Pastures of Plenty : Roadside Produce Stands Sprout Like Weeds to Herald Spring’s Arrival, but Otsuka Farms Is an Old Perennial

In an annual rite of spring, hundreds of shoppers each day make a pilgrimage to one of this city’s few remaining agricultural oases to squeeze plump tomatoes, thump mangoes and breathe in the scent of freshly picked strawberries.

“We have strawberries, we have onions and we have peppers,” said Jim Otsuka, co-owner of Otsuka Farms, an open-air market at the corner of Fairview Street and Civic Center Drive. “You name it, we grow it and we sell it.”

Two weeks ago, Otsuka and his brother, Don, reopened their market after their annual winter hiatus--much to the satisfaction of customers. Friday morning, regulars mingled with newcomers at the popular market, squeezed between an auto shop and aging apartment buildings--all about a mile from the county’s congested Civic Center.

The Otsukas grow and pack the fruits and vegetables they sell on a 5-acre field right behind the tin walls of the market and on another field several blocks away.

The Otsukas’ market is one of the larger fresh-produce businesses around but, faithful to spring, vegetable and fruit stands are sprouting in other fields in the county, with vendors hawking their goods to roadside customers.

While some markets are open all year, the ripening of the county’s strawberries traditionally spurs more roadside produce shacks.

“County residents have a certain nostalgia for roadside stands,” said Nancy Jimenez, executive director of the Orange County Farm Bureau. “They love going to the stands and buying their fruits and vegetables right off the field.”

The key difference between road stands and supermarkets is freshness, Jimenez said.

Virgil Davidson, who has lived in Santa Ana for more than 30 years, rarely buys produce from supermarkets and goes to the Otsukas.

“When you go to a supermarkets, the vegetables are wilting and the color is dull,” Davidson said, holding a shining orange pepper and pointing to the field. “This is fresh stuff. You see them growing right out there.”

Insurance adjuster Chuck Ross, and his son, Michael, 8, picked out a pint of berries and a mango when they were at the market Friday.

“My son couldn’t believe that we could buy fruit right off the field,” Ross said. “I love pointing out the plants to him and saying, ‘See, that’s where the berries come from.’ ”

Spring is the busiest time of the year for farmers who sell directly to customers, Jimenez said. Customers will flock to the stands during Easter weekend, she predicted.

“Roadside stands are the best advertisements for farmers,” Jimenez said. “Even though Orange County is turning more and more urban, there are plucky farmers who stick it out here.”

Before farmers can sell their produce, their fields must be inspected and evaluated by county agricultural inspectors, said John Ellis of the county’s Agricultural Commissioner’s Department. The center conducts random farm inspections for pesticide levels.

While farmers sell most of their produce to wholesalers, they market their surplus directly to customers through the road stands, Ellis said. As soon as the produce ripens, farmers can sell straight from their fields instead of waiting for trucks to move crops on to distributors.

The Otsukas, however, sell most of their produce directly to retail customers.

In Fountain Valley, McKay Smith and his family sell strawberries at their stand at 15872 Harbor Blvd., right in front of their field. Though the county has been hit with unpredictable weather, the strawberries have been ripening on schedule.

“People are hungry for California fruit,” Smith said. “The berries are super-sweet when they’re freshly picked.”

Smith said the berries will be even better in April and May, when the best of the crop begins to ripen and when Orange County residents, with temperatures increasing, have berries on their minds.

The Otsukas have more than 20 farmhands picking strawberries behind their open-air market. The family has been selling produce on Fairview for more than 40 years. Joe Otsuka, the family patriarch, started the farm in 1947, when he returned to California after he was interned during World War II. His sons expanded the roadside stand three years ago and built the larger open-air market that stands today.

“When I was 12, I was out on the road, taking care of the customers and packing in the fruit,” Jim Otsuka said.

“This is what my father did before me. I love it when the customers look through the fruit and vegetables and say, ‘It’s beautiful.’ ”