OMGoodness Monterey bay farms organic strawberries are the best no joke !!! Driscoll strawberries…read moredon't have the flavor these do . I feel like I'm eating food from my childhood. Keep up the great work growers . Thank you

Excellent berries and ver friendly people there. Can't wait to taste this year's crops.read more

Silvia & Poli run a great berry stand! I've been buying their strawberries for a long time, and…read moretheir mara des bois sell out quickly. Their albion and seascape strawberries are wonderful, but it's the little French ones that taste like candy grapes that have me coming back week after week during the summer. If you buy three flats, they'll load you up with extra berries too, and a few times gave me a half-flat of maras for free when that was all that was left. Yerena will also sell squash blossoms, which are great stuffed or cooked into a summer pasta. Bring back your strawberry containers so the farm can reuse 'em!

Best organic strawberries in the Bay hands down. Silvia and Poli are the owner/famers and their…read morecare shows in the extraordinary quality of their product. Mara du Bois is my fav but their Albion are amazing too.

I took a private tour of the Rodriguez' family ranch on Sunday morning. Farmer Manuel Rodriguez…read morewas kind enough to take time out from his busy schedule to allow a small group of visitors to take a walking tour within a small part of his 35 acre ranch nestled in the rich farmlands of Watsonville. The Rodriguez family operates three ranches in California harvesting organic and conventional produce. Most of their produce is sold at farmers markets throughout California. On this morning Manuel greeted our group in front of his home and opened up the doors to his home to allow our tour group to use his family's restroom. Mostly known for his strawberries Manuel walked our group over to organic strawberry field # 4 and gave us a brief description of the two types of strawberries that are grown here. Albions are generally darker in color both to the inside of the fruit as well as the outside. We were told these berries are extremely popular because they are normally sweeter than any of the other strawberry varieties. Seascapes are better known for their rich strawberry flavor and the fact that they grow to be larger than the other varieties. Manuel extended an invitation to everybody in our tour group to walk upon his fields, pick berries to sample and return to him with any questions. In this photo (http://static4.px.yelp.com/bphoto/vKyIC6C7UY1GCqMkKTxipg/l) I've picked a Seascape on the left and an Albion on the right for the ultimate taste test. While the Albion was definitely sweeter I found the Seascape more to my liking with a slightly tart flavor and a juicier fruit. I really enjoyed picking and sampling the big, glistening berries warmed by the sun as most members of our group did. In addition to the strawberries we were allowed to walk freely upon the organic raspberry bushes (http://static3.px.yelp.com/bphoto/JGNX8Nsn9WieLVaj-Zr0Qg/l). Most of the raspberries were not ripe enough to pick yet. There are two varieties as well with a red berry and a white berry. I sampled a single red fruit and it was extremely sour. Swarms of bees pollinate in the raspberry bushes, but we were told that the bees keep to themselves. Regardless I walked gingerly along the bushes taking photos among the hundreds (thousands?) of bees buzzing around me. On this visit we learned about crop varieties, fertilization, market trends and farm life. Two other crops that we were made aware of were the finger potatoes (http://static1.px.yelp.com/bphoto/L2jm8H_9Q3to067fUkigJg/l) and the artichokes. Both are also organic on this farm. As our group reassembled to depart for our next destination, Manuel Rodriguez expressed his generosity once again by giving everybody in our tour group a half crate of Seascape strawberries (http://static3.px.yelp.com/bphoto/RtDSRgfiZWBdBwCi7cWJ1A/l) and artichokes to take home free of charge. When asked where we could find his produce locally we were told that he often sells at the farmers markets in Daly City and in South San Francisco. Because often generosity and hospitality can work both ways I'll certainly start looking for his family's produce when I shop at these farmers markets. In addition to those photos posted here, more of my photos can be found at this link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26-2milesandmore/sets/72157621601999289/

Had a good experience today Sunday via Rodriguez Brothers Ranch at the Stonestown Farmers Market in…read moreSan Francisco. Great mix of Vegetables, Fruits and Herbs, brought home a bag overflowing of Carrots, Chard, Artichokes, Cilantro, etc.

I swear, we meet some of the kindest, friendliest, and helpful people when we travel. We were drawn…read moreinto Lonely Mountain Farm at the San Francisco Farmers market because look at those strawberries! They are magnificent! We walked away with strawberries, rainbow carrots, flowers, and many local recommendations for nearby businesses. The berries are amazing, the flowers are stunning, and I'm sure the carrots are going to be incredible.

They've been at the Saturday Ferry Farmer's Market for a while now, guessing four or five years at…read moreleast. Their open stand is on the north section of the street side section of the market. Lately, I've been buying an assortment of their jarred products, mainly pickled items like dill pickles and green beans. They also offer tomato products. Besides eating them myself, I've gifted bottles to local friends as well as ones five-hour flights away. They mainly have vegetables and strawberries right now as well as flowers. In the past, I've bought gooseberries (https://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?select=UYf1MpRfuusdMl_IUKZyMw&userid=saJuyv784apZzH--psHZ3Q) from them, strawberries, and melons when in season. On of the few year-round items that I like to buy are their bottled products. I finally opened my bottle of Dilly Beans, pickled green beans (https://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?select=AZB8kIRX1u7--0g5YnN-pw&userid=saJuyv784apZzH--psHZ3Q). I enjoyed that, even after a few months, the beans still crunched and the pickle flavor was strong, not subtle in any way. This past Saturday, I picked up the next bottle that I will indulge in (https://www.yelp.com/user_local_photos?select=gJcK-YaJULNqZhOtQdEFSA&userid=saJuyv784apZzH--psHZ3Q) when I finish my green beans. Stop by the north side plaza near Gotts to find their stand Saturday mornings at the Ferry Building. They take cash or cc's.

We saw signs and had to make a pit stop for local fresh strawberries! They also have a selection of…read morefresh produce as well!

Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers…read more Wait? What did Peter Piper pick? Purple peppers? I kid you not! Okay, maybe it wasn't Peter Piper who picked them, but he could have had he visited the Nunez Farm. It's a fact that purple bell peppers have been around since the mid-80's, but this was the first time I've ever walked upon rows upon rows of them in a field. The purple bell peppers are just one of the crops being harvested at Guillebaldo Nunez' vegetable farm in Watsonville. Artichokes Basil Bell Peppers (Green) Broccoli Butter Lettuce Cabbage (Green) Carrots Celery Collard Greens Fennel Heirloom Tomatoes Kale (Green) Leeks Pink Swiss Chard Potatoes Purple Kale Puple Thai Basil Rainbow Swiss Chard Red Beets Red Cabbage Red Lettuce Swiss Chard White Corn Yellow Swiss Chard Zucchini That's just a fraction of the crops being grown on the Nunez Farm, and it's all organic! That's right! Pesticide and chemical free! When our bus driver missed his turn Guillebaldo jumped into his truck and drove out to the main road to escort our bus into his farm. We were there for the last stop on on our education-filled farm tour. The Nunez Farm is incredible in size, and all of the crops are sold in farmers markets throughout Northern California and at Whole Foods stores under the brand "ALBA Organics". Guillebaldo walked us out to his fields to show us the rainbow of Swiss chards that he has planted. Green, orange, yellow, red, pink - just a variety of colors. I had never seen the yellow ones before and I was fascinated by them. On the same field were green and purple kale. I'd never had kale before and sampled some right there as a leaf was pulled off a plant and passed around to sample. We learned about the nutritious aspect of the kale as well as planting techniques and even ways to cook them. On the opposite side of the field were rows upon row of gigantic heirloom tomatoes hanging on thin sturdy vines. We were told that the fruits had just been picked that morning, but Guillebaldo told us that if we found any other ripe ones in there we were welcomed to pick it. Some of our group got really lucky when Guillebaldo found a whole plant unpicked. I missed out as I had stopped to take photos of big green tomatoes. To the opposite side of the tomato crops was a huge eye opener as we saw a gigantic color-filled farm that seemed to stretch forever. Guillebaldo gave us a quick rundown of all of his crops back there and offered to pick whatever our group requested. His generous offer turned up big red beets, ripe artichoke and handfuls upon handfuls of traditional green and Thai purple basil. The hit of the farm was the beautiful purple bell peppers. Guillebaldo said these were a first-time crop for him and he welcomed us onto the field to pick our own. He cracked one open, broke it into several pieces and passed it around for us to sample. The meat is slightly thinner than that of a green bell pepper, but these were so much sweeter. I might have missed out on the tomatoes but no way did I miss out on these. Time wasn't on our side; otherwise, we might have walked off with a lot more fresh produce than we did. A big thanks goes to Guillebaldo Nunez for opening up his farm to us. I'll be looking for that ALBA brand next time I'm shopping for organics. Where are the photos? Right here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/26-2milesandmore/sets/72157621625559039/

Braeburn Fuji Gala…read moreGolden Delicious Granny Smith Gravenstein McIntosh Pink Pearl Pippin Red Delicious Why exactly am I naming these apple varieties you ask? Prior to my visit to the Hillview Farm these were the only 10 varieties of apples I could name if someone were to ask. For somebody like me who eats more apple pie and drinks more apple juice than I do eating fresh apples I thought 10 was pretty impressive. Then I met Joe Stabile. Joe and his wife own an 18 acre apple orchard in Watsonville. When they bought the property in the early 1980's 4 varieties of apples were grown at this 450 tree orchard. Joe and his wife now have over 200 varieties of apples on this orchard and nearly 4200 trees! Yup, shows you how little I know about apples! For the Stabiles it's all about custom grafting and creating new varieties of apples. Many of the varieties found in the Hillview Farm orchard are not found anywhere else. Joe, a former IBM engineer who retired in 1992 to become a full time farmer, is a man of great patience. He loves the art of taking different types of apple trees, grafting the branches together and playing the waiting game on how successful the graft will be. Some grafts take years to develop. That doesn't faze Joe though; no matter how long it takes the bottom line is that the apple has to taste good. Overall taste is the deciding factor in deciding whether a custom graft is successful or not. For our recent farm tour the Stabiles went all out and pre-picked three big baskets of delicious Gravensteins, sweet Sansas and tart Pink Pearls for our group to enjoy. Judging by how quickly the fruit in the basket disappeared I'd have to agree with my fellow farm visitors that the Pink Pearls were our favorites for its beautiful color and delicious taste. Joe showed us the heavy machinery that sorts his apples by size. Then he showed us his juicer and talked about his juicing techniques. Joe and his small staff presses 80 to 100 gallons of juice per day. He bottles the juices immediately and stores the fresh pressed, unfiltered juices and juice blends in freezers then sells the product in assorted sizes at local farmers markets. Joe also sells dried apples at the farmers markets. He uses an industrial sized dehydrator and gave us delicious samples of both the Golden Delicious and Fuji varieties to sample. Our group was already in apple heaven when we stepped out into his orchard to look at the fresh fruit trees and examine some of the grafting techniques used. In addition to apples the Stabiles harvest dozens of varieties of pears, plums and persimmons plus other tree grown fruits. The different sizes, shapes and colors of the apples in the Hillview orchard were mind-boggling. I took tons of photos but after awhile they all started to look the same to me. The Stabiles didn't seem to have that problem though. They knew exactly which variety was which and even gave us data on the fruit's characteristics when we asked. True apple geniuses those Stabiles are. After our tour we gave the family some business too buying up fresh pressed apple juice, and homemade apple products such as preserves, syrups, dressings and butters. Hillview Farm products are sold at three local farmers markets. They are at the Vallco Farmers Market in Cupertino on Fridays, the Danville Farmers Market on Saturdays and the Jack London Square Farmers Market in Oakland on Sundays.

Hillview Farm has all kinds of fruits on display. not so interested in them…read more what caught my eye was the apple cider. locale: JLQ farmers market (9/7) drink: apple cider(32 oz, $5) -100% pure preminum-cold pressed, -marked "plain" assumed it meant nothing added -so sweet! like drinking candy. hopefully no sugar added 4.5 stars

The nicest owners you could imagine, with thoughtfulness of organic way of life, start to finish.read more

As a buyer for Whole Foods for many years, I ordered and processed thousands of flowers that came…read morefrom all over the world. When we began to sell flowers from Thomas Farm I noticed a stark difference in the freshness and quality of their flowers. They always came in fresher and firmer than nearly every other vendor, and outlasted other cut flowers by days to weeks. Their organic bouquets are loaded with flowers than can be preserved and enjoyed by drying them. The family and people behind the business are great people, and I hope they have generations of successful flower farming.

No, I don't drive out to Watsonville very often... in fact, have I ever been there?…read moreWell, most Tuesdays and Saturdays, I do find them at the Ferry Building in San Francisco selling their fruits and avocados at the famed Ferry Farmers' Market. On Tuesdays, their stand is on the Blue Bottle Coffee side of the plaza and, on Saturdays, they are up the driveway to the back near Sur La Table. Right now, my big buy is their mandarins, juicy, sweet and easy to peel. They are best known for their avocados... who doesn't love those creamy little fruits that anchor every guacamole dip. Look for their famed Haas avocados and you'll know after the first bite. They also have Moro Blood oranges right now too. Just be sure to pick your produce carefully for bruises and blemishes. Look for Will on Saturdays if you're there. You'll be impressed by the lineup of chefs who pick up their orders here on Tuesdays. You too can put that kind of food on your table!

Every Saturday Farmers Market that I'm able to go to, I always stop by the Brokaw Nursery booth, in…read morethe back of the Ferry Building, and pick up a few of their Gwen avocados. A fabulously buttery avocado with a lovely rich warm flavoring. I love to have it with toasted bagels and salads. They also have other offerings besides avocados. They've got, depending on the season, cherimoya, mandarins, blood oranges, kumquats, guavas, lemons, and sometimes tree-ripened mangoes. 6.29.07 The Pixie-like mandarins are amazing. The Murcott's are super juicy and sweet. The experimental mandarins that I tried the week before were gigantic and so good that I didn't want to share!