Coke Farms

Menlo Park Farmers' Market

Coke Farms, spanning more than 200 acres in San Jan Bautista, sells primarily wholesale, and--lucky for people like me--at two farmers' markets: Palo Alto and Menlo Park (on Saturday and Sunday respectively).

Everything here is organic, and gorgeous, making me want to eat vegetables I don't ordinarily care for, like chard and kale.

If only pictures could capture the beauty that is Coke Farms' produce. Every week it features produce that looks as if it were harvested just moments before and is ready to pose for the highest-end food fashion magazines.

If raddichio were runway models, they would look like this.

They have vegetables and fruit of various kinds, including some more exotic ones such as purple gage plums in summer, and strawberry guava in winter.

Purple gage plums

Representatives of the onion family:

Parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, Ethiopian Tinged Wheat,
apricot preserves and Meyer lemon jam!

Beets:

Robust strawberries:

Strawberries are large and blemish free...and organic!

Lemons:

The other thing about Coke Farms is that the sellers at the farmers' market--I often see three young women, are so, so nice. Even on cold winter mornings, when they have had to get up at vampires' hours to haul everything to the market, these knowledgeable sellers are pleasant, happy to share what they know about particular fruits or vegetables, and give you pointers on how to prepare them. It makes you wonder if there is something special in the produce, or about being an organic farmer that makes one wholesome in spirit too.