Radishes to Roses

The Camarillo farmers market is run by volunteers and gives 6% of its sales to the Camarillo Hospice, which cares for patients with life-threatening illnesses. Situated in a rich agricultural area, it offers mostly locally grown food, as well as a plethora of nursery, crafts and prepared-foods stands.

Last Saturday, Rose Wisuri, a retired educator, displayed a cornucopia of subtropical fruits from her Camarillo backyard: custardy Suebelle sapotes, pomegranates, feijoas, Meyer melons, Chandler pummelos and dried, thinly sliced Hachiya persimmons, dark orange and sweet as candy.

Matt Smith of Santa Paula’s Mud Creek Ranch, a small family farm that was recently certified organic, had small and seedy but very sweet Honey tangerines (though this variety, also known as Murcott, is actually a tangor, a tangerine-orange hybrid). He also sold eggs, giant winter squash, Fuji apples, Bearss limes, navel oranges and some of the season’s first Fuerte avocados.

Vicente Suarez, also of Santa Paula, had giant red radishes shaped like carrots, with moderately pungent white flesh, as well as mustard greens, cauliflower, cabbage and very fragrant cilantro.

Sara Jane Underwood of the Underwood Ranch, which grows mostly in Moorpark, set out a gorgeous display of vegetables, including sweet little carrots (at peak now, she said), meaty red and green jalapenos, red and gold beets, tiny white turnips, broccoli, green beans and asparagus.

Patrice Powell sold Tradiro, Campari and beefsteak tomatoes (with good flavor for this time of year) for Houweling Nursery, which grows 125 acres of tomatoes in local greenhouses.

Bernard Ryan may not have promised his girlfriend, Linda Kendall, a rose garden, but he did agree to sell the flowers from her 4,000 bushes, grown nearby. “It’s her hobby: she has a fetish for roses, even though they’re difficult to grow,” he said. That’s the beauty of farmers’ markets, connecting inspired amateurs with customers.

Camarillo farmers market, 2220 Ventura Blvd., between Elm Drive and Fir Street, Saturdays, 8:30 a.m. to noon.