Navigating the grocery store can prove challenging, especially when the aisles and checkout lines teem with shoppers. Finding crisp apples, firm zucchini, and flavorful tomatoes among the often mass-produced selection stymies many a veggie buyer, but thanks to Babé Farms Local Farmer’s Garden, there’s a convenient, delicious solution.
With the arrival of April comes the annual start date of Babé Farms Local Farmer’s Garden, a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program that puts fresh picked produce on the table with a minimum of fuss. Based in Santa Maria, it’s made up of subscribers who agree to support local farmers by buying a portion of their produce each growing season.
Ron and Denice Labastida founded Farmer’s Garden four years ago and originally grew all of the produce themselves. This year, however, they have partnered with the folks at Babé Farms, family friends and longtime neighbors of the Labastida’s own farming operations.
“I loved the idea,” said Judy Lundberg Wafer, owner of Babé Farms, a 1,200-acre enterprise that ships produce all over the United States and into Canada. “Here we have this product setting in the field, it’s beautiful, and we thought, “What a perfect way to get it to the local people.’
“Ronnie had done all the legwork,” she continued, “and had an excellent history and reputation. It was already set up, so it was really a no brainer. It’s the perfect way to meet the needs of the community.”
Every week, subscribers to the program receive a harvest box filled with locally grown fruits and vegetables that can include everything from apples and baby artichokes to turnips and zucchini, with a generous assortment of juicy heirloom tomatoes for good measure. Also in the box are cole crops—such as cauliflower, broccoli, and red cabbage—snow peas, beets, baby carrots, radishes, spinach, and a rainbow of leaf lettuces.
Unusual items include fennel, celery root, spicy arugula, green kohlrabi, savoy cabbage, and bokchoy. Among the varieties of fruit that subscribers can expect are raspberries, strawberries, and luscious blueberries.
“We have so many different products,” Lundberg Wafer said, “and we do so many mixed boxes anyway. I employ about 140 people. They’re in the field, and it is no big thing for them to put together 50 or 100 extra boxes every week.
“We do mixed radishes, extra fancy vegetables,” she continued. “We put carrots, beets, radishes, turnips, any root vegetable in a mixed box anyway, so it isn’t hard for us to do.”
Lundberg Wafer, one of the founding partners who launched Babé Farms in 1986, takes pride in putting wholesome, ready-to-eat goodies on local tables.
“All of our produce goes through a washer,” she explained. “You could eat it right out of the box. One of the big things people say when they first see our boxes is, ‘It’s so clean!’
“We ship on a national scale,” she added, “and I can tell you our produce is prime certified. We are governed to the letter of the law, and we do not sell anything that isn’t safe.”
The growers at Babé Farms prepare the harvest boxes every Wednesday, filling them with eight to 10 items fresh from the farm. Subscribers may pick them up at the Babé Farms Shipping dock (3 to 7 p.m.) in Santa Maria, or at drop-off sites at Casa Bella or Rabobank (1 to 5 p.m.), both in Orcutt. For a small fee, Lundberg Wafer’s farm crew will deliver the box right to the subscriber’s door.
Special discounts are available for those who offer their home or workplace as a drop-off site where others may pick up their boxes. Added benefits of the arrangement include being the first to receive your weekly box, as well as free produce.
“If a subscriber wants to set up a delivery,” Lundberg Wafer explained, “and can get 10 other people to sign up and agree to pick up their boxes at that site, the host gets a free box!”
Subscribers to Babé Farms not only put super fresh food on the table, they also get to try new items, while developing a mutually beneficial relationship with local farmers. In addition, when prices are averaged, they equal about half of what the same produce would cost at a grocery store.
“It encourages people to eat healthy,” Lundberg Wafer said, “and I think they’ll find if they stick with it a little bit, they’ll learn to eat vegetables they maybe don’t normally get.
“We include recipes,” she added, “and tips on how to fix different things, like fennel for instance.”
To put an element of delicious surprise into the art of healthy eating, why not subscribe to Babé Farms Local Farmer’s Garden? You’ll enjoy ready-to-eat fruits and veggies freshly picked from local farms, without ever having to wait in line.
K. Reka Badger is fresh. Contact her at rekabadger@hotmail.com.
This article appears in Apr 29 – May 6, 2010.