom purple corn cookies, croissants with cream-cheese frosting and her mom’s favorite, a hazelnut honey pie with a drizzle of caramel and dark chocolate.

Her path to entrepreneurship included some notable kitchens in the confection world, locally and beyond.

After starting at Spanish Bay, she worked with pastry savants Ben Spungin and Cal Stamenov at Bernardus Lodge (and, later, Alta Bakery), Ron Mendoza at Ad Astra Bread Co., Bert Cutino at The Sardine Factory, Bouchon (one of chef Thomas Keller’s restaurants in Napa Valley) and Antonio Bachour in New York City.

Stamenov flags some Rodriguez qualities that aid her game. “Her positive attitude is number one,” he says.

“She has a lot of energy, and has always shown a lot of growth, and a willingness to take chances.”

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One such chance was launching her business mid-pandemic, with characteristic fearlessness. “As a baker, I’ve already messed up everything every single way, so I know there’s always a way to come back from it,” she says. “If I get lost, it’s just a detour.”

Spungin sees that. “Resilient is a great word for her,” he says.

“She won’t stop.”

Another good word for Rodriguez: grateful.

“Luck is my best friend,” she says. “I know success doesn’t come easy for a lot of people, but I feel like as long as I know it’s something I want to do, and my heart is in the right place, nothing can go wrong.”

At her shared commissary kitchen in Moss Landing, Rodriguez works on seasonal experiments like a bourbon-peach-brown sugarpecan truffle. She wows with harmonies of textures and taste like hazelnut-butter gianduja, a dark chocolate-cherry, a Caribbeanstyle Guanaja 70% chocolate and a bourbon number that evokes a smoky Manhattan.

Selective sourcing helps: Rodriguez procures products from Valrhona chocolate, King Arthur Baking Co. flour, Amen Bee honey and fellow farmers market vendors in order to prioritize direct relationships and sustainability.

Technique is also key. In her kitchen, Rodriguez combines science, art and appetite. She monitors proper sugar crystal temperatures while “spray painting” colorful cocoa butter flourishes.

She does that while meditating on a recent Bourbon Trail trip to Kentucky and ways to involve prospective partner Maker’s Mark in her alchemy.

“There’s a true reason to pay attention to the process,” she says.

“It’s not, ‘We got lucky this time.’”

Anna Marie Bayonito, chef de cuisine at Sticks in Pebble Beach, is one of Rodriguez’s earliest mentors. She noticed right away how the Padawan leapt to learn new skills and kitchen stations.

“She had the grit and was always willing to learn and do all the dirty things,” Bayonito says. “I knew then that this kid was special.”

When an opportunity to focus on pastry emerged, Rodriguez was sheepish about moving on. Bayonito wouldn’t hear it.

“I told her, ‘You have to follow your dreams,’” says Bayonito.

“I’m so proud of her for doing just that, and it’s so amazing to watch her progress. Santana loves to do what she loves to do.”

When told of Bayonito’s endorsement, Rodriguez sounds shy and emboldened at the same time. “I’ve always been curious,” she says. “I’m very, ‘How high can I go up this tree?’ and ‘I’ll fall off to find out.’

“It doesn’t sit well in my brain if I don’t figure out how something works or what would happen if I try. So I will.”

Salinas Farmers Market • Saturdays 9am−2pm qouign.com Mark C. Anderson is a storyteller based in both California Bay Areas.

Reach him @MontereyMCA by way of Instagram.

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FALL 20232023 edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER

DIVE BARS EDIBLE NOTABLES

In praise of an endangered species

BY JEFF BAREILLES

PHOTOGRAPHY BY LIZ BIRNBAUM/THE CURATED FEAST

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he first bar I remember going to was the Red Sails in Alameda, Calif., located next to a marine repair shop on the shore of the Oakland Estuary overlooking the Park Street Bridge.

It’s where I have the most vivid memory of my birth father and where we would always end up the few times he took me out, before my parents divorced. Looking back, it was a dive bar.

I loved the Red Sails! It had a nautical theme and even though I was six the staff treated me like a grown-up. The bartender knew my name and my drink—a Roy Rogers with extra cherries. I had a designated seat at the bar especially tailored for me, with a phone book and Playboy magazines piled on its cracked vinyl cushion, and a view of the bridge. Once balanced on my throne of phone numbers and bunnies, I was given quarters for the jukebox and then he would vanish.

Pleased with all the attention and my Roy Rogers, and excited for a boat to sail by, I didn’t notice he was gone. The bridge was a drawbridge, and when a boat needed to pass, the bridge would split open in its middle, each half rising up to the sky.

On cue, the bartender would say to me, “Look, it opens just like London Bridge.”

After a couple of boats had passed under the bridge and I had two or three Roy Rogers under my belt, I became the life of the party, taking requests for the jukebox, rolling dice and feasting

on cherries from the garnish tray. Eventually, I got cut off and was sent to a booth to sleep it off. The next day, I woke up not knowing how I got home, with my mouth and tongue stained red from the cherries.

Later, I discovered that the red sails in the bar’s name signify a vessel that “dares to be different and embraces the thrill of the journey.”

The first reference to the term “dive bar” was in an 1871 issue of the New York Herald, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, which defines dive bars as “illegal drinking dens in the lower levels of a building, like a cellar or a basement,” where you would “'dive” into the bar.

Webster’s later redefined dive bars as “a disreputable resort for drinking or entertainment.” Today, the Urban Dictionary defines a dive bar as “a well-worn, unglamorous bar, often serving a cheap, simple selection of drinks to a regular clientele.”

Finding dive bar definitions is easy, but defining distinct elements common to all dive bars is not.

Instead, imagine you’re visiting your in-laws for the holidays and finally get a break from the “festivities.” Even though you’re unfamiliar with the area, you take a drive. Tooling around town, you notice the streets are empty and everything is closed. So you decide to turn back, but nothing is reconizable and you suspect you’ve taken a wrong turn. Then, you see people smoking outside a door, leaking colored light and muffled sound.

Brady’s Yacht Club in the Seabright neighborhood of Santa Cruz is a good place to strike up a conversation with the regular clientele.

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DRINK LOCAL Here are some businesses that— like the longgone Red Sails—have dared to be different and embraced the thrill of the journey. But they depend on loyal customers to thrive.

In Santa Cruz area: Brady’s Yacht Club, Callahan’s, Joe’s Bar, Mission West, The Asti, The Jury Room, Rush Inn and Monty’s Log Cabin.

In Monterey area: Alfredo’s Cantina, Segovia’s and Sade’s Cocktails (in Carmel).

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Common elements of dive bars include cheap beer, memorabilia, games and regular local customers.

At that moment, you know you’ve stumbled upon that hardest-to-define establishment whose best descriptor is simply “you’ll know it when you see it.” It’s a dive bar; you go in.

The place is loud and crowded. The jukebox blasts “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “The Night Santa Went Crazy.” You make your way to the bar, order a drink and, while waiting, scan the room. Every surface, including the ceiling, is soaking in sports memorabilia, troll dolls, trophies, souvenirs, tinsel, postcards and newspaper clippings. Each is like a distinct hieroglyph representing a combination of schmaltz, truth and beliefs amidst the perfume of stale beer, sweat, urine and ammonia.

The dive bar has forever inspired artists and writers, setting the stage for Eugene O’Neill’s play, The Iceman Cometh, and the incubator for Beat Generation artists William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Gregory Corso. More recently, it has inspired author Kylie Scott’s series Stage Dive and Leticia Ochoa Adams’ book Our Lady of Hot Messes: Getting Real with God in Dive Bars and Confessionals. Not to mention Taylor Swift’s song “Delicate” and the “Dive Bar Tours” by both Laga Gaga and Garth Brooks.

But have dive bars become too mainstream? Would you still recognize a bar as a dive after seeing it featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives?”

In today's food and beverage industry, “The Guy Fieri Effect,” also known as “The Modern Dive” and “The Post Dive,” is a popular restaurant theme. Popping up nationwide, these diluted dives have names like ”The Dive Bar Grille” or “Taco Dive Bar.” Owned by corporations, engineered by architectural psychologists and fabricated by investment bankers, they overflow with virtual authenticity and Good Housekeeping tested

“dive bar” tropes, nostalgia triggers, select soundtracks, kids menus and changing tables in the bathrooms.

“Once considered a pejorative term, ‘dive bar’ has recently become a badge of distinction for patrons seeking authenticity,” according to Wikipedia. It also notes, “A typical dive bar owner or a family member runs the day-to-day operations and is deeply connected with their neighbors and the local community.”

Dive bars often serve as historical time capsules, preserving the memories, stories and experiences linking past and present generations. The National Trust for Historic Preservation, a 74-year-old organization with a mission to save historic places, has put The Dive Bar on its list of America’s Most Endangered Places. It states, “Dive bars are integral to America’s historic character: These careworn buildings exemplify the love and energy we put into our communities. We want to make sure our local watering holes last forever. But rising rents and the inability to find the right owners can threaten places that have been around for generations.”

Back at the bar, you get your drink and the stranger next to you shouts to you over the noise, “This place hasn’t been this busy in a long time…you here to pay your respects too?”

You look at him with a puzzled smile. He shouts, “You know this place is shutting for good next week?” Then you remember your talent at dive bars has always been getting strangers to tell you their life stories, and you settle in for a nostalgia-filled evening.

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Jeff Bareilles is a Santa Cruz-based hospitality consultant, artist, photographer and writer who has overseen the beverage programs at some of the finest restaurants in California, including Manresa, Atelier Crenn, Commis and Mourad.

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WHAT’S IN SEASON

HOT DATES

This ancient, versatile fruit comes in a variety of flavors and textures suited to both sweet and savory preparations

BY JAMIE COLLINS PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL TROUTMAN

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s a kid growing up in Southern California, we made frequent visits to my grandparents’ place in Yucca Valley, located in the high desert near Palm Springs. It was a tradition to make a pit stop in Cabezon on the way, to grab a cooling, delicious date shake at Hadley Fruit Orchards.

Hadley’s has been an iconic roadside destination since 1931. Because date palms are cultivated in the region, the company has featured them in milkshakes. The sweet, creamy libation—essentially a vanilla shake augmented with soft, chewy dates and a dash of cinnamon—was invented in 1930 by Russell Nicoll at his Valerie Jean Date Shop in nearby Thermal. Soon, competitors, including Hadley, began offering their own date shakes, which today remain a regional specialty.

“Date nuances on the palate are more diverse than practically any other fruit, and flavor wise, they’re similar in complexity to wine.”

AN ILLUSTRIOUS HISTORY The date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, is a flowering, fruiting tree that includes 19 different wild species. Dates are native to the Fertile Crescent, where fossil records show date palms have existed for over 50 million years.

Dates have been cultivated in the Middle East for 200,000 years, making them one of the world’s first agricultural crops. Date palms tolerate hot, arid climates and poor soil, but “they love surface water and require consistent irrigation to produce the highest quality fruit,” says Darryl Gunderson, Central Coast regional sales representative for Thermal’s Flying Disc Ranch.

Dates, which are high in fiber, minerals and antioxidants, came to play an important role in the economy, religion and cultural heritage of the Middle East. The fruits symbolize fertility and prosperity, and are often served to welcome guests, or gifted during religious holidays and special occasions.

While the Middle East and North Africa produce and consume the most dates in the world, the Coachella Valley has garnered a reputation for high-quality dates like those grown at Flying Disc Ranch, which sells some of its 20 different varieties at farmers markets in Monterey, Santa Cruz and the San Francisco Bay area. “Flying Disc Ranch grows one of the largest collections of commercially available dates in the United States,” says Gunderson.

Flying Disc founder Robert Lower began planting date palms on his 10-acre property in 1979. A practitioner of permaculture, a regenerative farming method that works in harmony with natural ecosystems, Lower interplanted his palms with 10 different varieties of citrus, as well as mangos, guavas, figs and aloe vera.

This mixed food forest keeps the date canopy cooler and yields a “greener” soil. As a result, Flying Disc dates have more moisture and minerals, and flavor, and the canopy also provides a home for beneficial insects as well as owls, bats and falcons. The fruit grows in clusters, with

Darryl Gunderson is a familiar face at local farmers markets, selling dates from the Coachella Valley.

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several hundred dates per bunch. While quite pest resistant, the date clusters do require thinning and must be covered with a bag during ripening to protect them from birds and other animals.

Date cultivation is labor intensive, and date palms yield a single harvest per year worldwide, from late August through early November, says Gunderson, which account for the fruit’s higher price point. It can take up to a decade for a tree to yield commercial harvest, and the palms are dioecious, meaning male trees are required to pollinate the flowers on the female trees. Lower buys the pollen for his all-female plantation and pollinates the 100-foot trees by hand with the help of giant ladders.

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HOW TO EAT Dates differ in flavor and texture, which accounts for the versatility of the fruit. They may variously be used in sweet as well as savory applications, from out-of-hand snacking and confections to beverages and tagines.

“Date nuances on the palate are more diverse than practically any other fruit, and flavor wise, they’re similar in complexity to wine, says Gunderson.

In the Middle East dates are also made into vinegar, syrup and an effervescent juice, which is used for special religious occasions such as Ramadan. In Islamic countries, it’s also tradition to break a fast with a date.

“Most people are familiar with the medjool date because it’s historically been one of

the most widely planted and available varieties,” says Gunderson. “Its robust flavor, agreeable texture and durability in transit and storage have contributed to its market dominance, but there are hundreds of named varieties, each with their own distinctive character of sweetness, texture and finish flavor.

If you don’t like dates because you’ve only tried one or two varieties, I guarantee there’s one out there you’ll love.”

Fresh dates can be made into date syrup, stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon, pickled, used as the base for healthy energy balls, added to granola, tossed into smoothies, dipped in tahini, stuffed with nut butter, marzipan, whole almonds and candied orange or lemon peel, sprinkled into salads, made into a chutney, added to the top of a homemade pizza, and blended with olives for an excellent tapenade for a sandwich. Date nut bread is popular on a charcuterie spread or as a holiday treat.

Anything savory a fig can do, a date can do with more added sweetness.

Dates complement meat (think

sliced dates and red onions alongside a steak), and lamb tagines are often cooked with dates. Gunderson makes a delicious pickled date relish that brings sweetness, spice and brightness to any dish.

To prepare, combine chopped dates, raw garlic, hot peppers (with or without the seeds, depending on how spicy you like it), oregano, cumin and salt to taste. Cover in white vinegar. This can be refrigerator pickled by letting it sit for a week, or it can be preserved to be shelf stable.

I love how dates can satisfy a sweet tooth, be part of a savory dish and also an appetizer or added to a cheese plate. Be sure to pick some up at the farmers market this winter and incorporate them into your holiday spread.

Jamie Collins is the owner of Serendipity Farms. She hosts U-Picks and a Friday Farm Stand at 26500 Val Verde Drive in Carmel, and attends farmers markets in Carmel and Santa Cruz, where you can find her fresh organic fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers. Find out what is being harvested @fabulous_serendipity_farm.

IT’S A DATE In addition to ripe fruit, Flying Disc Ranch sells young date leaves and flowers in the spring, when the trees are pruned. These are a florist’s dream; they dry beautifully and add texture and flair to floral arrangements. The varieties below will also be offered this winter at the Downtown Santa Cruz Farmers Market, the Del Monte Farmers Market in Monterey and Elroy’s Fine Foods, also in Monterey.

Medjool: The largest, sweetest variety, with a rich, molasses flavor.

Deglet Noor: A thinner, drier date with a buttery flavor, good for baking, backpacking and granola.

Dayri: A dark, soft, sticky date with a molasses flavor. Ideal for snacking, cheese plates, desserts and beverages.

Amber: A mild variety with a sweet potato flavor.

Zahidi: The least sweet variety, with a chewy texture and honey-apricot flavor.

Try them in savory dishes or baked goods.

Khadrawi: “Nature’s Milk Dud,” as Gunderson describes, with a flavor and texture reminiscent of caramel candy.

Ciré: Chewy, luscious and sweet, with butterscotch candy notes. Use for confections or savory dishes.

Thori: The driest variety with a grainy finish Honey Nut Cheerio-like flavor.

Excellent on cheese plates or snacking.

Barhi: The softest, sweetest variety sold by the ranch, with a melt-in-yourmouth quality and notes of brown sugar. The ranch also sells young barhis, which are yellow and sweet, with a firm texture ideal for tossing in salads.

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Date Dadus

Courtesy nutritionist Talya Lutzker

Dadus make decadent, high-fiber treats that taste absolutely amazing. Plus, they are easier on blood sugar than most sweets. These raw refrigerator cookies rank high in protein, fiber and healthy fats—making them an ideal homemade, energyboosting treat. You can use any variety of dates in this recipe. The larger the date, the fewer you need. Fan favorites are medjool, Dayri, honey and barhi dates.

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(16-ounce) jar raw tahini, refrigerated for 2 hours or more 8−10 dates, any variety, pitted and roughly chopped ¼ cup maple syrup or alternative liquid sweetener ¼ cup raw cacao powder, cocoa powder or carob powder ½ cup dried currants or raisins ½ cup raw sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds ¼ cup dried figs, roughly chopped 1/8 cup raw cacao nibs, optional 3 tablespoons crystallized ginger, finely chopped 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground cardamom ½ teaspoon ground clove 1/8 teaspoon vanilla or cardamom extract 1/8 teaspoon high-quality, mineral-rich salt ½ cup dark chocolate chips, optional For the coating ½ cup vanilla granola or ½ cup raw almonds ¼ cup raw cacao powder, cocoa powder or carob powder ½ teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon ½ teaspoon ground dried rose petals, optional Pinch of high-quality, mineral-rich salt

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First prepare the coating. Finely grind the granola or almonds in a blender or food processor. Pour the ground granola into a small bowl and combine with the cacao powder, cardamom, optional rose petals and salt. Set aside.

Place all the remaining ingredients, minus the optional chocolate chips, into a food processor and combine until the mixture forms a sticky mass. Mix in the (optional and recommended) chocolate chips.

Alternatively, combine everything together in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. Just make sure you’ve finely chopped the dried fruit and that your batter gets well mixed.

edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

Roll the sticky batter into 1-inch or 1-ounce balls. Roll each ball in the ground granola mixture so that it’s well coated and place on a plate.

Refrigerate after making. Dadus will keep in a well-sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. They also freeze beautifully.

Makes about 30 balls.

Reprinted from The Ayurvedic Vegan Kitchen, Talya Lutzker, Book Publishing Company, 2012.

Photographer: Andrew Schmidt.

Talya Lutzker is a certified Ayurvedic practitioner, cookbook author and founder of Ayurveda Every Day with Talya. ayurvedaed.com

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SEAFOOD Abalone • Anchovies • Cabezon • Dungeness Crab • Rock Crab • Starry Flounder • Pacific Grenadier • Herring • Lingcod • Rock Cod, aka Rockfish • Sablefish, aka Black Cod • Pacific Sanddabs • Dover Sole • Petrale Sole • Rex Sole • Spot Prawns * December only ** February only All fish listed are rated “Best Choice” or “Good Alternative” by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program.

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A world-class wine portfolio Our founder Bernardus Pon chose to cultivate his premier-class wine brand in Carmel Valley. With its west-facing orientation, hot days, chilly nights, and stunning beauty, it is the perfect location to produce wines that rival the greatest on the globe. Following the creation of its powerhouse wine portfolio, Bernardus welcomed a new member to its family in 2022, the world’s first Provence Rosé Golden State. This joint venture with Château La Coste in the world-famous Provence region resulted in a premium French Rosé with a twist of California. Today the brand is more than just wine, with a challenging championship golf course based in the Netherlands which will host the 2026 Solheim Cup. Bernardus creates memories that will last a lifetime. www.bernardus.com/rose

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edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

COOKING WITH THE SEASONS

Secoya

Head chef Diana Phipps’ upscale menu is anchored by local ingredients and the bold flavors of her Australian upbringing

BY AMBER TURPIN PHOTOGRAPHY BY PATRICK TREGENZA

A

lthough Diana Phipps’ path to her post at Carmel Beach Hotel’s restaurant, Secoya, was a circuitous one, her life has always revolved around food. “I grew up in a house filled with cooking,” she says. “My grandmother, a home economics teacher trained in classical French cuisine, lived with us, and my father baked bread and gardened. My mother, meanwhile, was always making dishes she learned from watching televised cooking shows. We made everything from scratch, and I also cooked extensively for my family and friends.”

Phipps studied home economics at Queensland University of Technology in her native Australia and in 1998, she and her husband immigrated to the United States.

Prior to earning her diploma at the International Culinary Center in Campbell in 2016, Phipps worked in various parts of the hospitality industry, including front- and back-of-the-house positions. “A culinary career was always on the back burner [due to raising a family and other commitments] until I applied to cooking school,” she says.

In 2017, Phipps nabbed a prestigious internship at Aubergine at L’Auberge Carmel (sister property to Carmel Beach Hotel), under acclaimed executive chef Justin Cogley. “Justin definitely shaped my culinary perspective and elevated my skills and attention to detail,” says Phipps. “The way he selects and uses ingredients made me understand that every choice matters, and that technique and understanding your own voice is crucial.”

Phipps attributes her love of various cuisines to growing up in a culturally diverse country. She is always experimenting with new flavors, and her current passions run toward whole grains, assertively flavored winter greens and Mediterranean spices and syrups. She describes Secoya’s menu as “plant-centric, with an eye to seasonality.”

“I enjoy combining the flavors of my Australian heritage with American cuisine, and having lived through decades of environmental changes, focusing on locally available ingredients is important to me,” she says.

Maximizing flavor is also one of Phipps’ hallmarks as a chef. She loves to enhance simple ingredients with bursts of citrus or spice as well as utilize techniques like grilling and charring. The following recipes showcase Phipps’ ability to coax as much flavor as possible from familiar ingredients like butternut squash and halibut through roasting and pan-searing, and punctuating them with bold flavors like bitter greens, pomegranate molasses and dill pickle brine.

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edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

Place walnuts on a small baking sheet and toast in the same 400° F oven for 5–8 minutes, until slightly browned. Remove from oven, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and set aside.

In a large bowl, toss together arugula, spinach and radicchio. Add all of the lime zest and the juice from ½ of the lime to the

Lightly dress the greens with the pomegranate vinaigrette and toss to coat greens.

Transfer the greens to a serving bowl or 4 individual plates.

Add the squash to the bowl used to toss the greens in and lightly dress with the pomegranate vinaigrette. Add the squash to the plated greens and garnish with toasted walnuts. Serves 4.

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ni

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Preheat oven to 400° F. Toss squash cubes, olive oil, nutmeg, salt and pepper in a bowl and tip onto a baking sheet. Roast for 25–35 minutes, until squash is lightly caramelized.

Remove from oven and set aside.

greens. Season the greens with salt and pepper, and toss to combine lime zest, juice and seasonings.

¾ cup butternut or other hard squash, cubed 1½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil Pinch of nutmeg Salt and pepper to taste 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts 2 cups baby arugula 2 cups spinach leaves 2 cups radicchio leaves, thinly sliced Juice and zest of 1 lime

hing Our Com

owl a t a Time

This versatile salad is equally delicious with an added protein, such as grilled chicken or halibut.

Phipps recommends tasting the radicchio prior to preparing the salad to see if it requires a 20-minute soak in cold water to cut the bitterness.

uris

1B

Courtesy Diana Phipps, head chef, Secoya, Carmel Beach Hotel

r

o �N

ty

Winter Green Salad With Roasted Butternut Squash and Pomegranate Vinaigrette

We can transform our life with sound!

For the pomegranate vinaigrette 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons neutral oil, such as grape seed or canola 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses or date syrup 1½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar Salt and pepper to taste In a small bowl whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients until combined. Set aside.

Halibut With Brown Butter Pickle Sauce

Phipps suggests substituting Monterey Bay black cod (also known as sablefish) for an added

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measure of sustainability.

4 (8-ounce) skinless halibut fillets, patted dry 1 tablespoon neutral oil, such as grape seed or canola 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided 1 tablespoon dill pickle juice 1/8 cup Italian parsley leaves, chopped Juice and zest of 1 lemon Salt and pepper to taste Add oil to a large sauté pan, tilting pan to spread evenly. Warm over medium-high heat until you see a wisp of smoke.

Add the halibut to the pan, making sure the fillets aren’t touching one another and sear for about 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter to the pan and swirl, cooking the

halibut for 1 more minute on that side. Turn the fillets over and reduce heat to medium.

Cook the halibut for another 3 minutes while basting with butter; the fish is done when it’s opaque.

Remove the halibut from the pan and keep warm on a serving plate.

Add the remaining tablespoon of butter and pickle juice to the pan and bring to a simmer.

Remove pan from heat and finish the sauce with lemon zest, lemon juice, pepper and parsley. Spoon sauce over the halibut and serve. Serves 4.

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2–7pm • Year-round Watsonville City Plaza, Peck & Main streets 831.588.7366 facebook.com/watsonvillefarmersmarket

Westside Santa Cruz Market

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Friday

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Sunday

Saturday

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1 Downtown Santa Cruz Farmers Market

o

simmering on the stove (thank you propane), even if the lights are out. Savor the moments of warm, be thankful for the non-leaky roof, hold each other tight and just eat soup together. The simple things, like our amazing produce and the nourishing creations that we make with it, offer grounding opportunities for appreciation.

—Amber Turpin

Is anyone else feeling trepidation about winter’s approach?

It seems like each year gets more and more intense. With our extreme weather shifts, there’s potential disaster around every bend, or at least a power outage. But one beacon of cozy come wintertime, regardless of the rain or flooding or snowfall, is a pot of soup

Wednesday

ur Spons

r

t

oO

See opposite side for

Monterey & San Benito Counties ediblemontereybay.com 27

Saturday

1 Pacific Grove Certified Farmers Market

7 Old Town Salinas Farmers Market

Thursday 3

Carmel–by-the-Sea Farmers Market

10am–2pm • Year-round 6th and Mission streets 831.402.3870 • goodrootsevents.com 4

Castroville Farmers Market

3−7:30PM • Year-round Castroville Recreation Center 11261 Crane Street ncrpd.org 5

Seaside Certified Farmers Market

8 The Power Plant Certified Farmers Market

Moss Landing

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Sunday

Carmel Valley Certified Farmers Market 9

4

10am–2pm • Year-round Mid-Valley Shopping Center 550 Carmel Valley Road 650.290.3549 • wcfma.org 10 Marina Certified Farmers Market

10am–2pm • Year-round 215 Reservation Road • 831.384.6961 everyonesharvest.org

Friday

Hollister

Castroville Salinas

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831.384.6961 • everyonesharvest.org

6

➱

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9am–2pm • Year-round 300 block Main Street 650.815.8760 wcfma.org/salinas

Marina

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10 1

Monterey Certified Farmers Market

Pacific Grove

Seaside

5

6

Soledad

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2

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Old Monterey Marketplace & Farmers Market 2

Santa Cruz

Tuesday

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➱

Monday

Monterey

Carmel Valley 9

M O N T E R E Y BAY

Farmers Market Markets 28

Monterey County edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

WINTER 2023

See opposite side for Santa Cruz County

tear out and keep 

Carmel

Watercolor Map : Katie Doka Illustration

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IN THE KITCHEN

Pear Party Forget the partridge, but amp up holiday meals with these jewels

BY ANALUISA BÉJAR PHOTOGRPAHY BY PATRICK TREGENZA

30

edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

P

ears have a funny way of stopping the conversation.

When you bite into a perfectly ripe, juicy, fragrant pear your mind tends to wander, regardless of the circumstances—reminding you of the pleasure that something so simple can bring. Maybe that’s because life is complicated and a dreamy pear is hard to come by.

To achieve the perfect ripeness, staring at them longingly won’t do. Other than having a glorious pear tree in your backyard, you will need to find the balance between room temperature and refrigeration.

Pears also don’t like crowding and they bruise easily, so while they look charming in a bowl, don’t pile them up.

Then there is the collection of different varieties. The Bosc is a heartier pear, with a long, elegant shape and a skin that can go from a velvety matte brown to an almost golden hue when ripe. They are crisp but can get mealy if not eaten at the right time. One of the most easily found varieties is the Bartlett, a sweet pear that goes from a lively green to yellow as it ripens, but can also get grainy if left uneaten for too

long. The comice is similar but sweeter. The highly floral and juicier d’Anjou has green and red versions that make pretty combinations.

And tiny forelles are firm even when ripe, are brightly acidic and have a reddish blush with a green background that is just beautiful. From fall to late winter, there are always fascinating varieties of pears to try.

The recommended check for ripeness is to gently press near the pear’s stem. It is tricky to find the perfect point of ripeness that balances acidity and aromatic notes while oozing juicy sweetness, but that’s where the magic of a poached pear lies.

There are only a handful of fruits that can stand up to cooking without losing themselves in the process, and pears are the perfect example. The floral notes that mostly define their flavor profile tend to shine here; after all, they are a member of the rose family, a great gene pool indeed. They have many other interesting nuances that can be emphasized or contrasted by adding additional flavors to the mix. All varieties work well for poaching, but take care when cooking Bartlett pears as they soften quickly.

Only a handful of fruits can stand up to cooking without losing themselves in the process, and pears are the perfect example.

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31

Pears in Spiced Red Wine

This is an absolute classic. Adjust the spice combination to your taste. I tend to use less sugar to allow the natural flavors to shine through, especially if you use a nice cabernet. In France, to finish the sauce, a tablespoon of cassis or raspberry jam is added. You can also mix in dried prunes, raisins, cherries or cranberries. Finally, before serving, make sure all cloves are removed; no one likes to bite into one of those.

3 cups or 1 bottle red wine 2/3 cup sugar 1 cinnamon stick 6 black peppercorns 3 star anise 3 cardamom pods 3 cloves Pinch of grated nutmeg Pinch of salt 4 large pears In a pot large enough to hold the pears, place the wine, sugar, spices and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

Meanwhile, peel and cut the pears in half. Using a melon baller, scoop out the core. With a small paring knife, remove the inner part of the stalk, leaving the outer stem intact.

For the French, poached pears are one of the first basic desserts to learn, and a great building block to have handy for more ambitious projects. It is possible to travel many flavor routes, all starting with poached pears, and they don’t even need to be ripe.

The indisputable classic is to poach pears in sweetened spiced red wine. The obvious turn is cinnamon, but there are many harmonious variations, like star anise, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, vanilla and clove. All, or any combination of them, tend to go well especially when using a fruity red wine, such as a merlot or even a substantial cabernet, as the background canvas.

Another great base is a bold acidic white wine, preferably without oaky notes. Brandy, port and sherry are also wonderful. Pears also 32

match very well with saffron, ginger, vanilla and—if using great restraint—rosemary.

Almonds, walnuts, raspberries, buttery caramel and cheeses are excellent complements, so serve them alongside your poached pears, maybe in cookie or sauce form.

If none of those flavor routes strikes your fancy, there is always bacon. Sauté bacon and pears together and serve atop a salad. There is so much to explore.

Analuisa Béjar loves exploring flavor routes as the chef at her Sunny Bakery Cafe in Carmel Valley. She is a recent transplant from Mexico City, where she was a food critic, award-winning writer, editor, recipe developer, culinary teacher and organizer of Latin American gastronomy competitions.

edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

Add the pears and lower the heat. They should be covered with the cooking liquid.

Cover and poach gently for 10–15 minutes, turning them over occasionally to make sure they color evenly. If desired, you can place a circle of parchment paper on top of the syrup to make sure the pears remain beneath the liquid.

Simmer until pears are soft when pierced with a knife.

Drain and transfer pears to a serving dish or container. If you like a heavier syrup, reduce it until lightly thickened.

Combine pears with syrup and allow to cool before serving. Keeps refrigerated up to a week. Serves 4.

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Pears in Brandy Syrup

This recipe is a great base for using your favorite spirit with pears. They are first poached in a light syrup and finished with the liquor, so it doesn’t simmer too long and lose its aroma. The same method can be used with port, sherry, Chambord, elderflower liqueur, grand marnier and even amaretto. If you want a bolder brandy flavor, add a couple of extra tablespoons right before serving.

6 forelle or any other small pears 2 cups water 2/3 cup sugar 1 piece of orange zest 1 cup brandy or cognac Peel the pears and using a small paring knife, remove the blossom end but keep the pears whole.

In a pot large enough to hold the pears snuggly, heat the water, sugar and zest.

Once it boils, lower the heat, add the pears, cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes or until pears are soft when pierced with a knife. Add the cognac and cook for 3 minutes, to allow the alcohol to evaporate.

Cool before serving.

34

edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

Because one CA N NOT LI V E on EGG NOG alone.

This winter, warm up like we do on the farm with a classic recipe made better by Frey Ranch Bourbon. Frey Ranch four-grain bourbon is a great gift and the perfect wintertime spirit to share at everything from holiday parties to a cozy night for two by the fireplace.

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35

Pears in White Wine With Saffron

An excellent wine for this recipe is an acidic sauvignon blanc. It marries well with the simple ingredients, resulting in a flavorful syrup that can be a wonderful addition to a cocktail. This is an ideal light dessert after a heavy meal, alongside a cheese course or even part of a salad with goat cheese in the mix.

Don’t be too generous with the saffron; use just enough to get a sunny color.

With a small paring knife, remove the inner part of the stalk, leaving the outer stem intact.

Add the pears and lower the heat. They should be covered with the cooking liquid.

Cover and poach gently for 10–15 minutes, turning them over occasionally to make sure they color evenly. If desired, you can place a circle of parchment paper on top of the syrup to make sure the pears remain beneath the liquid.

3 cups or 1 bottle white wine 2/3 cup sugar 1 pinch of saffron 2 slices ginger, peeled 1 vanilla bean, split 1 pinch of salt 4 pears, preferably Bosc In a pot large enough to hold the pears, place the wine, sugar, saffron, ginger, vanilla bean and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat.

Meanwhile, peel and cut the pears in half.

Using a melon baller, scoop out the core.

36

edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

Simmer until pears are soft when pierced with a knife.

Drain and transfer pears to a serving dish or container. If you like a heavier syrup, reduce it until lightly thickened.

Combine pears with syrup and allow to cool before serving. Keeps refrigerated up to a week. Serves 4.

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37

ON THE FARM

DEEP ILLS DEEP MEDICINE

Visionaries Rupa Marya and Ben Fahrer farm major solutions, from the ground up STORY AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARK C. ANDERSON

38

edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

Deep Medicine Circle’s Oakland farm uses a soil blend Carmel grad Ben Fahrer designed around biochar and compost teas, for maximum nutrient uptake in a shallow profile and stormwater management. Fifteen percent of the growing space is dedicated to pollinator and beneficial insect habitat. (Photo: Ben Fahrer)

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39

D

r. Rupa Marya is shouting from the rooftop.

And it’s not just any rooftop. Deep Medicine Circle’s farm in Oakland is the largest rooftop planting on the West Coast and the most productive urban food plot in the San Francisco Bay Area.

On its design merits and organic output alone, it’s a wonder to take in, skyline views aside. As it provides nutrient-rich produce to food insecure souls at a dozen-plus places like UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland, Booker T. Washington Community Service Center and Moms 4 Housing, the farm also provides wildlife habitat, stormwater mitigation and replicable practices for city-centered agroecology everywhere.

And these aren’t just any shouts, but blueprints sown from a broad coalition, exhaustive research and Indigenous wisdom: Heal soils to heal people. Restore connection to land and one another. Make healthy produce a human right.

“I am inspired by dismantling colonial capitalism,” Marya says. “That mindset has decimated wildlife; it has destroyed our waters; it has made the air unbreathable; and it has written the scourge of chronic inflammatory disease on all of our bodies.

“Beautiful things emerge in the compost of that failed system.”

She’s surrounded by a rapt audience of thinkers attending the 2023 Bioneers Conference tour. As an author and activist, organizer and abolitionist, practicing physician and professor of medicine at UCSF, she’s more than qualified for the platform.

But she doesn’t reference that background in this talk. She also declines any mention she’s a world-touring singersongwriter-guitarist-front woman for Rupa & the April Fishes. (That’s the same group that accepted heirloom seeds as admission to shows and distributed seed packets with each song release of its latest album, Growing Upward.)

Marya emphasizes a different qualification instead: She married a farmer.

“I [was looking] for a computer hacktivist or a seed saver,” she says.

She found the latter in Big Sur. Call it an organic meet-cute: Marya was on tour with the April Fishes in 2011, visiting Esalen Institute for a festival. There she met Ben Fahrer, a Carmel native and permaculture expert, who was managing Esalen’s crops and leading related workshops. When they reconvened months later, he reconsidered his plan to travel the world teaching agroecology.

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edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

“It was that life or love,” he says. “Love prevailed.”

For true dirt and nutrition nerds out there, the couple’s sexiest moment came later, when they started comparing field notes.

Before that happened, Fahrer and his Top Leaf Farms team had already spearheaded the buildout of the rooftop farm, which blooms with everything from bell peppers and bok choy to sweet peas and Swiss chard. Meanwhile the couple assembled DMC’s vast collective of elders,

fied the foundation from which Deep Medicine rises: re-establish Indigenous-minded stewardship of land; treat farmers as the frontline health workers they are; make nutrition universal; remember food works best as medicine, not for profit.

“We have an opportunity to reawaken our relationships with our soils and foods,” Marya says. “But that’s not achieved through sitting around and meditating.”

(Clockwise from top) Rupa Marya talks “structural change in the food system” with Bioneers conferencegoers in Oakland (and, at right, takes a break to channel musical inspiration in San Gregorio); Ben Fahrer first dived deep into organic farming while working with Gary Ibsen of TomatoFest fame in Carmel Valley.

healers, herbalists, educators and physicians, who pollinate food-as-medicine mindfulness in every direction, reminding everyone listening, as Marya says, “We’re a living system within a living system.”

Now—as she ached to understand the underlying causes of the chronic conditions disproportionately represented in the people of color she treated—the couple observed something in her patients’ physicals and his analyses of various farms.

She described what they found to virtual EcoFarm attendees in 2021: Soil and stool health followed similar tracks. And no one was paying attention to the connection between nutrients in the ground and healthy functions in the gut. The primary fix, she announced in her keynote: “We should treat farmers the way we treat our doctors.”

“Healthy soil equals healthy food, which equals healthy people,” Fahrer says. “Our food is only as healthy as the soil is.”

The revelations led to a book Marya co-wrote with political ecologist and food systems activist Raj Patel.

Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice (2021) looks at how the human body, society and the planet are aggravated in parallel patterns that happen to be intimately linked.

Solutions wait patiently in Indigenous histories. As the introduction to Inflamed points out: “These connections are not new. Nor are they ours.”

In the process, Marya, Fahrer and company solidi-

DOWN TO EARTH On the coast just north of Santa Cruz County, in fertile fields of unincorporated San Gregorio (population 214), next to a small river corridor vibrant with native species, sits a 38-acre farm named Te Kwe A’naa Warep, “Honoring Mother Earth” in native Ramaytush.

In 2020, Marya and Fahrer submitted a proposal to steward the land to the Peninsula Open Space Trust. The pitch came after local Indigenous groups including the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone invited them to consider the opportunity. That collaboration with the native community—and DMC’s forethought, track record and relationships in farming circles—helped it beat out 30-plus other contenders.

Today the rooftop’s sea-level sister grows many of the same things they do in Oakland—carrots, lettuces, melons, onions, radishes, ginger and indigo among dozens of other items—while cultivating more than crops.

Hints to that end appear inside the big barn at its center, next to the greenhouse loaded with organic starts and the farmhouse where the harvest manager lives.

Within the barn’s soaring walls, braided garlic dangles from cross struts. An assemblage of drums awaits a session. Sun streams through the broad door where Marya recently power-posed with her guitar and a social media caption that reads, in part, “When you cease making distinctions that separate art from healing from earth from fire from being from decaying…everything is music.”

Past the fluffy farm dog watching from the barn floor, toward the ocean, rows of rainbow chard and fruit trees curve with topography tended by hand tools.

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JULIA’S VEGAN & VEGETARIAN RESTAURANT

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Rows of flowering natives and booming produce at Te Kwe A’naa Warep follow natural contours, not straight lines (Photo: Ben Fahrer); freshly harvested garlic bulbs dry by the hundreds; staff linchpin Gabriela Lola and former farm harvest manager Hope Barajas prep signs in the big farm barn for a U-pick.

Flower bundles surround the work at hand for DMC administrative aide Gabriella Lola: lettering signage for a community U-pick later that week.

Twenty-one-year-old Lola’s Northern Pomo and Kletsel Dehe Wintun heritage helped guide her here from her native Mendocino County.

“For many, there is difficulty understanding food policy and landback work because we’ve gotten adapted to capitalistic structures to feed our families,” she says. “It goes back to reminding people that healthy food is a human right.”

The farm occupies an auspicious place on the coast. Very near here in 1769, Gaspar de Portolá encountered natives who

helped nurse his sickly crew to health, only to massacre them later.

Keeping that history front of mind and center of heart grounds the project.

Charlene Eigen-Vasquez is a descendant of Ohlone inhabitants from the village of Chitactac near Gilroy and DMC’s landback program director. She helps coordinate tribal collaboration, brokering peacemaking rituals and bringing Indigenous groups to the land that, over time, will shift to their care.

“As we heal the land, we heal the people,” she says. “By working on the land, nurturing it and reintroducing species, we can renew plant relations and animal relations that were once there. What’s following that is the people, then the songs and the ceremonies.”

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The ultimate vision for Te Kwe A’naa Warep in San Gregorio—beyond the primary goal of returning it to Indigenous stewardship— includes cultivating a living herbal apothecary and an on-site farm-asmedicine health clinic.

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PIECING IT TOGETHER Picture an impossible jigsaw puzzle.

That’s how some describe Deep Medicine Circle’s endeavor to offer free greens to those who need it most, to reimagine health care’s fundamentals, to take on centuries of colonization.

Fahrer embraces the comparison. How to take on something so complex? Like you would a jigsaw puzzle.

“Take care of edges first,” he says. “We’re trying to create the framework in one district in Oakland: to [build] a food utility, to make healthy vegetables a right and document it so other communities can try to replicate it.”

The effort has DMC tracking data on inputs, harvests, staffing, outreach, storytelling and other lessons learned the uneasy way, across months of measurement, to produce a toolkit for other farms and communities.

That process is completing year two as this publishes; the plan after year three is to share everything online with open-source accessibility.

“It’s a rich case study,” Marya says. “Some pieces might be applicable in some places, and some won’t. We’ll say, ‘This works,’ ‘This is what we would’ve done differently,’ ‘Here are the challenges,’ ‘What happened, and what did we learn?’”

Deep Medicine Circle also hopes to use the toolkit to win backing for food-as-medicine projects from interested public institutions like the University of California system and local municipalities.

“It will be there for anyone who wants to

edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

replicate it,” Fahrer says.

In other words, this is not a socialist fever dream. It’s a merit model where the depth lies in the thought going in, the knowledge coming out, and the partners on board, which include the city of Oakland, Berkeley Food Institute and The Rockefeller Foundation.

Other puzzle pieces find their place through Te Kwe A’naa Warep’s relanding: Eigen-Vasquez reports tribes from New York to Wisconsin to Montana to Washington state are watching—and contributing.

“Because [tribes] know it’s happening, they’re offering seeds,” she says. “Tobacco, sweet grass, different corn, beans. They’re following our work.”

Everything, it turns out, is connected, positive changes included.

Marya saw as much in a patient’s mood swing she described for the Bioneers on the rooftop last spring. A Bay Area local she’d known for 20 years, only to lose track of during COVID, came in eager to hear how the April Fishes were jamming along.

“I can’t play music right now!” she said. “I have to grow food.”

His face fell—until he learned it was his doctor who hauled in the hyper-fresh produce for him to take home.

“Wait—you brought the lettuce?!” he asked.

He felt better already.

Mark C. Anderson is a storyteller and traveler based in both California Bay Areas. Reach him @MontereyMCA by way of Instagram.

EXPANDING THE CIRCLE “What’s that you say? / You don’t know the way?/ Did they sell your water and your DNA?.../ Interrupt the feed, unplug the greed, stop the bleed / Start with the seed, be what you need, get yourself free…” —Title track for “Growing Upward,” Rupa & the April Fishes Beneath azure skies and puffs of cloud cover, a diverse band of gardeners gently plucks tall stalks from the soil, shakes away the dirt, unsheathes the garlic and plops it in a growing pile.

It’s the weekly volunteer day on the roof in Oakland, and the multiethnic mix of students, doctoral residents, social justice activists and a journalist are making work of weeding, composting and harvesting things like strawberries the size of a kid’s fist.

Rooftop harvest manager Meredith Song and field manager Victoria Chavez—who also support DMC’s robust intern education program—lead the group from task to task.

“We have a chance to value and pay farmers as people closely involved with the health of the community,” Song says at one point.

“Growing nutrient-dense food and giving it to people within a day means they get peak nutrients,” Chavez says, brushing dark dirt from a garlic bulb. “The fresher you eat it, the more vitamins and minerals you get! And when we provide it for free, we liberate food from the capitalist system.”

An irony accompanies this language, and the wider Deep Medicine effort: Paying farmers like doctors and making food free can sound radical. But ultimately prevention is practical, or about as un-radical as it gets. Fahrer helps put it in perspec-

Meredith Song trains volunteers on smart ways to turn pruning scraps into compost fuel seven floors up.

tive: “What’s radical is the imagination needed to solve what’s ailing us.”

The additional layer of irony there: The solutions aren’t complicated. Happy soil grows happy plants. Fresh produce fights inflammation. Permaculture is based on 10,000-year-old practices.

Rupa Marya, the visionary doctor whose bona fides include marrying a farmer, has another key qualification that leads to those solutions: paying attention.

“Listening to the land, listening to what the fires are telling, listening to the family on the street, listening to Native folks who have no voice, listening to my patients,” Marya says, “I feel like the work of my whole life is learning how to listen.”

Now she’s trusting others will too.

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e z e e squ THE DAY 10% of profits go back to the community

With fresh & organic seasonal citrus at New Leaf, it’s easy to stay healthy this winter. Great for snacking, juicing, or pair with sustainable seafood for a fresh, heart healthy dish.

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Half Moon Bay • Downtown Santa Cruz Westside Cruz • Capitola • Aptos edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER Santa 2023

EDIBLE PRESERVATION

YES, WE CAN

Tinned seafood has captivated social media; does it deserve a place in your pantry?

BY LAUREL MILLER PHOTOGRAPHY BY GENEVA RICO

U

ntil recently, most Americans viewed fish in a can as little more than a low-budget staple or emergency ration. In the first half of the 20th century, however, tinned seafood like sardines and anchovies was wildly popular, much of it originating in the Monterey Bay. The industry came about due to the region’s abundant supply of small, pelagic fish species combined with a population of immigrants from traditional fishing cultures like China, Italy, Portugal and Japan.

In fact, tinned seafood, known collectively as conservas, has been a staple in parts of the Mediterranean nearly 200 years. Perusing the aisles in conserva shops, you’ll find shelves packed with cans and tins adorned with colorful, whimsical labels and filled with salty, savory treats like razor clams, cockles, eel and lobster, packed variously in their

own juice or ink, extra virgin olive oil, tomato sauce, herbs and spices, or brine. There are pâtés, smoked and pickled offerings, fillets and bitesized morsels to be skewered on toothpicks, just the thing for a casual meal augmented by beer, cider, wine or vermouth and a hunk of crusty bread. Tinned fish is an easy, affordable treat that also makes for a nutritious, protein- and omega-3-rich snack or last-minute entertaining option.

“Tinned seafood is a long-lasting luxury food commodity and wonderful gift, particularly this time of year,” says Crista Jones, fisherwoman and owner of Dave’s Gourmet Seafood in Watsonville. “People think, tuna for Christmas? But it’s the ideal stocking stuffer and it ages in the can, becoming more mellow in flavor and texture because the oil saturates the fillet.”

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For the 2008-2009 edition of Explore Silicon Valley

1st proof

Crista Jones (top left) took over Dave’s Gourmet Seafood when founder Dave Greenberger retired and moved to the Pacific Northwest. Pilchards is an old name for sardines, that were once a big business on Cannery Row.

Revised proof Pick-up from previous edition

A Flavorful Touch of Italy in Downtown Santa Cruz.

There are several options for those averse to oily, assertively flavored species like mackerel.

“The best way to dip your toe in if you dislike strong flavors is to experiment with pâté or milder species like garfish or cod,” says Nicolaus Balla, co-owner/chef/baker at Coast— a café, specialty food shop and gallery in “The town’s most romantic spot” Big Sur. -Sunset Magazine, 2007 Balla touts tinned fish as the ideal healthy “The town’s most romantic spot” snack, camping food and last-minute entertaining ingredient. “My favorite way to use products like herring is on smørrebrød, DanLocal seafood, organic produce, an extensive local wine list, and ish open-faced sandwiches, adding them to intimate indoor & patio dining.

Local seafood, produce, Local seafood, organic produce, an extensive 910 Cedarorganic Street, Santa Cruz sourdough toast that’s been rubbed with gar• www.gabriellacafe.com an extensive local wine and dining. local wine list,(831) and457-1677 intimate indoorlist, & patio facebook intimatemenus indoor@& patio dining. lic and slathered with aioli, lemon and pars910 Cedar Street, Santa Cruz ley, tossing sardines into pasta puttanesca,” 910 Cedar Street, Santa Cruz Approved with no changes.

(831) 457-1677 • www.gabriellacafe.com (831) 457-1677 • www.gabriellacafe.com Approved with changes indicated; no further proof necessary. he says. “Canned fish is delicious, first and I would like to see another proof with changes indicated. foremost, but it’s also economical, versatile and nutritious.”

It’s not just consumers who have em Approved with no changes. braced tinned fish; entire bar programs (like Name Da Signature Approved with changes indicated; no further p Seattle’s JarrBar, an early adopter that opened in 2014) are now built around the category I would like to see another proof with changes because the salty, smoky, spicy flavors are a natural match for alcoholic beverages.

“Beer and wine are great with tinned fish,” says Balla. “It’s hard to go wrong, although I’d steer away from floral, light-bodied wines with oily species like mackerel. I like medium-bodied wines with some acidity for most Name Signature canned fish, and light, bright, acidic still or sparkling wines help cleanse the palate.

Smoked fish like sardines also goes well with light or hoppy brews; sours and higher alcohol Belgian styles also work.”

-Sunset Magazine, 2007

In the early 20th century, Monterey’s Cannery Row was home to some of the nation’s oldest, largest canneries, including Pacific Fish Co., Bayside Fish & Flour Co. and Pacific Packers/Great Western Sardine Co. By 1918, Cannery Row was producing more than 1.4 million cases of tinned sardines a year. Following World War II, however, the local sardine fishery collapsed, the result of habitat contamination and unregulated harvests. By the late ’60s, Cannery Row was abandoned, until it was reimagined as a tourist destination in the late 1970s.

Although our regional economy of canning seafood is long gone, colorful tins of fish are trending domestically like never before, due in large part to social media optics. A recent article in Time states that “tinned fish videos have garnered 27 million views (on TikTok),” and domestic sales of tinned fish reached $2.7 billion in 2022.

In Portugal and Spain, “tinned fish packaging is an art form,” says Jones, “People eat with their eyes, and so a number of American brands have followed suit.” Here, aesthetically driven domestic brands like Tiny Fish Co., Fishwife and Scout have blown up on social media, but it’s their sustainable sourcing and processing that truly sets them apart from the competition (see “Conservation in a Can” section, page 52). These brands focus on biodiversity, traceability, transparency and fair wages, putting marine resource management, carbon footprint reduction and fishermen and fisherwomen’s welfare at the forefront.

The recently expanded import market also provides Americans access to responsibly sourced canned products (primarily from Nordic countries, the Mediterranean, Australia and New Zealand) like monkfish liver, barnacles and squid packed in its own ink.

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“If they’re harvested responsibly from fully certified fishermen and well-managed fisheries, it ensures there are plenty of fish left to spawn. The United States is among the most well-managed fisheries on earth, right up there with Australia and New Zealand.”

—Hans Haveman, H&H Fresh Fish At Coast, customers can order local The same type of fishing boats in the Monterey Bay that used beer and wine to pair with a hunk of to catch sardines now go out Balla’s exquisite rustic breads and the for squid. tinned seafood of their choice, with the option to include housemade pickles and spreads. And at Barceloneta in Santa Cruz, Spanish vermouth is the suggested and traditional pairing for Cantabrian boquerones (white anchovies) pickled in white wine vinegar and served with gordal olives, piparra peppers and pimentón chips.

Hans Haveman, a fisherman and the co-owner and fish buyer of Santa Cruz’s H&H Fresh Fish, likes to use canned wild-caught salmon in salade Niçoise or pasta. Keeping your pantry stocked with tinned fish, capers, jarred olives, chile flakes, garlic, pasta, extra virgin olive oil and sea salt will ensure you’re never without the makings of a delicious meal or cocktail snack.

Six Sumptous Flavors

CONSERVATION IN A CAN Consumers looking to reduce their carbon footprint are also embracing tinned fish. “There’s literally no more sustainable food on earth than small, pelagic finfish species like sardines, mackerel, herring and anchovies,” says Haveman. “Most tinned seafood comes from species that are low on the food chain. They’re abundant and short-lived so the risk for contamination like mercury is also extremely low.”

Country of origin is critical when it comes to sustainability because fisheries in many parts of the world aren’t well-regulated. Confusingly, the country-of-origin labeling on cans pertains to where fish are processed, not caught. Haveman’s advice is to purchase American wildcaught and American processed seafood, especially when it comes from a can. The exception? Most fresh and canned bivalves (clams, mussels and their ilk) are farmed. It’s a domestic industry with a low impact on habitat and other species.

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To parse the options without doing extensive research, look for cans with certifications from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) on their label, which ensures they contain wild species sourced from independently assessed fisheries that meet strict sustainability requirements, including catch method.

Coast carries Portuguese brands Jose Gourmet and ABC+, as well as American names like Ekone and Patagonia Provisions. Balla says he thoroughly researches a company before placing an order.

“Our decisions are based on quality, sustainability as well as ensuring that seafood is processed without unhealthy additives.”

Jones sells her own line of products, which are canned fresh and cooked in their own juices. The offerings include Pacific Northwest wild-caught sockeye, king salmon, Dungeness crab, Oregon pink shrimp, sardines and Northern Pacific albacore. “The North Pacific salmon and albacore fishery set the bar for zero bycatch by using jigging (a single hook and line). The fish are bled and quick-chilled offshore for maximum freshness before being processed at canneries in the Pacific Northwest.

While Jones and Haveman no longer fish vocationally, they’re rigorous in vetting their sources. “I require all of our fishermen to be fully permitted and ensure that they only source from well-regulated fisheries,” says Haveman. “Every species I carry has been researched to the hilt.”

Adds Jones, “It’s hard for consumers to trust their food supply, so we encourage them to ask questions. As fishermen and purveyors, it’s really important for us to be able to tell customers where their food is coming from, and how it’s caught and processed.”

Laurel Miller is a food, spirits and travel writer and the associate editor of Edible Monterey Bay. She grew up raising dairy goats on her family’s California ranch and is the author of Cheese for Dummies. She recently relocated from Austin back to her native California to be closer to the best burritos on earth.

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Fine Wines and Cheeses from Around the World Impress your guests or delight your loved ones with the perfect gift from our carefully curated selection of wines, cheeses, and charcuterie from around the world. Make your holiday event one to remember with our wide variety of meats, seafood, and organic produce. And don’t forget to check out our wonderful selection of gift ideas in our home, garden & gift department.

Where to Buy Coast Big Sur: Hit this café with a view for lunch, but don’t forget to pick up some sustainable domestic and imported brands of tinned fish to pair with housemade picnic provisions, regional wines and rustic breads. coastbigsur.com Dave’s Gourmet Seafood: Dave’s selection of canned alderwood-smoked king salmon, garlic albacore, sampler packs and more make for easy holiday shopping; find them online or at the Del Monte Farmers Market in Monterey or the Aptos Farmers Market. davesgourmetseafood.com Elroy’s Fine Foods: Monterey’s favorite specialty food store provides one-stop shopping for tinned seafood and all the fixings. elroysfinefoods.com

We also offer the finest Meat, Seafood, and Organic Produce for all your entertaining needs.

TWO LOCATIONS TO SERVE YOU

SANTA CRUZ

H&H Fresh Fish: Find an array of pristine fresh, prepared and cured and canned seafood at its harbor shop and Santa Cruz farmers markets. hhfreshfish.com

1266 Soquel Avenue • 831-423-8632

Shopper’s Corner: Stock up on canned seafood and pantry staples at this Santa Cruz institution. shopperscorner.com

www.staffoflifemarket.com

WATSONVILLE

906 E. Lake Avenue • 831-726-0240

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Bucatini With Sardines & Caramelized Fennel

wine and cook for 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat.

This is sort of a simplified version of pasta con le sarde, a Sicilian dish that blends fennel and sardines with a flurry of other pantry ingredients, spinning any old tin of sardines into a pasta that would be worth traveling for. Some versions include pine nuts, capers and currants. I personally like the sweetness of yellow raisins, and if you chop them before adding, their subtle sweetness will be distributed throughout the dish. I also like to double down on the flavors and textures of fennel, mincing some to cook with the onions and garlic, caramelizing a few wedges and topping the whole thing with fennel seed-flavored breadcrumbs and plenty of lacy green fronds.

Cook the bucatini in the boiling water according to the instructions on the package until al dente (usually 1 minute less than the recommended time). Drain, reserving ¼ cup of the cooking water.

Courtesy Anna Hezel, author of Tin to Table

Kosher salt 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided 2 anchovy fillets, minced ¼ cup panko ¼ teaspoon fennel seeds 1 large fennel bulb, root end trimmed, fronds trimmed and reserved 1 small yellow onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic ¼ cup yellow raisins, coarsely chopped ¼ cup white wine 1 pound bucatini 2 (3−4 ounce) cans sardines in olive oil, drained

Return the skillet to medium-low heat and add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Place the fennel wedges gently in the pan, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes, or until they’re golden brown on the bottom. Use tongs to flip and cook for 5 minutes on the other side.

Transfer to a small plate.

Return the skillet to medium-high heat and add the pasta and the reserved cooking water.

Cook, using tongs to toss the pasta with the aromatics, until the water evaporates and the pasta is perfectly done. Break the sardines apart with your fingers and add them to the skillet. Toss them with the pasta until just heated through and remove the skillet from the heat.

Add the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet, still over medium-low heat, and add the minced fennel, onion, garlic and raisins. Cook, stirring, for about 4 minutes, until the onion and fennel have softened and

Toss half the fennel fronds and half the breadcrumbs into the pasta and divide among 4 plates. Top with the caramelized fennel wedges, the remaining fennel fronds and breadcrumbs. Serves 4.

Fill a large pot with water, add a big pinch of salt and bring to a boil.

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the anchovies and stir until they begin to break down and dissolve into the oil. Stir in the panko and fennel seeds. Cook, stirring, for about 4 minutes, until the breadcrumbs turn light brown.

Remove from the heat, and use a spatula or slotted spoon to transfer the breadcrumb mixture to a small bowl.

Set aside.

Wash a big handful of the fennel fronds and wrap gently in a dish towel to dry.

Coarsely chop and set aside.

Remove the outer 3 or 4 layers of the fennel bulb and mince. You should be left with a small bulb—about ½ the weight of the original. Cut into 8 wedges.

the garlic has become fragrant. Add the white

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Green Anchovy Butter

Courtesy Anna Hezel, author of Tin to Table Packing a massive amount of umami, anchovies have some pretty big star power straight out of the can. But when they’re suspended in butter—all the better with a smattering of fresh herbs and garlic—the sky’s the limit.

Use this butter to baste a seared steak as it finishes cooking in the skillet. Melt the butter and pour it over popcorn, or cook an egg in it.

You can add equal parts flour and transform the flavor bomb into savory shortbreads, or you can slather it onto some great bread with some juicy slices of tomato.

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature 5 anchovy fillets in olive oil ½ cup fresh flatleaf parsley leaves 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice ½ teaspoon grated lemon zest 1 clove garlic 5 grinds of black pepper In a blender (or in a pint jar with an immersion blender), combine all the ingredients and whir until the parsley and anchovies appear to be evenly distributed throughout the butter. Taste, and season with more pepper as needed (the anchovies should have you well covered on the salt front).

Store in a tightly sealed container for up to 5 days. Makes ½ cup.

Reprinted from Tin to Table by Anna Hezel, with permission by Chronicle Books, 2023. Photographs © Chelsie Craig. Illustrations © Alex Citrin.

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EDIBLE SUSTAINABILITY

Building Utopia

Santa Cruz Permaculture provides hands-on solutions for a more sustainable food system and planet

D

BY JILLIAN STEINBERGER-FOSTER

avid Shaw might be best described as a solutionary. The founder of Santa Cruz Permaculture (SCP), an educational center and working farm located between Davenport and Pescadero, espouses an ethos he calls “LIBTYFI” or “Leave it better than you found it.”

“I started Santa Cruz Permaculture specifically to support people in their quests towards right livelihood, also described as working in service of the people and planet, and to be a stone in the bridge of social transformation,” says Shaw. “Permaculture is about permanent culture and living on the planet as if we humans wanted to be permanent inhabitants, and thus leaving things better than we found them for future generations.”

Permaculture, as defined by co-founder, Australian scientist and biologist Bill Mollison, is “the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems…the harmonious integration of landscape and people providing their food, energy, shelter and other material and non-material needs in a sustainable way.”

Shaw notes that it’s easy to get caught up in doomerism [despair or pessimism related to global and environmental issues] but “then I connect with my permaculture students and see them learning to catch and store rainwater, regenerate watersheds, care for forests and grow food. Against the backdrop of increasingly complex problems, I see things that are getting better.”

Evidence of the CZU fires can be seen from the fields of the Santa Cruz Permaculture farm.

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David Shaw, founder of Santa Cruz Permaculture, installing the yurt on the farm, where classes are now held.

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“Caring for people isn’t just feeding their bellies; it’s providing a place for them to nourish their craving for togetherness, a sense of belonging and know-how. As the farm’s bounty grows, so will our ability to furnish these opportunities for people care.”

—Leah Stern, Santa Cruz Permaculture Shaw’s academic background has provided the building blocks for Santa Cruz Permaculture. A PhD student in environmental studies at UCSC, he is focused on agroecology, political ecology and sustainable communities, and is a graduate of the University’s Center for Agroecology’s apprenticeship program. Shaw is a co-founder and coordinator of the Right Livelihood Center at UC Santa Cruz, which was established in 2018. Through his work there, he connects with academics and activists including notables like Vandana Shiva, Wes Jackson and Frances Moore Lappé.

Since its founding in 2016, Santa Cruz Permaculture has offered courses in permaculture design and advanced permaculture, and skills-building classes like herbalism and medicine-making, food forests and regenerative beekeeping.

Then in April 2022, the group took a huge step forward by leasing a 26-acre organic farm, where Shaw and his team and students have been able to grow a diverse array of food and medicinal crops for their CSA, which operates from June to November.

This year the farm has started selling produce at the Santa Cruz Westside Farmers Market and to Wild Roots Market in Felton and Boulder Creek. Shaw hopes to soon supply local chefs and restaurants.

The farm is a bootstrapping enterprise that brings people together to learn the principles of permaculture and food cultivation, as well as build community.

“Our courses support the farm, and our farm supports the learning goals of our students,” says Shaw. “Students have the hands-on space for projects, and we’re creating a workforce development program to help people transition to careers in sustainability and social justice as well as provide skills-building classes that are immediate and practical.”

Prior to finding the farm, Shaw had been dreaming of adding a hands-on agricultural component to Santa Cruz Permaculture. He learned about the gorgeous and inspirational parcel through word of mouth, but the land has an auspicious history. Before Shaw found it, Jim Cochran cultivated strawberries on the property for nearly 30 years as part of Swanton Berry Farm.

Cochran was the first in the area to grow organic strawberries with commercial success, and the first certified organic strawberry grower in California. In 1998, Swanton Berry Farm also became the first farm in the United States to sign a contract with United Farm Workers. Cochran has long been considered a hero of regenerative agriculture and he’s still at it, farming just down the road near the farm store.

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WHAT IS PERMACULTURE?

It’s a perennial question and the answer is, “It depends.” For many it is simply a paradigm shift. It is also a contraction of “permanent agriculture” or “permanent culture.” A few other descriptors are “a design science grounded in ethics,” and “the art of developing beneficial relationships.” And that’s not the half of it.

Since its founding in Tasmania in 1978 by Bill Mollison and his student David Holmgren permaculture has become a global practice. There are permaculture schools and farms on nearly every continent, as well as local, state, national and international conferences addressing regenerative solutions to issues like climate change, biomimicry, soil fertility and water management, as well as workshops and talks on composting, food forests, perennial crops, habitat design, natural building and more.

Permies are a tightly knit network and tend to share high spirits when they converge, because they share profound beliefs and hopes, goals and values—and they love to celebrate.

If you’d like to learn more about permaculture, the following programs also are offered in Santa Cruz County: Cabrillo College: Contractor/landscaper Ken Foster teaches Edible Landscaping as well as a full permaculture design curriculum, with an emphasis on urban homesteads, urban farms and farm gardens. cabrillo.edu Vital Cycles Permaculture: Anne Freiwald and Lydia Neilsen offer a woman-centered approach to permaculture, usually taught on a small local farm. They teach the whole permaculture curriculum, but specialize in watersheds and water management, as well as composting and human and environmental health. vitalcyclespermaculture.com

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The Permaculture Flower chart (top left) was created by one of the founders of the movement, David Holmgren, in Australia.

Other photos show scenes from the north coast farm in winter, spring and summer.

It’s the perfect setting for utopia, right on Highway 1 between the cute tiny towns of Davenport and Pescadero. It’s also right across the highway from iconic Año Nuevo State Park, where elephant seals go to frolic, sleep—and mate. It’s near Costanoa Lodge, as well as Pie Ranch, which is a regenerative teaching farm for school kids. Pie Ranch has a farmstand full of culinary goodies that’s hard to drive by without stopping. No doubt, there’s a lot to see and do on this part of the coast.

Since signing a 30-year lease for the farm, Shaw and his crew and students have worked to transition it into a regenerative, no-till, mixed vegetable, fruit, flower, herb and agroforestry operation. The goal, says Shaw, is to push the limits of regenerative agriculture to increase biodiversity, resilience and community.

“We’re tending to the ancient oaks, buckeye and bay trees originally tended by the Quiroste people for thousands of years. We’re also designing a large watershed restoration, and agroforestry and animal integration projects,” says Shaw. “They will, in turn, serve as inspira-

tion for others and we look forward to stewarding this land in a way that conserves and regenerates the living soil food web.”

Santa Cruz Permaculture farm’s first full growing season was a fruitful one, due in part to a $120,000 grant for land and water improvement, from the Resource Conservation District. Flowers have been planted to attract beneficial insects, a watercourse was built and watershed restoration has been implemented through the revegetation of riparian corridors. Shaw eventually plans to rotate livestock through fields using a low impact grazing method from Portugal and Spain, known as silvopasture.

While the farm is in the process of receiving its organic certification, Shaw says he and his team use “beyond organic” methods such as cover cropping, compost application and rainwater harvesting.

The rich alluvial soil and coastal climate allow cool weather crops like peas and broccoli to grow year-round. There are also seasonal crops like tomatoes, pole beans, strawberries and a variety of caneberries including olallieberries, tayberries and blackberries, cut and edible flowers, culinary and medicinal herbs, and prepared foods like jam and medicinal herb teas. There are plans to expand cultivation to include more perennial flowers, willow for baskets and living structures, elderberry and other medicinal herbs and Kernza, the world’s first perennial grain. (See story on page 80) For SCP’s marketing and communications consultant Leah Stern, the farm and courses benefit the teachers as much as the pupils. “One thing we’ve loved about starting a permaculture farm is that our students aren’t walking into the finished product, and maybe wondering how they can ever get there,” she says. “They’re right there with us, designing from the ground up, observing and redesigning, which is such an important learning process.”

Jillian Steinberger-Foster is a regenerative landscape gardener and designer.

She is co-owner of Terra Nova Ecological Landscaping with her husband, contractor Ken Foster. They have a thriving homestead on the Westside of Santa Cruz and three active rescue dogs.

CERTIFIED ORGANIC

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A view of Birdsong Orchards as the fruit trees begin to bloom.

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EDIBLE D.I.Y.

ORCHARD

Dreams

For an intimate exchange with nature, take to the forest or plant your own STORY AND PHOTO BY NADINE SCHAEFFER

P

lanting trees is an ancient exercise in hope and imagination. Baby bare root saplings arrive as thin little sticks, a few feet tall with sparse and scraggly roots—no leaves or branches, almost no signs of life at all. It’s difficult to believe in their future from such humble beginnings. Yet trees are a reminder of a different way to approach time, an older temporal awareness that predates clocks, calendars and online scheduling.

Most of the trees we see in forests were born before us. The trees we plant now are a hope and a prayer for a future we will never see.

Ten years ago, I dreamed an orchard into existence, and now I walk amid its verdant embrace daily. At the time, I felt overwhelmed with climate grief, the wildfires and rising seas, the extinction of entire species and the trajectory of humanity—it all broke my heart daily. I didn’t know what to do as just one human, but I had to do something. So, I decided to plant some trees, a little forest of my own and I chose to focus on fruit trees. I wanted to symbolically replace the orchards of the Santa Clara Valley that were cut down for development, when the name and focus of the region changed to Silicon Valley.

Almost 30 years ago, I arrived in the Bay Area and worked for a new and novel company at the time, called Netscape. I never felt quite comfortable in that squat ugly box of an office, occupied by workers staring at smaller boxes. Yet, behind the nondescript building was one of the last lush Blenheim apricot orchards from the previous era. I would sneak out there in between meetings to cool my mind amid the trees, and if the season was right, stuff my mouth with golden spheres of sublime apricot ambrosia. Those trees planted a seed of an idea, and two decades later, that tendril of thought eventually led me to an old, neglected farm property in the Pajaro Valley.

There wasn’t much here when we came to this area. The hillside was brown, parched and baked into cracked clay pan. Sometime during the last century, farmers lived here and a few of the trees they planted still thrived, despite decades of neglect. Three Blenheim apricots,

two Bartlett pears, one English walnut and one Newtown pippin apple tree whispered to me, “This land has potential, the sun is bright, the evenings cool, and the water tickles our roots.” The house had electrical problems, plumbing problems, all sorts of problems. The barns were packed to the rafters with trash. But I listened to the trees, and they spoke to me with greater truth than did the real estate agents.

I grew up in the Midwest and so did my partner. A big chunk of my childhood was spent on a 500-acre conventional corn farm in Indiana—which, to be clear, in no way prepared me for operating a mixed fruit orchard in California. But my upbringing did instill a desire to work outdoors, to grow good food. At the same time, I knew that a monoculture conventional farm would bore me and not do much for the environment, either. So, what to do with these eight acres, full of nothing but possibility? I decided to plant as many different fruit tree varieties as possible, and so we did.

Plant pears for your heirs, they say, our forgotten pastoral ancestors. A single pear tree will produce 100 pounds of fruit or more every year, for centuries. What an investment, what ROI! So, I planted some pears, 20 different varieties, 40 trees in all.

Apples, peaches, plums, apricots, walnuts, persimmons, figs, pomegranates, citrus soon followed. I scoured online catalogs, interrogated local experts for their favorite varieties, and ordered the first 300 trees from 150 fruit varieties in blissful ignorance.

With the help of many hands, I took a barren hillside and changed it into a teeming ecosystem, one with flowers, fruit, birds, bees and other pollinators. The mammals followed: cottontails and their larger jackrabbit cousins, coyotes and the occasional native weasels. Now, raptors soar overhead, joined by hawks and vultures, rarer kestrels and occasionally a golden eagle or two, for this is truly the valley of birds.

We put up owl boxes to control gophers and squirrels. The owls heard my invitation, and they are here, hooting and shrieking throughout the night, leaving only the pelleted remains of rodents as evidence.

Behind the nondescript building was one of the last lush Blenheim apricot orchards from the previous era.

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I used to love living in cities and visiting other cities, to see the world and its endless delights in a constant rush of movement. Now, I rarely want to leave these eight acres because they contain a universe of fascination to me. Time is change, and trees are the record. What is a tree if not the perfect embodiment of fractal growth? Starting as a straight and narrow line, then exploding forth into unique expressions of tangled complexity: branch, stem, bud, leaf, flower and, finally, fruit.

Engaging in the health of a tree means engaging in the health of everything, the soil and ecosystem, but also the health of the orchardist— mind, body and soul, and the surrounding human community as well.

The mulch we use comes from local tree companies I beg for wood chips, and the compost is from a horse farm up the hill. By using these inputs, I divert materials from going to the landfill, but also, meet my neighbors.

Though I am introverted by nature and do not easily accept help, farming requires many hands, and those hands have come here mostly unbidden, but, oh, so welcomed. Volunteers have written in, shown up, harvested and become a vital part of this place. Where there was nothing, now there is a community as well as a forest. The cultivation of food is so exquisitely integral to humans. To work in the soil, to idly chatter over the planting of tender starts, to gather and share the abundance is part of what made us human millennia ago.

Trees, however, can be plagued by a host of woes. Insects, birds and rodents I expected, but fungal and bacterial diseases, not so much. A few trees died, and I mourned, but I also learned from them while I planted their replacements.

More trees got sick and recovered, with or without my help. Many of these fungal and bacterial woes can coexist with their arboreal hosts, waxing and waning with the seasons. I learned that some things don’t need to be fought, only acknowledged.

I may yell at the birds and curse the insects in the moment, but I know we are all part of the same weft and warp of life, and I do not begrudge them a tithe. If the entire harvest is at risk, I escalate to nets to keep the birds away and wage predatory insect warfare too. I do get a fiendish joy from releasing a giant bag of bugs destined to devour other bugs. I am not pure, for death is surely part of life, never to be denied.

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HOW TO PLANT A YOUNG TREE Winter is the time to plant trees in the Mediterranean climate of the Monterey Bay. When the branches are sleeping and the leaves are gone, the roots will grow a riotous web under the soil.

Young trees are babies, and they need the attention demanded by all young things to get going. They require six to eight hours of bright light every day and must be watered regularly; in the dry season, a mature fruit tree requires 10–15 gallons of water a week. Trees require food as well. If fed with a good organic tree fertilizer once or twice a year, in a few years they will feed you, too.

HOW TO CARE FOR AN OLD TREE Some residual old, neglected and suffering fruit trees remained when I moved to this land, and they require a different kind of care. Examine and sit with them for a while to see where they suffer, where they grow. Look for what is dead or diseased among their branches. Remove what you can, for it will lighten their load.

Then, give them water, food, some mulch and time.

Most days, I spend at least some time caring for my trees, and in return they gift me with the sweetest fruits and the intangible gifts of fresh oxygen and carbon sequestration as well. They have taught me patience, brought me friends, woven my place into the community and the intricate web of life that is the pulse of the planet.

Ten years ago, I dreamed a forest into existence, and now it sustains me and those I love, along with a billion other life forms I don’t know by name. It wasn’t easy, substantiating this dream, but it wasn’t that hard either. The trees have utterly changed this landscape, but they have transformed me as well.

Nadine Schaeffer is a farmer, artist, grower of odd fruits, lover of all roses, lapsed linguist, embarrassed epicurean and inadvertent menagerie keeper living on California’s Central Coast. Birdsong Orchards is her farm in the Pajaro Valley, where she grows over 200 varieties of fruit trees and 1,000-plus roses.

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Go to www.contemplation.com to learn more.

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SHOPPER’S CORNER LOCATED ON THE CORNER OF BRANCIFORTE & SOQUEL IN SANTA CRUZ OPEN DAILY 6AM-9PM • SHOPPERSCORNER.COM • 831-423-1398 68 edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

PLACE YOUR HOLIDAY ORDERS TODAY. NO ORDER IS TOO BIG OR TOO SMALL!!

Dine Local GUIDE

Caramelized sea scallops with fresh, seasonal vegetables are part of the bistro-style menu of the Spotted Duck in Pacific Grove.

All of these restaurants emphasize local ingredients and they also advertise in Edible Monterey Bay! so please check online before you go and tell them we sent you.

Photo: Margaux Gibbons

APTOS

CAPITOLA

Persephone 7945 Soquel Drive 831.612.6511 • persephonerestaurant.com With a namesake like the mythic Persephone, this restaurant in Aptos proclaims its deep reverence for seasonal cooking. Themes central to harvest, winter and spring are core to Persephone’s story, and are reflected in the changing menu at this fine dining destination, where chef Cori Goudge-Ayer presents inventive, ingredient-driven creations. The restaurant is a family-run passion project, bringing together parents, siblings and a long history of culinary arts in a beautifully redesigned space overlooking Aptos Creek. Open for dinner W–Sa 5–8:30pm. Fourth Sundays, Winemaker Dinner with five-course pairing menu.

Capitola Wine Bar and Merchants 115 San Jose Avenue 831.476.2282 • capitolawinebar.com Where the wines meet the waves, Capitola Wine Bar can be found in the seaside village of Capitola and offers small batch wines hand selected by its team of certified sommeliers. Wines from all over the world are available, by the glass, bottle or flight, along with local beers and a great kitchen. Events are always happening like Live Music, Paint Nights, Trivia Nights, Wine Blending and more. Don't miss the dog-friendly patio and the $7 happy hour Tu–Th 5–7pm. Open Tu–Th 3–9pm and F–Sa noon-10pm.

New Leaf Community Markets 161 Aptos Village Way 831.685.8500 • newleaf.com This latest branch of the beloved local market group occupies the remodeled Hihn Apple Barn, built in 1891. In addition to local groceries and organic produce, New Leaf Aptos has made-to-order sandwiches, pizza, freshly rolled sushi, soup and hand-prepped salads, as well as a coffee bar, juice and smoothie bar and organic Straus soft serve ice cream.

Open daily 8am–9pm.

The Penny Ice Creamery 141 Aptos Village Way, Suite 2 831.204.2523 • thepennyicecreamery.com Open Su–Th noon–9pm, F–Sa noon–10pm. See The Penny description under Santa Cruz for more.

Seascape Foods 16B Seascape Village • 831.685.3134 A charming family-owned market with an ample deli counter featuring daily chef specials, salads, breakfast items, freshly squeezed juices and sandwiches on housemade organic sourdough bread. The grocery section includes organic produce, artisanal products, local beer and wine, and gifts. Eat outside next to the fountain on the patio or take your goodies to the beach nearby. Open daily 8am–8pm.

East End Gastropub 1501 41st Avenue 831.475.8010 • eastendpub.com East End Gastropub is a sister eatery to the popular West End Tap & Kitchen, but aside from sharing owners and chefs, East End’s beautiful, modern interior is entirely different and offers its own robust, sophisticated menu. Chef Geoffrey Hargrave has created dishes that are familiar yet innovative, such as house-made focaccia bread, fried chicken bao buns and fire roasted shrimp. Shared plates, pizzas and salads come in generous portions for a family-style meal. The restaurant also offers a rotating selection of local beer, a strong wine list and seasonal craft cocktails. Open M–Th 4–9pm, F noon–9pm, Sa-Su 11am–3pm for brunch, and 4–9pm.

New Leaf Community Markets 1210 41st Avenue 831.479.7987 • newleaf.com The café at the entrance offers great alternatives to fast food, serving economical daily specials, wraps, pizza and homemade soup and espresso drinks—with free wi-fi in the outdoor dining area. Inside the market, a full deli has made-toorder sandwiches, healthy takeout salads and entrée items.

Open daily 8am–9pm.

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The Penny Ice Creamery 820 41st Avenue 831.204.2523 • thepennyicecreamery.com Open Su–Th noon–10pm, F–Sa noon–11pm. See The Penny description under Santa Cruz for more.

Trestles 316 Capitola Avenue 831.854.2728 • trestlesrestaurant.com Just steps away from the iconic Capitola train trestle, chefowner Nick Sherman’s passion for great food is evident in every dish at his popular neighborhood bistro. Local seasonal ingredients star in appetizers like chicory salad, roasted fairytale pumpkin with goat cheese and mole negro, Brentwood street corn and crispy pork belly with watermelon radish. Entrées include smoked eggplant gnocchi, Niman Ranch pork chop and fresh fish—all served with local wines and craft beers on tap. Open W–F 5–9:30pm, Sa–Su 4:30–9:30pm.

CARMEL Covey Grill 8205 Valley Greens Drive 831.620.8860 • quaillodge.com/dining/coveygrill Covey Grill at Quail Lodge features USDA steaks and sustainably sourced seafood complimented by unique plantbased offerings in addition to seasonal American cuisine.

Covey Grill offers casually elegant indoor and outdoor dining options against the stunning backdrop of Quail’s sparkling lake and lush garden landscapes. Open for full dinner service Mon–Sun 5–9pm, with bar opening at 4pm.

Earthbound Farm’s Farm Stand 7250 Carmel Valley Road 831.625.6219 • earthboundfarm.com Earthbound Farm’s 100% certified organic kitchen delights with specialty coffee and tea, soft serve ice cream and a made to order breakfast and lunch menu—including soups, sandwiches, salads, baked goods, fresh juices and smoothies. Food is available to be enjoyed on the beautiful grounds or for takeaway. In addition to certified organic produce, the Farm Stand offers a selection of natural, organic, local beer and wine, groceries, gifts and flowers. Stroll through the gardens and learn about Earthbound’s commitment to organic integrity. Open daily, but check hours online as they change seasonally.

Grasing’s 6th Avenue and Mission 831.624.6562 • grasings.com Chef-proprietor Kurt Grasing’s namesake restaurant has expanded since opening in 1998 to include two large dining rooms, multiple outdoor dining areas and the ever-popular bar/lounge. A Carmel classic located in the heart of the village, Grasing’s serves California cuisine, with an awardwinning wine list and a vintage spirits program featuring classic cocktails made with rare Mad Men-era gins, whiskeys, Camparis and amaros. Open daily M–F 11am–9pm, Sa–Su 10:30am–9pm.

Sea Harvest Fish Market & Restaurant 100 Crossroads Boulevard, Suite A 831.626.3626 • seaharvestfishmarketandrestaurant.com The Deyerle family that owns this local gem has its own fishing boats for the freshest catch on the Monterey Peninsula.

Sea Harvest doubles as a fish market and casual restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating. The oysters and clam chowder are customer favorites, but don’t miss the fried combo platter, grilled fillets and fish tacos. Open daily 8am–8pm.

Stationaery San Carlos Square, Between 5th and 6th avenues 831.250.7183 • thestationaery.com A neighborhood restaurant offering daily brunch and lunch, Stationaery is owned by your hospitable hosts Anthony and Alissa Carnazzo. The kitchen team, led by chef

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Amalia Scatena, specializes in comforting flavors and local ingredients, with elegant presentations. A new bottle shop next door offers a good selection of European and California wines to enjoy with your meal or take home. Brunch daily 8am–3pm. Dinner Th–Sa 5:30–9pm.

CARMEL VALLEY Jerome’s Carmel Valley Market 2 Chambers Lane 831.659.2472 • jeromescarmelvalleymarket.com A chef-owned, friendly neighborhood market, Jerome’s offers local and organic produce, natural meats and seafood, and a great selection of domestic and imported wine, beer and microbrews. French-trained chef and owner Jerome Viel prepares delicious hot foods, sandwiches and salads for eating at outdoor seating or take-away. The offerings start with breakfast burritos, croissants and other French pastries in the morning, followed by favorites such as coq au vin, spaghetti carbonara and chicken enchiladas for lunch and dinner. Open M–Sa 7am–7pm, Su 7am–6pm.

JUST 2 SONGS NORTH OF SANTA CRUZ ON HWY 1 OCEAN VIEW DINING FREE LIVE MUSIC ONLINE ORDERING $5 WEEKDAY SPECIALS FULL BAR & COCKTAILS LOCAL ARTIST MERCANTILE NEWLY REMODELED INN ROOMS WWW.DAVENPORTROADHOUSE.COM

Lucia Restaurant & Bar Bernardus Lodge & Spa • 415 W. Carmel Valley Road 831.658.3400 • bernarduslodge.com Indulge in artisanal California country cuisine, award-winning wines and an expansive heated outdoor terrace with the finest restaurant view in Carmel Valley. At this Forbes 4-Star charmer, named for the Santa Lucia mountain range and wine appellation that beckons to the south, executive chef Christian Ojeda offers both a signature tasting menu and dishes à la carte. Wine list is equally notable. A chef’s table and wine cellar are also available for private dining and special occasions. Open daily 7am–9pm. Live music Tu–W 5–8pm. Saturday and Sunday brunch with live music 11am–2:30pm.

Sunny Bakery Cafe 18 E. Carmel Valley Road 831.659.5052 • instagram.com/sunnybakerycafe Friendly local café offering homemade pastries, espresso drinks and light fare. Warm, welcoming service and a great array of treats made daily on site with wholesome ingredients that honor the seasons. Owner Analuisa Bejar heads the locally-minded kitchen with favorites like egg sandwiches, quiches, panini, frittatas, and irresistible BLTs. Buttery pastries, cookies, cinnamon rolls, muffins and cakes round out the list. Open W–M 7am–1pm.

Delicious Poured Daily

CA RMEL TA STING ROO M SAN CARLOS & 7TH 831.626.WINE (9463)

DAVENPORT Davenport Roadhouse 1 Davenport Avenue 831.426.8801 • davenportroadhouse.com The iconic Highway 1 waystation cultivates a range of reasons to linger longer, starting with a wide menu starring rib-sticking plates like giddyup garlic bread, wings, fried pickles, salads and wraps, pizzas, burgers, steaks and a fisherman’s stew. Extensive dog-friendly outdoor patio seating (and doggie dishes); midweek specials like Taco Tuesday, Trivia Wednesday and Thursty Thursday with tons of $5 deals; and live music Friday through Sunday too. Open M 11am–4pm, Tu–Th 11am–8pm, F 11am–9pm, Sa–Su 9:30am–9pm.

FELTON The Grove Cafe and Bakery 6249 Highway 9 831.704.7483 • thegrovefelton.com Chef Jessica Yarr’s community-focused café serves breakfast and lunch dishes brimming with bright flavors and local, seasonal produce. A variety of breads—sourdough, mountain rye and Japanese milk bread—are made in-house and star in dishes like the mushroom magic toast with roasted shiitake and oyster mushrooms, and goat cheese, or the signature smoked beet Reuben sandwich. Breakfast bowls,

scheidvineyards.com

ESTATE WINERY & TASTING ROOM 1972 HOBSON AVE., GREENFIELD 831.386.0316

SV 50th Cheers Logo with Large Type (Reverse Version)

FROM PURE INGREDIENTS TO PURE ARTISTRY

BERNARDUSLODGE.COM

(831) 658-3400

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hearty salads and 11th Hour Coffee drinks round out the menu. Open Tu–Th 8am–4pm, F–Sa 8am–6pm, and Sunday brunch 8am–3pm.

Wild Roots Market 6240 Highway 9 • 831.335.7322 (Felton) 13159 Highway 9 • 831.338.7211 (Boulder Creek) wildrootsmarket.com Wild Roots’ 100% organic produce, natural groceries, organic meats and FishWise-certified seafood all go into the prepared foods offered by the store’s full-service deli, salad and soup bar and juice bar. Enjoy on the patio out in front or take home. Open daily 9am–9pm.

MONTEREY Ad Astra Bread Co. 479 Alvarado Street adastrabread.com Come for the legendary all-organic sourdough—Seaside sourdough, olive sourdough or seeded sourdough—slowfermented in a two-day process. (Or the focaccia, or French baguette.) Stay for the big-city coffee and creative sweet treats, while enjoying the spirited and youthful service and watching the Ad Astra elves through the tall glass wall separating the cafe and production area. Open M–Su 7am– 5pm.

334 D INGALLS STREET WEST SIDE SANTA CRUZ WESTENDTAP.COM

1501 41ST AVENUE CAPITOLA EASTENDPUB.COM

the C restaurant + bar 750 Cannery Row 831.375.4500 • thecrestaurant-monterey.com Step into the C Restaurant and the bustle of Cannery Row will seem like a world away. Elegant yet relaxed, a stunning renovation opens up ocean views through the C’s floor-to-ceiling windows and oceanside deck. Executive chef Matt Bolton provides equally gorgeous food imaginatively prepared from sustainably sourced seafood, meats and produce. Pastries and breads from Food Network baking contestant Michelle Lee are superb, and creative craft cocktails are sure to please. Open daily for breakfast M–F 7–11am, Sa–Su 7–11:30am; for dinner Su–Th 5–9pm, F– Sa 5–10pm. The C bar opens at 4 pm daily, with Happy Hour M–Th 4–6 pm.

Coastal Kitchen 400 Cannery Row 831.645.4064 • coastalkitchenmonterey.com Executive chef Michael Rotondo’s tasting menu at Monterey Plaza Hotel’s flagship restaurant represents one of the most habit-forming in the region, but there’s a lot more to recommend this spot. Sweeping views of the Pacific await from each seat, all on top of the water. Local delicacies receive elevated treatments: tempura artichoke with black button sage honey, wood-roasted black cod with shishito, squash blossom and charred coconut jus, and king salmon with raspberry, aromatic herbs and seasonal tomatoes— paired with hand-picked top-shelf wines. It’s a place well worth the splurge. Open Tu–Sa 5:30–8:30pm.

Estéban Restaurant 700 Munras Avenue 831.375.0176 • estebanrestaurant.com At the heart of the downtown Monterey dining scene, Estéban Restaurant serves Spanish influenced cuisine made from local, seasonal ingredients, which can be enjoyed on a new Mediterranean garden patio. The menu features a selection of long-time Estéban favorites, as well as new dishes created by executive chef Ben Hillan, like Vieiras con Jamón (seared scallops with Serrano ham) and Mejillones y Almejas (mussels and clams with chorizo and saffron/ achiote broth). Open for dinner Su–Th 4:30–8:30pm, F– Sa 4:30–9pm. Brunch Sa–Su 10am–2pm Tapas hour from 4:30–6pm daily.

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Jacks Monterey 2 Portola Plaza 831.649.7830 • jacksatportola.com Jacks Monterey provides a refreshing culinary experience in downtown Monterey, inside the Portola Hotel & Spa. Emphasizing local ingredients, high-quality seafood, and an award-winning wine and cocktail program, Jacks philosophy derives from globally-inspired traditions of California Cultural Cuisine. The atmosphere at Jacks is sophisticated— never pretentious. Open daily for breakfast 6:30–10:30am, dinner 4–10pm, and bar only F-Sa 10–11pm.

Peter B’s Brewpub 2 Portola Plaza 831.649.2699 • peterbsbrewpub.com Peter B’s Brewpub combines award-winning craft beer and sports on 18 high-definition televisions in a relaxed brewpub environment. Monterey’s original craft brewery is distinguished for its variety of beer on tap, innovative pub menu, happy hour, sports bar atmosphere, and outdoor dining on the pet-friendly heated patio with fire pits. Peter B’s is open Wednesday-Sunday with nightly happy hour from 4–6pm, as well as late night happy hour 9–10pm. Open W-Su 4–10pm. Sunday breakfast and football 9:30–11am from September to January.

Schooners Monterey 400 Cannery Row 831.372.2628 • schoonersmonterey.com Residents regularly vote Schooners Best Drink With a View, and they’re not wrong. The eye candy rolls from the waves crashing on the tidal zone below to Seaside and Santa Cruz beyond, and the sippers are memorable. But that’s only part of the program. The seafood-centric menu ups the atmospheric effect with contemporary takes on a Monterey cioppino pot, seared sea scallops, Dungeness crab dip and Thai-style steamed mussels. Specialty cocktails, organic fresh-pressed juices and curated small batch beers and wine complete the affair. Open 7am–9pm daily.

Sea Harvest Restaurant & Fish Market 598 Foam Street 831.626.0547 • seaharvestmonterey.com This fresh and casual seafood spot near Cannery Row is perfect after a day exploring the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

There are grilled entrées and lots of fried options with chips, including calamari, clams, prawns, scallops and oysters. Try Sea Harvest’s popular clam chowder or a basket of crispy artichoke hearts. Open daily 9am–7pm.

Stokes Adobe 500 Hartnell Street 831.264.8775 • stokesadobe.com Located in one of Old Monterey’s historic adobe homes, now beautifully restored, Stokes Adobe offers fresh pastas made in house, truffle chicken and shareable appetizer plates. The bar and cozy outdoor fire pits feature seasonally inspired classic cocktails, and a selection of quality wines by the glass and local beer. Friendly, welcoming staff make sure your visit feels like coming home. Open Th–Tu for happy hour 4–5:30pm and dinner 5–9pm.

Drink well.

Live well.

Stockwell .

Tasting Room open Thursday-Sunday www.stockwellcellars.com | (831) 818.9075

Santa Cruz Urban Winery

How can you Tasting competeroom with the big Tguys?

It is very simple. open ursday-Sunday

We are not competing! We’re different.

www.stockwellcellars.com 831.818.9075

At Star Market you will find the freshest, best tasting and finest selection of groceries in the Monterey Bay area.

Please visit starmkt.com for Delivery or Pick-up.

1275 S. Main Street, Salinas • 831-422-3961

Tidal Coffee 400 Cannery Row 831.645.4030 • tidalcoffeemonterey.com Thoughtful coffee blends with organic beans headline here, but picnic-lunch goodies and house-made sandwiches also come recommended. Monkey bread, maple scones and almond croissants feature in early, followed by soups, salads and panini like the roast beef with horseradish aioli, grilled onion, slices tomatoes, smoked mozzarella and pickled peppers. The coffee shop aesthetic is cute, but the adjacent decks overlooking Monterey Bay present a superior spot to spoon a fig-mascarpone or vegan chocolate-hazelnut gelato with a fresh cortado. Open Tu–Th 6am–noon, F–M 6am–4pm.

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Wild Plum Café & Bakery 731 Munras Avenue 831.646.3109 • thewildplumcafe.com Located in Old Monterey in a vibrant and diverse neighborhood, Wild Plum draws people from all walks of life with sustainable bistro fare that uses organic, locally sourced produce, hormone-free Diestel turkeys roasted on site, grass-fed beef and house-baked bread and pastries. Breakfasts include scrambles, omelets, and breakfast tacos and burritos, and for lunch, choose among soups, salads, sandwiches and paninis, burgers and house specialties. Food to go and catering available. Open W–M 7:30am–3:30pm, Tu closed.

MOSS LANDING Sea Harvest 2420 Highway 1 831.728.7081 • @seaharvestmosslanding Outdoor tables on a wooden deck overlooking Elkhorn Slough are the perfect place to enjoy fresh seafood hauled in by a fisherman who is part of the Deyerle family that runs the restaurant. Choose from grilled catch of the day, shrimp Louie, fish and chips or some of the best Baja-style battered fish tacos around. Open daily 11am–7pm.

Woodward Marine Market 10932 Clam Way 831.632.0857 • woodwardmarinemarket.com Moss Landing, population a few dozen, enjoys an outsized amount of beaches, marine research institutes and, thankfully, eateries. Its newest ranks among the most inviting. WMM occupies a historic location at the Moss Landing Harbor fuel dock that delivers place-appropriate fuel for the eager eater. Clam chowder, crispy artichokes and Monterey Bay calamari lead the way on the appetizer front. A pair of salads offers roughage with style. Plates and bowls round out the menu—think bouillabaisse, fish and chips, Woodward burger, artichoke-prosciutto sandwiches and seared fish tacos. Local wines and Prosecco available, as well as local craft beer, including Alvarado Street, Other Brother, Fruition and Corralitos brewing.

Wood-fired pizza coming soon. F–Su. Open Tu–Sa 11:30am–6pm, Su 11:30am–4pm.

PACIFIC GROVE

A Perfect Place For FoOd, Wine, Friends! on the beach in santa cruz

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Julia’s Vegetarian 1180 Forest Avenue, Suite F 831.656.9533 • juliasveg.com Voted the best vegetarian restaurant on the Monterey Peninsula for more than 10 years running, Julia’s is known for its wild and exotic mushrooms and house-brewed kombuchas on tap. The menu features a creative twist on vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free food. Try some of the most popular dishes like the fried “egg and bacon” sandwich, exotic mushroom sampler and buffalo cauliflower wings.

Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

SPOTTED DUCK

RESTAURANT

Spotted Duck 542 Lighthouse Avenue 831.920.2662 • spottedduckpg.com Spotted Duck represents a dream come true for Chef Jerry Regester, who’s been working his whole career for this moment, and a revelation for eaters. He does approachable cuisine with seasonal sourcing and comfort food instincts—think seared duck breast with green tomato and ginger jam, drunken octopus with preserved black bean honey sauce, and caramelized sea scallops with porcini mushroom blanquette. Located in the historic Holman Building in downtown Pacific Grove, Spotted Duck is an unpretentious, welcoming restaurant using quality ingredients and great technique. A new weekend brunch widens the possibilities. Open Th–M 5–8pm.

Wild Fish 545 Lighthouse Avenue 831.373.8523 • wild-fish.com Owners Liz and Kelvin Jacobs welcome you to feast on the bounty of nearby waters and farms at their 100% local and organic seafood restaurant, enjoying exquisite dishes like crispy sablefish, halibut and petrale sole, accompanied by local vegetables. Chef Melissa Kacos also prepares fresh oysters, innovative salads, house-baked bread and sides like fingerling potatoes with poppyseed crème fraîche or baby carrots with wild nettle pesto, that make this a dining destination. Did we mention English sticky toffee pudding for dessert? Open Su–Th 11:30am– 3pm and 5–9pm, F–Sa 11:30am–3pm and 5–9:30pm.

B R E W E RY A N D TA P RO O M

SAN JUAN BAUTISTA Inaka Japanese Restaurant 313 Third Street 831.593.5100 • facebook.com Beloved by locals, Inaka has a vast menu of Japanese appetizers, soups, salads, tempura, teriyaki and noodle bowls, but most people come for the sushi. Try the San Juan roll with spicy tuna, cucumber and tempura crumbs topped with maguro, hamachi and avocado. There is also a wide selection of vegetarian rolls and a dozen different sakes, some brewed locally in San Benito County. Open W–Su 4–8pm.

Lolla 201 Third Street 831.593.5064 • lollasjb.com Owner Sarah Griss has created a soup, salad and sandwich luncheonette in an adobe building right across the street from San Juan Bautista Historic Park. Lolla sources healthy food from local farms and food producers, giving customers a quick and convenient way to eat locally, seasonally and deliciously. Daily special soups are not to be missed. Open W–Su 11am–3pm.

Margot’s Ice Cream Parlor 211 Third Street 831.623.9262 • margotsicecreamparlor.com Bringing smiles to the people of San Juan Bautista for 25 years, Margot’s was originally opened as a retail outlet for wonderful handmade candies, including chocolatedipped apricots, almond butter crunch, marshmallows, oreos, grahams and pretzels, as well as 10 flavors of chocolate truffles. In addition, it offers 28 flavors of Lappert’s ice cream, espresso drinks and Dole pineapple whip.

Open M–Th 11am–7pm, F–Su 11am–8pm.

Vertigo Coffee Roasters 81 Fourth Street 831.623.9533 • vertigocoffee.com Artisanal coffee roasted on site as well as fresh pastries baked in-house, brunch items, local craft beers and wines, plus wood-fired pizzas with naturally leavened, twice fermented sourdough crust have made Vertigo a locals’ favorite as well as a great find for visitors en route to the San Juan Mission, Pinnacles or other area attractions. Check website for current hours.

Windmill Market 301 The Alameda 831.623.2956 San Juan’s friendly neighborhood grocer has everything you need for a picnic or quick meal, with ample outdoor tables and booths around the windmill. A full-service deli counter and taquería offers made-to-order sandwiches and Mexican specialties like tortas, burritos, tamales and combo plates.

There is also a salad bar, a hot bar and plenty of grab-and-go items. Open daily 6am–9pm.

GOOD FOOD, NATURAL WINE, LIVE MUSIC, GREAT BEER

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SANTA CRUZ

r Seabright, Housemade pasta fo . e world since 2006 Santa Cruz and th 538 Seabright Ave | 831-457-2782 lapostarestaurant.com Wednesday through Sunday, we open at 5pm.

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Barceloneta 1541 Pacific Avenue, Suite B 831.900.5222 • eatbarceloneta.com With its cheerful beach stripes, wicker light fixtures and whimsical details, dinner at Barceloneta can feel like a holiday. Owned by chef Brett Emerson and his wife Elan, who ensures service is superb, Barceloneta offers Spanish tapas made with seasonal, farmers’ market produce and several types of authentic paella, along with Spanish wines, beers and cocktails. Open Tu–Sa 5–8:30pm.

Closed Su–M. Bookie’s Pizza 1315 Water Street bookiespizza.com Located inside the Santa Cruz outpost of Sante Adairius Rustic Ales, Bookie’s Pizza is owned by fine dining veteran chef Todd Parker and offers “inauthentic” Detroit-style square pies. Each pizza is made using the best seasonal ingredients from local farms, fishermen and foragers.

Dough is made with organic flour, naturally leavened for 48 hours, and each pizza comes with its own unique sauce.

Open Su–Th noon–9pm. F–Sa noon–10pm.

Charlie Hong Kong 1141 Soquel Avenue 831.426.5664 • charliehongkong.com Charlie Hong Kong has been providing the Santa Cruz community with healthy, sustainable, affordable and high-quality food since 1998. The colorful, casual eatery’s delicious fusion of Southeast Asian influences and the Central Coast’s local organic produce have made it an inclusive, family-friendly, neighborhood favorite. Its slogan is “love your body, eat organic,” and its cuisine is proof that fast food can be good for you. All signature dishes are vegan with the option to add meat or fish. Gluten-free options are available. Dog friendly. Open daily 11am–10pm.

Chocolate 1522 Pacific Avenue 831.427.9900 • chocolatesantacruz.com As its name suggests, there are all kinds of decadent chocolate desserts and cocktails at Chocolate the restaurant, but this farm-to-fork local favorite is much more than a dessert spot. Everything is prepared simply and with local organic ingredients whenever possible.

Open in downtown Santa Cruz since 1999, options include three kinds of chicken mole and their signature Pasta Rosettes. Many entrées and desserts are gluten free!

Cocktails feature Santa Cruz-based distilleries, including Venus Spirits. Check out their extensive cocktkail menu. A party room for your special celebration is available, with seating and menu options to suit the occasion.

Open nightly 5–9pm. Lunch Sa–Su noon–4:30pm.

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Crow’s Nest 2218 E. Cliff Drive 831.476.4560 • crowsnest-santacruz.com A perfect spot to enjoy breakfast and lunch or catch a dinnertime sunset over the harbor, the nautical-themed Crow’s Nest is a Santa Cruz institution that never goes out of style. There’s always something happening, from live music to comedy nights and happy hours. Famous for its salads, house-smoked salmon and seafood entrées, the Crow’s Nest is a member of Seafood Watch and is a certified green business. Open M–F 9am–8:30pm, Sa–Su 8am–8:30pm.

Gabriella Cafe 910 Cedar Street 831.457.1677 • gabriellacafe.com A charming dining spot inside a Spanish-style bungalow, Gabriella Cafe pioneered farm-to-table cusine in Santa Cruz. Head chef Gema Cruz serves a seasonal CaliforniaItalian menu starring organic produce from local growers

and the nearby farmers market, as well as humanely raised meat and sustainable seafood. There is a candlelit patio and a cozy dining room that showcases the work of local artists. Open for lunch Tu–F 11:30am–2:30pm, dinner Tu–Sa 5–9pm, brunch Sa–Su 10am–2:30pm.

The Grille at DeLaveaga 401 Upper Park Road 831.423.1600 • delaveagagolf.com/dining DeLaveaga earns obsessive attention for its trails, golf and disc golf, and it also enjoys a worthy epicurean program. The grill’s backdrop enhances the experience, with absorbing views, an outdoor patio and deck, welcoming fireplace and well-appointed bar. Food goes continentalCalifornian, local and organic, starring breakfast and lunch dishes like the croissant Benedict, the “Moss Landing-style” breakfast sandwich, the DeLa Black Angus burger and the “wedge shot” Louie salad with crab, bay shrimp or both. Open W–Su 8am–3pm.

Hanloh Thai Food 1011 Cedar Street 831.854.7525 • hanloh.com This community favorite from chef-owner Lalita Kaewsawang offers standout “nostalgic cooking rooted in Thai tradition,” at a residency inside the stylish Bad Animal bookstore. Bright flavors begin with Hatsu oysters with nam jimm dipping sauce and pomelo-grilled shrimp salad tossed with chili jam dressing and Thai herbs. Entrées include lemongrass black cod, claypot pork belly confit and double fried chicken thighs with coriander. That all comes complemented by friendly hospitality and a wide selection of natural wines. Open W–Su 5–9pm.

Laílí 101B Cooper Street 831.423.4545 • lailirestaurant.com Exotic flavors of The Silk Road are served in a stylish dining room decorated in eggplant and pistachio colors and on a hidden candlelit patio. Locals rave about Laílí’s homemade naan served warm from the oven with a selection of Mediterranean dips. There is a wide variety of deliciously spiced vegetable dishes, and all meats are hormone free and free range. Open Tu–Sa 4–8pm.

La Posta 538 Seabright Avenue 831.457.2782 • lapostarestaurant.com A cozy neighborhood bistro not far from the Santa Cruz yacht harbor, La Posta chef Rodrigo Serna prepares traditional rustic Italian cuisine using local ingredients. The emphasis is on simple, seasonal selections, with the balance of the menu reflecting whatever produce is freshest right now. La Posta also offers a great selection of Italian wines and a heated outdoor patio. Open W–Th 5–8:30pm, F–Sa 5–9:30pm, Su 5–8:30pm. Closed M–Tu. New Leaf Community Markets 1134 Pacific Avenue 831.425.1793 • newleaf.com New Leaf ’s headquarters in a former bank building on Pacific Avenue is a worthwhile stop for all foodies.

Crowded with gourmet natural foods, it also has a deli with sandwiches, salads and hot entrées. A dining area out front is great for people watching and listening to street musicians. Open daily 8am–9pm.

New Leaf Community Markets 1101 Fair Avenue 831.426.1306 • newleaf.com The Westside New Leaf has a large deli counter and coffee bar, with a big selection of sandwiches, salads, bakery items, soups and other hot foods. You can eat at an instore counter or at tables outside. Open daily 7am–9pm.

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The Penny Ice Creamery 913 Cedar Street 831.204.2523 • thepennyicecreamery.com Lines out the front door of its converted Spanish bungalow are evidence of Penny’s popularity. All ice cream, including bases, is made from scratch on the premises using local organic ingredients when possible. Dozens of exotic flavors rotate seasonally, but two favorites are chocolate caramel sea salt and strawberry pink peppercorn. Open daily noon–11pm.

Staff of Life 1266 Soquel Avenue 831.423.8632 • staffoflifemarket.com A Santa Cruz landmark, Staff of Life started in 1969 as a small natural foods bakery and has grown over the years into a full service natural foods supermarket known for its local organic produce, seafood and natural meats as well as an extensive bulk department. Deli items and foods from the hot bar can be enjoyed at the Café del Sol. Open daily 8am–9pm.

West End Tap & Kitchen 334D Ingalls Street 831.471.8115 • westendtap.com Perfect for any parent looking for a happy hour to satisfy the whole family, adults and kids alike can’t get enough of the duck fat popcorn, fried calamari and flatbread pizzas. A diverse, season-driven menu with offerings like seasonal fish with garden fresh veggies, house smoked pork belly with cheddar grits and their famous house ground burger. Also featuring a long list of craft beers, ciders and wine options make West End a Westside staple. The outdoor patio is perfect for people watching amidst the bustling Swift Street Courtyard.

Open daily noon–9pm, happy hour M–F 3–5pm.

SPOTTED DUCK

SCOTTS VALLEY

RESTAURANT

The Pizza Series 226E Mt. Hermon Road 831.600.8318 • thepizzaseries.com Chef and world champion pizza thrower Matt Driscoll plans to open his own long-dreamed-about pizzeria in early summer in the spot formerly occupied by Tony & Alba’s, next door to CineLux Scotts Valley. Meanwhile a wide variety of Detroit-style square pies and New York-style round pizzas are available to go Wednesday to Sunday, including cup-n-char pepperoni, sweet heat and BBQ Kauaiian. Open W–Sa noon–8pm, Su noon–7pm.

SEASIDE

Detroit and NY Style Pizzas • NOW OPEN in Scotts Valley

Other Brother Beer Co. 877 Broadway Avenue 831.474.1106 • otherbrotherbeer.com The main attraction here is fresh, delicious beer. However, the brewery’s brand new kitchen inspires a visit on its own.

Not coincidentally, dishes are designed to pair poetically with Other Brother’s house beers. The menu features goodies like: Our signature smashburger, fried chicken sandwich, wings, fries, a hearty smoked BLT, a lovingly-crafted spicy capicola sandwich, creative and refreshing salads and a stunning beet-and-whipped-goat-cheese toast topped with watermelon radish, edible flowers, sea salt and Like Family extra virgin olive oil. Taproom open M–Th 11:30am–9pm, F–Sa 11:30am–10pm, Su 11:30am– 8pm.

WATSONVILLE

TAKE OUT– DINE IN

thepizzaseries.com • 831-600-8318 78

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Staff of Life 906 E. Lake Avenue 831.726.0240 • staffoflifemarket.com Opened in 2021, Staff of Life’s second store in Watsonville is its first and only branch. The store is sustainable down to its bones and includes all the natural groceries, organic produce and includes all the natural groceries, organic produce and baked goods you would find at the Santa Cruz store, along with a juice and smoothie bar, freshly made sushi, a gelato bar, a full deli and a hot bar. Open daily 8am–8pm.

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LAST CALL

BREWING SUSTAINABILITY Peter B’s Brewpub brings a new climate-friendly grain to the Monterey Bay

BY ASHLEY DREW OWEN PHOTOGRAPHY BY MICHAEL TROUTMAN

W

hen brewer Natalie Mika heard about Kernza —a new eco-friendly grain being used for brewing beer—she had to get her hands on some.

Kernza only dates back to the early 2000s.

A cousin of wheat, it was developed by The Land Institute in Kansas as a more climate-friendly option. Unlike traditional brewing grains like barley and wheat, Kernza is a perennial plant—regrowing year after year and preserving soil health and water quality while preventing erosion.

“We need grains that use the least amount of water and keep the soil healthy, because healthy soil is going to sequester carbon and be really good for our environment,” says Mika, who is head brewer at Peter B’s in the Portola Hotel & Spa in Monterey. “With Kernza, once you plant it, it’s going to be there. The roots go 10 feet deep, so you don’t have to re-till, and you can grow cover crops between the rows, which can lead to higher biodiversity.”

Kernza has yet to break into the mainstream, but it has gained some buzz. In 2016, Patagonia teamed up with 11 big-name brewers, like Sierra Nevada and Russian River Brewing, to release beers featuring the eco-grain. One of those collaborations brought Kernza to Mika’s attention.

“I had never heard of it before the GM of our hotel, Janine Chicourrat, handed me a torn-out page from a magazine about Dogfish Head brewing Kernza beer,” says Mika. “She was like, ‘Do you know what this is, Natalie? Can we do something with this?’” The answer was yes.

Mika immediately dove in and released her first batch brewed with Kernza in September 2022, and the latest one this past October.

The current version, named Shrub Light, was brewed to be an easydrinker like Miller High Life. It goes well with sporting events (like Monday Night Football, which is big at Peter B’s), but has a subtle edge thanks to the Kernza flavors melding with hints of barley.

“It’s got beautiful honey notes, and it’s super nutty,” says Mika.

“This batch is an American-style lager, so you’ve got a little bit of flavor and graininess, but it’s also light. This one is only 7 IBUs, so it’s not very bitter…just enough hop flavor to balance the grain. And it’s nice and highly carbonated, so you get a lot of brightness.”

Though Kernza has been challenging to procure, Mika has been fully encouraged by the Portola Hotel, which has long been committed to upholding eco-friendly principles and was the first LEED80

edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023

Brewer Natalie Mika

certified hotel in Central California.

The brewer is also driven by her own dedication to the environment, from growing up in Salinas (the Salad Bowl of the World), to studying viticulture at Cal Poly and then following the wine harvest between California and Argentina for a few years. While taking a break in 2019 and visiting home in Salinas, she came across an open assistant brewer role at Peter B’s that changed everything.

Now, with the keys to her kettle-filled kingdom in hand and head brewer title, Mika is not just brewing with Kernza herself but trying to help others do so too. When she first searched for Kernza, it was nearly impossible to find or afford (costing around $250 for 50 pounds, versus the normal $47 for 55 pounds of barley).

Though supplies have increased and prices have normalized in the past two years, Kernza has a long way to go before replacing its less climate-friendly cousins. All the same, Mika is committed to spreading the word about Kernza and making the beer world a more sustainable place.

“It’s still pretty expensive,” she says, “so I am just trying to use the brewery as a platform because I think it’s a really amazing grain.”

Ashley Drew Owen is a writer and Massachusetts transplant. Her passion for learning about local food is only overshadowed by her passion for writing about or eating it. Safe to say, she is a lover of food and words, and also driving very fast in the left lane.

Nestled among the quaint cottages and cobblestone streets of Carmel-by-the-Sea, our Talbott Vineyards tasting room offers immersive experiences of our estate-grown Chardonnay and Pinot Noir from the acclaimed Sleepy Hollow Vineyard in the Santa Lucia Highlands.

CALIFORNIA TABLE WINE. ©2023 TALBOTT VINEYARDS, SALINAS, CA.

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Happy Holidays from our Farm Stand family to yours. certified organic cafe + bakery specialty coffee + tea + smoothies natural & local beer + wine curated gifts + housewares grown here flowers + produce provisions + pantry staples

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Farm Stand Market & Café 7250 Carmel Valley Road Carmel, CA 93923 (831)625-6219 Earthboundfarm.com

open daily!

edible MONTEREY BAY WINTER 2023