Fallbrook Grown

03/18/2018

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I haven't had the roadside stand open for awhile because everything I grow goes to the Fallbrook Farmer's Market at the Valley Fort. We are group of local gardeners who are working together to create a great farmer's market in Fallbrook! We are open tomorrow (Sunday) from 10-3. I'm bringing carrots, beets, lettuce, chard, kale, Meyer lemons and statice flowers. Other gardeners bring all kinds of exotic things. And here's a tip - be there at 10am or a little before and you can grab the best stuff! Hope to see you there!
facebook.com/fallbrookgardentomarket

01/16/2018

I have some Meyer Lemons at the stand, 6 for $1. Meyer is a cross between a lemon and an orange, so they are not as tart as a normal lemon. They all become ripe this time of year, so you need to freeze them to enjoy year round. I freeze them in slices and drop a slice in a glass of water to freshen it. My wife juices them and freezes the juice in ice cube trays for summer lemonade. However you use them, now is the time to get them!

There is no sign on Alta Vista as the stand is not officially open yet. But my Facebook friends always get first dibs!

08/12/2017

Announcing the North County Yard to Market!

Yard to Market – a free and easy way to sell your extra fruits and vegetables

The problem – you have extra produce and would love to sell it at a farmer’s market, but the fees are prohibitive, you don’t have enough produce to make it worthwhile, and you don’t want to give up your weekend sitting in a booth!

The solution – Valley Fort on South Mission Avenue in Fallbrook is trying to get the farmer’s market up and running again, so tables will be free! We can sell our produce direct to the public with no hassles.

Here’s how it works – Small gardeners don’t have enough produce to fill a farmer’s market booth and the production is not consistent. By joining together, we should have enough produce to make it worthwhile for the public and for us. So while my crop may fail, yours may succeed and we should be able to bring something to market each week.

On Sunday before the farmer’s market opens, you would drop off your produce ready for sale. That means bagged or bunched together and priced ahead of time. There will be no scales at the market so everything will be sold by the bag, bunch or each. At the close, you can come by to collect the money from the day’s sales and leftover produce. No fees will be charged! If you don’t want the produce back then the person manning the booth may keep it or give it to the Fallbrook Food Pantry.

By being a part of the Yard to Market you would volunteer to man the booth on a rotating basis. For example, if we have 12 gardeners, you would only need to man the booth one Sunday every 12 weeks. Valley Fort is really reaching out to local producers and has made this as easy as it can be!

Are you interested? For more information or to get started contact:
Dennis Kaiser of Fallbrook Grown, 760-889-2272, [email protected]
Brenda Smoot of NotYourAverageGarden!, 503-569-0849, [email protected]

08/02/2017

We're open and have plenty of fresh tomatoes at the stand. Production is starting to taper off as the heat continues, so I expect the stand will be open less frequently going forward.

07/29/2017

The stand is open today with vine-ripened organic tomatoes and basil for your weekend tomato salad!

07/21/2017

The stand is open now and will be open all weekend, or as long as I have organically grown produce to pick. The usual suspects this time of year, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, kale, and some bell peppers.

We make a "frittata mix" by stir frying the squash, peppers, onion and a few tomatoes in olive oil and then sprinkling on some "brushetta" seasoning mix from Costco. This provides the base for of course frittatas, but also great to add into spaghetti sauce, on top of DiGiorno's four cheese pizza or as a lunch on top of brown rice, pasta or quinoa. Wonderful summer food in Fallbrook!

07/17/2017

Today we have a rare offering for you, bell peppers organically grown right here in Fallbrook! The manager of Sky Island natural foods in Idyllwild told me he cannot get domestically grown bell peppers (that is, grown in the USA) ANYwhere, at ANY price! Check your favorite store and see for yourself! And yet you can get Fallbrook Grown bell peppers right here at the stand for a limited time.

07/16/2017

The stand is open today with tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and more! We have Champion slicing tomatoes, Kimberley, 4th of July and Cherry varieties. Personally, I think the cherries have the sweetest flavor, perfect for just eating out of hand like candy, no slicing needed! Our organically grown tomatoes are ridiculously priced at $1 per bag, which is about a pound. We can't actually weigh them without a Dept of Weights and Measures approved scale, so we just sell by the bag. Stop by today and grab enough for the week, since we will only be open a short time.

07/13/2017

I've got a lot of tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. Anyone interested? If so, I can open the stand tomorrow morning only.

07/09/2017

Today only sale, 7/9!
The stand is open today with organic tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and beets. My Dad had eye surgery and I've been taking care of him so I haven't been able to keep the stand open as much as I would like. So it's hit or miss. Stop by today and stock up since I'm not sure when the stand will be open next.

07/01/2017

The stand is open starting tomorrow morning! We have beets, kohlrabi, carrots, tomatoes, kale, squash and basil. I've been approached by farmer's markets who want me to sell there, but I'd rather sell it to you for 1/3 the price. As always, everything is organically grown, so come early for the best selection!

06/02/2017

We now have some organic squash at the stand for 25 cents, various varieties. I've been stir frying these in a bit of olive oil and then sprinkling with a little Mrs. Dash seasoning. Wonderful! These squash actually have flavor, unlike commercial squash which tastes like nothing. Drop by and grab a few! We also still have some beets, kale and kohlrabi, first come, first served.

05/31/2017

I have some beets, kohlrabi, carrots and kale at the stand this week. We also have fresh basil and a variety of plants in 1 gallon pots including some interesting Lemon Basil and Cinnamon Basil for your home herb garden.

05/28/2017

I have some beets at the stand, just picked this morning. 4 for $1. They say there are two things money can't buy - love and homegrown vegetables - but that rule is suspended for today only!

Boil the beets for 20 minutes and then plunge into cold water and the peels will slip right off. I make a sliced beet salad with minced onion, garlic salt, olive oil and rice vinegar, yummy! And the greens I steam for 15 minutes and freeze in a Ziplock bag for later. Added to soups and pasta sauce they make the dish! I've come to like beet greens better than chard or kale.

So drop buy today and get some. There will be no sign on Alta Vista, this is for my FallbrookGrown friends only. If they are left at the end of today the stand will close and I will make pickled beets out of them in pint jars for Christmas gifts!

04/14/2017

The stand will be open Friday and Saturday. We have organic Sugar Snap Peas available. Sugar Snaps are one of those veggies that taste so much better than the ones at the store or in the bag at Costco. Our price is $1 per bag, which is about 1/3 pound. Perfect for eating raw, add them to your Easter veggie platter.

We also have our "Salad Tonite" salad blend available. Right now it's Bibb, Romaine and Red Romaine. The Simpson lettuce has turned bitter, so we threw it out. We always taste everything we sell and you're buying the same veggies we eat at our own table.

04/08/2017

The "Salad Tonite" bags of mixed organic lettuce sold out today so I'm making some more. The blend of Bibb, Simpson and Red Romaine baby lettuce makes a sweet crunchy salad and has proven to be more popular than just the heads alone. So I'll try to keep them at the stand all weekend.

With the warm weather and inchworms just starting to come out, it's a race between picking the lettuce and losing it to the bugs. I'm going to have to pick it all in the next week or so, and whatever doesn't sell I will donate to the Fallbrook Food Pantry so it doesn't go to waste. So please pass the word, these bags of "Salad Tonite" lettuce will only be around for a few more days.

04/07/2017

We are open now and this weekend with organic beets, carrots, lettuce, kale, and sugar snap peas! Picked today! All much better tasting and at prices below the factory farmed and hydroponic stuff.

Might want to stop by on the way home from work today because I'm not sure how long these veggies will last.

04/05/2017

50 cent organic lettuce is starting to come in faster now, so stop by and grab some for the fridge! Lettuce has a very short season here, and I have no way to store it. The stand is open now with lettuce and kale, but I expect to be open this weekend with some beets and carrots. Also I still have some cherry tomato plants left.

I'll have 9 California Wonder bell pepper plants soon which are impossible to find so I have to grow them myself. California Wonder is specifically suited to our climate so I don't know why nurseries don't grow them. Seems everyone wants hot peppers. But if you've like to grow some red bell peppers just let me know and I'll save a few plants for you. There are in 4 inch pots for $1 each.

02/19/2017

Still have about a dozen free lemons for whoever comes and takes them.

02/08/2017

Free Lemons!

My lemon tree had so many big lemons that the branch broke clean off. So I'm sharing the windfall (actually the branch fall) with you. Come to the stand and take what you like, my treat!

We're at the end of the easement road between 2794 and 2828 Alta Vista Drive.

05/22/2016

Open today 5/22 and tomorrow only, or until sold out! We now have vine-ripened organic cherry tomatoes, the best you've ever tasted! Also green beans, yellow beans, and a few Cocozelle squash. First come, first served!

04/30/2016

The stand is open for a few days and we have Chard, Kale and "hearts of Buttercrunch" lettuce. The ground squirrels had babies who munched on all the outside leaves, so we stripped them off and ended up with small, tender and sweet Buttercruch lettuce. 3 for $1 while they last, that will be the last lettuce this season.

04/29/2016

I have a box of Dinner Plate Dahlia tubers and I don't have room to plant them all! Free to a good home, any takers?

03/31/2016

The Fallbrook Grown stand is open again for a few days, and we have lettuce, chard, kale, kohlrabi, macadamia nuts, passion fruit and more. There's bags of mixed organic lettuce made of Romaine, Oak Leaf and Red Romaine. I taste test all the lettuce myself to make sure it is not bitter. See you at the stand!

03/22/2016

Curt just brought in some Cherimoya to the stand! They're a mystery to me... how to you eat them? Any recipes?

03/04/2016

Fallbrook Grown Organic Produce
Located at 2798 Alta Vista Drive, down the easement road between 2794 and 2828. Cell 760-889-2272.
Open whenever there is a surplus

I wanted to provide organic produce for myself and my family but couldn't find anything locally grown at a reasonable price. So I decided to grow my own. I quickly learned that the birds, roly-polys, earwigs, gophers and squirrels really loved organic produce as much as I did!

So I always grow more than I need for myself just in case, and sometimes it works out that there is too much. The roadside stand was born to have a way to share extra vegetables with my neighbors so they would not go to waste.

Then I learned that sometimes my neighbors have fruit trees that give too much fruit for their family but not enough for a commercial picker to be interested. In the past the fruit fell to the ground and would be wasted, but now the Fallbrook Grown stand can rescue that small harvest and pass it on to our neighbors at great prices.

So stop by! You'll find:
1. Organic produce
2. Grown locally
3. at Prices Below what the food store charges for non-organic produce shipped from Mexico!

If you know of a better place to go, please tell me about it so I can go there too!

Dennis