A Fresh Start

The Market Lady is not afraid to announce her New Year’s resolution early, and in print.

Resolved: to eat more fresh, leafy vegetables and fruit in 1999. There.

And here’s hoping that after the freezing temperatures county farmers have endured, there’ll be plenty of both to go around come Jan. 1. “It’s spotty in Ventura County,” said Ojai tangerine and avocado grower Jim Churchill. If all goes well, Churchill’s tangerines and Bacon avocados should be at their prime marketability about right . . . NOW. He’s a little nervous about his outdoor thermometer, though.

“We have many weather pockets. Ojai gets colder than other parts of the county. If your crop is on a hillside instead of the valley floor, you’re better off. Hillsides are warmer--better air circulation.”

Like most local growers, Churchill didn’t get much sleep over the last week, what with taking the temperature of his groves at 4 a.m.--which measured 25 degrees on at least two nights. He’s more worried about his Hass and Bacon avocados than his tangerines, though. “Tangerines are tough. They can take the cold weather better than navel oranges or lemons or avocados.” The avocado’s stem is its most vulnerable part.

Though he was pretty busy saving his crop, Churchill took another moment to do a bit of marketing, suggesting that if consumers want a real taste treat, “Don’t buy those waxy tangerines from Florida.” Though he doesn’t sell his tangerines through local farmers’ markets, Churchill recommends that “you buy some fresh Satsuma tangerines at any county farmers’ market--they’re in their prime and so much better than the Florida ones.”

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Bob Trainer, who manages the Camarillo farmers’ market, reminds us that the certified markets close down for a week after Christmas, but come Jan. 2, they’ll be up and running with new crops of apples, Bacon avocados, limes, kiwis, navels, walnuts, pistachios, Satsuma tangerines and even orchids.

County growers also have a few farming tricks up their sleeves for these chilly months: hydroponic and greenhouse gardening.

“This time of year, hydroponics [soilless farming] fill the gap,” said Buddy Burnett, whose Meiners Oaks greenhouse supplies many local certified markets with sprouts--broccoli sprouts, radish sprouts, green pea sprouts, “and onion sprouts that are so good you can make a good sandwich out of them alone.”

F & F Farms of Somis sells just-picked hydroponic limestone lettuce, kale, radicchio and arugula at the Ojai, Ventura and Thousand Oaks markets.

Start 1999 with cold-weather crops, like cauliflower, carrots, onions, broccoli, cabbage and leeks, advises Karen Schott, who doubles as manager of Ventura and Thousand Oaks’ certified markets. All of which, by the way, are perfect ingredients for hearty soups on cold winter nights.

Orchid lovers should note that local orchids are coming in very slow this season, say both Trainer and Schott.

“They’ll be real big in January, though,” Trainer said.

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One last thing: The Market Lady feels it is her duty to remind all food eaters that New Year’s Day is the premier day to eat black-eyed peas--it’s practically a guarantee of good luck for the rest of 1999.

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Tips of the Week:

Look for a new and delicious variety of apple at the Camarillo market called “Pink Lady,” as of Jan. 2.

And it’s worth a special trip to the Ojai market on the next day to buy a bag of Roper’s fresh macadamia nuts. Yes, Virginia, they even grow macadamia nuts in Ventura County.

Twice as nice as the canned ones, too.