A massive load of fresh produce updates, from Wild Roots to New Leaf to a big peach and the Big Apple
Wild Roots Market, whose meaning to the Santa Cruz Mountains community proves hard to overstate, celebrates a major milestone by, surprise, involving its community.
In honor of WRM’s 25th anniversary as a certified organic retailer through California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF)—making it the first retailer in the country to earn that—Wild Roots will 1) continue in-store giveaways from CCOF throughout the month, along with round-up donations to the CCOF Foundation; and 2) host movie night featuring fresh documentary Organic Rising 5:30pm Thursday, Sept. 25, at Felton Community Hall (free; $5 donation CCOFs welcome).
CCOF CEO Kelly Damewood notes the heart of her nonprofit doesn’t beat without operators like the Felton fan fave.
“Industry champions like Wild Roots are critical to advancing organic agriculture and ensuring that when a shopper purchases a certified organic product, they can be confident that it was traced from farm to store,” Damewood says, “and produced with sustainable methods that support healthy communities.” wildrootsmarket.com, ccof.org
NEW NEW LEAF
Speaking of bright green grocers, New Leaf Markets debuts its new Santa Cruz store (650 River St., Santa Cruz) on Saturday, Sept. 27, loaded with a rainbow of grab-and-go fresh-pressed juices, hand-rolled sushi, California barbecue and a new peanut butter flavor of The Cookie. The 10am–2pm Sept. 27 soiree involves free local samples, giveaways, family programming and a chance to win a $250 New Leaf gift card, newleaf.com.
FRUITFUL BREAKTHROUGHS
Last week Chiles Peach Orchard in Crozet, Virginia, earned the Guinness World Record title for heaviest peach with a 1.83-pound stone fruit, five times a standard medium-sized peach. Big peach news comes ahead of a Big Apple update: This week I’m heading to New York for Climate Week and a session called “Regenerative Food Systems: Scaling Impact—Soil to Shelf” in particular. One outstanding element of the Food Tank portion of the week, which bursts with great speakers like Dan Barber (chef and heirloom seed superstar), J.J. Johnson (American chef and author), Paul Lightfoot (Patagonia Provisions), Suzanne Sengelmann (Lundberg Family Farms) and a bunch more: Interested minds can tune in from anywhere via foodtank.com, or by searching “Food Tank NY Climate Week” on YouTube, or typing in youtube.com/live/Hq_z5IR3oO8.
VAMOS AMIGAS
El Pájaro Community Development Corporation (“El Pájaro CDC”) hosts the third annual Mujer al Mando Business & Leadership Conference this 9am-2:30pm Saturday, Sept. 27, at the Civic Plaza Community Room (6th floor, 275 Main St., Watsonville). Conducted in Spanish—with translation in English and Mixteco—and dedicated to empowering women who are driving change in business (and their communities) this year’s theme focuses on professional and personal well-being. The agenda features workshops, a panel of women entrepreneurs, networking opportunities and Monarch Services CEO Leeann Luna on keynote, $30 in advance (includes light breakfast and lunch), $40 day of, elpajarocdc.org.
COMINGS AND GOINGS
Back on the hopeful organic produce front: Esperanza Community Farms (275 Lee Road, Watsonville) hosts the free Día de Esperanza Organic Agriculture Festival Oct. 18-19, featuring local organic food, farm tours, family activities and live music, esperanzacommunityfarms.org…Less hopeful: Oblò Cocktails & Kitchen (740 Front St., Suite 100, Santa Cruz) has closed, but some uplift persists, per the team’s Instagram announcement: “We’ve decided to take a little break to breathe, recharge, and put together new ideas for the future,” it reads. “Your support, your smiles, and the moments we’ve shared at our tables have meant so much.”…I’m digging a new newsletter called “The Spill: Your daily drop of wine news”…Late author and radio/TV personality Clifton Fadiman, toast us out: “A bottle of wine begs to be shared; I have never met a miserly wine lover.”
