Established 2001

Owner

Maria Catalan

Maria Catalan is a former field worker. In 1994 she was exposed to organic farming practices at the Rural Development Center in Salinas. Frustrated with working with middlemen and food brokers as well as getting paid too little too late or not at all, she decided that direct marketing might be a better avenue to explore. She got involved with many CSAs, farmers’ markets, and eventually started selling directly to restaurants.

While she was growing up in Mexico her grandfather grew melons and other foods to feed her family.  Maria wants to pass this knowledge on to her own four children.  Maria believes that children, whether or not they intend to be farmers, should know how to raise their own food in a way that respects the air and the earth.

Chef Canales says: “This is a real family farm.  They supply us with some of the most beautiful brassicas, and were the first to provide us with dry-farmed heirloom tomatoes.  They know their climate and they manipulate how they grow certain things based on feedback from their customers.”

Community Supported Agricultural Programs

The farm is partnered with Northern California high schools and universities to bring students to the farm to work, eat home-cooked Mexican food, work at the farmers markets, and get a sense of farming life in a Latino community.

Seasons

Year-round

Principles

Maria believes in sharing her experiences with other farmers in her community.  Currently, she is working with approximately a dozen small farms run by other Latinos, trying to get their farms certified organic so they can be paid the wages she believes they deserve.

Length of relationship with Oliveto

several years

Location

14.4 acres in Hollister, CA

Main Crops

Tomatoes and strawberries.

Secondary crops: chard, citrus, kale

Organizations / Certification

CCOF since 2005

Distribution

Restaurants including Slanted Door, Greens, and Acme Chophouse

Farmers’ markets

San Francisco Ferry Building – Saturdays

Berkeley Derby Street – Tuesdays

Berkeley Shattuck Avenue – Thursdays

Berkeley Downtown – Saturdays

The Derby Street farmers market was bustling today, in a pre-Thanksgiving-panic sort of way.  But the sun came out and most of our farmers seemed ready for the hordes.  And Maria Catalan was ready with samples of her salsa.  Catalan Farms has just started selling Maria’s own handmade tomato salsa, tomatillo salsa, as well as organic nopales.

Word on the street is that the weather is predicted to turn quite chilly in the next few days and many areas will more than likely see their first freeze.   This means good-bye early girl tomatoes and beans, and hello broccoli, cauliflower, and all those great winter root vegetables.  Unbelievably, Catalan Farm still has strawberries:

but these are the last of them.  So you’ve got approximately two hours left to get your hands on some before they are gone until next spring.

Things are definitely feeling like spring around here.  Meaning deliveries from our suppliers keep arriving with new types of produce.  Meaning the kitchen in like a sparking motherboard of ideas.  Meaning the menu is like that magic trick where the magician keeps pulling more & more incredible stuff out of his top hat: fava greens, lettuces, young carrots, asparagus, artichokes, strawberries, and just when you think there can’t possibly be anything more in that hat, Chef Canales (who is the magician in this extended metaphor) busts out some house-made goat’s milk ricotta ravioli served with first-of-spring English peas from Catalan Farms.  On the menu starting tonight.

In the meantime, the current showstopper is eggplant.  Chef Canales shows us the three varieties he’s particularly fond of and explains how he likes to use them.  Eggplant will be on the Oliveto menu in a variety of dishes over the next few days including:

Conchiglie with Rosa Bianca egglpant and pancetta

Stuffed chard and fried ricotta polpettini with wood-oven-roasted eggplant purée

Last Tuesday, Chef Paul Canales and Bill Fujimoto met up at the Derby Street Farmers’ Market in Berkeley to get a taste of what’s great right now, and also to show us what to look for as the summer progresses.

video shot and edited by Ben Schwartz