Owners

Ben Lucero and Karen Toombs

Ben was raised in Watsonville where he grew up farming. He started his first organic farm in the 1960s, and although he found it difficult to make a living he kept at it. When the farmers’ market movement finally took hold 20 years later he began to turn a profit for the first time. In 2006, Ben’s eldest son, Curtis, returned from the military to work on the family farm.

Karen started out as a loyal Lucero farmers’ market customer. Soon she began lending a hand on the farm where she met Ben.

Chef Canales says that Ben is the one who taught him how tomatoes should be grown, by knowing when and how to restrict watering.  And as an extension of that, Lucero taught Canales how tomatoes should taste: intensely concentrated and vibrant with flavor.  Along with the amazing variety of tomatoes, Canales also admires the Lucero strawberries, which owe their remarkable flavor to these same practices.

Challenges

Heat waves in Lodi are severe and can be tough on the crops. Soil types vary from a light sandy loam to a rich, dark, crumbly loam. Each is amended with an organic compost that contains no animal products. Fish emulsion and cover crops enrich the soil with nitrogen, a key plant nutrient. Crop rotation helps to prevent depletion of minerals in the soil.

Principles

They strive to produce good, healthy food. Both Ben and Karen love being outside and working with plants.

Length of relationship with Oliveto

12 years (prior farm in San Martin)

Locations

Several parcels of land totaling 32 acres in Lodi, in the San Joaquin Valley

Crops

Strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes (60 varieties), eggplants (8 varieties)

Secondary crops: okra, watermelon, summer squash, cucumbers

Organizations/Certification

CCOF since 2002

Distribution

Farmers’ Markets

Farmers’ markets

Berkeley Derby Street – Tuesdays

Berkeley Shattuck Avenue – Thursdays

Berkeley Downtown – Saturdays

Oakland Grand Lake – Saturdays

San Francisco Ferry Building – Saturdays

Menlo Park – Sundays

Palo Alto – Sundays

Oakland Temescal – Sundays

We visited the Berkeley Farmers’ Market last Saturday with Bill Fujimoto and got a look at what’s in season right this minute & what will be even-more-in-season by the end of this week.  We also got an insider’s tip on a savvy way to save some money during this time of year.

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

In the last week the Luceros’ strawberries have reached their peak, marking the official beginning of berry season and what looks to be a very sweet summer.

“The temperature outside surpassed 90 degrees today. Tomatoes love the heat. The plants are doing well.

Typically, we harvest our first tomatoes sometime in June and maybe we might see some cherry types or smaller varieties as early as late May.  Bye for now.”

Ben’s son Curtis sent us the following photos:

Watch the videos

We’re at the beginning of planting season for Bay Area farms.
As asparagus and artichokes abound, Lucero, Full Belly and Riverdog Farms are also dodging spring frosts and making their plans for restricted water use.

Judith Redmond at Full Belly Farm says they will have several waves of tomato plantings.

At the beginning of April, about half of this year’s tomato crop at Lucero Farm in Lodi CA, is in the ground.

Trini Campbell and Tim Mueller of Riverdog Farm, April 8th in the Capay Valley, Yolo County, California.

Spring is a transitional time for many of our local farmers.  By transitional, I mean that for many of them this is the time they are putting a great deal of effort into preparing for the abundance of summer crops that comprise the majority of their growing season.  They are planting and germinating seeds in pots in their greenhouses and waiting for the perfect time to transplant them into the field.  Too soon, and they might get flooded with a late rain or burnt by frost, too late and they lose valuable opportunities to offer their fruits and vegetables at market.

That said, there are many amazing things (mostly variations on the shade of green) that our local farmers are now offering us.  Some of these, like green garlic, are early manifestations of things to come.  Others are new representations of things that are passing, like tardivo radicchio.  Still others, are here right now and only now, such as fava beans and their greens, asparagus, diciccio broccoli, and flowering rabes from kol crops.

Spring has officially sprung, and will continue to do so!

Wednesday, August 26th – Saturday, August 29th

Make a Reservation

About a week before Tomato Dinners, when most of the tomatoes we will have to choose from are available for tasting, Chef Paul Canales and the cooks sit down with scores of varieties, mostly heirloom but some – like Early Girl-hybrids, and sort out which are the best, what their characteristics are, and how they might be prepared to best advantage.  Amazingly, there is considerable variation even within varieties.

Every year, the variables of soil, weather, planting times, irrigation, and various farming practices yield surprising outcomes in flavor and texture.  A farmer who produces a magnificent Pink Brandywine one year may offer a less flavorful one the next; but her Mortgage Lifters the same year might be nonpareil.  Based on that tasting, each August we purchase around 3,000 pounds of the best tomatoes from local farmers for this joyful event.