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Health & Fitness

UPDATE: Tastes and Tidbits - A Tale of Healdsburg Farming

Ruminations on the significance of food and farming to the town of Healdsburg, with some thoughts about the new midweek Farmers Market on the Plaza.

NOTE: This blog post was updated on Sunday, June 10, 2012 to add new photos.

Since I decided to share my farming ruminations on the Healdsburg Patch I have been debating the message. Is it just to beat the drum for the newly composed midweek market on the Plaza, or is there something more?

Am I to tell you that this week we have an abundance of kale and carrots at the kaleidoscopic stands that line the street, or is it OK to delve into my conflicted history as a recovering winegrower to discuss the nascent movement around town to nourish the body as well as the spirit. I guess my job is to tell you what’s going on, but those of you who know me will expect controversy and agitation. Let’s do both.

. We vendors were overwhelmed by the positive reaction of townfolk to our relocation to the Plaza. It’s not just that we sold more, the energy of the moment was enchanting. In our old venue at the people would venture timidly into the parking lot space, conduct business with the farmers they knew, and then scamper as if in a game of Not-It.

But in the Plaza? We were at home, with friends and neighbors, glorying in the familiar and the comfortable. Our customers were so happy not just that it was more convenient to buy kale and carrots but that it is their plaza, the heart of their town.

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We already know the plaza, it is where we join friends for a latte at the or Downtown, maybe a drink at we protest here on Thursdays against the war, any war. We hire here, dine here, listen to music here, veg out here. And veg out we did, with beautiful locally-grown produce, grown by your friends.

We at have only been sellers at the Healdsburg Farmers Market for a few years, but it quickly became obvious that there are market groupies and loyal locals who will come rain or shine to get their home-farmed food. But it’s more than that.

These folks have become our friends and we get together every week at the market to find out how the week went, is the sister-in-law still in town, how are you recovering from your knee operation. These food followers know each other too, and it is like a reunion, a loosely choreographed dance, dare I say a party where we celebrate our town and each other regularly.

We know of course, that the Farmers Market is a small representation of the farming scene here in Healdsburg. Despite today’s ubiquity of vineyards, our town has a rich history of growing other things and that primal urge is poised to burst forth. Even (or especially) in the winery sphere there is the new-to-us phenomenon of Biodynamic husbandry which dictates that a participating vineyard must not practice monoculture.

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Fence-row-to-fence-row single crop doesn’t cut it. You must have ecological diversity and are encouraged to engage in polyculture even if it is just to have chickens in your vineyard. Some examples would include Quivira Winery, Truitt Hurst, Medlock-Ames, us of course, who are growing food along with wine.

A shocking new development in our area is the advent of landowners who are taking out vineyards to grow food. A significant example would be Front Porch Farm on the Russian River’s Digger Bend; smaller in size but attention getting is the young Hopkins family vying for ground on Eastside Road where the senior Hopkins grow their Pinot.  

It is shocking because wine and grapes have been the holy grail and it seems like an imperative that our land be dedicated to that industry where there is more money, more prestige, more romance. Well, if you pick up a culinary magazine or newspaper food section now-a-days you will notice the glory is now to the guys and gals in the starched white coats with the embroidered name, the artists and artisans who put the meals on our dining-out table.

And they are bring back some wild traditions that we would have ascribed to our poorer forebears, foraging for roots and fungi and flower shoots and seed pods that bring a new level of pizzazz to our eating experience. Food and art, food is art. And a totally cool new development is that those chefs are telling us the provenance of their food. There it is on the menu, the name of the farmer who grew the arugula, the owner of the lamb.

There are many farmers who may not even think of themselves as such. We are blessed in this town with rich river soils, a plethora of green thumbs, and a generosity of spirit. There are so many back-yard gardens with fruit trees and raised beds producing much more than the owners’ families can eat. And all that largess prompts an active group of gleaners--a very European tradition that ensures nothing goes to waste--to connect the excess food with people and groups who need it. I am always overwhelmed when I bring extra produce to the Healdsburg Food Pantry at the outpouring of donations and volunteerism to make sure no one in this town goes hungry. The lady with the little red American Flyer wagon at the end of the Farmers Markets? Same thing, she is collecting fresh produce from us to take to the Pantry.

Then there is Farm Trails. Some farmer members are large and serious, others are of a hobby scale, growing for their own families and to share with neighbors. But all have organized themselves to reach out to the community. There is a well organized map that rivals the Wine Roads Map to make it easy for you to pick up some pastured eggs, apples, corn or blueberries from a local farm.

I could go on, and I will as the summer unfolds. The reality is that we are a farming town that makes wine. For some of us it begins and ends with the Farmers Market. For others the market is the starting point of an adventure pursuing health and nutrition and community interaction. But for all, what better place to start than at the Wednesday Healdsburg Farmers Market on the Plaza with your friends. Come dance with us.

Healdsburg Farmers Market on the Plaza, June - October, Wednesdays 4:00 - 6:30

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