Produced by the California Farm Bureau, California Bountiful magazine promotes connections between farm and city, introducing readers to farmers, ranchers, chefs and others who bring us food and farm products; visiting towns and locations that are hidden gems; featuring mouth-watering recipes that include California-grown products; sharing gardening tips from experts; and more. The bimonthly magazine is available by subscription and to associate members of Farm Bureau.
The ‘pop’ stars behind a favorite snack
Food truck rolls with farm-fresh ingredients
Garden in a teacup: an easy DIY project
May/June 2021
Summertime INSPIRATIONS Recipes from wine country
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May/June 2021
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Features
4 From the editors 5 A la carte 11 Book reviews 33 Now from Nationwide 34 Recipes 40 Ask a farmer 44 Take 5 46 It’s a bountiful life
Farm to food truck Wide variety of produce feeds Clif Bar founders’ ‘bruschetteria.’ Healing grounds Garden program aids people with mental illness. Earning its wings Butterfly popcorn is the crunchy key to this flavorful snack. Returning to her roots Past meets future at the family farm. Destination: apricots It’s a family affair at Bremmer’s Farm. Garden in a teacup Easy DIY project is great for gift-giving—or keeping!
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ON THE COVER: Salad recipes from the heart of Santa Barbara County wine country. Story on Page 34.
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Photo: Silas Fallstich
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From the editors
Farmers and ranchers in theGolden State know there is something rewarding and therapeutic about being outdoors, putting their hands in the dirt andmaking things grow. The people at Transitions-Mental Health Association in San Luis Obispo County know it, too. For nearly 40 years, they’ve run a program that uses horticultural therapy to treatmental health patients, teaching themskills for the garden and for life. You’ll learn about it in this issue. You’ll alsomeet dairy farmers Karen and JohnTaylor, who care for their land in Marin County in part by using a rotational grazing system for their 500 cows, and you’ll learn how the creators of a popular nutrition bar devote their 90-acre Napa County farm to supply a unique food truck. Also in this issue, we explain what goes into growing and making seasoned popcorn, and tell you how two friends put their heads together to make sweet and savory hand pies when the pandemic slowed both of their businesses. We introduce you to aDutch-born flower grower along theCentral Coast, as well as a blended family in the Sacramento Valley whose members run a popular apricot stand.We also share five salad recipes brimming with fresh vegetables, fruits and herbs, and check in with gardening expert Pat Rubin, who shows how to create a tiny garden in a teacup. As the days become warmer and longer, we invite you to find a slice of land—a park, your yard or a balcony with a peek of green—and enjoy this issue of California Bountiful .
VOLUME 44 • ISSUE 3
Melanie Duval Chief Marketing Officer Dave Kranz Director, Publications & Media Relations
Barbara Arciero Managing Editor
Kevin Hecteman, Ching Lee, Christine Souza, Tracy Sellers,
Jolaine Collins, Judy Farah, Kate Gonzales, Pat Rubin Writers Applemoon Photography, Manny Crisostomo, Lori Eanes, Steve German, Fred Greaves, Paige Green, Silas Fallstich, Stephen Osman
Photographers Karin Bakotich Design Services Manager Jessica Cook Paula Erath Graphic Artists Margaret Rodriguez Darla Quidachay
Production Chico Ochi Administrative Supervisor Chris Tedesco Manager, Business Development
Brock Tessandori Advertising Sales
Subscribe: California Bountiful is available to
Contact us: California Bountiful, 2600 River Plaza Drive, Sacramento, CA 95833 916-561-5552 cbmagazine@californiabountiful.com californiabountiful.com associate members of county FarmBureaus in California and by subscription. To subscribe, call 916-561-5552 or go to californiabountiful. com/subscribe.
land For the love of the Photo by 2019 California Farm Bureau photo contest winner Cindy Lohse
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@cabountiful
California Bountiful ® (ISSN 0194-5165) is published bimonthly by the California Farm Bureau Federation, 2600 River Plaza Drive, Sacramento, CA 95833 (telephone: 916-561‑5552). Non-profit periodicals postage paid at Sacramento, California. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to California Bountiful, 2600 River Plaza Drive, Sacramento, CA 95833. The California Farm Bureau Federation does not assume responsibility for statements by advertisers or for products advertised in California Bountiful, nor does the Federation assume responsibility for statements or expressions of opinion other than in editorials or in articles showing authorship by an officer, director or employee of the California Farm Bureau Federation or its affiliates.
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May/June 2021
a la carte
cherry! Pick a
California-grown cherries are not only a juicy snack—this little fruit is packed with nutrients. Cherries are a rich source of polyphenols, which help reduce pain and inf lammation, and also contain melatonin, which helps you sleep better. California cherry season typically runs from late April to mid-June. There are about 50 varieties grown here by more than 800 farmers, with the sweet-tasting Bing being the most popular.
How do you feed future astronauts who may spend years onMars or beyond, out of range for rocketed food deliveries? NASA and the Canadian Space Agency are offering up to $500,000 in prize money for your solutions. They launched the Deep Space Food Challenge to seek ideas for food production technologies to provide tasty and nutritious food with minimal waste for astronauts on long space missions. The agencies said they hope any new technologies developed through the challenge can also be used here on Earth in remote regions or areas hit by disasters. More at deepspacefoodchallenge.org. Food that’s out of this world
Your photo can win $1,000
Amateur photographers, time to grab your cameras or smartphones and aim them at California’s agricultural beauty. The annual California Farm Bureau photo contest opens June 1, with $2,500 in prizes up for grabs, including $1,000 for the Grand Prize winner. Contestants may submit up to five photos that capture life, work, family and food on the farm or ranch. There’s also a category for kids. The deadline for this members-only contest is Sept. 30. Details and previous winners at californiabountiful.com.
2020 Grand Prize-winning photo
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John McConnell, executive chef of the Clif Family Bruschetteria Food Truck, serves dishes made with ingredients from Clif Family Farm.
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FOOD TRUCK
Wide variety of produce feeds Clif Bar founders’ ‘bruschetteria’
Story by Ching Lee • Photos by Lori Eanes
Even for a food- and wine-centric region such as the Napa Valley, it’s practically unheard of for a food truck to have an entire farm at its disposal, especially one devoted to growing fresh produce year-round for the truck’s seasonal menu. The prospect seemed “too good to be true,” said John McConnell, executive chef of the Clif Family Bruschetteria Food Truck, recalling his job interview with owners Gary Erickson and his wife, Kit Crawford. “I remember after meeting them and thinking to myself, I would be a fool to turn this away,” McConnell said. If the single “f ” in the Clif name looks familiar, you probably recognize the energy bars that also bear the moniker, named for Erickson’s father, Clifford, who was an avid gardener and loved fruit trees—so much so that the couple named their orchard after him. After starting Clif Bar & Co. in 1992, Erickson and Crawford moved their family to the Napa Valley in 1997 and began expanding their business into winemaking, farming and other foods. “Growing food and sharing it with our neighbors was part of my family life growing up,” Crawford said. “When we moved to the Napa Valley, I knew I would like to grow food on a larger scale.” The process began with Crawford and her brother Brad planting an orchard that slowly evolved into a working farm as they added more fruit trees and a vegetable garden. It was “a family affair” from the beginning, General Manager Linzi Gay said, pointing out that as the farm grew, the family needed an outlet for all the produce.
From Italy toNapa Inspiration for the bruschetteria food truck came by way of Erickson and Crawford’s travels through northern Italy, where they became friends with owners of a restaurant that specializes in bruschetta, a classic Italian dish of toasted bread dressed in olive oil, rubbed with garlic and topped with fresh ingredients such as tomatoes and other vegetables. “On cycling trips to Italy, we would often end a long day on the bike sharing bruschetta and local wine,” Crawford said. “We wanted to offer a similar experience in our own tasting room.” Their plan was to use ingredients from their organic farm in Pope Valley to re-create some of the “delicious and vibrant, unique toppings” for the bruschetta, Crawford said. Erickson was specific about the bread, McConnell recalled: Slices needed to be large enough, almost the size of a small pizza, so that the bruschetta could be easily shared. “They were fascinated by this concept (of the bruschetteria) because nobody was doing anything like this,” McConnell said. Pedal power This time of year, it’s not uncommon to see cyclists come through the Clif Family Tasting Room in St. Helena, grab an espresso or a Clif Bar, fill their water bottles, go about their day and later return from their cycling trip to the tasting room for a chilled glass of wine and a bite to eat from the food truck, open since 2014. “The first three years of our existence, it was the best- kept secret locally,” McConnell said of the bright-green mobile eatery. Though he came from a fine-dining background and had never stepped inside a food truck until his current position, McConnell said he was “totally excited” about designing his own kitchen and bringing Erickson and Crawford’s vision of the bruschetteria to fruition. Typically parked just off the back patio of the tasting room, the food truck serves a variety of bruschetta, salads, sides and main dishes that change according to what’s in season at the farm. At the height of its production season, the 90-acre farm—which includes a vineyard that produces about 8,000 cases of wine annually—supplies 70%of the food truck’s produce. Peppers from the farm go into the company’s line of hot sauces and jel lies, and the orchard’s more than 30 varieties of fruit are used to
Tessa Henry, right, manager of Clif Family Farm, grows a variety of fruits, vegetables and herbs that end up in dishes served by the food truck, such as the chicory-citrus salad above.
make jams, preserves and olive oil. Chickens, which the f a rm added in 2015, prov ide eggs for some of McConnell’s dishes. Ingredients not available from the farm, such as pork, other meats and bread, come from local farms and vendors. Taking a backwards approach As the farm’s manager for the last three years, Tessa Henry said she likes that Clif Family Farm grows such a wide va r iet y of crops to promote biodiversity “in the middle of what is pretty much all vineyards.” But managing the farm’s more than 70 crops is labor-intensive and can be challenging, she acknowledged, especially when trying to figure out how much to grow at different times of the year to match what McConnell needs. “We both have to be super-f lexible,” she said, noting that she keeps in constant contact with the k itchen, pa r t icu la rly dur ing the busy summer months. “Because we both have to work with each other to make it work, I think it makes both of us think outside the box a little bit.” Although she’s mindful about choosing crops that will do well in the region, Henry said she also considers what McConnell wants to see on the menu and what’s unique that he can showcase. Whereas most chefs create a menu and then acquire the ingredients to execute the recipes, McConnell said he takes a more “backwards approach,” in that many of his recipes are born in the kitchen as he tries to adapt
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Henry works on the farm’s vegetable garden, right, which supplies 70% of the produce used by the Clif Family Bruschetteria Food Truck, started by husband and wife Gary Erickson and Kit Crawford, bottom right, owners of Clif Bar & Co.
his menu to either an abundance or a shortage of certain items. “You have to be open to the idea that it is in Mother Nature’s hands. We are only helping the journey along,” he said, adding that his goal as a chef is to validate Henry’s work “by using any and all produce that we receive from her.” For Henry, what’s nice about the arrangement with McConnell, she said, is that she never has to worry about finding a home for her crops. “I’ve never worked somewhere where the chef will see something that he likes in a seed catalog and relay that to me,” she said. “I think that’s really cool because that makes it extra exciting for me to grow, because it was a special request.” Not ing how Cl i f Ba r s were one of t he f i r s t certified organic energy bars on the market in 2003, Erickson said supporting organic agriculture has long been “an important part of Clif Bar’s journey.” That business provided a platform for Erickson and Crawford to promote sustainable agriculture on a larger scale, General Manager Gay said, and now with Clif Family Farm, they’re doing it “on a very personal level.” “It has been a great opportunity to put our passion for organic farming into practice on our own farm,” Erickson said.
Photo courtesy of Clif Family Farm
Ching Lee clee@californiabountiful.com
Toast wiith a
Chef John McConnell takes toast and eggs to another level with a generous topping of fresh, chopped scallions over grilled sourdough bread. Jammy eggs keep this dish hearty, while the kimchi gives it a spicy twist.
SCALLION TOAST with fried kimchi and soft-boiled eggs
Serves 4 to 6
Reserved bacon fat 1 jar prepared kimchi, strained 1 bunch scallions Gourmet chili powder, such as Aleppo chili flakes
6 to 9 high-quality eggs 1 loaf sourdough bread (pain au levain, boule, etc.), cut into 4 to 6 slices, each 1 inch thick Olive oil, to taste
Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Using a slotted spoon, carefully lower eggs into water one at a time. Cook 6 minutes, adjusting heat to maintain a gentle boil. Transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water and chill until just slightly warm, about 2 minutes. Gently crack eggs all over and peel, starting from the bottom of the egg, which contains the air pocket. Once cooled, place in the refrigerator to be cut just before assembly of the dish. Use a small length of new fishing line for the perfect slice, or a very sharp, thin knife. In a skillet, toast a slice of sourdough on each side with a little olive oil in the pan. Repeat the process until all bread is toasted and set aside on a baking tray to rewarm just before serving. While skillet is still hot, add bacon fat to the pan and begin sautéing strained kimchi. Caramelize kimchi until wilted. Hold in the pan. Slice enough scallions to cover the slices of toast. Cut eggs in half and rewarm toast slices. For each serving, arrange kimchi on a plate to create a nest for 3 egg halves. Place scallion-topped toast next to kimchi and eggs, and scatter chili powder over the top.
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book reviews
If you’ve ever tried to bake at high altitude, you know you can have problems. Mimi Council and Kimmy Fasani own and operate the Dessert’D Organic Bake Shop in Mammoth Lakes, altitude 8,000 feet. They created TheMountain Baker: 100 High-Altitude Recipes for Every Occasion In the children’s book WhenGrandmaGives You a Lemon Tree , a young girl is disappointed when her grandmother gives her a lemon tree for her birthday. The girl soon realizes she gets to spend quality time with her grandmother learning about the tree. Written by teacher Jamie L.B. Deenihan and illustrated by Bay Area artist Lorraine Rocha. Lemonade recipe included. Hardcover fromSterling Children’s Books. $16.95.
Millions of people became gardeners in 2020 because of the pandemic. In The First-TimeGardener: Growing Vegetables , homesteader Jessica Sowards, host of YouTube’s “Roots and Refuge Farm,” helps beginners get started. She offers tips onwhere to place a garden, what to plant andmore. Paperback fromCool Springs Press. $26.99.
to help navigate baking above 5,000 feet. The
recipes—from fluffy cakes to flaky pies—can also be made at sea level. Hardcover from Countryman Press. $28.
Jennifer Jewell hosts “Cultivating Place,” a Chico-based public radio show and podcast on gardening. In The Earth in Her Hands: 75 Extraordinary Women Working in the World of Plants , she profiles a diverse group of women who work in the fields of farming, botany, landscape architecture and more. Hardcover from Timber Press. $35.
Visitors have been going to Big Trees Grove, now part of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in Santa Cruz County, since the 19th century. Deborah Osterberg, who lives in Santa Cruz, traces the history of preserving redwood forests for public recreation in Historic Tales of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park. Paperback fromThe History Press. $21.99.
California Bountiful’s Book Reviews highlight books related to rural living and California agriculture. To suggest a book, email cbmagazine@californiabountiful.com.
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Healing grounds
Garden program aids people with mental illness
Story by Judy Farah • Photos by Applemoon Photography
Tucked away in an alley in downtown San Luis Obispo is a tiny store with big appeal. Growing Grounds Downtown, on the former site of a driveway between two buildings, is now filled with lush houseplants, succulents and drought-tolerant and native California plants. Colorful terra cotta planters line the shelves, along with bright packets of seeds, garden gloves, candles and handcrafted jewelry. Students from nearby Cal Poly San Luis Obispo stop by to pick up dorm decorations, while other customers browse for gift items. What makes this store different is the staff assisting these shoppers: Most suffer from severe mental illness. The workers, also called participants or clients, take part in a unique horticultural therapy program offered by Transitions-Mental Health Association of San Luis Obispo County. Workers engage in garden- or plant-based activities at the store and nearby nursery. TMHA has run both the store and the nursery for more than three decades for people with debilitating mental illness who want to re-enter the workforce. Sheri Grayson is one of those people. Suffering from lifelong mental illness, she fought drug and alcohol addiction. Grayson hadn’t held a job in 25 years and didn’t think she could. She started out slowly, working at the nursery, where she replants seedlings, prunes and waters plants, then gets them ready for sale. She also works one day a week at the downtown store.
Growing Grounds Downtown is squeezed into a small alley in San Luis Obispo, but brimming with plants, seeds, jewelry and other items, left. Christine Story, above, manages the gift shop and trains the mentally ill clients who work there.
While preparing plants such as agave attenuata for sale, Growing Grounds clients form bonds with one another at the 7-acre nursery.
Gardening as therapy “When I first got there, I was pretty broken. You know, I wasn’t mentally right,” Grayson said. “It took some time for me to get better and open up. I hadn’t been around people. I hadn’t worked, I hadn’t done any of that. My social skills were really not that great at the time. Growing Grounds has helped me a lot. It’s made me come a long way.” Christine Story has managed the Growing Grounds store for 15 years and has seen employees transform from being withdrawn and uncommunicative to interacting confidently with customers. “Someone might walk in and think they don’t have any skills or talent, but after a few shifts, they gain confidence and say, ‘I can do this. I can work on a computer. I can take care of plants. I can talk to the customers,’” Story said. The Growing Grounds program started in 1982 when Barbara Fischer, former TMHA executive director, founded a landscaping business and wanted to use the organization’s mental health clients as workers, to help them acquire jobs skills. Employees started by growing tomatoes and lettuce. TMHA was next able to acquire a 7-acre plot that became a nursery that sells flowers, shrubs, herbs, trees and other plants. The program currently has 65 workers, ranging in age from 18 to 70 years old, who work three-hour shifts a couple of days a week for minimum wage. Employees such as Grayson start each shift at the nursery by doing warm-up exercises, then gather in the barn around what they call the “enterprise”
table, where they transplant seedlings of pansies, marigolds, petunias and other plants into 1-gallon containers. It’s this time at the table, when employees are standing up and talking, that bonding and trust begins, said Frank Ricceri, TMHA vocational services director and head of the Growing Grounds program. “A typical trajectory for someone is, they come in kind of anxious, always anxious, afraid, quiet. Three months to six months in, they’re starting to open their eyes a bit more to what’s going on here and feel comfortable,” Ricceri said. He came to the nursery in 1988 after answering an ad for a farmer. His background is in business, but he said he always wanted to work the land. He’s been with the Growing Grounds program ever since, managing the nursery that takes in a half million dollars a year. Breaking a stigma “I got the job and I started and found that I was working with people who were exceptional, in the sense that I learned about different kinds of mental illness from them: bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, chronic depression, all kinds of things,” Ricceri said. “They were my workforce here.” More than 80% of people with serious mental illness are unemployed, according to the National Alliance of Mental Health. Everyone who comes into the Growing Grounds program must have been diagnosed with a severe and persistent mental illness.
Besides helping people, Growing Grounds strives to break the st igma of menta l i l lness. The program’s downtown store boasts a large sign stating the store supports mental health awareness. Managers who work with the participants are trained in mental health. “Our workforce supports one another and that is a common benefit to mental health, is people have a lot of compassion and empathy for one another. There’s an unspoken camaraderie and support that happens among our workforce here,” Ricceri said. “No one has done what we have done with our use of therapeutic horticulture as a basis for healing. Work itself is healing, but work outdoors with plants is incredibly healing.” Gaining confidence through horticulture Story said employees tell her how much they enjoy coming to the store because of how calm and peaceful they feel among the plants. “It’s truly delightful to see. You can imagine a person coming in who is very hesitant, unsure of themselves and looking down at the ground. After a number of shifts, of meeting success and being encouraged and getting good feedback from customers and staff, they start looking more directly at people and speaking clearly and speaking more,” she said. Story said she’s pleased to see the success and community support that comes out of the 15-foot-wide space.
Heather O’Meagher, far left, confers with Program Director Frank Ricceri, who leads clients including Sheri Grayson and Matt Jakubowski in exercise, left. Grayson and co-worker Annabelle Merino, right, transplant seedlings at the worktable.
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“When I first got there,
I was pretty broken. ...
Growing Grounds has helped me a lot.”
“We’re not just running a little plant store. We have a higher mission,” Story said. “The staff and I all feel great sat i sfact ion f rom the work we’re doing and the opportunities we’re providing for folks who need a little leg up.” Grayson, who’s been at Growing Grounds for two years, is now a crew leader teaching others. She graduated from a new program at TMHA called Breaking Barriers, a 12-week course that helps participants transition to outside employment. “I didn’t realize that I was that good at what I was doing, but they said I’m really good at it. And I’m good with people and how I talked to the clients. It made my self-esteem really good,” she said. Grayson looks back on her life now and all she’s been through. She said one of her sons encouraged her not to give up, so she decided to give Growing Grounds a chance for her children and grandchildren. “Gardening is really, really fun. It’s very therapeutic,” she said. “I’m able to have things I’d never had before, just working here. I met a lot of good people. I have friends now. It’s really good. It’s really, really good. My family’s proud of me.”
—SHERI GRAYSON Crew leader
Judy Farah cbmagazine@californiabountiful.com
Working with plants promotes emotional, mental and physical health and well-being, according to the American Horticultural Therapy Association. Horticultural therapy dates back to ancient times. During the Middle Ages, many hospitals and monasteries created beautiful gardens and courtyards for their patients. Dr. Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence recognized as the “Father of American Psychiatry,” published findings in 1812 that said patients who worked in gardens had better recovery rates frommania than those who had not. Horticultural therapy was expanded in the 1940s and ’50s to include injured World War II veterans at Veterans Administration hospitals, where physicians used on-site gardens specifically for rehabilitation therapies. The professional field of horticultural therapy began in 1973. Today, therapeutic gardening is also used in recovery and senior centers, public and private schools and correctional facilities. Most recently, nurses and doctors have used therapeutic gardens at hospitals as respites during the COVID-19 crisis. An ancient practice
Sources: American Horticultural Therapy Association, Rutgers University
Story by Kate Gonzales and Jolaine Collins Earning its wings
Butterfly popcorn is the crunchy key to this flavorful snack
Very few people curl up to watch a movie at home and stop to consider the characteristics of the popcorn they’re munching. But if you ask the husband-and-wife team behind Comet Corn Popcorn to describe the kind of popcorn most fitting for the snacks they produce, they’ll be quick to tell you it’s the large yellow butterfly variety. They should know. For years, they’ve ordered a ton of organic popcorn each month from Pleasant Grove Farms in Sutter County. The large yellow butterf ly variety provides a perfectly crunchy base for the dry-seasoned snacks made by Comet Corn Popcorn, said Jeff Phillips, who calls himself the Chief Popping Officer of the Sonoma County company.
“We’ve used Pleasant Grove Farms popcorn since 2004 and it’s part of the reason we’ve been successful,” Phillips said. “The kernels are so fresh. We like the size of the yellow butterfly. It doesn’t break up that much.” “It also has more nooks and crannies to catch the seasoning,” added his wife, Sherry Soleski, known as the company’s Queen of Corn. Photos by Lori Eanes
Sherry Soleski, left, and husband Jeff Phillips order a ton of yellow butterfly popcorn each month to make five flavored snacking varieties at Comet Corn Popcorn.
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Wings as flavor pockets The “wings” of butterf ly popcorn create pockets of f lavor in each bite of Comet Corn, including varieties such as nutritional yeast-coated Hippie Dust or sea salt-sprinkled Sel-estial popcorn—two of the most popular of the company’s five f lavors. The uneven shape of butterf ly popcorn distinguishes it from the other basic popcorn variety: mushroom. Mushroom popcorn is round and sturdy, making it better suited for making candy-coated snacks such as caramel corn, which is popped, glazed and cooked again. But making dry-f lavored snacks looks different in the Comet Corn Popshop in Santa Rosa, where a crew of five processes about 2,000 pounds of popcorn each month. They start by seasoning and popping the kernels using organic sunflower oil from Arbuckle-based Adams Vegetable Oils. Once the popcorn cools, it’s set on a retrofitted shaker table, where unpopped kernels and excess seasoning are parted from the whole, flavored popcorn. The popcorn is weighed into 4-ounce portions, then bagged and packed for distribution to more than 100 retail outlets throughout Northern California. Popped but not broken Since 2002, Phillips and Soleski have popped and sold fresh Comet Corn at festivals and events throughout Northern California. To expand their retail business, they offered samples in stores and sold their snacks to busy wineries and breweries. But a lot changed in 2020. The pandemic put a halt to events, in-store sampling, and on-site tastings at wineries and breweries. Fortunately, Comet Corn retail and online sales remained strong, the couple said. Then tragedy struck: Last fall, they lost their home near Santa Rosa in the Glass Fire. But they never stopped popping at Comet Corn. “We had to get people their popcorn,” Soleski said. “The business gave us a reason to hang on during a very challenging time. We continued to do what we love.” Soleski summed up their business this way: “Our job is to make people happy—and we a lso happen to make delicious popcorn.” For years, Soleski and Phillips have also continued a happy tradition of setting aside a few bags of Comet Corn for their suppliers, including Pleasant Grove Farms. The farm connection Pleasant Grove Farms has been in operation since the late Tom Sills began growing rice in 1946. Tom’s son, Ed, worked summers on the farm as a young man, and these days he farms
Photos by Lori Eanes
and manages the 3,500-acre, third-generation family farm just north of Sacramento. But it wasn’t always where he pictured himself. “When I was going to college and through high school, I wasn’t sure I wanted to run the farm for my dad,” he remembered. He studied forestry in college and worked in seasonal jobs with the U.S. Forest Service, developing an interest in environmental issues and ecology. In 1976, Sills returned to the farm to give it a shot. “Over the next 10 years or so, I got an idea of what farming was like,” Sills said. He kept an eye on California’s slowly emerging organics market.WhenCalifornia became the first state to attach a legal definition to the term “organic” with the California Organic Food Act of 1979, Sills saw a better future for the farm. In 1985, the Sillses grew their first organic crop of popcorn on 40 acres, and planted nearly three times that the following year. Almost two decades later, the family’s farming methods attracted the proprietors of Comet Corn. “We were so impressed that Ed’s been organic for so long,” Soleski said. “We are really proud to use his product.”
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A hands-on crew of five oversees the popping, seasoning and packaging operation at Comet Corn Popcorn in Sonoma County.
Red
Blue
Yellow
White
Pop-pop!
Photos by Manny Crisostomo
Pleasant Grove Farms has been a family operation since 1946. The third generation includes Jessica Sills, left, surveying a cornfield with her parents, Wynette and Ed Sills.
One thing that surprises many people about popcorn is that it’s different than the kind of corn that’s eaten off the cob. “Popcorn is a unique variety of corn,” said Ed Sills, farmer and manager of Pleasant Grove Farms. “It’s different from the very beginning.” Pleasant Grove Farms produces four kinds of popcorn, each with specific characteristics, sizes and textures. Varieties include: Yellow butterfly popcorn: This is the kind sold at movie theaters, yellow in hue with a nice crunch. Pleasant Grove Farms grows small and large yellow butterfly popcorn. Yellow mushroom popcorn: Named for its mushroom-like appearance, this popcorn’s starch is concentrated in a globe at the top of the popped kernel. It holds up well in the production of glazed snacks, such as candy corn. White popcorn: This popcorn is more tender than yellow butterfly and pops a brighter white. It’s the popcorn typically sold in stores for popping at home. Multicolored popcorn: Pleasant Grove Farms grows red, yellow, white and blue popcorn separately, before mixing them together. Multicolored varieties tend to be higher in antioxidants.
Working with natural systems Sills and his wife, Wynette, have made working with natural systems a key tenet of their farming philosophy. In addition to different varieties of popcorn, they grow several types of beans, wheat, rice, corn and triticale. A primary technique of Pleasant Grove Farms is the planting of vetch and other cover crops, which provides nitrogen for future crops, builds organic soil matter and reduces the need for fertilizer. The farmers also employ crop rotation, rotating which crops grow in the same field according to the year and season. Si l ls said this helps combat pests and weeds, and also incorporates leftover plant material such as stalks and straw into the soil. In 2017, the Sillses installed solar panels that supply the electricity to run their 500-acre home ranch, which includes four wells and the mill where their products are cleaned and processed. They also installed a tailwater recovery system, with the help of a federal program, which doubles as a sediment pond. This allows them to collect runoff water and soil for re-use. “Our philosophy is, you can’t stand still for success in today’s world,” Sills said. “You need to keep moving forward.”
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Once harvested, popcorn is either immediately processed or stored in temperature- and moisture-controlled grain bins to maintain its quality throughout the year.
In 2010, TomSills passed away at age 94. Today, Ed,Wynette and each of their three adult children have had a hand in the family business. Their daughter Kate is a computer programmer who helped develop the online inventory system for Pleasant Grove Farms. Son Andrew worked on the farm during summer breaks from college before joining the military in 2018. He plans to return and take on a managerial role after his military career. Younger daughter Jessica has worked on the farm full time since 2014, managing the office, including bookkeeping and client contracts. Although she studied mathematics at California State University, Sacramento, and was on track to become a teacher, she found herself missing the farm and the memories it held. She decided to return to her roots. Now in his mid-60s, Ed Sills sees himself eventually stepping back and leaving the management of the farm to the next generation. “I don’t think I’ll ever retire, but I would like to pull back a little as I get older and have my kids run more of the business,” he said. “It’s a really good family environment, the farm is.”
Kate Gonzales and Jolaine Collins cbmagazine@californiabountiful.com
Returning to
Past meets future at the family farm
Story by Jolaine Collins • Photos by Paige Green
Karen and John Taylor didn’t set out to be dairy farmers. But in 2006, the couple changed career courses and put down new roots on the west Marin County dairy farm Karen’s parents began in 1973—the year she was born— and focused on building the future Bivalve Dairy. Fifteen years later, the Taylors have transitioned the pasture-based grazing operation and dairy into an organic- certified business, created sustainable farming systems across 1,500 acres of ranch land, established a creamery,
raised three children on the ranch, and weathered the pressures of a pandemic, wildfires and extended droughts. “Our goa l is to create a sustainable operation for generations to come,” John said. Karen is a sixth-generation dairy farmer, continuing the practices learned while growing up at her parents’ ranch overlooking Tomales Bay, an hour from San Francisco and minutes from the rocky headlands of Point Reyes National Seashore. Her family’s farming heritage goes back to
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Rolling hills and fog from nearby Tomales Bay support the pasture management and grazing strategies at Bivalve Dairy. Farmers John and Karen Taylor are raising their children, from left below, Camilla, William and Eva, at the ranch.
Portugal ’s lush Azores islands, where dairy cows have grazed on similarly fog-shrouded pastures for decades. Karen was a junior high school teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area before returning to the ranch. John was an industrial engineer for General Electric Co. before he and Karen began managing the dairy, named for an old train station located on the ranch site in the early 1900s. These days, you’ll find Karen tending to the couple’s herd of 500 Holsteins or selling Bivalve Dairy handcrafted cheeses and cultured butter at local stores and farmers markets. John applies his technology background and “what if ” sense of curiosity to develop and manage innovative
farming practices used throughout the operation. “Everything we do is based on technology to ensure quality. It controls all aspects of our business, from pasture to consumer,” John said. “As an engineer, my mind is always going.” A zero-waste goal The Taylors’ current project is upgrading the dairy’s manure management system to reduce water use and greenhouse gas emissions. The new system will convert a current freshwater flush system used to clean the cows’ barn and replace it with a scraping system (John compares it to
Karen Taylor, a sixth-generation farmer, manages the health and production of the Bivalve Dairy herd, including feeding and milking.
a Roomba-type vacuum cleaner). The conversion includes a new method of creating manure compost that can be applied to the farm’s pastures and used as bedding for the animals. “Our goal is to have zero waste with all that we do,” he said. The couple focused on developing sustainable, organic operations from the start. A year after assuming the dairy, the Taylors completed the steps necessary to transition Bivalve Dairy into a certified organic farm. The process included switching to organic methods of growing feed and caring for the cattle as well as the land. Early on, Bivalve Dairy met the standards to sell milk to Clover Sonoma, an organic dairy company that was the first in the nation to be certified for its animal health and safety practices. Healthy pastures The Taylors employ pasture management and grazing strategies to benefit the land and the herd, while making the most of the 700 acres where the cows spend much of the year grazing. The region’s rolling hills and moderate climate, along
The Taylors care for about 500 Holstein cattle on their Marin
County ranch. Daughter Eva, right, checks on one of the calves.
Cheese-loving locavores will be glad to know that a variety of artisan cheeses are handcrafted and available throughout California. You can even pick up your favorite cheese from local creameries, have it delivered to your doorstep or take a tour of some operations. The California Cheese Trail connects people to more than 70 artisan cheesemakers and family farmers through cheesetrail.org. The site offers a map of cheesemaker locations, links to online cheese sales and retail outlets, and suggestions for driving tours. The nine driving tours cover scenic regions around the state, describing points of interest along the routes. You’ll want to call ahead to make sure your destination is open for sales, tours or a peek at cheesemaking operations. cheese tr il Hit the
John Taylor applies his technology background throughout the dairy, including the milking barn, above, where milking begins at 2 a.m. daily.
with the fog that rolls off Tomales Bay, create exceptional conditions for pasture grazing. “Grass grows well here,” John said. “Grass is the herd’s least expensive and most nutritious food source. The pastures are our future, and we take care of them.” Pasture management techniques include sampling soils and creating seed mixes to suit growing conditions. Pastures are aerated to promote water absorption and downward root growth, while no-till seeding helps reduce erosion and hold soil nutrients in place. The farmers employ several methods to produce healthy feed, limit water usage and reduce the farm’s carbon footprint. To sustain the health of the land, the Taylors use a rotational grazing system that moves the cows to new pastures every time they leave the barn. The couple works with a nutritionist to create custom feeds that help the cows efficiently digest the native forages. “The quality of the pastures, hay and silage on our three ranches helps the cows produce consistent, high-quality milk components, including solids and milk fat,” John said.
Artisan cheese and butter Since 2010, Bivalve Dairy has partnered with artisan cheesemakers at nearby Cowgirl Creamery, a producer known for locally produced, pasture-based organic cheeses. Bivalve Dairy supplies raw milk used to make Cowgirl Creamery’s popular triple-cream Red Hawk cheese, as well as some of its fresh and seasonal cheeses. “We caught their attention because our milk components are so consistent. Cheesemakers love that,” John said. “Bivalve Dairy makes some of the most beautifully rich milk,” said Amanda Parker, managing director of Cowgirl Creamery. “Ingredients mean everything to the end result of the cheese. Good cheese comes from good milk, which in turn is a product of healthy soils and animals.” In addition to supplying their dairy’s milk to Cowgirl Creamery, the Taylors recently beganmaking their own artisan cheeses and European-style butter. Bivalve Dairy makes a total of 11 products in small lots: two types of cultured butter and a number of fresh and aged cheeses with names such as Haystack Jack, Seahaven and Aftershock, as nods to their locale.
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Karen Taylor visits local markets selling Bivalve Dairy products, including a fresh cheese spread, above, and a European-style cultured butter, right. All come from the family’s fog-shrouded farm, below.
When the Taylors entered the artisan cheese world, a consultant told them, “Your milk will tell you what type of cheese to make,” referring to the milk’s fresh pasture flavors and other natural qualities that are ref lected in handmade cheese. The mild temperatures and humidity of their coastal environment also play important roles in defining Bivalve Dairy cheeses. One Bivalve Dairy cheese—Mendonça—was recently recognized as a national finalist in the Good Food Awards. Its success is especially meaningful to the Taylors, as Mendonça is a Portuguese-style cheese that pays homage to Karen’s family name and farming history. The handmade, aged cheese enjoys a fan base in the Portuguese community because it’s similar to a traditional Azores island cheese, with its tangy and grassy flavors and piquant finish. Pushing through the pandemic Bivalve Dairy cheeses are sold in markets throughout the
Bay Area and at local farmers markets, where Karen and the Taylor family greet customers from their booth. “It’s so humbling to talk with our customers,” John said. “While Karen’s a true cowgirl, she’s also very good at sales because she’s so involved in making the product.” Although the pandemic has affected the couple’s plans to expand the company’s retail sales, their product sales through existing channels and at farmers markets have grown. There is one challenge: not being able to offer samples. “We’ve become much better at explaining each of our 11 products to customers,” John said. His adaptable attitude is ref lected in his philosophy for incorporating technology with farming: “You may not be able to plan for the unknown. But you can brace for the storms.”
Jolaine Collins cbmagazine@californiabountiful.com
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1/5/21 3:17 PM
Destination:
It’s a family affair at Bremmer’s Farm
Story by Judy Farah • Photos by Fred Greaves
Jason Bremmer doesn’t have to look far when he needs help on his 20-acre apricot farm in Colusa County. He has eight children from a blended family. Two of his teenage sons and 10-year-old daughter help run the fruit stand, while his wife and adult daughter bake anywhere from 20 to 50 apricot pies a day during peak harvest season. All that family help, along with a hired crew, are needed when apricots ripen during their short season, fromMay to June. Long workdays from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. kick in at Bremmer’s Farm, located off Interstate 5 in Arbuckle. “Our apricot varieties are only available for about 30 days. We open our fruit stand during apricot season for 30 days and then, once the apricots are gone, we close,” Bremmer said. Bremmer’s Farm is a popular site during that small window of time. People driving through Northern California stop to pick up f lats of apricots and any of a variety of apricot treats. Even small planes f ly in: Bremmer’s neighbors—the ones with a propeller in the front yard—have a landing strip on their property.
A hand-painted sign and an airplane propeller direct customers to Bremmer’s Farm in Colusa County, above. Leo Ordaz, right, casts a giant shadow as he checks trays of drying apricots.
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“I would say the customers are actually the best part—just talking to them. They’re from everywhere,” said Isabella Sanchez, the Bremmers’ 21-year-old daughter, who bakes the pies. “I’ve met people from Russia, Ukraine. I’ve met the pilot for the (Los Angeles) Chargers football. You meet everybody, and they’re from all over and they have different accents and it’s just interesting to see where they’re traveling.” Monica Sankey, executive manager of the Colusa County Farm Bureau, is a lifelong resident who visits Bremmer’s Farm each season. “As soon as you pop into the driveway, they’re there waiting for you, ready to help. They’ve got pies, they’ve got jams, they’ve got f lats of apricots. You can buy them by the box, by the f lat, by the crate,” Sankey said. The family also grows and sells almonds. Becoming a farmer Bremmer didn’t plan to be a farmer. He was living in Sacramento and wanted a bigger space for his growing family. He saw an ad for an apricot farm in the local newspaper in 2002, drove out to take a look—and made an offer the same day. “I did not have a background in farming, but I was adventurous and figured, how hard could it be to take care of it?” said Bremmer, who attended business school and approached running the farm like operating a small business. “(But) the first few years were definitely a learning experience. We had to figure out harvest and also figure out taking care of the trees.” The orchard was already established by the former owners, who had it for nearly 20 years. Their crew helped Bremmer learn how to harvest, prune the trees and provide them with the proper nutrients. Apricots are one of the earliest-ripening stone fruits in California. Start ing in February through March, the white blossoms appear, then small buds emerge. When the fruit ripens, crews pick it by hand. “We try to pick only what is ripe. If it is not ripe, we try to leave the fruit until it ripens. We may go through and pick a tree four or five different times while we are waiting for the fruit to ripen. When the apricots are picked, they are put right into the box for purchase,” Bremmer said. Apricots, which originated in China, were
The Bremmer family gathers in their orchard: from left, Isabella Sanchez, Darius Bremmer, Jason Bremmer, Shaila Orozco and Claudia Bremmer. Claudia and daughter Isabella slice dozens of apricots a day to make fresh-baked pies, below.
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introduced to California in the Spanish missions in the 1790s. California is the No. 1 producer of apricots in the U.S., with Golden State farmers accounting for 95% of total U.S. apricot production. There are about a dozen commercial varieties and Bremmer grows five of them, ranging in size, taste and color from deep orange to blush to yellow. Bremmer’s Farm also dries apricots, smoking them with sulfur overnight to maintain the color, then laying them out on wooden trays in the sun for three to four days to dry. The majority of the apricots are sold at the fruit stand. The rest are sold at farmers markets, to a Sacramento school district for its lunch program and to wholesalers that buy 40 to 60 boxes at a time. Pies aplenty While crews pick the fruit, Sanchez and Bremmer’s wife, Claudia, are busy in the kitchen, baking pies and apricot-filled brownies. “I’ll wake up at six in the morning and I usually work eight to sometimes 12 hours on the weekends, but we have two ovens, so we have to bake four pies at a time, two in each oven. And while those are baking, I’m still preparing more pies and more pies. We usually go through about 60 to 80 pounds of apricots a day. It gets really hectic,” Sanchez said, adding that slicing all those apricots is the hardest part of the baking process. She said there’s a secret ingredient in the pies, passed down from the Bremmer family, but she’s always looking for new ways to bake the pies. Sanchez and her mother experiment with different crust designs and scour the internet each year to seek ways to improve or add innovation to their double-crust pies. If the harvest extends into early July, they’ll carve stars and stripes into the crust for the Fourth of July. Teaching customer service Bremmer introduced his offspring to the business when they were young. His two other adult children, Cyrus and Kira, started working harvest when they were 5 years old. They took dried apricots off trays and brought bowls to the crews to place the apricots in. Now, two more of the Bremmers’ children, Darius Bremmer, 16, and Francisco Orozco, 14, run the cash register, hand out samples, carry crates to cars and
Customer Neesha Edge, left, shops for fresh apricots at the fruit stand. The Bremmers grow five varieties of apricots, which are ready for harvest in May and June. Areli Cruz, below, handpicks the fruit.
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