2021: Harvest — The Bay Area's Seasonal Bounty, From Farm to Fork

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A BAY AREA NEWS GROUP PREMIUM EDITION

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THE BAY AREA’S SEASONAL BOUNTY, FROM FARM TO FORK

Seafood at the docks PAGE 12

Sebastopol’s apple trail

Leaf 66 peeping

4 The great pumpkin

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Destination farmers markets PAGE 36

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Vineyard bikes 28

CREDITS

A crush of one’s own

SECTION EDITORS: Jackie Burrell, Randy McMullen

DESIGN: David Jack Browning, Chris Gotsill

Sipping cider on Apple Hill 50

PHOTO EDITING: Laura Oda

COPY EDITING: Sue Gilmore

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY SARAH COLEMAN

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Orchards are making a welcome comeback against Sonoma’s encroaching vineyards

BY M A R T H A R O S S

Apples roll along a conveyor belt at Sebastopol’s Walker Apples ranch.

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here was a time when Sebastopol was dotted with so many apple trees, it was known as the “Gravenstein Capital of the World.” Many of those orchards have given way to vineyards in the decades since the region’s Gravenstein heyday, but even now, you can easily spend a day meandering down the lanes and byways of Sebastopol’s farms and orchards, picking apples and sipping just-pressed cider — perhaps even pressed by you.

That would be just fine with Sebastopol’s farmers, cider makers and community leaders.

Tall, lanky and farm-raised, Dave Hale walks his 10 acres of apple orchards off the Gravenstein Highway several times a day, intimately familiar with every one of its 1,000-plus trees. He knows the look, feel and unique flavor profiles of the more than 40 varieties of heirloom apples he grows, from the Gravenstein and Honeycrisp to the Pink Pearl, Akane and little known, but traditionally English Ashmead’s Kernel — all available in season at several farmers markets and the farm stand at Hale’s Farm.

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Take a picturesque walk through the 40 acres of Walker Apples’ orchard in Sebastopol.

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Left: Jadin Stewart, right, and her father, Michael Stewart drink wine at Horse and Plow’s outside tasting area in Sebastopol.

Right: Flights of apple cider are prepared at Golden State Cider’s taproom in Sebastopol.

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“ Apples have a whole lot of personality and are super useful in so many applications — cider and apple pies, of course, but it’s really cool incorporating them into food in different ways and learning about the history.”

Jolie Devoto-Wade

Dave Hale grows 40 varieties of apples in the orchards of his Hale’s Family Farm in Sebastopol.

Hale has what Jolie DevotoWade, another lifelong apple farmer and cider producer, calls “apple fever.” It’s a passion that fuels the small but tenacious group of local farmers, cider producers, activists and community leaders who believe apples can still put Sebastopol on the map. They note the farms and tasting rooms near the Gravenstein Highway — Highway 116 — where tourists and foodies can spend a day exploring Sebastopol as a craft cider or farm visiting destination and discovering for themselves why no supermarket Red Delicious can beat the flavor burst of a fresh, local apple.

“Apples have a whole lot of personality and are super useful in so many applications — cider and apple pies, of course, but it’s really cool incorporating them into food in different ways and learning about the history,” says Devoto-Wade, who launched Golden State Cider with her husband, Hunter Wade, in 2012 to help promote apple farming

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There are more than Pippins or Gravensteins in the apple world, says Dave Hale, who grows Pink Pearl apples and other varieties at his Sebastopol farm. ARIC CRABB/STAFF

in Sebastopol. “Honestly, I think craft cider is key for supporting local apple farmers and keeping the Gravenstein going.”

You can taste those bold, aromatic ciders at the Golden State taproom, which opened in 2018 at The Barlow, a place with its own

apple history. This industrial-chic hub with restaurants, tasting rooms and boutiques is a former applesauce canning facility.

This has long been apple country. Gravensteins, the tart red and green-speckled fruit that originated in Denmark, have thrived in Sonoma County since at least the early 1800s. Sebastopol’s apple industry reached its height before World War II, with nearly 14,000 acres devoted to apples, including some 9,700 acres devoted to Gravensteins. But apple orchard acreage has since dropped to around 2,200.

Hale, who has farmed here since 1978, says he could enjoy a much more lucrative and reliable income if he chopped down the rest of his apple trees and replaced them with vineyards. That’s the fate of orchards throughout West Sonoma County, including his family’s former property just south of the current farm.

“You have a marginal crop in apples and a high income crop in vineyards,” Hale says. “But as long as you’re making a living with a small family farm, you’ll continue doing it. In a small family farm, we’re hands on. I’m doing deliveries and doing four farmers markets a week. My daughter runs the farm stand.”

Sebastopol offers ideal weather and soil conditions for the endeavor. Apple trees like the

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IF YOU GO

Hale’s Apple farm: This Sebastopol farm stand sells more than 40 varieties of apples during the harvest, which extends through November, as well as sweet, frosty cider. Expect to see pumpkins and gourds, too, for Halloween. Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 1526 Gravenstein Highway in Sebastopol; 707-823-4613.

Apple a Day Ratzlaff Ranch: From late September through December, the eight-acre ranch offers one of the few U-pick opportunities in the area. Bring a picnic, go apple picking and make a day of it. For Halloween, the ranch builds a hay bale maze for kids and sells pumpkins grown on a neighboring farm. Check www.facebook.com/appleadayranch or call 707-823-0538 for U-pick hours. 13128 Occidental Road in Sebastopol; https://appleadayranch.com Walker Apples: For a true country experience, wind up gravel-topped Upp Road, past vineyards and orchards to the farm’s busy packing shed. Locals know Walker Apples as a go-to place to buy apples in bulk. Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at 10955 Upp Road in Sebastopol; 707-823-4310, www.facebook.com/WalkerApples.

Community cider press: Reserve a 20-minute spot on weekends to press your own apples into juice at the free community apple press, which is run by volunteers with Slow Food Russian River at Luther Burbank Gold Ridge Experimental Farm. Bring up to 100 pounds of apples you just picked or bought in bulk. 7777 Bodega Ave, Sebastopol, https://www.slowfoodrr.org/reserve-the-sebastopolcommunity-apple-press/ Horse and Plow Tasting Barn: Sip single varietal or blended ciders at Chris Condos and Suzanne Hagins’ tasting barn and two-acre garden, shaded by a massive live oak. The duo started out as winemakers but added cider to their repertoire around 2014 to help boost local apple farming. Open from noon to 5 p.m. Friday-Monday at 1272 Gravenstein Highway in Sebastopol. Make reservations at https://horseandplow. com/tasting-barn/.

Jolie Devoto-Wade, who launched Golden State Cider with her husband, Hunter Wade, in 2012 to help promote apple farming in Sebastopol, said “Honestly, I think craft cider is key for supporting local apple farmers and keeping the Gravenstein going.”

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Golden State Cider: The spacious tap room in The Barlow has indoor and outdoor seating for tasting single varietal ciders and blend ciders, including Save the Gravenstein and others made with Sonoma County apples. Open from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday and noon to 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday at 180 Morris Street, Suite 150, Sebastopol, www. drinkgoldenstate.com.

Mom’s Apple Pie: This roadside bakery sells pies made with locally grown apples and other seasonal fruit. Its Gravenstein and Granny Smith pies are available through November.

Open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 4550 Gravenstein Highway in Sebastopol; www.momsapplepieusa.com.

Willow Wood Market Cafe: Grab a bite in the tiny enclave of Graton, just west of 116, which serves delicious hot sandwiches, chicken pot pies and other comfort food in a general-store setting. Opens at 9 a.m. daily at 9020 Graton Road, Graton; www.willowwoodgraton.com.

Handline: Housed in a reimagined Foster’s Freeze, this spot serves California-inspired cuisine with an emphasis on fresh seafood, including oysters and rockfish tacos. Opens at 11 a.m. daily at 935 Gravenstein Highway, Sebastopol; www. handline.com.

Owner Chris Condos enjoys a glass of cider in the garden outside his Horse and Plow tasting barn.

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Whether you're tasting your way through Sebastopol's apple country or exploring the orchards of Camino, apple cider doughnuts are a classic part of the fall experience.

You can make them at home by reducing apple cider into an intense, apple-flavored syrup and combining it with ingredients you likely already have on hand — flour, sugar, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon. Go traditional and roll the crisp, glistening, just-fried results in cinnamon-sugar or drizzle the doughnuts with an apple cider glaze, like this recipe from Martinelli's, the iconic apple cider company founded in 1868.

Apple Cider Doughnuts Serves 12 Ingredients 2 cups Martinelli’s Apple Cider 3½ cups flour 1 tablespoon baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt ¼ teaspoon nutmeg 1 teaspoon cinnamon 2 eggs ½ cup brown sugar ¼ cup sugar 5 tablespoons melted butter 1 teaspoon vanilla Oil for frying Apple cider glaze (see recipe below) or cinnamon sugar to finish Directions In a small saucepan, bring cider to a boil over medium-high heat and cook for about 8 minutes, until reduced to 1 cup.

Set aside to cool completely.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon.

In a separate large bowl, cream together eggs, sugars, melted butter and cooled apple cider.

A 1927 Ford Model A stands guard at Walker Apples in Sebastopol.

typically wet Northern California winters, followed by summer heat moderated by the morning fog blowing in from the Pacific Ocean, 15 miles to the west.

“We get the fog until 11 or noon in the summers and then temperatures in the mid-80s. That’s perfect weather for apples to grow,” says Sue Walker, whose family farm dates back generations. Walker’s 40-acre farm sits in a forested canyon west of town, and its rustic packing shed is the go-to place for locals wanting to pick up apples in bulk.

The roots of Sebastopol apple trees reach deep down into the soil for water, Walker says, which means the orchards don’t need to be irrigated during the summer.

In a state known for historic droughts, the ability to dry farm apples makes them particularly valuable.

“There are all kinds of good reasons to keep apple orchards,” says Paula Shatkin, co-founder of Slow Food Russian River. About 20 years ago, she and others began noticing how many apple orchards were being replaced with vineyards. Shatkin grew concerned

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that the region was losing its biodiversity, as well as an important symbol of its cultural heritage.

The Slow Food movement espouses “the arc of taste,” the idea that endangered foods with significant histories should be saved. With that idea in mind, she and other local activists, farmers, cider makers, chefs and community leaders launched the “Save the Gravenstein” campaign, which includes the annual Gravenstein Apple Fair in August — peak Gravenstein season — and other local events tied to the fall apple harvest.

It’s a cause dear to Devoto-Wade, whose apple fever dates back to her childhood on the family farm west of Sebastopol. Her parents, Susan and Stan Devoto, moved here from El Cerrito in the 1970s to grow flowers and micro-greens, but became so fascinated by the apple trees on their property, they eventually planted more than 80 apple varieties.

Devoto Orchards is where Golden State Cider began.

And the flagship cider’s name? Save the Gravenstein.

Pour the wet ingredients in with the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. (Dough will be sticky.) Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to chill for one hour (or up to overnight).

Sprinkle flour over a flat surface and roll out the dough to about ½-inch thick. Use a doughnut cutter (or two different sized round cutters) to cut as many doughnuts as possible.

Fill a frying pan with 1 inch of oil heated to 325 degrees.

Working in batches, gently drop in the doughnuts and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, then flip them and fry for an additional minute or so until golden brown. Be careful not to let them burn. Let them drain on paper towels to soak up the excess grease for 5 minutes, before dipping in glaze or rolling them in cinnamon sugar.

Apple Cider Glaze In a bowl, whisk together 3 cups powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and ½ cup Martinelli’s Apple Cider until smooth. Carefully dip both sides of each doughnut into the glaze or drizzle glaze over the top. Place dipped donuts on a wire cooling rack over a sheet pan to catch any excess glaze.

Allow glaze to set for about 20 minutes and enjoy.

— CREATED BY LIKE MOTHER LIKE DAUGHTER FOR MARTINELLI’S.COM. REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM MARTINELLI'S.

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A cider

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S. John Martinelli, scion of the apple dynasty, keeps pressing the business onward

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BY C H U C K BA R N E Y

monument to hard work, resilience and rich, full-bodied flavor, the family-owned S. Martinelli & Company has been producing quality apple juices and sparkling ciders in Watsonville for more than 150 years.

S. John Martinelli joined the business shortly after graduating from Stanford in 1979, looking to keep that sparkling tradition alive while also boosting it to new heights. He served as the company’s president from 2007 to 2019 and now is its chairman of the board.

Now Martinelli is fielding a few questions about that vaunted family heritage, his enduring love of apples and a TikTok craze that had some serious bite.

Q

Many kids resist going into the family business, yearning to strike out on their own. How did you end up in the fold?

A

I graduated from Stanford with a degree in economics.

After 14 years of school, I was burnt out and didn’t quite know what I wanted to do. I went home for the summer and was being super lazy. Meanwhile, my dad was always super busy. So I asked him, “What the heck do you do all day?

You make apple juice. It can’t be that hard!” He said, “OK, wise guy.

You think it’s easy? Come spend a day with me.”

Q A

And that sucked you in?

I went with him to the plant, and oh my God, I saw that they had just a few people doing everything. There were no computers. Everything was old and breaking down. We couldn’t keep up with the business opportunities that we had. I realized that we needed some youthful enthusiasm, and that was something I could provide. I didn’t know anything about the business, but I immersed myself in research.

Q

Your company, unlike some, embraces and touts its

history. You even penned a commemorative book for Martinelli’s 150th anniversary in 2018. Why is celebrating the past so important to you?

A

It’s almost everything. It’s who we are. The odds of a company surviving five generations is one in a million. The fact that we survived through Prohibition, the Great Depression, two world wars and a few of our own family squabbles is pretty impressive. What’s not to like about that?

Q

Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider is a popular item on the kiddie table during the holidays, when children guzzle it while adults uncork the Champagne. Can you sell us on why we should all just stick to the sparkling cider?

A

First of all, I have to tell you: I like Champagne. It’s in our family’s heritage. So our mantra is not “instead of,” but “in addition to.” The two go hand in hand and satisfy the same craving.

Our sparkling cider is beautiful, bright, festive — and tingling on the tongue.

Q

Be honest. After all these years, don’t you ever get sick of apples?

A

No way! In fact, I have five apple trees in my backyard.

And I love grafting different varieties of apples on my trees.

You can have as many varieties as

there are branches. Not a lot of people realize that.

Q A John Martinelli joined his family’s 150-yearold apple juice company the summer after college graduation. He’s never looked back.

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OK, so what’s your favorite apple?

The Newtown Pippin, without question. It’s one of the oldest apple varieties in America.

To me, it’s the perfect apple. It has just the right flavor balance of sweetness and tartness.

Q

Several celebrities — including Michael B. Jordan, Kylie Jenner, Lance Bass and others — have publicly declared their love for Martinelli’s on social media.

What do you think of all this attention?

A

We love the heck out of it, and it’s very flattering. But we don’t go out of our way to capitalize on it, because that would almost stop it from happening.

Although, I have to admit that I didn’t know who Kylie Jenner was. I had to Google her.

Q

Martinelli’s even inspired a strange TikTok trend that had users biting into plastic apple juice bottles because it sounds like biting into an actual apple.

A

It was absolutely crazy — and unbelievable how much it boosted our product. We can’t keep that plastic bottle in stock.

IF YOU GO

The tasting bar at the Martinelli’s Company Store is temporarily closed, due to COVID-19 precautionary measures, but the store is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays at 345 Harvest Drive in Watsonville; www. martinellis.com

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Ocean-to-table dining Seafood bought dockside just doesn’t get any fresher S TO RY BY E L L I OT T A L M O N D PHOTOS BY K ARL MONDON

It

could have gone either way, as the first steps of the tango began with the sudden purring of my reel. The salmon was not going quietly.

The dance commenced in earnest as my fishing companions shouted instructions: “Reel slowly. Let out the line. REEL.” We eventually netted a mouthwatering morsel that stretched 22-inches long and weighed 3½ pounds.

A gustatory awakening followed on that long-ago evening with the earthy yet otherworldly flesh of hibachi-grilled salmon tenderly slipping off the fork as if casually undressing.

The gastronomes perusing the docks of Pillar Point Harbor on autumnal weekends know what I’m talking about. They endure the clogged arteries of Half Moon Bay during pumpkin season in search of regional seafood delights such as salmon, halibut and Shoppers prowl the Pillar Point Harbor docks in Half Moon Bay looking for deals on fresh fish.

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Above: Carrying a bag of fresh rock crab, buyers leave the dock with dinner in Half Moon Bay. Left: Geoff Bettencourt works at the family business, Morning Star Fisheries, weighing a catch of rockfish in Half Moon Bay.

assorted rockfish. These sea-loving epicureans are part of the Bay Area’s growing patronage of locally sourced food that vendors promote as the pathway to sustainability.

But let’s get real. Customers scour the anglers’ websites or call the Pillar Point Harbor Master hotline (650-726-8724) to see who’s selling at which mooring for one reason and one reason only.

People are here for fish that have not changed hands a half dozen times before reaching the check-out line.

“There’s no foul taste. There’s no foul smell,” said charter boat owner Tom Mattusch, a San Mateo County Harbor District commissioner. “And it isn’t your imagination.”

It’d be a lot simpler to cruise the fish counters at Whole Foods, Safeway or a local wholesaler, especially when lacking sushi chef filleting skills.

But every savvy shopper knows freshness trumps convenience. They monitor Fishline (fishlineapp.com), where boat hands report their aquatic carriage, price per pound and arrival times. Weekend

tourists catch on quickly. The harbormaster posts inventory on a board at the foot of Johnson Pier on Saturday mornings, when the beating heart of the docks quickens with the prospect of a dinner feast. Passersby on the pier above can scan the dozen or so boats hawking fish on the sales dock to see what piques their interest.

The marketplace has grown since the Army Corps of Engineers completed the breakwater at Princeton-by-the-Sea in 1961.

Docks and slips followed over the next two decades to develop a thriving port for Coastsiders. And a checkerboard community has risen around the 369 berths at the harbor.

The slips house commercial enterprises like the fourth-generation trawlers who own Morning Star Fisheries and a hook-and-line newcomer named Zach Hassan.

There are sport fishing charter boats, pleasure boats and everything in between. That included the intrepid gull who held a goodsized groundfish in his beak on a recent summer evening on G dock.

Commercial trawlers pan for bottom-feeders at least three

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miles from shore. Purse-seiners use nets closer to the surface, while traditionalists fish the way the Egyptians did in 3500 BCE — with hooks and lines.

No matter which system is employed, the anglers follow the sea’s natural rhythms — and governmental regulations — to catch what is in season.

Nothing causes a bigger commotion than Dungeness crab in late fall, when eager customers line the docks like going to the DMV. The crustacean has joined turkeys as a Bay Area staple of the holiday dinner table.

“All the crab pots are like little money banks that you just pull up and dump out the money,” Hassan said.

Weekend dock sales have become integral to survival for anglers like Hassan. Smaller boats don’t catch enough to supply wholesalers, so they bypass the supply chain for direct sales.

On one recent Saturday, banners greeted potential buyers advertising wild king salmon, live rock crab and black cod. Hassan’s flag whetted the appetite with a “Fish Tacos” proclamation that prompted a woman to inquire about buying some for lunch.

Hassan, the owner of Capt.

Jack, patiently explained how the rockfish he had on ice would make ideal ingredients for tacos.

The passerby seemed disappointed about the prospect of gutting and filleting the fish before stuffing portions into a tortilla.

Regulars like John and Rimiko Prior of Fremont were more intentional. The Priors get email alerts from John Schulz and partner Gretchen Vogel of the lobster boat New Krabmandu.

One time, John Prior said, he spent almost $400 for crab. On a recent trip, he and his wife bought two fleshy halibuts — one for their family, the other for a neighbor.

Transactions like that continued along the labyrinth of docks for much of a fog-silhouetted morning, as a collection of old salts, seemingly sent from central

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casting, instructed clientele on the best way to prepare the fish.

The more I hung around their boats, the more they sounded like alchemists and epistemologists.

Chris Pedersen, who sold sizable Chinook salmon from the Ocean Warrior one weekend, talked about learning the craft from his great grandfather while growing up on the Oregon coast. He said he has fished almost every corner of the planet. Pedersen, 62, could not imagine a better lifestyle.

“I feel safer on the ocean,

Zach Hassan, 20, sells his recent catch from the back of his boat, the Capt. Jack, in Half Moon Bay.

because it is me, god and the sea,” he said.

Hassan, 20, epitomizes the fiercely independent streak of the dock’s dwellers. He dropped out of high school in Alameda at age 16 and eventually joined albacore tuna fleets in Oregon and Washington. Hassan returned to the Bay Area to help his mother, a lung cancer survivor. Here, he joined a sport fishing crew and learned the intricacies of the fisheries.

Hassan scraped together

enough money in January to buy a Vietnam-era U.S. Navy river patrol boat in Santa Barbara. The venture almost ended before the first harvest.

The angry winter seas churned, and the wind howled as he and a crew member set off for Half Moon Bay. At one point, they tried to dock at Avila Beach to refuel.

The lines didn’t hold. The boom tumbled, and a fuel line broke, lathering the deck in a sheen of oil. Then a 15-foot wave broke on the port side after they left Avila.

Fisherman Chris Pedersen, who learned the craft from his great grandfather, talks about a life working on the sea.

Hassan figured they were headed “over the falls” to their certain demise. But Capt. Jack and its fiberglass proved seaworthy as they made it home.

Since the maiden voyage, Hassan monitored the weather religiously the rest of the winter.

“Some people check Facebook or Instagram,” he said. “For me, it’s just constantly looking at the weather app.”

Lisa Damrosch and brother Geoff Bettencourt represent another side of the fleet with

Morning Star Fisheries and the trawler Miss Moriah.

They have a processing plant at the end of Johnson Pier that the siblings envision someday providing local restaurants with freshly caught seafood just outside their doors. For now, the popular Half Moon Bay haunts buy from a complicated supply chain that diminishes the chances of serving locally

John Prior of Fremont negotiates with John Schulz and his partner Gretchen Vogel for a halibut aboard the lobster boat New Krabmandu in Half Moon Bay.

caught wild fish, anglers say.

Bettencourt doesn’t fish the way his grandfather and father used to, because it’s no longer feasible. The fishery for groundfish, which comprises more than 90 species such as sole, flounder and cod, collapsed in 2000. Government officials banned harvesting, saying it would take a century to restore the fishery.

But in one of the feel-good stories from the sea, innovative fishing techniques and gear, coupled with conservation efforts from trawlers like Bettencourt, have led to a rapid resurgence.

Morning Star primarily sells to wholesalers. But the owners started a home delivery service from Pacifica to Half Moon Bay during the COVID-19 shutdown to help their community. They also have an occasional pop-up market on the pier.

Scrounging around the docks one quiet Tuesday, I happened to gain possession of two Petrale soles, both as plump as stuffed pierogi. I scampered out of the harbor parking lot with my prizes to begin cleaning preparations before gut bacteria could milk the freshness from them.

The first fish slipped through my hands and into the sink in what resembled a mud wrestling match. I turned to YouTube (where else?) for help. I had none of the filleting and gutting tools the cook rattled off. Improvisation would rule the day.

A basic cheese grater became a fish scaler. A heavy-duty stainless steel knife served the dual purpose of kitchen scissors and a scalloped fillet cutter.

My handiwork left the fish looking as if they had been ravaged by an unhinged cat. Not to be discouraged, I kept the words of Damrosch in my head.

“Rockfish should be like chicken,” she said. “It’s bulletproof: You can cook it 52 different ways.”

I grilled the sole with baby red potatoes, sweet and green onions, mushrooms and zucchini. I slathered everything in a dim sum dipping sauce.

The first flaky bite sent memories flooding of the long-forgotten salmon that first sent me on a tongue-tingling joyride. This time, trawling nets ensnared the creature instead of the time-tested method of rod-and-reel.

The how did not matter at the moment. Not when fish this fresh beckoned another trip to the docks posthaste.

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Legacy Eggs One century later, the Glaums are still coaxing their poultry to produce B Y J I M H A R R I N G TO N

The Glaum Egg Ranch legacy stretches back to the early 1920s, when John H. Glaum built a chicken house — sheltering 400 white leghorns — in Alexandria, Nebraska.

The family went West in the 1940s, eventually opening up an egg ranch in Santa Cruz County under the guidance of John’s son, Marvin.

The family business is now in its fourth generation of egg farmers, with Mikayla Glaum-Godoy and her brothers Gunnar and Gavin Glaum running the daily operations at the barn store and processing room in Aptos and the actual farm in Watsonville.

Q

How does it feel to be the fourth generation of Glaum egg farmers?

Mikayla: It feels pretty good.

We’re all in our 20s, and there is a huge legacy that we are really trying to make proud. ​​But times are changing with the environment (and) with consumer buying. There is a lot of room for us to diversify this business. It’s really exciting to be a part of the movement going forward.

Gunnar: I think it’s unique and special. You don’t really come across a lot of farms that have that much history. It’s something we want to preserve and continue the legacy.

Q

What are some of the best aspects of working with family members?

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Gavin Glaum, left, his sister Mikayla and brother Gunnar are the fourth generation to helm the family’s century-old Glaum Egg Ranch.

RAY CHAVEZ/STAFF

Mikayla: There’s nobody that you will trust more with the things that you hold near and dear.

Q

What happens in the processing area in Aptos?

Gavin: We receive the eggs from our Watsonville ranch. They’re put on a conveyor belt, go through our washing machine, get weighed and sized, put in the flats or cartons in the cold room and then get distributed to customers or distributors.

Q

How do you care for the 120,000 chickens on the Watsonville ranch?

Gunnar: It’s really just making sure they have everything they need — food, water — and making sure the equipment is running right. Just checking in every day.

Q

Why should egg consumers care about this being a cagefree environment?

Mikayla: It’s the humane treatment of the bird. The birds are able to exhibit all of their natural behaviors, right? They’re able to flap their wings. They are able to roam around the barn as they please and eat and drink whenever they want.

Q

Can you tell us about the farm’s famous vending machine?

Mikayla: My grandfather wanted to be able to offer eggs after hours, so he created this egg vending machine.

It has changed its structure over the years. At first, it was a little door that would pull down and a help-yourself honor system: You would take your flat (of eggs) and put your money in a little can.

This edition that we have right now is basically a shelf full of eggs.

Customers put $4 into the vending machine — either during regular hours or after hours — and the flat of freshly laid eggs will come right out (as) this little animatronic dancing chicken show goes on.

Q

And that’s the best part!

Mikayla: That’s what brings customers in. That’s what brings all the kids in. College kids come back into town to show their friends what they grew up on — the weird part of Santa Cruz (where you) get your eggs with a dancing chicken show.

Q

I hear the show has seasonal themes, too.

Mikayla: Our aunt Sherrie actually dresses the birds up every season — Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and summertime on a Hawaiian vacation. She changes the costumes. It gives customers a reason to keep coming back to see what the costumes are.

Q

So, if I come back in December, I might see Santa Chicken?

Mikayla: Totally. And Mrs. Claus.

IF YOU GO

The Glaum Egg Ranch Barn Store is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and until 2 p.m. on Saturdays at 3100 Valencia Road in Aptos. That’s also where you’ll find the famous egg vending machine, which costs $4 (in crisp dollar bills) to operate. Find details at glaumeggranch.com.

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Home winemakers savor and share and bask in the camaraderie they create

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BY J E S S I CA YA D E G A R A N

fruits labors THE

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n a recent Sunday, longtime East Bay friends Gordon Mauger and Chris Maxwell spent the afternoon hunkered down in Maxwell’s cramped Lafayette garage — a DIY crushpad — disgorging bottles of their homemade sparkling syrah.

The messy process, which involves uncapping the bottles and removing the sediment frozen after fermentation, is usually associated with the storied caves of a commercial winery, not a suburban garage off Mt. Diablo Boulevard.

“Whenever we make red wine, the driveway is stained for a week,” says Maxwell, squeezing his way between a wine fridge and oak barrel to reach his Livermore cab, chilling in a cabinet freezer.

Like Mauger, he has no formal training or commercial aspirations. Making wine is their hobby. So is drinking it with friends — and after doing it for 20 years, they’ve gotten pretty good, with the home wine competition medals to prove it. But that’s not why they have stuck with it for so long.

“We spend so many of our days constrained by work and life,” Maxwell says. “With this, you get so many opportunities for creativity. That’s what’s exciting.”

Home winemakers describe it as a passion that never gets old, an intellectual and gastronomic pursuit that requires a lot of clean up, but also yields many Christmas presents. The Bay Area is home to thousands of avid home winemakers who use kits and oak chips or go DIY, like Mauger and Maxwell, Home winemaker Chris Maxwell disgorges a bottle of sparkling syrah to release sediment while bottling wine in his Lafayette garage. JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO/STAFF

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who get their malbec and viognier from Maxwell’s backyard vines and supplement with grapes from vineyards in Oakley, Sonoma, even Napa.

With harvest in full swing, home winemakers in this region are at a particular advantage, having access to surpluses of worldclass fruit and so much variety, from Santa Cruz Mountains pinot noir to Lodi old-vine zinfandel.

They find the grapes on Craigslist for as low as $1 a pound or work with brokers at retail shops such as Berkeley’s Oak Barrel Winecraft or San Jose’s Beer and Wine Makers of America.

Rich Mansfield, who has owned the San Jose business since 1990, contracts with five or six Northern California vineyards, schlepping just-pressed juice from as far away as the Russian River Valley or Sierra foothills to his shop on Brokaw Road. There, would-be winemakers show up in 15-minute slots for pick up, anxious to get their juice home before the wild yeasts begin to spontaneously ferment and cause potential off-aromas or flavors.

“I consult with everyone who comes through the door,” says Mansfield, who works with more than 100 home winemakers at any given time. “What kind of fruit they have, what kind of wine they want to make, the right Top: Gordon Mauger, of Walnut Creek, caps a bottle of sparkling wine as Chris Maxwell, of Lafayette, pours a glass of their homemade wine.

JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO/STAFF

Bottom: San Jose’s Beer and Wine Makers of America stocks everything a home winemaker might need, from beakers and vats to grapes.

NHAT V. MEYER/STAFF

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yeast, everything.”

One year, when client Scott Shipman’s truck was in the shop, the home winemaker of 13 years was forced to use his Tesla to transport some prized Monterey sauvignon blanc back to Willow Glen. Only problem: The 25-gallon container wouldn’t fit in the trunk. So Shipman strapped it to the suedelike passenger seat, with the top sticking out of the sunroof. Using a hose, Mansfield helped pump the juice into the container and sent Shipman on his way.

In the middle of the slowest 10-mile drive back to Willow Glen, he heard a pop.

“I look over and the lid is now floating, and there’s sticky-sweet sauvignon blanc sloshing close to the top,” Shipman recalls. “So I’m re-pumping with one hand and

“ We spend so many of our days constrained by work and life. With this, you get so many opportunities for creativity. That’s what’s exciting.”

Home winemaker Chris Maxwell

trying not to accelerate or stop.”

The adventure was worth it.

Not only did the sauvignon blanc yield an exceptional wine — one of the best vintages of Scotoni, the label Shipman uses for his wines — but the camaraderie among home winemakers who meet up at Mansfield’s every fall is something he looks forward to all year.

“We bring our bottles and share, so you’re often tasting the same wine (grapes), made by different people, which is amazing,” Shipman says. “You expect something like that in a farm community, but not in the middle of Silicon Valley.”

Cupertino’s Pen Li, who works in the semiconductor industry, enjoys the technical side of winemaking. He keeps a journal on every wine — and every measurement of brix and pH — he has

Rich Mansfield, owner of Beer and WineMakers of America, helps scores of home winemakers every harvest season.

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made since his first batch, a 2012 merlot made from grapes he got from Mansfield. It was drinkable.

Looking back at his notes, he says he might have skipped a few check points.

“To be a good winemaker, you need decades of experience,” says Li, who makes wine in the temperature-controlled crawl space next to his garage. “I’m still learning. There are ups and downs.

Miscalculations. But winemaking is very forgiving, especially making red wines.”

He calls his cabernet, zinfandel and merlot “Mountain House,” the name his kids gave their hillside home when they were little. Now in his 10th vintage, Li is working 24

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Above: Penn Li, of Cupertino, has made homemade wine since 2012, bottling his Mountain House wines with labels drawn by his daughter.

ANDA CHU/STAFF

Right: Chris Maxwell grows the malbec grapes for his wine in his Lafayette backyard.

JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO/ STAFF

with about 600 pounds of fruit annually, which yield around 210 bottles. He labels them with drawings made by his daughter, Katelyn, and takes them to parties, where, it turns out, a homemade bottle of wine is a terrific ice breaker.

“I make a lot of friends immediately,” Li says, laughing.

Kathleen Swanson and Michael MacWilliams embrace both the social and scientific sides of wine.

Both have PhDs in civil and environmental engineering and “like to do a lot of chemistry,” says MacWilliams, who learned to make wine from an Italian buddy, who learned from his uncles.

“I was taught to start with the

EXPLORE

Interested in a spot of winemaking of your own? San Jose’s Beer and Wine Makers of America sells fermenting equipment and grapes and is open Tuesday-Sunday at 755 E. Brokaw Road; http://beerandwinemakers. com. Find Berkeley’s Oak Barrel Winecraft at 1443 San Pablo Ave.; https://oakbarrel.com.

Chris Maxwell, of Lafayette, holds a glass of sparkling Syrah wine in Lafayette, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/ Bay Area News Group)

best grapes you can find and don’t mess it up,” he says.

They use mostly pinot noir, from coveted spots such as Sonoma’s Russian River Valley, because that’s what they love to drink, as well as unoaked chardonnay.

The couple, who live on the west side of San Francisco, less than a mile from the beach, have been crafting wine in a corner of their garage since 2011. They’ve never made a wine for which they haven’t also picked the grapes.

“I think we’re very lucky to live here, close to these incredible vineyards,” MacWilliams says.

The fog and ocean breezes help keep their makeshift cellar naturally cool. Once the wines leave their French oak barrels, which the couple purchases direct from the cooperages for around $1,000 a pop, they go into the house.

“We have a closet underneath the staircase where we age the wines in bottle,” Swanson says.

They’ve been showing beautifully. Their friends like the wines so much, several served them at their weddings — in 2013 and 2015. Swanson and MacWilliams poured their wines at their own reception, too, in 2016. Since 2014, the couple has taken home gold, double gold and best in class medals at several home wine competitions.

That’s got Swanson thinking about making wine commercially someday — maybe in retirement.

“To go from grapes that have potential to be great wine and see if you meet or exceed that potential — that’s a pretty amazing part of the process,” she says.

Chris Maxwell holds a glass of his homemade sparkling Syrah wine in Lafayette.

JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO/STAFF

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Dee Harley’s dairy farm produces four fine cheeses B Y J I M H A R R I N G TO N VISITING HARLEY FARMS

The goats quickly spot Dee Harley as she opens the fence gate and walks into the large, grassy area.

They rush over to her for pats on the head, rubbing up against the U.K. native as she leads a tour of her Harley Farms in the seaside community of Pescadero.

Zigzagging through dozens of goats — who obviously adore their owner and, frankly, anyone else willing to provide a few scratches behind their ears — Harley talks about how she got into the goat dairy business, which besides being a fun place to visit, produces award-winning cheeses and other products.

Q A

She dotes on her goats

You grew up in England, so what brought you all the way to San Mateo County?

I was 18 when I left England, and I was traveling around. I ended up getting a job on a boat, which brought me down to Portland. I got off the boat there and then traveled down with some friends and ended up at this Pigeon Point youth hostel lighthouse — which is where I ended up meeting this man called Three Fingered Bill. He was playing the accordion.

I ended up getting a job with him. He was a folk artist, and he did a lot of woodworking. He brought me to Pescadero, and I loved it. My now-husband and I moved into this old derelict farm. I got a job on (another) farm in Pescadero — Jacobs Farm — where I sold dried tomatoes to a woman who had goats near Santa Cruz.

Q A

So, you didn’t originally settle in the area expecting to get into the goat dairy business?

I had no idea this was going to happen to me.

I did think I would be a farmer of some kind.

Nevertheless, this is the opportunity that came my way. Because we lived on the property, which was an old derelict cow dairy farm built in 1910, it was like, “Oh, this would be so fun. Get some goats and then we could get these buildings up and running for what they were originally built for.”

Q A

Tell me about the different cheeses made on the farm.

We’ve been making cheese for about 20 years.

We make four styles. We make feta, which is aged for a year in salt brine. We make full-milk goat ricotta, fromage blanc and chevre, all of which have national awards and have won a few gold medals

Harley Farms and its cheese shop are open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, except major holidays, at 205 North St. in Pescadero. The farm offers family-friendly tours and goat, cheese and wine tours ($55-$150). Find details at www. harleyfarms.com.

at the World Cheese Awards, beating the French — which is all that matters, really, isn’t it? (Laughs)

Q A

I notice you keep big dogs in with the goats. Why is that?

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What are some of the other animals that people will see if they tour the farm?

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What are some misconceptions about goats?

The dogs protect the goats from mountain lions, which are an issue in the village now. A few years ago, I knew that this was going to happen, that it was only a matter of time until (a mountain lion) got into the herd and once they are there, they are just going to keep coming back. So, I bought a whole litter of Anatolian shepherds — seven of them, 7 weeks old — and raised them. They are originally from Turkey, and they are the only ones that can outrun and kill a mountain lion.

We have Rosie, our donkey, who is 28 years old.

There is a family who comes literally every week to see Rosie. She has a fabulous life. She is a rescue donkey, and we’ve had her a long time. We have Jimmy, the alpaca. Actually, we had a mountain lion come and kill nine goats — in a different pasture, before I got more dogs — and (Jimmy) actually saved four goats by getting in the corner and standing in front of them.

Well, they don’t eat absolutely everything. They are browsers. They love poison oak. They love your roses. So, they can’t get in your gardens. What’s not a misconception is that they love to climb on things. So if you’ve got goats, they are going to climb on your car. They love to do things like that.

This one old farmer — who passed away many years ago — always said, if you are around goats, you never get sick. And there’s an element to that I really believe, because they are just so calming and so smart and loving.

Dee Harley raises American Alpine goats at her Harley Farms in Pescadero, producing award-winning cheeses and goat-milk products and offering farm tours and classes, too.

JANE TYSKA/STAFF

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On the loose

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in Livermore

Wheeling through the vineyards on an e-bicycle built for two S TO RY BY K AT E LU C K Y PHOTOS BY ARIC CR ABB

Cherry red. A throttle on the handlebar. Two wheels ... and two seats. When we arrived at Pedego Electric Bikes in Livermore, our ride — a tandem electric bicycle — was already pulled out of the shop, gleaming in the hot morning sun. We clipped on our helmets and got ready to ride.

The tandem is “a relationship tester,” owner Jim Buck warned. It might take some time to find our balance. We should practice in the parking lot first.

He was right. Riding a tandem bike requires coordination and communication (and occasional shouts of “What are you doing?” and “Slow down!”) The rider in front steers. But it’s the rider in the back (if I do say so myself) who has the harder task — keep pedaling, even though you can’t really see the road ahead.

This was an apt metaphor for our self-planned tour of Livermore wine country. We’d done a little research in advance — popular routes, winery opening and closing times — but had no reservations and no schedule. We were after an adventure.

A tandem electric bicycle makes an ideal vehicle for Jared and Kate Lucky’s Livermore Valley wine-tasting jaunt.

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After a few laps around the lot, riding tandem became second-nature — just like, well, riding a bike.

Buck used a gold Sharpie to mark some possible routes on a map of lanes and trails: the tasting rooms along Tesla or Vasco, the restaurants and shops of downtown Livermore, a loop in the 847-acre Sycamore Grove Park.

We decided to head south toward Greenville Road, though we could have gone any number of directions. Saddlebags laden with water bottles and sunscreen, bike fully charged, we were off.

Wind in your hair, sun on your skin. Revving up hills, coasting on the way down. There may be no prettier (or more thrilling!) way to see Livermore wine country than astride an e-bike. The ride feels invigorating, but never strenuous. (A motor really does make climbs easier.)

Our route cut through rolling yellow fields and past clusters of grapes ripening on vines. Gates with signs indicated the turnoffs to Livermore’s many well-known wineries. It was time to stop at one. 3 Steves — founded by three friends, yes, all named Steve — was open and had available seating. Why not? We hung a left and sped up the winery’s driveway.

Twinkling with lights, the tasting room was blessedly cool after our hot ride. Water, first — then wine. Standouts included a 2020 pinot grigio — with a warm, peanut-buttery finish — and the Cienega Valley Ancient Vine Zinfandel, which won the San Francisco Chronicle’s “best red wine of show” in 2011. We compared

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Steve Burman, left, gives Jared and Kate Lucky the backstory on the Livermore winery he founded with two friends named Steve. Naturally, the winery is called 3 Steves.

The awardwinning Cienega Valley Ancient Vine Zinfandel is a point of pride at 3 Steves Winery.

Pedego Electric Bikes owner Jim Buck plots a bike-friendly winery route.

A tandem bike is “a relationship tester,” says Pedego’s Jim Buck, at left. You have to find a balance.

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tasting notes — oak and smoke, vanilla and cherry — until it was time to get back on the bike.

Where to next? The Steves had a suggestion: We should visit the tasting room of Wood Family Vineyards, owned by their friend Rhonda. Why not? A flick of the bike’s switch, and we were headed back down the hill. Llamas and horses grazed in a pasture. Clouds shifted across the sky. We revved around a few turns and arrived at Wood Family.

Rhonda Wood, a former airline pilot turned winemaker, welcomed us into her barrel room. As she poured, she told stories about what we were drinking. There was El Loco Rojo (a red blend named for a red-headed uncle who got lost in Mexico) and Pink Pearl (a rosé in honor of a friend who battled breast cancer). With no itinerary, we had plenty of time to listen and ask questions.

By this time, hours had passed, and we riders were hungry.

Many Livermore wineries share their space with food trucks, and on this particular day, Wood Family happened to be hosting the barbecue outfit QueSquared.

We scarfed down plates of tri-tip and mac ‘n’ cheese, hot links and potato salad. Across the street, Altamont Beer Works was pouring drafts in its hip industrial taproom. Before we knew it, we were splitting a cold glass of Mosaic Fuel India Pale Lager.

We’d actually managed to have an adventure — and serendipity is no small feat in the information age. Don’t get me wrong: I love a good itinerary. I love to read online reviews. But the best part of this day had been its spontaneity — the ability to explore a new place in a new way with no expectations. To savor the taste of each wine without rushing to the next reservation. To appreciate the heat and the breeze. To take our time. To be surprised. All this enabled by a cherry red bike.

Reluctantly, we realized it was time to return. We clipped on our helmets. And — why not? — we took the long way back.

IF YOU GO

Bicycles & bike trails At Pedego Electric Bikes Livermore, you can sign up for a group tour, set up a custom ride with a guide or do as we did and plan your own trip with 2-hour, 3-hour and all-day rental options. All bike rentals — whether singles or tandem — are $20 per hour or $75 per day and come with helmets and locks.

Pedego is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday-Sunday and by appointment on Monday-Tuesday at 6538A Patterson Pass Road in Livermore; www.pedegoelectricbikes. com.

Check out a map of Livermore’s bike lanes and trails before you pedal off. Pedego has paper copies.

The Livermore Valley Winegrowers Association offers maps, dining recommendations and an itinerary planner at www.lvwine.org/itineraryplanner.php. Visit TriValley’s bike trail suggestions include a 5.2-mile winery loop and a 27-miler that starts and finishes in downtown Livermore; https://visittrivalley.com.

Wineries & breweries 3 Steves Winery, which is open from 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday-Sunday, offers $15 tastings at the winery at 5700 Greenville Road in Livermore; https://3steveswinery.com.

Wood Family Vineyards is open Wednesday through Sunday (hours vary), with live music on Wednesdays and Fridays. Tastings are $20. Find the winery at 2407 Research Drive in Livermore; https:// woodfamilyvineyards.com.

Altamont Beer Works is open from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday (until 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday) at 2402 Research Drive in Livermore; www.altamontbeerworks.com.

Most of Livermore Valley’s 56 wineries lie within easy cycling distance of each other, with more than half a dozen along Greenville Road alone.

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A dream realized Native American winemaker Tara Gomez is coming into her own

BY A M B E R T U R P I N

It’s not often a child responds to that age-old question — “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

—with “winemaker!” But Tara Gomez always knew that was her path.

The Santa Ynez Valley winemaker grew up exploring the Central Coast wine country with her parents, and a childhood fascination with science soon led to an interest in the chemistry of winemaking. Gomez studied enology at CSU Fresno with scholarship assistance from her tribe, the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, before embarking on a career that has included stints at the Fess Parker and J. Lohr wineries, as well as European travel to study Old World winemaking techniques.

Today, Gomez is the winemaker for Kitá Wines in the Santa Ynez Valley, using Rhone and Bordeaux-style grapes from the winery’s Camp 4 Vineyard purchased by her tribe in 2010. Kitá means “our valley oak” in the native Chumash language of Samala. The vineyard’s name? Camp 4 was a stop on the 19th-century stagecoach trail from San Francisco to Yuma, Arizona.

Gomez has a private label, too. She launched her own winery, Camins 2 Dreams, in 2017 with her wife and co-winemaker, Mireia Taribo.

Q A

Childhood winemaking dreams are a bit unexpected! How did that career path emerge?

Q A

There are not many BIPOC women in the wine industry. How has the experience been for you?

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What are some of the most memorable experiences you’ve had as a winemaker?

It all started with the love of science. I got my first microscope set at the age of 4, and I loved looking at nature through a microscope. From there, it grew into chemistry sets, which led me into winemaking. This was something I knew when I was in grade school.

A real struggle, if I’m being honest — up until last year, when I started to see change. I’ve been in the industry for 24 years now, and I feel like I am only getting that recognition now because of the changes we see going on in the world.

Starting my own label a few years after college: Kalawashaq’ Wine Cellars. My first harvest was in 2001 under this label. Starting Kitá Wines with my Chumash tribe in 2010 and being recognized

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Kitá Wines’ Tara Gomez, right, co-owns the Santa Ynez Valley boutique winery Camins 2 Dreams with her wife and co-winemaker Mireia Taribo, left.

PHOTO COURTESY INSTAGRAM.COM/ CRAFTANDCLUSTER

TASTE IT

Order grenache rosé, pinot noir and other Kitá Wines at https://kitawines.com for home delivery. Place orders for Camins 2 Dreams’ grüner veltliner, syrah and other wines at https://camins2dreams.com. The winery also offers tasting kits ($30) that include 50ml samples of five wines and a private virtual tasting with the winemaker.

as the first Native American winemaker by the State Legislature of California. Also, having this documentary with SOMM TV on me as a winemaker.

Lastly, starting my own winery with my wife, Mireia, under Camins 2 Dreams.

Q A

The harvest is a busy time for wineries. How has this season been for you?

Harvest started early for us — on Aug. 5 for a customer we are making wine for. Our first harvest for Camins 2 Dreams started Aug. 24, which to me is (still) very early. I must admit, I love everything about making wine with my wife. Two minds are better than one mind.

Q

What’s your winemaking approach? Is the philosophy different when you’re making wine for Kitá versus Camins 2 Dreams?

A

Minimal intervention. For Kitá, we use commercial yeast and additives when needed, but for Camins, we use natural yeast and no additives. Only a little sulfur dioxide at bottling. Also, for Camins, we align ourselves with vineyards that are biodynamic, SIP Certified (Sustainability in Practice) or organic.

Q A

Do you think wine trends and consumer wine preferences are evolving?

Q A

What are some of your favorite California wineries — besides your own, of course?

Yes, people want to be more aware of what ingredients are added in the wine, and (they) are starting to see the trend of lower alcohol, natural winemaking.

Matthiasson Winery in Napa Valley, Story of Soil in Santa Barbara County and Holus Bolus in the Santa Rita Hills (and Santa Barbara County). Brendel in Napa Valley is another winery I fell in love with.

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Beyond your back yard

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Farmers markets far from home have some drive-worthy delights

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BY M A R T H A R O S S A N D L I N DA Z AVO R A L

ou’re devoted to your nearby farmers market, dashing over there every week.

But what lies beyond? Farmers you’ve never met, fruit and vegetable varietals you’ve never tried, artisans and producers selling tempting goodies you’ll want to nibble.

We hit the Bay Area’s far-flung market scene and found a number of farmers markets that aren’t just great for hometown stops. They’re destinations all on their own. Just remember to bring a cooler to keep your haul from wilting on the way home.

DAV I S FA R M E R S M A R K E T

The Davis Farmers Market in the city’s Central Park is well worth the hour-long journey from the East Bay. It routinely wins accolades as one of the best farmers markets in the country —and it’s a favorite of Chez Panisse founder Alice Waters. Started in 1975 by local students and farmers, this produce extravaganza immediately reminded Waters of the French village markets she fell in love with during her travels As Waters wrote in her foreword to “The Davis Farmers Market Cookbook,” the market helped pioneer a national movement connecting food consumers with farmers and creating places where people could “celebrate the rhythm of the seasons and rich traditions of diversified, sustainable and local agriculture.”

Don’t miss the stands manned by two market co-founders, Capay Organic and Good Humus Produce, which sell spectacular beets, lettuce, kale and Shoppers can take in San Francisco Bay and Peninsula views while picking out produce at the farmers market at the College of San Mateo. The Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association hosts this and many other markets around the Bay Area.

ANDA CHU/STAFF

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chard beginning in September.

Got a gardening question? Look for volunteers from the UC Davis Master Gardener program, who are often on hand to help answer queries at a table near the park’s native plant garden.

Eat it there: Some of Davis’ most popular restaurants and bakeries have stands here, offering up snacks and lunch fare to enjoy in the park. Check out Upper Crust Bakery’s baguettes and bagels and Kathmandu Kitchen, which sells Nepali and Indian samosas and curries.

Details: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays and 3 to 6 p.m.

Wednesdays at Central Park, Fifth and B Streets in Davis. www. davisfarmersmarket.org.

C O L L E G E O F S A N M AT E O FA R M E R S M A R K E T

Come for the shopping, stay for the sightseeing. You know you’re in for some glorious San Francisco Bay and Peninsula views when you arrive at this hilltop campus and wind up and around to the Galileo parking lot, where this market from the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association is situated every week.

There’s a nice mix of coastal and valley produce. Look for seasonal legumes — Italian butter beans, Blue Lakes, favas, romanos or English peas — from the Iacopi family, who have farmed in Half Moon Bay since 1962. The growers from Pescadero’s Fly Girl Farm bring flowers galore and vegetables. And fourth-generation farmer Brad Payne drives over from Modesto with Early Girl tomatoes (they’re late girls, too) and walnuts.

Artisanal goodies include San Jose’s Sweetdragon for nut brittles and pies and San Francisco’s Nana Joes Granola, which is made by hand.

Eat it there: For lunch, check out the pork belly bao from The Chairman’s food truck or the chicken at Roli Roti’s rolling rotisserie. Snag a spot at the overlook to enjoy both your bounty and the beauty. Even on a hazy day, you can see the San Francisco skyline.

And, from this distance, the Salesforce Tower doesn’t look half bad.

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Julie Driscoll, of Brentwood, shops for peppers from the Jacob’s Farm booth at the Brentwood Farmers Market.

JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO/STAFF

Details: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays at 1700 W. Hillsdale Blvd. in San Mateo; www.pcfma.org/ sanmateo.

B R E N T WO O D FA R M E R S MARKET

Timothy Moua with Kai Fresh Asian Produce prepares a bag of sweet peppers for a customer at the Brentwood Farmers Market. JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO/STAFF

A trip to downtown Brentwood takes you into the heart of East Contra Costa’s famous farming region, known from high-end restaurant menus for its corn, peaches, cherries and zinfandel grapes. The market recently went from a seasonal occurrence to a year-round affair that occupies several blocks in front of a 1930s movie theater, diner and stately newspaper office — a mid-20thcentury farm town setting.

The market’s vendors include some of the region’s popular local family farms, including Smith Family Farm, known for its juicy heirloom tomatoes, available through September, as well as fall pumpkins, apples, squash and

growers and artisans.

Certified organic produce reigns here, courtesy of Watsonville’s Happy Boy Farms, the Fifth Crow Farm of Pescadero, Tomatero Organic Farm from Aptos, Borba Family Farms from Aromas and others. And there are always unexpected delights: One week it was the French prune plums, rarely seen these days, from Allard Farms, another time the mulberry-ginger sheep’s milk popsicles at the Garden Variety Cheese booth.

Get in line early for Bolani (handmade flatbread from Afghan family recipes), Esther’s German Bakery (the cheesy pretzels sell out early), the Santa Cruz Pasta Factory (ravioli and sauce to complement the salad you’re going to make) and the Midwife and the Baker (bread, croissants).

Eat it there: Parklets abound on this street, so you’ll be tempted to grab Sunday brunch at one of the local restaurants. Put your name on the list for Pastis, La Boheme or Joanie’s Cafe and shop for some more veggies while you’re waiting.

Backyard Brew is a funky outdoor space for coffee and conversation.

greens. At the Kite Hawk Farms stall, self-described farmer’s wife Lindsey McCord can offer delicious recipe tips for pan-roasting their shishito peppers and other peppers and greens.

Eat it there: Grab French pastries at the Dore Bakery Inc. stall or enjoy lunch or all-day breakfast with everyone else in town at M.J.’s Cafe and Bakery nearby; http:// mjsdowntowncafe.com.

Details: 8 a.m. to noon on Saturdays at First and Oak Streets in Brentwood; www.pcfma.org/ brentwood.

CA L I F O R N I A AV E N U E FA R M E R S M A R K E T, PA LO A LTO

Where else can you buy squash, otherworldly mushrooms and, for the upcoming holiday season, a Frog Hollow Farm fruitcake? This wildly popular farmers market along Palo Alto’s southern restaurant row is a nearly 50/50 mix of

Above: June Kalfsbeek sets out vegetables at the Bounty of the Valley Farms booth during the California Avenue Farmers Market in Palo Alto.

Left: Tomatoes await their Caprese destiny at the California Avenue Farmers Market in Palo Alto.

ARIC CRABB/STAFF

Details: Sundays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., along California Avenue, Palo Alto; https://uvfm.org/palo-altosundays NORTH BERKELEY A L L- O R G A N I C FA R M E R S M A R K E T

Berkeley, the birthplace of California cuisine, has three farmers markets run by the Ecology Center, which pioneered city recycling and school environmental education programs. The Saturday market downtown is the city’s biggest, but the North Berkeley market has a neighborly vibe, offering a place to pick up fresh, organic fruits, vegetables, nuts and baked goods in the middle of the week.

Word is, Alice Waters and other local chefs shop here.

Look for fresh peaches and plums, as well as stone-fruit conserves and baked goods from Brentwood’s famous Frog Hollow Farms, delectable mushrooms from E&H farms and handcrafted sourdough and whole-grain loaves from Berkeley’s Morell’s Breads.

Don’t miss the fresh pastas and sauces made by Berkeley’s BAY AREA NEWS GROUP

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Rudy Jimenez’s cap gets appreciative laughs from customers at his Green Thumb organic farm stall at the North Berkeley All Organic Farmers Market.

RAY CHAVEZ/STAFF

If you’re having trouble finding Rasa Dresser’s Big Little Bowl booth at the North Berkeley All Organic Farmers Market, just listen for the music..

RAY CHAVEZ/STAFF

Phoenix Pastificio.

Eat it there: The market offers plenty of choices, but the Cheeseboard Collective, just across Shattuck Avenue, offers scones, muffins and seasonal pizzas to go.

Details: 3 to 7 p.m. on Thursdays at Shattuck Avenue and Vine Street in Berkeley; https://

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ecologycenter.org/fm/.

A P TO S FA R M E R S M A R K E T

Surrounded by trees and wisps of coastal fog, the Cabrillo College market stalls are arrayed across three open-air levels and offer everything from rainbow carrots and baby lettuce to spicy riffs on the hummus theme. Hit it just

right, when the marine layer fades away, and you’ll enjoy ocean views with your produce.

Sacramento’s Zena Foods makes nearly a dozen varieties of hummus and other Mediterranean spreads that range from artichoke-lemon-dill to Prince Gabriel, a sundried tomato-feta number, and a sinus-clearing jalapeno-cilantro. At the Kashiwase Farms stall, the stone-fruit lineup includes not just pluots but nectaplums and nectacherries in season. And while Blue Heron Farms offers organic veggies from

Mount Tamalpais serves as a backdrop for the Marin County Farmers Market at the Civic Center in San Rafael.

KARL MONDON/STAFF

its Watsonville farm, it’s their spectacular flowers that stop (farmers market) traffic.

Eat it there: Start your morning with espresso drinks and kouignamann at Companion Bakeshop’s full-service cafe just down the road. (You can refuel later at the bakery’s farmers market stall, too.)

Details: 8 a.m. to noon at Cabrillo College, 6500 Soquel Drive in Aptos; https:// montereybayfarmers.org/aptosfarmers-market.

into a food court, complete with porchetta sandwiches, wood-fired pizza, crepes and souvlaki.

Details: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursdays in the Marin Veteran’s Memorial parking lot, near the lagoon; 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sundays at 3501 Civic Center Drive in San Rafael; www.agriculturalinstitute.org.

M A R I N FA R M E R S M A R K E T

It’s not often that you find a farmers market in the shadow of a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building. But if you venture north of the Golden Gate and San Rafael bridges to San Rafael, you’ll find a wonderful farmers market held on Thursdays and Sundays in the parking lot of Marin County’s landmark Civic Center.

The Sunday market is one of the North Bay’s largest, with more than 100 vendors, while the Thursday market is a midweek shopping destination for chefs

from top Bay Area restaurants, as well as families and county workers looking for a tasty lunch.

Many farmers host stands on both days, a lineup that includes Hale’s Apple Farm from Sebastopol; Kashiwase farms, a stone fruit and nut specialist, from outside Merced; and Tomatero Organic Farm from the Aptos area.

Eat it there: Pick up custom-made sandwiches on Dutch crunch rolls from the Rozmary Kitchen stand on both days. On Sundays, a section of the Civic Center parking lot is transformed

G R A N D L A K E FA R M E R S M A R K E T, OA K L A N D

The large, bustling market at Lake Merritt’s Splash Pad Park, across from the Grand Lake Theatre, bustles on Saturdays, as older couples and millennial and Gen-Z hipsters converge at what’s become as much a hangout as a shopping destination. A steady soundtrack of live music accompanies the buzz of conversation as visitors catch up with friends on the lawn, tables by the fountain or at the 70-plus stalls selling fresh fruit, vegetables, seafood, meat and specialty food items.

Don’t miss the Ledesma Family

The Marin County Farmers Market is held Thursdays and Sundays at the Civic Center in San Rafael.

KARL MONDON/STAFF

farm stand, longtime vendors from Watsonville who sell carrots, cabbage, chard and leeks. Cheese lovers can find artisanal brie, chevre, fontina-style and blue cheeses made by half a dozen creameries from Cambria to Crescent City. And the line for croissants, savory tarts and ginger scones from Emeryville’s Starter Bakery is worth the wait.

(For those anxious about mingling in line during a pandemic, the Agricultural Institute of Marin, which runs the market, offers “bounty boxes” of produce that can be picked up curbside; https://bounty-box.org/.)

Eat it there: Tru Gourmet Dim Sum’s creative fare uses local, seasonal ingredients — asparagus, broccoli rabe, wild petrale sole — that it buys from Grand Lake and other farmers markets.

Details: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays at Splash Pad Park in Oakland; https://splashpad.org/ farmers-market.

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Season’s eatings Make the most of your farmers market haul in winter, spring, summer and fall B Y JAC K I E B U R R E L L

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e’ve all done it — gone produce crazy at the farmers market, snapping up the snap peas, perhaps, or scooping up squash in a tizzy of enthusiasm. Then you get it all home, and suddenly, what seemed perfectly reasonable — a bushel of butternut — is downright daunting. What now?

Ann M. Evans, a co-founder of the Davis Farmers Market, has a secret solution — well, not-so-secret and considerably more than one. She has an entire cookbook of those solutions: “The Davis Farmers Market Cookbook,” with a foreword — a love letter, really, to the farmers market that helped ignite a modern movement — by Alice Waters.

Founded by a small group of farmers, college students and activists in 1975-76, Davis’ farmers market is one of California’s oldest. In the decades since, it’s been given its own city-funded pavilion, won national awards and inspired other cities and towns to follow its locavore lead. Today, there are more than 700 farmers markets in California alone, wooing shoppers with sweet strawberries, rainbow carrots and seasonal produce of every variety. And for the last decade or so, there has been a “Davis Farmers Market Cookbook” to help turn that fare into delicious dishes.

“I had looked at several other farmers markets, been to Santa Monica, San Francisco’s Ferry Plaza, and the really good ones had great cookbooks,” Evans says. “So I approached my business partner at the time, Georgeanne Brennan, and approached the farmers market to get their permission and their blessing.”

Evans published a second edition in 2016 with new recipes, new headnotes, photographs of farming families and a renewed dedication to helping the Davis Farmers Market Alliance’s efforts on food programming in schools. The book’s proceeds all go to that cause, Evans says.

Inside those pages, you’ll find recipes organized by season for everything from shaved zucchini and arugula salad to white bean soup with Meyer lemons, grilled persimmon crostini with goat cheese and summer jams, fall chutneys and homemade ketchup. And you’ll find eight go-to recipes that Evans says, “I use day in and day out throughout the year when I cook from the market.”

They’re like technique templates for risotto, savory gratins and tarts, Asian and Italian-style pastas, rustic galettes and more, each with a basic recipe and eight or nine seasonal variations. You’re not just getting a sweet rustic tart, you’re getting a pie — or a risotto — for all seasons.

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Basic Risotto Recipe with Four Kinds of Mushrooms Serves 6 as a main course

Ingredients 2 quarts vegetable stock, homemade or purchased 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided use 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 cups chopped mushrooms, such as cremini, portobello, shiitake and oyster 1 yellow onion, finely chopped 2 cups Arborio rice 1 cup dry white wine 2/3 cup shelled English peas (scant 1 pound in the pod) 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving 1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs of your choice, such as rosemary, thyme or sage (optional) Sea or kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper Directions In a saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the stock to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and maintain at a gentle simmer.

In a frying pan over medium-high heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter with the olive oil.

When the oil and butter are hot, add the mushrooms and saute until golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt 6 tablespoons butter. When it foams, add the onion and saute until almost translucent, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rice and stir it gently until it glistens, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, add the wine and cook, stirring, until it is absorbed. Before the rice starts to stick to the pan, add about 1 cup hot stock and stir

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until it is absorbed. Continue adding the stock about 1 cup at a time, stirring until it is absorbed before adding more.

When about half the stock has been added and absorbed (after about 10 minutes), stir in the mushrooms and peas.

Continue adding the stock about 1 cup at a time and stirring constantly. After about 10 minutes longer, the rice should be done — just tender to the bite but still slightly firm in the center. (You may not need all the stock.) Stir in the cheese, the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, the herbs, a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper and mix well. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt or pepper. For a more liquid risotto, add 1/2 cup stock and stir vigorously for 1 to 3 minutes until creamy. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

Spoon the risotto into a warmed serving bowl or individual shallow bowls or plates.

Pass the pepper mill and additional cheese at the table.

Seasonal variations: Spring: Asparagus with tarragon, vegetable or chicken stock and a dry white wine; or English peas and morel mushrooms and a dry white wine Summer: Sauteed zucchini with vegetable or beef stock and a dry red wine; or sauteed eggplant and basil and a dry red wine Fall: Butternut squash with sage and a dry red wine; or sun-dried tomatoes with rosemary and a dry red wine.

Winter: Crab or shrimp with vegetable or chicken stock and a dry white wine; or chorizo with thyme and a dry red wine

Basic Rustic Sweet Tart Recipes with Apples Serves 8

Crust 1½ cups all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon sugar ¼ teaspoon sea or kosher salt ½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into walnutsize pieces and frozen 4 tablespoons ice water ¼ teaspoon vanilla or almond extract, optional Filling 3 cups thinly sliced apples 3 to 4 tablespoons honey, warmed until fluid, if necessary 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 1 egg, lightly beaten, for egg wash Directions In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar and salt and pulse several times to mix. Scatter the frozen butter over the flour mixture and pulse 5 to 7 times, until the butter is in pea-size balls and covered with flour. Add the ice water and vanilla and, using ½-second pulses, pulse just until the water is incorporated and the dough comes together in a rough mass. Do not overwork the dough or the crust will be tough.

Gently shape the dough into a firm ball, lightly dust with flour, then flatten into a thick disk. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes in the refrigerator or 10 minutes in the freezer.

Meanwhile, heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 12-inch round, moving and flouring the dough two to three time to avoid sticking. Transfer the pastry to the prepared baking sheet.

Arrange the apple slices in concentric circles on the pastry dough, leaving a 2-inch border uncovered. Drizzle the apples with honey. Dot the apples with butter.

Fold the 2-inch border up over the apples, making loose pleats as you work your way around the edge and leaving the center open. Using a pastry brush, lightly coat the pleated edge with the beaten egg.

Bake until the crust is golden brown, about 40 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes on the pan on a wire rack. Using a wide spatula, slide the tart onto a serving plate. Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges.

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Seasonal variations Spring: Pitted cherries, halved apricots or berries of all kinds Summer: Sliced stone fruits such as peaches, nectarines or plums, alone or in combination with berries Fall: Sliced quinces or apples or halved figs Winter: Sliced apples or kiwifruits

— “THE DAVIS FARMERS MARKET COOKBOOK” (ELDERFLOWER PRESS, $27), AVAILABLE AT THE DAVIS FARMERS MARKET AND AVIDREADERBOOKS.COM

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Squashing competition THE

Thousand-pound-plus pumpkins are Napa grower’s prized projects B Y L I N DA Z AVO R A L

You might say Gary Miller has a passion for pumpkins. For about 30 years, this Napa farmer has been growing giant ones and winning competitions, including Half Moon Bay’s 2013 World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off with a 1,985-pounder.

Raised on a farm in Ohio, he says he followed the famous advice given to generations of Americans. “I went as far west as I could, got my feet wet and backed up a little,” he says, chuckling.

And here in California he stayed and found a new calling when wine royalty — the Mondavis — came to him with a pumpkin request.

Q A

The first question has to be ... Why?

Growing giant pumpkins is like crafting a marble sculpture. It takes a whole year of planting a seed crop, then turning the soil, starting the seeds and finally planting small seedlings in rich, well-managed earth. It is a work of heart and devotion, and I have spent my whole life respecting and working in the ground.

Q

How did you get started?

Napa farmer Gary Miller won the Half Moon Bay 2013 World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off with a 1,985-pound pumpkin.

ARIC CRABB/STAFF

A

Margrit and Bob Mondavi knew I was a landscaper.

They asked me if I would grow a giant pumpkin for an event they were having at their home one October. I had never heard of giant pumpkins, so I went to work researching the concept. I continued to supply the Mondavis with pumpkins until Margrit’s passing in 2016. It was an honor and a privilege to know this amazing couple.

Q

What kind of seeds do you use? Do you still host a seed exchange every year?

A

A Nova Scotia grower, Howard Dill, bred the Atlantic Giant Pumpkin, likely using seed stock from Goderich Giant Pumpkins. We missed last year’s seed exchange but plan to do this event in January 2022 at my wife’s Jessel Gallery. I started because I wanted to make sure the local growers had the chance to get the best seeds. They like seeing Jessel’s artwork, and then we hand out seeds. They bring food, and we make it a party.

Q A

Can you share a growing tip or two?

Only one pumpkin per plant, so try to pick the first one

that is the right shape. Cut off all the other flowers so the energy goes to the one pumpkin. Also, if you have room to have chickens, incorporate chicken manure into the soil.

I’m not giving the pumpkins a great deal of water. I’m just trying to keep moisture on the leaves.

Q A

How do you get a giant pumpkin to the competition?

Q A

What weigh-offs are on the pumpkin circuit?

The pumpkins are lifted up using my tractor and loaded onto my pickup for transport.

Used to be six or eight guys. We would slide a tarp under one side and then the other. It takes forearm strength. It’s obviously new people each year. They’re not going to want to help you again!

We’re now using hoists.

Do you put in long hours during the April-October season?

Almost every Saturday in October has a GPC (Great Pumpkin Commonwealth) weighoff. There’s Elk Grove (Oct. 2); the Nut Tree (Oct. 9) — they haven’t had anything like that in 25 years; Half Moon Bay is a Monday (Oct. 11); and Tom Borchard’s farm in Salinas (Oct. 16).

A

Q

Q

The little devils are not real easy to grow. I’ve got 37 right now. Your friends call and ask you to dinner and you say, “I don’t have any time.”

Q

Are you hoping to beat your personal best of 1,985 pounds?

A

For some reason, I am stuck there. The pumpkins are a live entity that are constantly in need of something. I handfeed my pumpkins a mixture of nutrients, all organic. I basically spoon-feed them where the roots are working.

Q A

How do you deal with the heat and drought challenges?

I have learned to conserve water and work around the heat. I have nothing besides my grapes and pumpkins growing on my land. I’ve let my lawns go. And

What happens to these big pumpkins at the end of the season?

A

I sell the majority of my pumpkins. A lot of people like to have a pumpkin outside their storefront. Seeing a giant pumpkin makes everybody a child. The old stories about the pumpkin carriage ... they come to life in your mind.

I have an agreement with many customers to return the seeds once the pumpkins are done. I feed the chickens with the excess pumpkins.

Q

Has cultivating pumpkins for so many decades put you off pumpkin? Or do you still love a nice slice of pumpkin pie?

A

Absolutely, with a good vanilla ice cream. The little sweet pumpkins — 5 pounds or so — make the best pies.

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A whole batch of patches

Find your perfect pumpkin at one of these dozen farms

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alloween is looming in all its autumnal, jack-o-lanterned glory. It’s high time to visit a local pumpkin patch — and fortunately, there are at least a dozen sprinkled across the Bay Area. (In this pandemicchallenged era, everything is subject to change. Double check websites before you go to make sure circumstances have not changed.)

Merry gourds dot the landscape at the Piedmont Avenue Pumpkin Patch in Oakland.

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races, bounce houses, corn box, hayride and more. $12-$25. www. swankfarms.com

Oakland Piedmont Avenue Pumpkin Patch: Open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. through October at 4414 Piedmont Ave. Free admission; www. pumpkinpatch.info/index.html

Palo Alto Great Glass Pumpkin Patch: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 2-3, Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Road, Palo Alto. Browse more than 10,000 hand-blown and hand-crafted glass pumpkins, all available for purchase, and enjoy glass-blowing demonstrations throughout the weekend. Free admission. paacf. org/event/great-glass-pumpkinpatch/ A young customer makes his Halloween selection at Arata’s pumpkin farm in Half Moon Bay. JOHN GREEN/STAFF ARCHIVES

Dixon Silveyville: Open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, Oct. 1-31 at 6248 Silveyville Road.

Enjoy socially distanced activities, including a pumpkin village and pumpkin kingdom play areas, a duck pond and a walking path for up-close encounters with goats, hens, roosters, lambs and other farm critters. In addition, there is a duck ride to the duck pond, as well as an ATV train for a sightseeing farm tour. Free admission. silveyvilletreefarm. com/pumpkin-farm/

management, this pumpkin patch and Half Moon Bay farm is open daily from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 850 N. Cabrillo Highway; www. farmerjohnspumpkins.com.

Lemos Farm: Open Wednesday through Sunday through October and on weekends through Nov. 21 at 12320 San Mateo Road. Choose from small, medium and large pumpkins in multiple colors and check out the haunted house, hayride, train ride, fun town, pony rides and petting zoo. Order a time-slot admission ticket at lemosfarm.com/pumpkin-patch.

Half Moon Bay

Hollister

Arata Pumpkin Farm: Open daily through October at 185 Verde Road. Browse the pumpkins, explore the Minotaur’s Labyrinth Hay Maze, the Haunted Barn, pony ride, train ride, petting zoo and more. Prices vary. www. aratapumpkinfarm.com/

Swank Farms: The farm’s Trail of Lights festivities run Friday through Sunday through the month of October. Fall Days hours are Thursday through Sunday through Oct. 31, plus an additional day on Oct. 27.

Admission to the farm at 4751 Pacheco Pass Highway includes jumping pillow, cow train, pig

Farmer John’s: Now under new

Petaluma Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze: Open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily (until 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays) Sept. 24 through Oct. 31 at 450 Stony Point Road. Choose from more than 25 varieties of pumpkins and gourds, explore a four-acre corn maze and more. Free admission.

Corn Maze $7-$10. http:// petalumapumpkinpatch.com

Portola Valley Webb Ranch Pumpkin Patch: Open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily Sept. 24 through Oct. 31 at 2718 Alpine Road. Hay ride, pony ride, haunted house, farmthemed obstacle course, petting zoo and more. Free admission. webbranchinc.com/pumpkinpatch.html

San Francisco The Guardsmen Pumpkin Patch: Open from 5 to 9 p.m.

Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday through

Top: Portola Valley’s Webb Ranch Pumpkin Patch gets spooky for Halloween.

Above: Ornate glass pumpkins await at the annual Great Glass Pumpkin Patch extravaganza in Palo Alto.

KIRSTINA SANGSAHACHART/ STAFF ARCHIVES

Sunday, Oct. 14-24 at Fort Mason, 2 Marina Blvd. Find details at https://pumpkinpatch.guardsmen. org.

San Ramon Windmill Farms Pumpkin Patch and Petting Zoo: Open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, Oct. 1-31 at 2255 San Ramon Valley Blvd. Browse 20 varieties of pumpkins plus gourds, corn stalks, hay bales and Indian corn, and visit the chickens, geese and ducks, baby pigs, goats, llamas and miniature ponies. www. windmillfarmsproduce.com

Santa Rosa The Patch: Open Oct. 8-31 at 5157 Stony Point Road. Enjoy 10 acres of pumpkins and activities including cornhole, barnyard ballzone, pumpkin tether ball and a giant hay bale maze. Details: http://santarosapumpkinpatch. com.

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Apple Hill idylls A lazy day winding through the orchards and vineyards of this pastoral paradise is its own reward S TO RY BY C H U C K BA R N E Y

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hat is it about spending some down time in the orchard-dotted slopes near Camino and Placerville that nudges us into a state of bliss?

Is it the refreshing mountain air?

The glorious pastoral landscape?

Or could it be the wine we’ve been sipping?

As our super-friendly server presents us with a fresh flight of “mystical” reds, we happily conclude that it must be all of the above.

We have come to the historic Boeger Winery in a region known simply by most as “Apple Hill” and have instantly fallen in love with its enchanting, fairytale-like layout. We’re seated at a wooden picnic table with grass under our feet and a canopy of redwood branches above our heads. Nearby, a pond is fed by a babbling brook.

And we’re gloating over the pleasure of it all.

This picturesque estate encompasses a Gold Rush era homestead that was once a winery and distillery before being shut down during Prohibition. It wasn’t until the early 1970s that former Sacramento residents Greg and Sue Boeger turned the property into the area’s first modern commercial winery. Still standing here is a small, two-story fieldstone structure that was built in 1872.

These days, Boeger and eight other wineries are part of the Apple Hill Growers Association. They provide a unique taste of the Sierra foothills, while also serving as a valuable reminder that the Apple Hill experience has become about so much more than pastries, ciders and pies.

“It used to be that people would come for the

Delfino Farms first began welcoming guests to their farm and bakery in 1964, but their Edio Winery opened last year.

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apples, and they would be surprised to discover, ‘Oh, there’s a winery up there,’” says winemaker Justin Boeger, who has a thing for offbeat varietals and blends with a special emphasis on barbera.

“Now, the wineries have a prime spot on their checklist of things to do.”

Speaking of things to do, this El Dorado County land of plenty offers a dizzying array of activities all year long, but especially during the brisk days of autumn, when the rolling countryside is swarming with visitors from the Bay Area and all over Northern California.

At the always-popular High Hill Ranch, alone, you can fish for trout from a small lake or take a wagon tour of the orchard. There are pony rides for the kids, crafts fairs and a pick-your-own pumpkin patch.

But that’s hardly it. Christmas tree farms open in November.

There are nature trails to stroll, corn mazes to conquer, handmade chocolates to wolf down and scenic beauty to observe. Everywhere you go, the aromas of fruit and pine mingle, and there isn’t a Taco Bell in sight.

We naturally want in on some of that Apple Hill action — even though we could easily veg out in the Boeger gardens forever. So we hop in the car and make our way along twisty Carson Road, curious to see what new discoveries lie around each and every bend.

I should note that our single-day getaway occurred in early August, when many of the farms run by Apple Hill Growers had yet to fully open. Smoke from the nearby Caldor Fire hung heavy in the air — a reminder that tourists can sometimes be hampered by California’s always-capricious wildfire season.

Among our first stops is Hidden Star Camino, which features a 16-tap craft cider bar. There’s an adjoining bakery, which we assume is top-notch, because several local residents have already bellied up to the counter.

Among their suggestions: Try the blackberry cheesecake. No need to tell us twice.

It’s not long before my inner child is drawn to an area on the Hidden Star property dubbed Kid’s Town. It’s teeming with min-

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iature wooden structures to climb on and romp through, including a church, a hotel, a pirate ship and even a jail (where bail is set at 10 cents). So playfully imaginative and fun – a great place for the kiddies to blow off some energy while mom and dad (or grandparents) take in the scenery.

From there, it’s off to the sprawling Boa Vista Orchards’ open-air farm market, where heaping mounds of fresh fruit and produce vie for attention with a hard cider tasting bar. We, however, are mainly seduced by the apple-centric sweets. So it’s calories-be-damned as we load up on an array of mouthwatering

Above: A stagecoach art installation stands against a sunset at Hidden Star Camino Orchard.

WENDY HOLM

Right: Siblings Derek Delfino, Christine Delfino Noonan and Peter Delfino operate the Edio Winery at Delfino Farms.

TOMMY NOONAN

The restored wine cellar built in 1872 serves as the tasting room of Boeger Winery, one of the first modern-day wineries in the region.

COURTESY PHOTO

Placerville’s High Hill Ranch is one of more than 50 apple farms that dot the hillsides of Placerville and Camino.

DOUG DURAN/ STAFF ARCHIVE

The Delfino family named their winery after Edio Delfino, the late patriarch who founded the farm.

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Make a weekend of your orchard, winery and brewery ramblings, and you can stay in the Gold Rush town of Placerville. DOUG DURAN/STAFF ARCHIVE

The small, historic towns near Apple Hill are worth exploring, too. The 19th-century Placerville Soda Works building, for example, is said to be haunted by spirits from the town’s gold-mining past. ANGELA HILL

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fritters, turnovers, strudel and apple-cinnamon donuts, all boxed up for future consumption.

The gastronomic adventure continues with a late lunch at Pine-O-Mine Ranch. There, a hulking, but unpretentious barn is surrounded by an expansive sweep of lawn dotted with picnic tables. Inside the barn, they’ve got craft beers and hard ciders on tap — the perfect complement to the freshly barbecued delicacies being served outside.

As we chow down on generous pulled-pork sandwiches, I’m overcome by the bucolic timewarp feel of it all. At any moment, I practically expect to see Andy and Opie emerge from the barn and make their way to the nearest fishing hole.

Meanwhile, I totally get what Justin Boeger means when he talks about “a magical connection to the land” that visitors feel when they return year after year to Apple Hill.

“It’s kind of an agricultural paradise that represents what so many people value these days,” he says.

Our afternoon in paradise winds down with a visit to Edio Winery at Delfino Farms. Talk about the perfect bookends — a day that began at Boeger, the oldest winery in the area, concludes with the newest one.

The Delfino family has a long history in El Dorado County, having welcomed guests to their farm and bakery since 1964.

Last spring, in the middle of the COVID-19 shutdown, they bolstered their offerings by opening a tasting room and winery on their property and named it in honor of Edio Delfino, the late patriarch who founded the farm.

And what they’ve done with the place is amazing. The tasting room — and store — is housed in an impressive rustic-industrial building featuring several nods to the past. It opens out to a wide,

The Delfino siblings founded their Edio winery after studying viticulture at Cal Poly and working at wineries in San Luis Obispo County.

TOMMY NOONAN

Above: Perched at nearly 3,000 feet, Edio is one of the highest vineyards in California.

TOMMY NOONAN

Right: High Hill Ranch is known for its apple pies, apple fritters and apple doughnuts, all made from the rosy fruit grown in its orchards.

DOUG DURAN/STAFF ARCHIVE

jutting deck with dramatic views over acres of albarino grapes.

Perched at nearly 3,000 feet, Edio is one of the highest vineyards in California. While enjoying fine alpine wines and great conversation, guests are treated to a gorgeous tapestry of vine-laced knolls, 60-year-old apple trees and a thick blanket of cedars. Off in the distance are the granite peaks of Desolation Wilderness.

And on this incredible day, sunlight lays like a glaze over it all.

“It’s really a dream come true for us,” says Christine Delfino Noonan.

A dream, indeed. Christine, and her brothers Peter and Derek, founded the vineyard after studying agriculture and viticulture at Cal Poly and working at wineries in San Luis Obispo County. Apparently, their wine is as good as the views. The 2019 Mourvedre, for example, recently earned a score of 94 points from Wine Enthusiast.

“We’re creating a bit of a stir,” Noonan says, referring to not only Edio, but its neighboring vineyards.

“It’s awesome to see people fall in love with what you love.”

That love, of course, is well-earned. As we inhale all the warm vibes in weary contentment, we know for sure that we’ll be back — and that many memories will be created here.

IF YOU GO

Boeger Winery: Open year-round from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at 1709 Carson Road in Placerville; www.boegerwinery.com.

Edio Winery at Delfino Farms: Open year-round from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday at 3205 N. Canyon Road, Building 1, in Camino; www.shop.delfinofarms.com.

Boa Vista Orchards: Open year-round from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily at 2952 Carson Road in Placerville; www.boavista.com.

Hidden Star Camino: Open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily through Nov. 30, and Fridays and weekends beginning Dec. 1 at 4220 North Canyon Road in Camino; www. hiddenstarcamino.com.

High Hill Ranch: Open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends through Dec. 24 at 2901 High Hill Road in Placerville; www.highhillranch.com.

Pine-O-Mine Ranch: Open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily through Dec. 31 at 2620 Carson Road in Placerville; www. pineomine.com.

Find more information on other Apple Hill Grower venues and seasonal events and activities at www.applehill.com.

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Apple apotheosis Mariposa’s Sierra Cider transforms its 19 varieties into ‘Campfire Champagne’

BY N O R A H E S TO N TA R T E

Tucked in the foothills near Yosemite National Park sit apple orchards and a cider mill, owned by a couple of millennial transplants who left their urban lifestyle in search of a country dream. Los Angeles expats David Bailey and Dana Tiel purchased this Mariposa acreage and its 800 apple trees a year ago, despite a distinct lack of farm know-how or cider-making experience — but with plenty of advice available from its former owners, now neighbors.

Today, Sierra Cider is a bustling spot, with a gaggle of chickens, two ranch dogs and some goats.

Cider lovers stop by for farm and orchard tours, and tastings of a little country life and cider — four in all, made from 19 varieties of apples. A new tasting room, made from a shipping container, with a rooftop deck overlooking the orchard, will open in October, just in time for the property’s Halloween season transformation into the Tortured Orchard.

Naturally, we had questions, and Bailey was happy to answer.

Q A

Sierra Cider is open for tastings and tours ($45) by reservation at 5569 Meadow Lane in Mariposa; www. sierracider.com.

The Tortured Orchard festivities run through the month of October: Enjoy U-Pick apples (bags are provided) Friday-Sunday Oct. 1-31. Halloweenthemed movie nights — “Beetlejuice” on Oct. 1, for example, and “Hocus Pocus” Oct. 8 — include cider and wine pairings. And Halloween weekend’s Tricks & Treats lineup includes mazes, ghost stories, a family-friendly tour and a late-night spooky tour for older guests, Oct. 2931. Check out the details at https:// www.facebook.com/sierracider.

Can you tell us about the tagline for your ciders — Campfire Champagne?

We grow our apples and produce our cider in a place where people from all over the world come to enjoy the great outdoors. And we use Champagne yeast in our fermentation process; our crisp, bubbly cider is the perfect toast to a long day of hiking, rafting, more hiking, taking selfies in front of famous mountains, more hiking, finally finishing pitching a tent that was way more complicated than you expected or enjoying the fresh air with friends and family.

Overall, it represents the sophisticated taste of our ciders, while realizing its potential as a casual sipper, perfect for enjoying around the campfire.

Q A

IF YOU GO

Break it down — what’s a typical tasting experience like?

David Bailey and Dana Tiel (and a furry friend) launched their Sierra Cider company last year, just outside Yosemite National Park.

our apples so dang special, a brief history on cider in America and how cider making gives ugly apples their “She’s All That” moment. At the end of the tour, we’ll arrive at our Tasting Camp, where you’ll enjoy a flight of all four of our hard ciders before kicking back for some lawn games, like cornhole and giant Jenga. Also, a tree swing that we risked our lives hanging on a branch of our old oak tree, so you should definitely try it!

Q A

What has been the most surprising thing you’ve learned since moving?

Q A

Tell us about Tortured Orchard.

Q A

Can people spend the night on property?

Wow, so many things. Goats are escape artists.

You can do pretty much anything with a tractor.

There are many, many different kinds of hoses. Squirrels are evil. Never take pizza delivery for granted.

Always have a pocket knife handy.

Halloween is honestly one of the main reasons we wanted a farm. It’s our favorite time of year, and we’ve always celebrated it through the entire month of October. So, when we told our friends and family we were buying a farm, the first question everyone asked was, “Is it gonna be spooky?” And our answer was, “Yes, obviously.” Sierra Cider’s Tortured Orchard will be our yearly celebration. We’ll be hosting outdoor movie nights, a “Raveyard” dance party featuring EDM (Evil Dance Music) and our Tortured Orchard nighttime tasting tour that’ll be bursting with scares, laughs, candy and, of course, cider.

Sierra Cider is now a Harvest Hosts location! For those traveling with a camper or RV, dry camping at our orchard is free for Harvest Host members — and a super-nice place to camp, if you ask us.

We start with a beautiful walk through the orchard, featuring a crash course on what makes

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to

Restaurants partner with produce growers, cultivating both friendships and fine dining B Y J E S S I CA YA D E G A R A N

OH,

what a difference fresh za’atar makes.

When Berkeley chef Mona Leena opened the doors to her highly anticipated new restaurant, Lulu, this summer, the food was a celebration of her Palestinian heritage fused with her California sensibilities. A key ingredient: the fresh, seasonal produce from Andy Griffin of Mariquita Farm in Watsonville.

In addition to pristine fruits and vegetables, Griffin grows an ancient Middle Eastern culinary herb that is the cornerstone of Leena’s cuisine, fresh za’atar.

Grown expressly for her, it shows up in salads, freshbaked breads and more.

“It grows wild in Palestine, and they somehow figured out how to farm it here,” Leena says. “Being able to dry and grind my own is amazing. I love everything Andy grows, but this is invaluable.”

What’s the saying — behind every great chef is a skilled farmer? That’s often the case in the Bay Area, where farm-to-fork dining is the norm and supporting small local farms a priority. But the ways in which these chef-farmer partnerships are forged and operate is as varied as the veggies in a chopped salad.

With the fall harvest in motion and menus brim-

Working together to bring food from farm to table, chef and COO of Aurum restaurant, Manish Tyagi, left, said of Tarun Marya, owner of Luna Vez Farm, right, “We meet in person every day. Now and then, I give him a taste of my food. Then he understands.”

DAI SUGANO/STAFF

ming with that bounty, we explore how three top Bay Area restaurant chefs use local farms to inspire their menus — and how they can inspire yours, too.

Adam Rosenblum

Causwells and Red Window San Francisco chef-restaurateur Adam Rosenblum first got to know the Tenbrink family of Fairfield’s Tenbrink Farms eight years ago, when he was a sous chef at Flour + Water. It was one of 80 fine dining restaurants that source fruits and vegetables from the farm run by Linda, Stephen and their daughter, Laura.

“They’d always invite my family up for the day,” he recalls. “I’d take my daughters for olive picking. I’ve taken my parents. They’re such an amazing family.”

So when the Maryland native was ready to strike out on his own in 2014 with Causwells, the Marina District bistro, he asked if they could take on another account. Luckily, he says, the answer was yes.

Currently, Tenbrink Farms’ Blue Lake beans share the spotlight with Rosenblum’s roasted chicken breast; their famous late-season tomatoes are used to

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braise the pork for his spaghettoni, and their squashes are already popping up in many fall soups and salads.

“They give us the best quality products around,” Rosenblum says.

Every Tuesday, the Tenbrinks send an email blast to their chef partners with a list of what’s just been picked. Rosenblum and the other chefs, who often create their menus based on that produce availability, respond with their orders by Wednesday night. And on Thursday, Laura drives into San Francisco to make the deliveries.

“Usually, they have some extras in the trunk, in case you want to do some window shopping,” Rosenblum says.

And while he does not source all his produce from Tenbrink Farms for Causwells or his new Spanish tapas spot, Red Window, which opened in North Beach in March, Rosenblum says small local farms are the cornerstone of sustainability and supporting them is critical. Plus, he just loves working with them.

“I enjoy them as people,” he says. “It’s just a really easy relationship.”

Linda, who has been farming since 1982, shares the sentiment. “Our relationships are strong,” she says.

“Like, we love each other. And we’re really loyal.”

Manish Tyagi Aurum

Last December, when chef Manish Tyagi opened Aurum, a modern Indian bistro in Los Altos, one of his first customers was a fellow Indian-American, clad in overalls and work boots, out for a bite with what appeared to be a post-harvest farm crew.

“The spiciest thing in Los Altos was the wasabi at Akane,” recalls Tarun Marya. The farmer, seed breeder and Mountain View native runs Luna Vez Farm, a tiny, one-acre organic farm in the Los Altos Hills. “We had to see what Aurum was all about.”

Marya, a former pastry chef, runs Luna Vez primarily as a Community Sustained Agriculture or CSA membership program with four other local farms, but he also supplies a few restaurants in the area, including Amandine Lounge in Los Altos and Protégé, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Palo Alto. He liked

Laura Tenbrick, left, of the family-owned Tenbrick Farms, sources ingredients for chef Adam Rosenblum for Causwells, a bistro in San Francisco.

RAY CHAVEZ/STAFF

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what he tasted at Aurum — Brassica Beats, a cauliflower take on bezule, a Southern Indian street food typically made with chicken — and wanted his farm’s bounty on the seasonally driven menu.

Not long after, he returned with some organic microgreens.

“This is a gift from me,” he told Tyagi. “I used to work in restaurants. I’m a really local farmer.”

They hit it off, sharing a passion for farm-to-table Indian food — Marya used to work as a line cook at a Bay Area Indian fusion restaurant — and even a hometown. Tyagi grew up in the city of Dehradun, near the foothills of the Himalayas, the same city that Marya’s mother is from.

Tyagi loved the microgreens, but was only doing take-out at the time. When Aurum reopened in the spring, however, he called Marya for more, including mizuna, which he uses to garnish his heirloom tomato salad. This winter, he plans to use Marya’s oranges for his citrus prawns.

Marya now grows microgreens specifically for Aurum. In the short time they have been working together, the professional arrangement has warmed into friendship.

“We joined hands pretty quickly,” Tyagi says, adding that Marya understands his mindset as a chef because of his own restaurant background. “We meet in person every day. Now and then, I give him a taste of my food. Then he understands.”

Bruno Chemel Baumé

As a French-born chef and restaurateur, Bruno Chemel has farm-sourcing in his veins. When he first opened Baumé in Palo Alto in 2010, he worked for a short time with a vegetable supplier in Gilroy, who would bring Chemel his very best harvest whenever he made his way north.

After a while, it became harder to connect with the Dutch farmer, who had two small children and could no longer make it up to Palo Alto. And it was impossible for Chemel, who runs a two Michelin-starred restaurant with a 10-course tasting menu, to trek to Gilroy. Baume’s intimate dining room never did the volume for the arrangement make sense financially.

“It was like buying gold,” Chemel says.

Then in 2015, when Chemel and his wife Christie let their entire staff go — even the dishwasher — to become a true mom-and-pop, Bruno added farmers market shopping to his to-do list. He loved the informal nature of breezing by the stands and the freedom it gave him when writing his menu.

“It gives me the ability to get what I want without much trouble,” says Chemel, who might pick up cauliflower for his signature Golden Osetra caviar and calamansi dish, celeriac to pair with goat cheese or

leeks for salmon mousse. “And it’s fun blending with the population.”

It has worked well for Baumé. On Sundays, Chemel hits the farmers market in Cupertino and picks up whatever he didn’t find on Saturday at the Palo Alto farmers market. He typically goes early, before they open to the public. And by now, he has his favorites: third-generation family-owned Borba Farms from Aromas, Happy Boy Farms in Watsonville and Pinnacle farm in San Juan Bautista, all certified organic.

“The customers go to the same farmers markets and see me or recognize the produce I use, so that’s been kind of fun, connecting with them like that,” he says.

And because of the reduction in business during the pandemic, he only buys what he needs.

“We used to do 25 or 30 people a day,” Chemel says.

“Right now, it’s just two to four per day.”

Public farms, CSA boxes You don’t have to be the chef at a fine dining restaurant to score produce grown by these small local farms. Here’s how to get your hands on your own Michelin-worthy ingredients.

Mariquita Farms: This Watsonville farm offers more than 30 shopping options, from a Mystery Box of produce ($38) to a half-flat of Rainbow Cherry Tomatoes ($18) and jars of Meyer lemon marmalade ($8), with weekly pickups available in parts of the East Bay and on the Peninsula; www.mariquita.com.

Luna Vez Farm: This outfit partners with four other small farms to create small ($35) and large ($50) CSA boxes filled with 10 seasonal, organic fruits and vegetables. Membership is monthly, pick up is weekly, and delivery is free to Los Altos and nearby cities; https:// lunavez.com.

Borba Farms: Medium ($30) and large ($50) bags of organic vegetables and jars of handmade preserves ($6) are available for weekly pick up at farmers markets in the East Bay and Peninsula. https://borba-farms.myshopify.com Happy Boy Farms: This Watsonville organic farm does not offer a CSA box, but you can shop its farm stall at weekly farmers markets in Walnut Creek, North Berkeley, San Mateo and Campbell; www. happyboyfarms.com Pinnacle: Shop apple varieties, peppers, leafy greens and a slew of other fruits and vegetables at the San Juan Bautista farm stand from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday or at 10 weekly farmers markets in cities from Oakland to Santa Cruz; www.pinnacleorganic.com.

Luna Vez Farm, a collaboration of small local organic farms, offers up strawberries and various vegetables from the farm in Los Altos.

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Feeding her roots Late-blooming farmer honors her multicultural heritage with the crops she raises B Y J OA N M O R R I S

The name Leslie Wiser chose for her small, intensive vegetable farm in Sebastopol — Radical Family Farms — probably says it all.

After a failed marriage and the realization that she wanted — needed — to raise her children on a farm, Wiser began searching for land. It would be another seven years before she came across this 1.5-acre Sebastopol farm and planted her first crop — a cover crop to replenish the soil.

With support from her family — her daughter, her son and a new partner — the former Midwestern digital project manager has transformed into a Northern California farmer with one of the most popular CSA or Community-Supported-Agriculture operations in the area. Along the way, she’s uncovering, exploring and embracing her mixed-race heritage through the vegetables she grows.

Q A

How did you become a farmer?

I’d worked on a farm one season during my sophomore year in college in Alaska. I realized then that’s what I wanted to do, but I didn’t think I’d ever be able to because it’s so expensive to buy land.

I actually was on my way to Washington. I was married, and it wasn’t working, and the state I lived in didn’t recognize same-sex marriage, so I had to move to a state that did to get a divorce. I have friends in the Seattle area, but I have family in Sonoma County, and I decided I needed

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Leslie Wiser, left, and her partner Sarah Deragon explore Wiser’s multicultural heritage through the produce they grow at Radical Family Farms in Sebastopol.

ARIC CRABB/STAFF

their support, so I started looking for property here.

the German and Chinese languages. Food — produce and herbs — is the last thing we can do to keep that connection.

We take the kids to Taiwan every year, except last year, and I enroll them in a Taiwanese language school. They speak it much better than I do now.

Q

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How have you explored your Taiwanese-Chinese and German-Polish heritage through what you grow?

I probably lean more to my Asian roots. This year, I cut back on Italian zucchini and yellow squash and replaced it with loofa, Chinese okra and a Korean variety of bottle gourds.

I grow a lot of Asian vegetables.

Before I started, I surveyed my aunts and uncles on both sides, asking what vegetables do they wish they had more access to, what vegetables were “home” to them. It’s really helped me to connect with my family, especially my Polish-German grandmother.

My other grandmother was constantly looking for foods of her heritage, so I was familiar with Asian vegetables, but I didn’t know their Mandarin names. In the United States, most of the vegetables have Cantonese names, so I had to learn both.

Q

How do you bring your mixed heritage into your kitchen?

A

I try to bring it full circle.

Every Sunday, I try to cook maybe a German pastry and a Chinese dish, using vegetables from the farm. I want my kids to have those same food memories.

Passing that heritage along to them is important to me. We are within one generation of losing

This is the third season you’ve had CSA boxes, and I see you have a waiting list for them...

We have 250 members getting the boxes, and people on the waiting list usually don’t have to wait too long, maybe a couple of weeks, before we can onboard them.

Q A

I know you do regenerative farming, but are you organic?

We’re not certified, but we do a lot of the same practices.

We don’t spray anything, and we don’t use pesticides at all. We have a two-wheel tractor, and we made a big investment in a compost spreader that we can pull behind the tractor. That saves days and days and really speeds up the process of bed flipping. We mulch to help retain water, and we use every bit of space by interplanting.

We only have an acre and half, so we don’t waste any space.

Q

Your degree and work experience is in media arts and science, and you worked in the corporate world. How did you become such an experienced farmer?

A

I’m actually really green.

There’s a lot of trial and error.

When I made the decision to go into farming, I submersed myself in books. I taught myself the skills, and when I moved to Sonoma County, I took the Master Gardener training. I’ve learned a lot, but there’s always more to know.

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California struts its fall colors longer than any other state

BY J OA N M O R R I S

IF

you’re someone who believes California has no fall story to tell and that the only place to experience the glories of autumn’s brilliant foliage is in New England, John Poimiroo has some surprising news for you.

Not only does California’s landscape celebrate the fall season, it has the longest one in the nation and the most spectacular and abundant autumn colors.

“People who say California doesn’t have fall color live on the coast and never leave the neighborhood,” Poimiroo says.

Autumnal denial is the chief reason why, in 2009, Poimiroo started his website, www. californiafallcolor.com, which reminds us that “Dude, autumn happens here, too.”

Poimiroo was working in Mono County in the Eastern Sierra and was stunned by the brilliant colors of autumn. He considered creating a website that would focus on Mono County but figured there would be wider appeal if he opened it to the entire state.

Site visitors, called color spotters, upload photos they’ve taken from around California along with details on when and where the

Fall foliage frames Yosemite’s iconic Half Dome, where autumn colors arrive by mid-to-late October each year.

ELLIOT McGUCKEN

photos were taken. Poimiroo then compiles a daily list of locations, charting their peak color times and providing leaf lovers an upto-date road map of where to find autumn.

A key lets you know what areas are just starting, which are nearing or have reached their peak, and sadly, those that have finished their display for the year.

And we’re not just talking about a few colorful leaves here and there.

“California has the longest, most diverse autumn color in all of the United States,” Poimiroo says. “And it’s the most dependable.”

If you plan a trip to New England to see the leaves change, you really only have two weeks to see the display, he says. If you’re off by a few days or climate change works its evil magic, you could miss it entirely. In California, if you miss it in one area, there’s another one gearing up.

California’s leaf-changing show starts in early September and continues into November, Poimiroo says. Seeing the changing leaves all depends on location and timing.

The color changes begin in September at the higher elevations,

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The Eastern Sierra’s North Lake foliage is at its most brilliant in September.

Fall color typically peaks in early October at June Lake.

around 10,000 feet. If you miss those, Poimiroo says, then drop down to the next lower level. It takes about three months for autumn to reach sea level, meaning those gorgeous colors arrive in the Bay Area around November.

Wildfires, of course, can make significant changes to the landscape. Last year, the area around Greenville was a top spot to visit.

This year, most of the town and surrounding areas were consumed by the Dixie fire.

The forests will come back, Poimiroo says, and the state is so big and diverse that there remain many sights to see.

CLAYTON PEOPLES

DOUG VAN KIRK

Choosing his favorite leaf peeping spots is like choosing his favorite child, Poimiroo says, but here are five that shouldn’t be missed.

B I S H O P C R E E K CA N YO N

Inyo County Peak peek: Mid-September Bishop Creek flows through Inyo National Forest before making its steep descent into Bishop and the Owens Valley. You’ll find the color around the North and South lakes as well as the forest.

November paints the leaves at Walnut Creek’s Heather Farm Park shades of vivid crimson and gold. JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO/STAFF

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JUNE LAKE Mono County

Peak peek: First two weeks of October Poimiroo describes June Lake as “picture perfect,” with its lakes ringed by aspens. Surrounding lakes, streams and trails offer lots of colorful variety.

Q U I N CY

Plumas County Peak peek: Mid-October If you’re looking for New England, Quincy makes a fine substitute.

It also has some exotic — for California — trees, including stands of sugar maples planted by East Coast gold miners when they gave up on striking it rich and instead switched to homesteading.

YO S E M I T E

Peak peek: Mid-to-late October, early November

You could mistake the fall colors of Plumas County for an autumnal New England scene.

STEVE ARITA

Yosemite is a no-brainer for color spotters, given the variety of trees in the national park — quaking aspen, dogwood, sugar maple, bigleaf maple, ceanothus, white alder and black cottonwood. Many color spotters, however, cherish the park because of its “Halloween trees,” the black oaks with startling orange leaves.

T H E BAY A R E A

Peak peek: November

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Fall descends on the College of Marin campus, where liquid amber trees turn rosy shades of scarlet and orange.

The sun peeks through the fall leaves in Bishop.

GARY YOUNG

ALAN DEP/STAFF ARCHIVES

GETTY IMAGES

By the time the 11th month rolls around, a lot of people have given up on autumn, but that’s when the colors of fall are the best at this altitude. Poimiroo recommends exploring Walnut Creek, Danville, Berkeley, the arboretum at UC Berkley Botanical Garden, Roaring Camp in Felton and Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.

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Looking for more fun things to do this weekend?

Delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday morning, the free Weekender newsletter offers up seven suggestions for awesome things to do around the Bay Area and at home, from streaming movies and virtual wine tastings to hot new shows, outdoor adventures and road trip inspiration.

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