Field to Food

Farm Fresh to You - The Interview

Not only did Sarah and I visit the Farm Fresh to You farm, we asked Moyra, the head of FFTY Marketing and Thaddeus's wife, a few questions about the operation of the farm.

How many customers do you serve through your CSA?

We do 8,000 deliveries per week and have 15,000 active customers in the greater San Francisco Bay Area (the 15,000 total includes customers who get every-other-week, every-third-week and every-fourth-week deliveries). We do 1,000 deliveries per week and have 2,500 active customers in the greater LA area – we just started deliveries in LA in September based out of our new Anaheim warehouse space).

"pour your dreams into dirt"

CNN has a great article about Franklin Garland, the man who first cultivated French black truffles in the US. Truffles have a reputation for being difficult to cultivate.  The fungus grows in the root system of oak trees.  They are detected by scent, and farmers must use either hogs or dogs to find the truffles. Hogs tend to eat the truffles they find, while dogs must be trained to seek them out.

Garland is developing his business around the gourmet item.  He sells oak and hazlenut saplings inoculated with truffle spores and he grows his own crop.  He hopes to build up a culinary tourism business around his truffles.  His farm is in North Carolina.  I've spent a little time in North Carolina, and it is beautiful.  The food there is southern and really delicious.  I would happily wolf down some truffle grits!

Truffle production takes an enormous leap of faith.  From planting, it takes seven to ten years for a crop to develop and be harvested.  What an investment of time on such a notoriously finicky process.  I am happy for his success and hope to have his truffles in the future.

Farm Tour - Farm Fresh to You

Sorry we've been away for a short bit - things have been very busy around here.  

The other weekend we had a great time on the Farm Fresh to You farm tour.  FFTY is an example of a CSA - Community Supported Agriculture.  Customers sign up with FFTY to receive regular shipments of mixed fruits and vegetables.  It's a great way to eat locally and organically.  The tour was interesting and a lot of fun.  There were several families out for the day with us, and it was a gorgeous day:

 

Our tour was led by Farmer Thad, who led us on a short walk through the fields.

Soul Food Farm Fire

The blessings of California's agriculture come with the attendant curse of wildfires.  Soul Food Farm is located in Vacaville, CA, and they provide pasture-raised chicken and eggs, primarily to Bay Area restaurants, including Chez Panisse and, until recently, Eccolo.  A fire ravaged Soul Food Farm and destroyed thirty of fifty-five acres and a barn.  The fire also took the life of 1,000 baby chicks.  Soul Food Farm has asked for help from the community to survive this disaster. 

You can see pictures of the damage to Soul Food on their blog.  The sight of baby chicks pecking through charred grounds breaks my heart.  I hope they can recover from this fire.