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Health & Fitness

Patch Blog: Farm to Dish--Shear Rock Farms

Farm to Dish profiles grower Sabrina Bohn of Shear Rock Farms at the Highland Park Farmer's Market

Welcome to Farm to Dish, a new monthly column that will highlight some of the local and seasonal produce from our very own . 

I love that we have a Farmers' Market in the neighborhood, but I've been saddened at times to see great vendors leave due to low attendance and sales. It is my hope that this column helps to inspire people to head to the market and support its vendors. 

Farm to Dish will focus on different vendors at the market, sample their produce and then take it home to make a nutritious, local and seasonal dinner. 
I hope to make Farm to Dish a bi-monthly blog, with the first entry focusing on the vendors, their products and their growing practices. Then, in the second installment, I'll show you how to use those ingredients to make a healthy and delicious meal. 

The famous saying advises us to save the best for last, but I've opted to front load Farm to Dish by showcasing the best vendor at the market first. Sabrina Bohn--of Shear Rock Farms in Santa Paula--is the superstar of the market. Her stand is an absolute gem. Sabrina sharpened her farming skills at Pierce College's Agricultural program and now farms on three acres just northwest of Simi Valley in Ventura County. 

When I say she farms, I really mean it. She sows, weeds, transplants, mulches and irrigates; she does the whole shebang. Plus she brings the produce to market herself. So when you become her client, you are really establishing a relationship with the farmer who grows your food. You can talk to her about what's in season or about how things are going on her farm. While Shear Rock Farms is not Organic Certified, Sabrina uses absolutely no synthetic pesticides or fertilizers. Many vendors vaguely proclaim that they use "no sprays," but you can sit and have an in-depth conversation with Sabrina about her growing practices. I believe it is this type of relationship that people are yearning for in an era of food borne pathogens and factory farms. 

Shear Rock Farms specializes in vegetables, with an emphasis on all sorts of greens and beautiful heirloom winter squashes in the winter and amazing heirloom tomatoes as well as peppers, cucumbers, squash and eggplant in the summer. Sabrina also offers freshly pressed Arbequina Olive Oil from a friend's orchard in Dinuba, up in the San Joaquin Valley. She sells it both filtered and unfiltered. Arbequina is a Spanish olive producing quality oil that is mild and even buttery in taste, though the unfiltered fresh stuff can be a bit spicy!

I've been fortunate enough to have struck up a barter with Sabrina. In exchange for her produce, I trade the eggs from the chickens and ducks that we raise on our farm in Glassell Park.  While this has been an amazing deal for my family, it's been horrible for my vegetable garden. With all the amazing produce, I now have no real incentive to plant. Since striking this deal last year, my garden has been mostly fallow with only sugar snap peas in the winter and chiles and tomatoes in the summer, all of it tended rather half-heartedly!

Many people don't realize that winter is a wonderful growing season in Southern California. While in colder climes, Winter is known for sleds, snowmen and bare trees, here it is the season of fresh, crisp greens and citrus. I wanted to cook a meal to showcase the season's bounty and was not disappointed by Shear Rock's offerings. We ended up bringing home a bottle of olive oil, crisp red and green baby lettuce, carrots, celery, red cherry radishes, chioggia beets, micro radicchio, florence fennel, italian parsley and lamb's quarter.

Find out what's happening in Highland Park-Mount Washingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Click here to read an article by Old L.A. Certified Farmer's Market Manager Christopher Nyerges on the health benefits of lamb's quarter.

When we got home I supplemented Sabrina's produce with some navel oranges from our trees and eggs from our hens. With a few additional ingredients from the supermarket, we were ready to make a feast. The goal: to get out of the way, and let January's fresh flavors shine. No need to muddle the flavors and freshness of the produce by doing anything too fancy. 

Our menu: 

Lentil Soup with leeks, onions, carrots and celery--garnished with finely chopped Italian parsley, cilantro and lamb's quarters

Roasted Chioggia beet salad with lettuces, navel oranges, goat cheese and walnuts 

Winter salad with lettuces, radicchio, Florence fennel and radishes 

Vinaigrette made with Sabrina's olive oil, freshly squeezed orange juice, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper

Spanish Tortilla with fresh chicken eggs, potatoes, onions, lamb's quarters and italian parsley

For Dessert, mixed baklava from the Baklava factory in Glendale (thanks to my wife!)

Check back next time, when I'll show you how I used Shear Rock Farm's fresh produce to make a midwinter feast for my friends and family. 

Find out what's happening in Highland Park-Mount Washingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Old LA Farmers' Market takes place every Tuesday in Highland Park, year round. The market offers fresh, seasonal fruits and vegetables, prepared hot foods, packaged foods, and a variety of arts and crafts, as well as a children's area. The Metro Gold Line Highland Park station is just next door, making for easy access.

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