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The
Ojai Farmers’ Market
Let
Them Eat… Defining a Food Ethic
Sugar
and Spice and Everything Nice: One Woman’s Quest for
Chile Peppers
THE
OJAI FARMERS' MARKET
By Jim
Churchill
Cynthia
Korman "always wanted to do a farm stand", she tells
me. Back in the 80’s, she and her former husband grew
food crops on six acres in the Upper Ojai: wine grapes, avocados,
cherries, plums, globe artichokes, asparagus — everything
organic. She sold to Solar Winds (where Rainbow Bridge now
is) and looked into getting a farmstand.
In
those days there was no Certified Farmers’ Market in
Ojai, and Cynthia was a customer at other nearby farmers’
markets. At some point, one imagines, a couple of synapses
in her brain decided to hold hands and something went click:
why not do a farmers’ market in Ojai?
We
all know the Ojai Farmers’ Market: Sundays from a theoretical
9 am to 1 pm (in fact there are always early birds and late
arrivals so the hours get a little sloppy around the edges)
in the municipal parking lot on the north side of Matilija
Street behind the Arcade. There are a solid 40 farmers participating,
most of them year-round. It’s everything a market should
be: a place to buy great fresh produce and other goods, to
see your friends, to gossip and to parade.
It
wasn’t always so. When Cynthia started the Ojai Farmers’
Market in 1991, in the parking lot of the building at the
corner of Cañada and Ojai Ave., it was a struggle.
After nine months of city permitting processes, the City Council
granted her a Conditional Use Permit to conduct the market.
She cleaned out three dumpsters worth of weeds and trash,
opened with 35 growers, and then it seemed like it rained
every Sunday for two months. Shoppers stayed away in droves,
growers dropped out. On her worst day she couldn’t pay
the owner of the parking lot the $100 rent that was due.
The
Ojai Farmers’ Market occupied that site for six months;
then Andy Belknap (at that time City Manager and at all times
a facilitator of good projects) offered her the Libbey Park
parking lot next to what was then the abandoned Bank of America
building. Cynthia stayed there a couple of years until complaints
from a restauranteur took their toll, whereupon she moved
the market to its current site.
"The
third time’s a charm," she says. You’d have
to agree that her persistence and vision have been rewarded:
she has year-round farmers who bring tomatoes, cucumbers,
fresh flowers, strawberries, citrus, avocados, lettuces, herbs,
and free-range eggs. Summer squashes arrive in summer, winter
squashes in winter, stone fruit is available in season and
tangerines are bountiful from January through September. Not
to mention fresh fish, fresh-baked breads, terrific hummous,
tapenades, kettle corn, soaps, essential oils, worm castings
and, on nice spring days, massage. Plus: madrigal singers
emerge seasonally, bluegrass players are perennials, and the
occasional circular-breathing dijeridoo player can be enjoyed
while you gossip and shop.
Not
that the market is complete: Cynthia would like it known that
the tamale lady is working on getting a health department-approved
cart; and that she wishes the market had smoothies, cheese,
and mushrooms. If you have leads on those items, contact her
at the market, please!
One
of the tricky parts of running the market is figuring out
who to admit as a seller. Cynthia needs to be loyal to both
customers and growers, as both are essential to the market’s
success. Her aim is to balance the variety of produce so that
there’s competition, but so that the farmers aren’t
cannibalizing each other either. Ultimately, there must always
be enough good stuff to keep the customers coming back. She
is loyal to the long-time participants who put in their time
to help build the market through the bad times. And she needs
to keep a balance between year-round and seasonal producers,
so that there’s space in the market when a seasonal producer
comes in.
LET
THEM EAT...DEFINING A FOOD ETHIC
Adapted
by Jim Churchill from "Defining a Food Ethic: Common
Values for the Sustainable Food Farm Movement," by Judity
Redmond and Thomas Nelson
In
the current food system, the cards are stacked against small-scale
farmers, small produce retailers and farm labor. Consolidation
and globalization are taking a heavy toll, resulting in the
loss of rural culture and artisan cuisine worldwide. The environment
is also a big loser, with trends in soil loss, farmland loss,
water quality degradation and heavy pesticide use showing
few signs of improvement. The ultimate consumer may have access
to cheap, fast, mass produced food, but at a heavy cost in
terms of human health and long-term sustainability and equity
Our
current food system values centralization; cheap food; cosmetically
uniform food; highly processed and packaged food; and uniformity
in food worldwide. All of this is designed for the benefit
of businesses that have a global presence. The current system
is the result of a huge investment by corporations who are
using myriad avenues of influence to tell us from an early
age how and what we should eat. Powerful forces within the
government and at land grant institutions have aided the corporations
in this regard.
The
current food system paradigm casts the needs of family-scale
farmers, small-scale produce retailers and consumers in opposition
to one another. For example: "Consumers need easy access
to fresh, low priced food," but "Farmers need centralized
markets for high priced food that stores and ships well."
Similar, supposedly opposing needs can be outlined around
several other food system issues (chemical pesticides, farmland
preservation, human health).
All
of This Should Change
In
fact, these constituencies have many needs in common: a market
that provides a fair price, without up and down spikes; food,
land and water that isn’t contaminated with agricultural
chemicals, GMO’s (genetically modified organisms), irradiation,
antibiotics, hormones, etc; and food that reflects regional
culture, ethnic diversity and terroir, etc.
A New
Food System Paradigm
Although
we don’t usually think of it this way, eaters are as
much a part of the food system as farmers. We need to adopt
a set of common values that speak equally to farmers and eaters.These
people-centered values, which we are calling the food ethic,
recognize how all of the stakeholders interact with and impact
each other.
The
food ethic recognizes the central importance of food in all
of our lives. It is analogous to the conservation ethic, which
was forged by some of the first great conservationists and
which individuals now understand at a gut level (appreciation
of wild open spaces, water conservation, car pooling, recycling,
etc.).
The
conservation ethic is about preserving wildlife on a grand
scale and recycling household garbage on an individual level.
On a grand scale, the food ethic is about protecting the capacity
of our planet to grow food. At the individual level, the food
ethic is about buying food from someone you trust.
Our
Values
A
dialogue by stakeholders in the food system is needed in order
to develop and adopt common values that speak to all of us
personally as well For example:
- Access
to good food and water is a basic human right.
- We
value the breaking of bread as a cornerstone of culture
in our society.
- Opportunity
for ethnically diverse farmers is critical to the survival
of California’s communities.
- Agricultural
laborers should be compensated with a living wage and should
enjoy healthy and safe working conditions.
- The
consumer–food relationship should be based on knowledge
and trust.
- A thriving,
diverse and unpolluted ecosystem is fundamentally important
to those of us now living, as well as to the food supply
of future generations.
- Family-scale
agriculture has intrinsic value to all stakeholders in the
food system.
Practice
of the food ethic
The
food ethic can be practiced on many levels: economic, social,
spiritual and political. The point is that just like the conservation
ethic, it needs to touch people in many ways — at home,
at work and in the schools. Here are some examples of ways
that the food ethic is being practiced by individuals:
- Through
appreciation and preparation of meals as a meaningful part
of our lives.
- In
a marketing relationship that allows the consumer to know
the farmer in some way. This includes eco-labeling, Community
Supported Agriculture and farmers’ markets.
- When
a family makes a New Year resolution to eschew fast food.
- Through
care for the land in urban gardens, in edible landscaping,
in permaculture, and in organic, biological and biodynamic
agriculture.
- By
teaching children where their food comes from and in visiting
nearby farms.
At
an organizational level, the food ethic can guide actions
by nonprofits, businesses, and institutions. For example,
a corresponding set of more political and activist activities
can be adopted by nonprofit organizations in practicing the
food ethic. Businesses can also be part of the food ethic.
Produce departments can provide education to customers about
food. Restaurants can describe how the values associated with
their menus reflect the food ethic. Because a common set of
values are guiding all of the players, progress towards environmental
and social goals will be more achievable. Once the organizations
that are part of the sustainable agriculture and food systems
movement adopt the food ethic, a more coherent and strategic
set of organizational priorities and measurable goals will
follow.
SUGAR
AND SPICE AND EVERYTHING NICE:
One Woman’s Quest for Chile Peppers
By Jane
Handel
Sometimes
the thing that inspires a research project can be fairly prosaic–like
a dinner party. But the dinner party that inspired my quest
for chile peppers was no ordinary party. Not only were some
serious food connoisseurs going to be there, but it was also
a theme party–always tricky because it’s so specific.
The occasion was El Dia de los Muertos–the Mexican holiday
for honoring deceased loved ones on November 2. And, to make
matters even trickier, my daughter, Ramona, and I had chosen
to recreate a Day of the Dead menu from a wonderful cookbook
called Frida’s Fiestas which contains recipes from Frida
Kahlo’s own special occasion menus.
For
the record, Frida used just about any occasion to create joyous
and beautiful celebrations which had at their heart traditional
regional recipes from all over Mexico. In other words, she
really knew how to throw a party. On top of that, my daughter
does not believe in cutting corners. Every time I asked, "How
will anyone know the difference?" she would respond with
a withering look. Let’s just say the pressure was on.
Unable
to leave well enough alone, I decided to switch enchiladas
for the tamales of Frida’s menu because a recipe I’d
found in the Los Angeles Times a few days before had sounded
so fabulous, I thought this would be the perfect occasion
to try it out. However, it called for either dried California
or New Mexican chiles as well as ancho chiles. And, whereas
I had lots of jalapenos growing in my garden and a few poblanos,
they were not the peppers in the recipe! Unfortunately, as
Ramona and I quickly discovered, the local (read: Ojai) venues
carried few of the key ingredients for making several of the
dishes on our menu including some very basic items like fresh
tortillas. Needless to say, the required peppers were not
available either.
One
of the things to keep in mind regarding chile peppers is that
they are not just hot–each variety has its own distinct
flavor. Like many other Anglo-Americans, as a child I was
exposed to only two kinds–both in a jar in the spice
section of the supermarket. One was cayenne pepper, and the
other was something called chili powder which is really a
combination of several spices designed specifically to flavor
chili con carne. Over the years, I had expanded my chile connoisseurship,
but I had no idea what distinguished the peppers called for
in the Times recipe. But one thing I’ve learned is that
if there is the right tool for every job, there is also the
right chile pepper for every recipe that requires them. However,
although the article listed a website in New Mexico from which
they could be ordered, there was not enough time to do that
before the party.
Well,
it didn’t take much ingenuity to figure out that the
most likely place to find the ingredients for a Mexican dinner
is one with the largest Latino population. Fortunately, we
didn’t have far to go. We found everything we needed
in Oxnard. Across from the Amtrak station at 4th and Oxnard
Blvd., La Gloria Super Mercado is truly the mother lode of
chile peppers! In the dried category, available in variously
sized packages or in bulk, ground, crushed and whole, are:
puya, California, de arbol, chipotle, pasilla, negro, guajillo,
and Japanese. Some of these I’d never even heard of before.
The fresh chilies they usually have on hand are: habaneros,
gueritos, pasillas, serranos, anaheims, and, of course, jalapenos.
There are also packages of many chile-flavored products like
peanuts and dried pineapple.
One
can also find many other fabulous things at La Gloria–fresh
tortillas, limes for 39 cents a pound (not per lime as they
often are in the markets here), cookware, jewelry, various
meat products, religious statuary, cell phones–it’s
kind of a one-stop shopping experience. And, if one has not
had a chance to venture south of the border for awhile and
is feeling a bit nostalgic for Mexico, this is the place to
go for a quick fix. Their taqueria is the best I’ve found
in Ventura County, however it’s helpful to know a little
Spanish because almost no English is written or spoken there
and you might end up ordering a pig snout taco by mistake.
One
of the few things that we could not find at La Gloria that
we absolutely had to have for our party–and this surprised
us considering the aforementioned eclectic selection of products–were
sugar skulls. Nor could they be found in any of the other
markets and bakeries we visited in Oxnard. However, we finally
did find them, and numerous other wonderful Dia de los Muertos
decorations at Ojai’s very own folk art emporium–The
Red Poppy.
Was
our dinner party worth all of this effort? I would say so
although if you were to ask the guest who spontaneously took
a bite out of one of the jalapeno peppers that we were using
to decorate the table because they were, in my opinion, way
too hot to eat, you might get a different answer. He was extraordinarily
brave about it though–didn’t make a peep. But I
could see by the look of dismay on his face as he swallowed
that he was experiencing some serious discomfort. When I asked,
incredulously, "Did you just eat one of those?"
all he could muster was a solemn nod. "Wow," I said,
with unabashed admiration as that famous line from an old
Saturday Night Live skit passed through my mind: "¿
Quién es mas macho?"
An
autumnal crispness is just starting to creep into the air
as the leaves on my pomegranate tree are turning yellow and
its fruits are ripening to a bright red. This means that soon
it will be dark at five and there will be many cool evenings
where a big bowl of hot posole, or just about anything with
mole sauce will be just the thing with which to warm my insides.
Maybe I’ll finally even teach myself how to make tamales...
However,
a friend recently gave me a wonderful Moroccan cookbook and,
last night, yet another generous friend gave me a jar of homemade,
Moroccan-style preserved lemons. Could this be an Ojai-esque
sign telling me to bring yet another a part of the world into
my kitchen? Maybe when Ramona comes home for her winter break
from school, we’ll throw another party. I’m pretty
sure we can find couscous in Ojai, and hopefully by then I
will have harvested and cured some olives; the preserved lemons
are taken care of... and, we certainly know where to find
the chiles!
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