Nunez Farm

Nunez Farm’s stall at the College of San Mateo’s Farmers Market is always our first stop when we visit; they have the absolute best organic potatoes around, and we always pick up some of their cauliflower and cabbage (so sweet — nothing like that from a grocery store) as well. We also usually get some of their strawberries, and whatever else catches our eye on a visit. Their prices are terrific, and produce top notch!

A wonderful farm stand at the Saturday San Mateo FM, Nunez Farm in Watsonville has affordable organic produce of consistently high quality. We love their chard, their broccoli, and cauliflower, in particular, but we’ve also raved over their green, yellow, and purple beans and their artichokes. The staff are friendly, the stand has a nice «flow,» and there is always a great choice of produce. Highly recommended!

Peter Piper picked a peck of purple peppers.
Wait? What did Peter Piper pick? Purple peppers?
I kid you not! Okay, maybe it wasn’t Peter Piper who picked them, but he could have had he visited the Nunez Farm.
It’s a fact that purple bell peppers have been around since the mid-80’s, but this was the first time I’ve ever walked upon rows upon rows of them in a field. The purple bell peppers are just one of the crops being harvested at Guillebaldo Nunez’ vegetable farm in Watsonville.
Artichokes
Basil
Bell Peppers (Green)
Broccoli
Butter Lettuce
Cabbage (Green)
Carrots
Celery
Collard Greens
Fennel
Heirloom Tomatoes
Kale (Green)
Leeks
Pink Swiss Chard
Potatoes
Purple Kale
Puple Thai Basil
Rainbow Swiss Chard
Red Beets
Red Cabbage
Red Lettuce
Swiss Chard
White Corn
Yellow Swiss Chard
Zucchini
That’s just a fraction of the crops being grown on the Nunez Farm, and it’s all organic! That’s right! Pesticide and chemical free!
When our bus driver missed his turn Guillebaldo jumped into his truck and drove out to the main road to escort our bus into his farm. We were there for the last stop on on our education-​filled farm tour. The Nunez Farm is incredible in size, and all of the crops are sold in farmers markets throughout Northern California and at Whole Foods stores under the brand «ALBA Organics».
Guillebaldo walked us out to his fields to show us the rainbow of Swiss chards that he has planted. Green, orange, yellow, red, pink — just a variety of colors. I had never seen the yellow ones before and I was fascinated by them. On the same field were green and purple kale. I’d never had kale before and sampled some right there as a leaf was pulled off a plant and passed around to sample. We learned about the nutritious aspect of the kale as well as planting techniques and even ways to cook them.
On the opposite side of the field were rows upon row of gigantic heirloom tomatoes hanging on thin sturdy vines. We were told that the fruits had just been picked that morning, but Guillebaldo told us that if we found any other ripe ones in there we were welcomed to pick it. Some of our group got really lucky when Guillebaldo found a whole plant unpicked. I missed out as I had stopped to take photos of big green tomatoes.
To the opposite side of the tomato crops was a huge eye opener as we saw a gigantic color-​filled farm that seemed to stretch forever. Guillebaldo gave us a quick rundown of all of his crops back there and offered to pick whatever our group requested. His generous offer turned up big red beets, ripe artichoke and handfuls upon handfuls of traditional green and Thai purple basil.
The hit of the farm was the beautiful purple bell peppers. Guillebaldo said these were a first-​time crop for him and he welcomed us onto the field to pick our own. He cracked one open, broke it into several pieces and passed it around for us to sample. The meat is slightly thinner than that of a green bell pepper, but these were so much sweeter.
I might have missed out on the tomatoes but no way did I miss out on these. Time wasn’t on our side; otherwise, we might have walked off with a lot more fresh produce than we did. A big thanks goes to Guillebaldo Nunez for opening up his farm to us. I’ll be looking for that ALBA brand next time I’m shopping for organics.
Where are the photos? Right here…