Farmer All Star Video

Hear about a day in the life of 2022 Farmer All Star recipient,

Rosa Maria Alcantar owner of Rocio Produce

Dynamic Duo:

Cousins Brenda and Jennifer Fresquez

Brenda Fesquez David Fresquez and Jennifer Fresquez representing

Monte Vista Farm at the Santa Fe Farmers' Market

Channeling limited water resources for crop irrigation is a challenge for New Mexican farmers. However, there is no scarcity of talent at Monte Vista Farm. Ten years ago the Market was fortunate to tap into that reservoir for a dynamic new Board Member, Jennifer Fresquez. Five years ago, the Institute returned to the same pool and recruited Brenda Fresquez for its Board. Today we honor their dedication and contributions.


For Jennifer and Brenda Fresquez, farming is in their blood. Española Valley is known for its agricultural traditions, and nowhere is that more evident than in the Fresquez family tree. Jennifer’s grandmother took care of the garden at home in Española, while her grandfather sought work in the mines in Colorado to support the family. “There were ten children; she grew a lot of her own food to feed her family and support everybody else. They were not well-off, but she shared with poorer neighborhood families.” Brenda’s grandfather had a big orchard, and each year the family gathered to pick the apples – it was a true family affair. She recalled that “the whole street was comprised of orchard after orchard, so her grandfather would clean and box his apples and drive to Colorado to sell them where the market was not saturated.”


Both are deeply rooted in Monte Vista Farm, the Farmer All Star award-winning farm owned by Jennifer’s parents David and Loretta Fresquez. Started as a family garden with a specialty in growing tomatoes, the farm expanded exponentially when her parents retired from Los Alamos National Lab (LANL). Now the farm grows a wide array of produce, including traditional blue corn. In talking with Chef Nestor Periera of Café Pasquale’s (please see Chef Shout Out below), he remarked on the vivid center of their watermelon radishes and the red hue of the tomatoes. David Fresquez credits the potassium in his farm’s soil for “bringing out the colors.”


Both Brenda and Jennifer enjoy cooking. Brenda, who prides herself on her extensive cookbook collection and has studied cooking locally and on trips to Italy, reports with pride that her hard-to-please grandmother says that “her pecan-crusted salmon with dill sauce is the best she has ever tasted.” Jennifer studied at The Culinary Institute of America, the renowned training program for chefs in Hyde Park, New York. For ten years she pursued her vocation as a chef at both Goucher College and Duke University. Turns as a personal chef, and as part of the nationally-recognized Bon Appétit Management Company and Whole Foods followed. While Jennifer was on the East Coast, Brenda filled in at the Monte Vista Farm and the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market. She describes her farm involvement as her after-work therapy from her positions at LANL in auditing, procurement, and contract management, and later from her position on the Legislative Finance Committee.


Pitching in at the Farm is not the only volunteer work that Brenda has participated in. She speaks of informal “lending a hand and of tutoring youngsters.” Her more structured volunteering efforts with Santa Fe’s International Folk Art Market, the Let’s Read Program, National Hispanic Cultural Center, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation are well respected.


This month we salute Brenda’s contribution to the nonprofit Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute Board as she rotates off after five years of service. Institute Board Treasurer Kyle Burns recruited Brenda for her extensive financial skills and knowledge of the legislative process, as well as her hands-on experience with organic farming. Kyle praised Brenda’s multi-faceted contributions, “Brenda's passion for farming through her family's history and experience working with numbers made her a perfect contributor to the Institute Board. She was always willing to challenge and offer her thoughts when a different perspective was needed on an issue. You would always see Brenda with a smile while working at her family's booth at the market while bringing a seriousness to the board room.” In return, Brenda is “gratified to have had the opportunity to contribute to the Institute’s increased financial stability and growth during her tenure.”


Jennifer continues on as the President of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Board, a position she has held for three years. Her goal is to use her skills in marketing and business to “create the best possible market and keep everyone in business. The more we support each other, the more beneficial it is for everyone - a rising tide lifts all boats." She expresses gratitude to the customers stating that “anyone that shops at the Market is making a conscious decision to support the local economy, and to invest in the risk with the farmers. It is a very meaningful sense of trust expressed through their CSA shares and Santa Fe Farmers’ Market purchases.”


On behalf of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute we express our appreciation to Brenda and Jennifer Fresquez for all that they have contributed to help sustain a profitable, locally-based agricultural community.

Chef Shout Out - Nestor Pereira of

Café Pasqual’s

Chef Nestor with Matt Romero of Romero Farms LLC

Recently we caught up with 1999 Regional Classic James Beard Award recipient Katharine Kagel, who is the Owner of Café Pasqual’s (121 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe). For more than 40 years, her restaurant has been “serving the very best ingredients we could.” Initially fueled by Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring and “the ensuing conversation around pesticides and the hair-raising spoilage of water tables,” by the 1990s Kagel had forged an imperative for her restaurant in downtown Santa Fe: “Everything we touch is organic,” she said. That means all fruits and vegetables are organic, spices, flour, soy sauce, vinegar all organic – an astounding 280 ingredients that are certified organic. Many are sourced from the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market, where Katharine Kagel served on the Board of Directors.


For many years, Dinner Chef Nestor Pereira has shopped at the Saturday morning Railyard District Market for Café Pasqual’s. He arrives with a list of essentials for the menu that he and Katharine plan together. Of the partnership, he says that she has “wonderful creativity” that inspires him. He regularly purchases delicate squash blossoms from Rosa Maria Alcantar of Rocio Produce and varies the stuffing from goat cheese to sausage as the seasons change. (Please see Chef Nestor’s recipe below.)


When available, he sources the sweet, red, skinny Jimmy Nardello Peppers from Matt Romero of Romero Farms. Back in the kitchen, they are grilled, blistered, seasoned with sea salt and lime, and served as the accompaniment for the dinner steaks. He remarked that they create a “long, beautiful presentation.” Matt Romero shares that restaurants are an important outlet for farmers. “The upscale restaurants that we sell to enable us to sell more, while adding name recognition and depth of reputation for Romero Farms LLC. When chefs buy from the farmers at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market it sends a message that they believe in the local food system.”


Chef Nestor also looks around the Market to see what he can find and what inspires him for the daily specials and seasonal changes of the menu. The restaurant serves three meals a day, seven days a week, so there is much involved in keeping the menu fresh. The team keeps up this daunting schedule by maintaining its core staff for decades. Chef Nestor has been at Café Pasqual’s for 22 years, and he can count nine other employees who have been with him for more than a decade.


Nestor Pereira traces his interest in the culinary arts back to watching his mother and grandmother prepare meals in his native El Salvador. After moving to Santa Fe, he worked his way up in the kitchens of Rio Chama and Coyote Café before landing at Café Pasqual’s.


While the quality has been maintained, much has changed at Café Pasqual’s since its founding in 1979. Most noticeably an adjoining shop now sells handmade micaceous cookware for the at-home chef, among a variety of hand-crafted items. A gallery was created upstairs in 1995 and features the work of local artists. Katharine Kagel is enthusiastically anticipating the opening of a show on October 7, 2022 by textile artist Karen Hampton. And after visiting the gallery, you can stop down stairs at Café Pasqual’s and enjoy a cocktail at the new full bar which is stocked with fresh New Mexico ingredients - of course!

Cafe Pasqual's

Zucchini Blossoms Stuffed With Herbed Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

  • 12 freshly picked zucchini squash blossoms, with stems attached
  • 8 ounces plain goat cheese, softened
  • ¼ cup grated parmesan reggiano
  • 1 Tablespoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
  • pinch kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup panko crumbs, gluten free
  • 1 egg, beatened
  • olive oil for frying

Instructions:

  1. Combine the goat cheese and parmesan in an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large bowl by hand just to combine, being sure to add in the thyme leaves, salt and pepper just to combine and distribute.
  2. Carefully remove the anther from the center of the flower. (The small square interior “bump”). Spoon or pipe in the cheeses and thyme mixture, twist the tops of the blossoms to “seal”.
  3. Roll the stuffed blossoms in the egg mixture just to moisten and then into the panko.
  4. Over medium heat, put in enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a non-stick pan. Saute the blossoms without crowding them for 2 minutes on each side until the panko has turned golden and the cheese is heated through. 
  5. Cook in batches to assure a golden result. Keep the finished blossoms warm in a low oven until all are cooked – 200 degrees with the door open.
  6. Serve warm, do not eat the stems, but do serve them as to provide visual delightful detail.


Did you know that September 2022 is

National Honey Month?

2019 Farmer All Star Ricardo Sanchez Owner of RZ’s Bees pictured with one of his 65 hives in Alcalde, NM

Four honey vendors are represented at the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market: Buckin’ Bee Honey, High Desert Honey Co., Honey Lovin’ Co. and RZ’s Bees.


According to the Mayo Clinic, in addition to its use as a natural sweetener, honey is used as an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antibacterial agent. People commonly use honey orally to treat coughs and topically to treat burns and promote wound healing.


So buzz on over and visit one of our honey vendors this month, and learn all about the various facets and uses of honey. It’s a very sweet topic for conversation!

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MISSION STATEMENT
The Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Institute’s mission is to advocate for farmers, ranchers and other land-based producers; provide equitable access to fresh, local food; own and operate a year-round venue for the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market; and manage programs to help sustain a profitable, locally-based agricultural community.
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