Healdsburg Farmers' Market Newsletter
April 2021 SPECIAL EDITION 3!
|
|
To get you in the mood for our opening on 4/17, here are some more vendor stories for your enjoyment. |
|
For Hank Wetzel, his love for this area began at seven, when his parents sent him from their Southern California, Palos Verdes home to Plantation Farm Camp in Cazadero for three weeks. Every summer for five years he recalls the joy of hiking, horseback riding, swimming, and helping with animal and farm chores. The journey to and from the camp was intense; involving bus rides up the coast and over Meyers Grade, but for him it was always worth it.
Even more thrilling was when his parents decided to partner with old friends and buy a piece of property on Highway 128 in 1962, when he was twelve. Prior to that it had been owned by the Alexanders, the family for which the valley is named. The 80 acres included an old adobe hacienda, a wooden house, and many heritage fruit trees. It had been a cattle ranch, but the Wetzels turned it into a vineyard, as well as painstakingly restoring all the structures. They also cultivated and expanded upon all the original landscaping. Hank fondly remembers his mother's spectacular vegetable garden.
With his wife Linda, Hank started Alexander Valley Vineyards in 1975, eleven years after his parents planted their first vines. The first few years were challenging, but hard work and financial sacrifice paid off. Currently the Wetzels have 600 acres in Alexander Valley, 300 of them planted in vineyard.
But Hank's passion for growing vegetables and fruit never waned. He built up his mother's garden, and planted other parts of the farm, eventually planting 3-4 acres in various locations on the property. They even plant between grapevine rows. Alexander Valley Farms began selling at the Healdsburg Market seven years ago, after several years of casual farming.
Javier Patino, the person you'll see most often at the market, began working for the Wetzels, nineteen years ago. At seventeen he came across the border from Central Mexico by himself, and found work in Oregon until he was hired by AVV, through his brothers who were working there. He started as a vineyard worker, and now he's the farm manager.
Katie Murphy, Hank's sister, is an important person in this family's story. She was five when her parents bought "the ranch," as they called it. They initially spent some holidays and several weeks in the summer there, exploring and adventuring while her parents worked on endless projects. Many locals spoke Italian in those days, she recalls.
She's been involved with AVV since its inception, retiring from the position of sales manager in 2001, but continuing to work as wine ambassador for the company.
Katie's played a major part in the creation and running of FRIENDS OF THE HEALDSBURG FARMERS' MARKET, the 501C-3 Non-Profit which fundraises for our market. Begun in 2014, working in conjunction with Mary Kelley, the market manager at that point, they formed the non-profit to be able to apply for grants and solicit donations to support education and promotion of the market. Their message has always been"seasonal, local, fresh." Katie and Mary, plus several other wonderful Friends, have been a huge help in keeping our market thriving.
Alexander Valley Farms will have their booth filled with goodies this season. Their classic lettuces. artichokes, tomatoes, corn, onions, squash, favas, lemons and asparagus will all be there, not to mention their olive oil and excellent wines.They're experimenting with Brussels sprouts and three kinds of cabbages this season as well.
Experimenting is what it's all about for Hank, Javier, and Junior Macias, another essential farm employee who's been with the family his whole life. All of them revel in the trial and error aspect of farming, and hope that someday actually making a profit off their endeavors will be the icing on their delicious, fresh and healthy cake.
|
|
|
Patisserie Angelica
Growing up in Bulgaria, Gergana Karabelov was surrounded by roses, as her village was famous for them. This must account for her rosy demeanor and outlook, despite incredible challenges she's faced these last couple of years.
She came to America in 2002 as a 22-year-old exchange student, and after her year was up, she stayed. She worked as a bee-keeper and general helper at Redwood Hill Farm. Jennifer, the owner, welcomed exchange students, and hired people from all around the world, but especially Bulgarians because they were such hard workers. Gergana's boyfriend, Georgi, whom she'd been dating since she was fifteen, came over and eventually ended up working at the farm as well. Jennifer helped them transition from exchange students to work visas, assisting them so much during these years Gergana considers her like a second mother and feels eternally grateful. They eventually got green cards and now they're citizens. It took ten years and over $80,000 to make this happen, so Gergana doesn't take it for granted.
|
|
While working at the farm, Gergana went to Santa Rosa Junior College to get her chef/restaurant certificate and to take baking and pastry-making courses. After completing this in 2010 she began Mommy's Yammys, doing farmers' markets in Santa Rosa and Windsor, plus various festivals, with Mediterranean dishes such as falafel, kefta, frittata, and gyros.
But baking had always been a passion, so in January of 2019 the family bought Patisserie Angelica from the previous owners, with the goal of keeping the legacy of the traditional French bakery alive. The original owners spent months training her to become a master baker, before retiring to France.
Their new business is located on the backside of The Barlow; the recently-developed shopping and dining complex in Sebastopol. One month after opening, in February 2019, a huge flood enveloped the majority of the streets and shops in the Barlow, and most were subsequently closed for months or shut down entirely. Patisserie Angelica was spared...barely. Water came up to the deck, but never inside. But no one knew they were open, as their location is somewhat hidden and so many shops were closed. It took months for the business to really begin.
The fall of that year huge wildfires endangered the area, and business slumped again for weeks.
Then came 2020, and the pandemic. Once more, shops in the Barlow were shuttered, and although Patisserie Angelica was able to re-open for take-out, she eventually had to reduce her staff to just herself and her kids, Pavel and Dohna because it was so slow. She remembers trying to bake, with dough on her hands, while taking orders, as there was no one else working.
Now business is semi-normal, though it's never really been full-on since she's opened. Farmers' markets have been a huge help. She came into the Healdsburg Market last season for the first time, and has developed a following. Look for her delectable pastries, chocolates, small quiches, seasonal pies and so much more at Saturday market, usually sold by her son, Pavel, often joined by his friend, Johnathan.
Gergana's vision for the future is to create a more cafe-like feel to her bakery by serving salads, crepes and a few savory dishes. She enjoys the traditional baking she's been doing, but eventually wants to bring more of her Bulgarian heritage into her baked goods. We know whatever she creates will be delicious!
|
|
|
Preston Farm and Winery
Farming is an "ego trip", says Lou Preston, as he sits down on the ground between his barely sprouting rows of onions. "If you can keep your dirt alive, you can do anything."
For fifty years Lou has been keeping his soil thriving on the farm he bought the same year he met his wife, Susan. They began by growing grapes, which led to the create of Preston Winery in 1975. Back then they were teeny: permitted for 1000 gallons.Over the years the farm grew to one hundred and twenty acres, including fifteen acres of pasture land for livestock, fifteen for heritage fruit trees, and seventy for grapes.
|
|
Kristin Morrison is Lou's right hand woman. As the farm's assistant manager, she's been with Lou for seven seasons. Her first experience farming was for a cousin in Woodside during the summer, and she decided this was a good fit for her. She and Lou not only share a passion for making things grow, they're both deeply involved in making sure the hungry get fed in our community, and look at the farm as an opportunity to not only produce food, but teach others, especially the youth in our society, about the value of the land: preserving it and managing it wisely. |
|
But Lou always wanted to grow produce. Armed with a book from the Rodale Institute on organic gardening, he began using their methods to produce an endless variety of unique crops. He loves to create goods from his produce, so he's the person you go to at our market for pickles and sauerkraut, farro, olives, and other unusual fare. Lou's son, Tim Preston, makes the whole wheat breads they sell, made out of the flour ground from the wheat Lou grows. His bread was what enticed former market manager Mary Kelley to invite him to do our market...twenty years ago. |
Currently about five acres will be planted this year, with anything from radishes, strawberries, turnips, kale, chard, squash, Bodega red potatoes, Finnish potatoes and yams, to the aforementioned wheat, and other crops too numerous to mention.
When asked about the future, Lou says his whole focus is to protect the land and make sure it can be farmed and shared with the community in a healthy way for many years to come.
|
|
|
|
Sporgy
Two Chefs, One Passion-
Vegan chefs and amateur mycologists Carlee and Adam started Sporgy (pronounced Spor-gee) with a passion for mushrooms.
Carlee graduated from The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. She worked as a Chef on the east coast through-out the restaurant industry, then migrated into becoming a Personal Chef for elite clientele. She also competed on The Food Network's Cutthroat Kitchen television show.
Shortly after moving to the west coast, Carlee met Adam in Southern California. Adam, worked in the culinary field doing everything from mass catering to fine dining, as well as being a Personal Chef. Adam comes from a large Texas family and has a special place in his heart for smoked foods.
Naturally Carlee and Adam felt the urge to come up with Sporgy and its uniquely delicious, healthy, naturally smoked, vegan friendly, whole maitake mushroom jerky. Thus far they have expanded their award winning 'attractive mushroom' product line to beautifully hand-crafted mushroom teas, super concentrated mushroom extracts and savory mushroom seasonings.
With new exciting flavors of tea, jerky and extracts coming this year to the farmers markets, Carlee and Adam are on a mission to make mushrooms more attractive.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
