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It is strawberry season at the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano, which means the succulent red berries can be found both in the fields and on the menu.
This year, the 28-acre regenerative organic farm is producing more than 30,000 pounds of strawberries of different varieties. Strawberry farming is a long Orange County tradition, with commercial enterprises first gaining momentum in the 1910s and 1920s.
The Strawberry U-pick events held at the Ecology Center are meant to be fun and family friendly, but there is also an important educational element to the activity.
“We have done Strawberry U-pick for a few years, and by and large, we exist to put the culture back in agriculture,” said Evan Marks, the center’s founder and executive director. “We are always looking for an opportunity to bring our community into relationship with the farm.”
U-pick experiences are available Fridays through Sundays and begin at the Ecology Center grandstand, where the team shares how berries grown on the property are farmed without the use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides.
Strawberries are a cash crop, and these days berries are conventionally produced using a fumigant called methyl bromide. An ozone depleter, it is usually paired with another chemical, like chloropicrin, which also carries health risks for farm workers and nearby residents. The use of such strong pesticides creates a need for synthetic fertilizers to replenish nutrients that get lost in the process.
“It’s this vicious cycle,” Marks said.
Strawberries at the Ecology Center are different. Influenced by his mentor, Steve Gliessman — who founded the UC Santa Cruz agroecology program in 1980 — Marks has developed berries grown without the use of toxic sprays or industrial inputs. The process involves careful planning, like planting nutrient-rich cover crops a year before and spreading compost to cultivate healthy soil and long-term sustainability.
The results are worth the preparation. The Ecology Center offers the only regenerative organic strawberries in Southern California.
“We are regenerative organic certified and we’re very proud of that. It’s a big comment of what we do here,” said Marks. “Kids are coming into the fields, and they are getting really beautiful strawberries, grown with love.”
On a warm March afternoon, Marks walks the strawberry fields where a crop of diverse berry varieties are growing. There are Fronteras strawberries, a high-yielding berry with a strong resistance to disease, and those of the Denali variety, which have a deep-red, glossy look.
“You tune your eyes to see the different colors and just taste around,” he said, plucking a ripe, red gem off the vine and holding it up to the sun. “For me, that’s a really great strawberry.”
At the Ecology Center Farm Stand, open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, baskets of the fresh berries are for sale along with jars of house-made strawberry jam.
The Strawberries also shine on the menu at Campesino Café, the Ecology Center’s eatery dedicated to ecological foodways.
The menu is a storytelling tool, creating an opportunity for families who come for the strawberry picking to make a direct connection to where their food comes from.
A radicchio salad tossed in a mustard seed vinaigrette showcases farm produce, like fennel, oranges and, of course, strawberries. Straus organic yogurt is topped with strawberry jam and fresh strawberries along with homemade granola.
“The whole reason why we built Campesino was to amplify the hard work of the farm and the farm team,” said Marks. “All the of the ingredients, outside of the eggs and the cheese, what we serve here, is from the farm.”
An albacore tuna tostada for example, is served on a blue corn tortilla made on site from San Juan Blue corn, with farm fresh radishes, shallots, avocado, cilantro and two types of strawberries, red and green varieties, for a balanced sweet and tart flavor.
There is a bakery, fermentation pantry and an heirloom bean program. There are even dishes that keep littles in mind, like “taste of the rainbow,” a plate of farm fresh fruit and vegetable crudités, chopped up for small hands and artfully arranged in rainbow order.
While Campesino Café has long served breakfast and lunch, the restaurant recently launched dinner service with a “Campesino Cafe at Night” menu that includes entrees like enchiladas, made with Swiss chard, heirloom Tigers Eye beans and pipián sauce and half chicken, glazed in orange-caramel and served with green garlic pesto and fresh herbs.
Marks notes the menu isn’t the only thing expanding. Late last year, the Ecology Center broke ground on La Novia Farms, an off-site farm at St. Margaret’s Episcopal School. School gardens is something the Ecology Center has extensive experience in creating, and they can be a pathway to introducing children to the idea of being mindful of where their food comes from at an early age.
“We have built 100 school gardens around Orange County, and every single time a kid would come into the garden and put a piece of lettuce or a piece of kale or some dark, leafy green that they wouldn’t normally be comfortable with in their mouth, they would go, ‘Wow’,” said Marks. “And so they keep eating it.”
The result of a partnership between the Ecology Center, St. Margaret’s and the city of San Juan Capistrano, La Novia is designed to be a replicable proof of concept, providing a blueprint other school districts can use to create their own regenerative school farms.
As the Ecology Center continues to grow and its various programs branch out, Marks hopes more people will become interested in what they are doing and the impact the work can have on the future. Their commitment to sustainability could make it possible for Orange County to have strawberry fields forever.
The Ecology Center Strawberry U-Pick Experience is available from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets are $15 and strawberries are priced at $9 a pound. For more information, go to theecologycenter.org