Jim Eldon - Fiddler's Green Farm

Jim Eldon 530-796-2184
eldon@afes.com

What’s the name of your farm / business?
Fiddler's Green Farm

What is your specialty?
Organic Vegetables

What makes your product unique?
I grow oddball varieties, maximize post-harvest handling care and create artful displays.

How did you become a farmer / artisan?
By graduating from gardening

Have there been any obstacles you’ve had to overcome?
Farming is, on a daily basis, all about overcoming obstacles.

What does your farm look like right now?
A weedy mess, as usual.

Why are you here in Marin? (Any special weather, soil, etc.)
Force of habit: I've been coming to market here since 1991

What else do you like about Marin?
Mild summer weather

What is your method of farming (Conventional, Organic, etc.)? Explain why you’ve chosen to farm in this manner.
Organic. Agricultural chemicals are neither necessary nor desirable.

How long have you been selling at the Marin Farmers Market?
1991

Do you have any special memories about the Market?
In 1987, when I was working for another farmer, the market had a whole aisle of organic growers from all over the State. Organic was so new, all of us were flying by the seats of our pants. I was amazed to see the variety and quality of crops there. It was an adventure.

Do you have any favorite customers? Why?
No favorite customers. I don't discriminate. They all have their own shopping habits and preferences.

What should a customer look for in your product?
Backyard garden freshness, vitality and flavor.

Why should people support farmers' markets, rather than shopping somewhere like Whole Foods?
To keep farmers and small farms alive. To know who grows their food and how. Whole Foods has a legal obligation only to its corporate shareholders, and that's the way it behaves.

Do you have any other good stories to share?
Too many to. I've got plenty of stories but not enough time to write them down.

1. Can you give me a detailed memory that you have. A funny story?
Humorous stories from farm life frequently contain an element of tragedy as well, especially when the story involves the vagaries of nature. In the struggle for survival and the drive for profitability, many farmers will gamble and plant a cash crop far earlier than normal, hoping to pull it off and cash in by being the first one into market with that product.

So it was in '95 when I decided to transplant my first 10,000 tomatoes into the field on February 28. I had run a successful trial the previous year using plastic tunnels to protect the plants from cold and frost and went one step further this time by laying down black plastic mulch to help warm the soil around the plants underneath the tunnels. Unfortunately, a huge storm rolled in the next week, with 40 mph winds and pounding rain. The storm raged for four days, flooding parts of the tomato crop with its nearly 8 inches of rain. But the real damage was done by the wind, which gusted up to 60 mph at times. The wind got under the plastic tunnels and under much of the mulch as well, dragging many of the 300 foot long strips across the field, with thousands of tomato plants caught in the twisted plastic or dragged into and submerged in flooded furrows. I remember going out into the field the second day, hoping to re-anchor the edges of the tunnels that the wind had already blown loose. When I got out in the field, I stood at the end of the rows, staring in grief at the number of tunnels that were billowing in the wind. The upwind side of many were still anchored in the soil, but the downwind side was free, flapping in the gale force wind and sending sheets of spray skyward with each snap. I stood there in the howling wind and pelting rain, realizing that there was absolutely nothing I could do, and I started to laugh! I turned to face into the wind, enjoying the feel of the large cold raindrops splattering on my face, and I forgot all about tomatoes. In the end, about half the plants survived and I was indeed the first organic grower to bring field-grown tomatoes to market.

2. What does it mean to you to have your son involved in the farm?
Miles has been helping me at markets since he was eight. He's twelve now and he's proficient at setting up the display, memorizing prices, calculating transaction totals, dealing politely with customers and neatly reloading the truck at the end of the day. Not only that, he gives me neck massages and frequent hugs. So he's not just helpful - he's a joy to have around.

Working together at markets has also made us good buddies. Miles knows who I am and how hard I work, and that this is the basis of the farm's character and reputation. It makes me grateful to have a farm and to be able to teach him by doing.

3. Also, what is some of the history of Capay Valley and the origins of organic farming there?
A brief summary of Capay Valley history can be found on the Capay Valley Vision website at http://www.capayvalleyvision.org/timeline.html. I think there were three farms in the valley that became certified organic in 1982 when the Yolo chapter of CCOF was created: Fiddler's Green Farm (Cliff & Marian Cain); Full Belly Farm (Dru Rivers & Paul Muller); and Capay Fruits and Vegetables (Kathleen Barsotti & Martin Barnes). Now there are many. And as the history link above states, "In 1995 the County Agricultural Commissioner reported nearly a million dollars in revenue from the valley's organic agriculture, a figure that tripled by 2001." In 2004, organic sales were nearly $14 million ($13,693,000)!

4. Didn't you say your farm was the first organic farm in the area? In the Bay Area?
Cliff Cain once told me that Fiddler's Green was the first organic farm in the Capay Valley. Cliff and Marian Cain were raising organic lamb and organic asparagus in the mid-seventies, well before the Yolo chapter of CCOF was established in 1982. The farm has been certified organic since that year.

5. What specifically are you growing in these photos?
The tractor is directly over a bed of Chinese greens (in need of hoeing!): Tsoi Sim (flowering pak choi), Kai Laan (Chinese broccoli) and Gai Choi (mustard greens). The bed to the right is Hong Vit (radish greens), Tatsoi ("spoon cabbage") and Bau Sin (mustard). To the right of those are four beds of mixed lettuces for salad. Beyond that are several beds of flat leaf parsley and curly parsley. To the left of the tractor are two beds of mustard greens, with one row each of the varieties Southern Giant Curled, Japanese Red Giant and Florida Broadleaf.

6. You told me a good story about the origin of your name, "Fiddler's Green". Can you write it for me?
The name derives from old Irish sailors' lore. The fiddler was the shipmate responsible for mending sails, ropes and the like. Fiddler's Green was the colloquialism for paradise, where all the old sailors went when they retired; where there was always wine, women and song. Well, Clifford and Marian Cain, the couple who started the farm back in the seventies, were not only of Irish heritage, they had in fact sailed around the world in a 24 foot sailing boat. So when they moved here, they aptly named the farm Fiddler's Green. The subsequent owners, my former business partners, bought the rights to the name along with the property.

7. What's your title, and what do you do as head of the Farmers Market?
"Head of the Farmers' Market" is sort of misleading, since I have nothing to do with day-to-day operations. I'm President of the Board of Directors of the Marin County Farmers' Market Association. As with any other Board of Directors, I lead Board meetings, review the Association's Bylaws and Rules & Regulations, monitor the financial health of the organization, sign off on contracts, etc.


Jim