by Omar Ortega

In high school I was smart but I wasn’t in the classes and on the pathway to get into a four year college. When I was a senior, I finally found out about the A-G requirements which are all the classes I needed to even apply to a four year university. So I ended up applying to a community college. I knew I wanted to keep going beyond high school. I always knew that.

I knew from an early age that I wanted to go to college. I started to work when I was eight or nine, working with my dad doing landscaping. I wanted to help my parents and I knew just working wouldn’t help them to my maximum potential. With an education, I could reach my highest potential to help them. That’s always been my goal because my biggest debt is repaying my parents back for always supporting me. Later I found my own summer jobs, like painting barracks. I saw my dad always working hard and I wanted to make it easier for him–he never forced me to start working.

Omar at work at Puente

I’ve always appreciated how my parents influenced me but didn’t push me. They were so smart to let me decide that I wanted college for myself. I’ve always looked up to my dad because he’s super smart, knowing my dad came here when he was ten and then he graduated from high school. Learning that he did that–I was thirteen or fourteen when we were at my grandparents’ house and my dad got a big yellow envelope. It was for my dad, from the high school he went to and it was his high school transcripts. They were all As. That gave me the push–my dad came here and he did it all on his own. If he could do it, I could do it. He could have gone to college but he decided to have a family instead. I know in a way that he’s getting to experience college through me.

I’ve been on Foothill College for four years and it’s been the best experience. I wanted to go there not knowing anyone. I wanted to do something new and have the experience of being in a new environment. I knew if I hung out with my friends at school, I wouldn’t focus on my education.

I’ve worked the whole time I’ve been working on this degree. There were times when I was working full time, and sometimes I’d cut back my hours when classes were really hard. Puente was really flexible with my time and hours. It was one of the reasons I’ve been able to stay at Puente and be in school. Puente’s flexibility has helped me put college first, and I feel like I wouldn’t have gotten that anywhere else.

One of my favorite classes was probably Communications because that was where I got to crack out of my shell. Everyone’s biggest fear is public speaking and that’s all we did. Right now I’m in Calculus for Business and Economics.  I’m putting a lot effort into this class and I’m not getting a good grade. I think part of my problem in this class is a language barrier between me and my professor. Still, I’m putting so much effort into this class to find the best way to do well in the class.

Omar will graduate the last week of June with an Associates of Science (AS) in Business Administration. In the fall he will start at Cal State East Bay, majoring in Business Administration.

On June 2, the blossoming courtyard next to the Pescadero Country Store will again fill with farm tents laden with the freshest, brightest vegetables in San Mateo County — and smiling shoppers, live music and warm community vibes. To those who know it, the Pescadero Grown! farmers’ market is unlike any other. Just ask a farmer with beloved local organic producer Blue House Farm.

“Pescadero is the smallest market we do, and it feels like the heart of a community,” says Mary Hillemeier, harvest manager for Blue House Farm. “There’s a stronger sense of folks who are there to hang out with each other. The distance feels shorter and the connection feels tighter, more personal.”

That intimate, small-town quality has extended the Pescadero market’s reputation beyond the Coastside region. Last year’s market drew an average of 300 shoppers every Thursday, a new record. This year’s market occurs every Thursday from June 2 to October 27, from 3 to 7 p.m. Puente will raffle off an iPad on opening day.

Iris shops at the Blue House Farm booth in 2014

Hillemeier says she meets market shoppers as far away as San Francisco’s Mission District who ask her about the Pescadero market and say they are heading down here. “I think word is growing,” she says.

This year’s roster of vendors is a Who’s Who of market favorites from years past, along with some exciting newcomers. Blue House Farm is joined by market favorites Fly Girl Farm, Farmageddon, State Street Honey and Left Coast Grassfed. As always, all the delectable edibles are harvested or ranched within about 20 miles of the market itself. Open Eye Creations will display handmade art fashioned from driftwood. And Steadfast Herbs, a new local herb grower, hopes to sell their products as well.

The South Coast’s microclimates nurture a striking diversity of fruits and vegetables. Each week, something new pops out of the soil, and market shoppers bear witness as summer evolves into fall with a changing selection. Lettuces, cauliflower, broccoli, chard and kale are year-round staple crops, but fruits belong to summer. “Strawberries are in full force, and raspberries and blackberries are close behind,” says Hillemeier. Tomatoes, the biggest summer item, will start in early August and go through the rest of the season — including 15 varieties of heirloom tomatoes as well as sweet, dry-farmed Early Girl tomatoes.

Everyone has their favorites foods to look out for.

“I personally love the melons from Blue House. Everyone loves Fly Girl tomatoes. I also like duck eggs from Farmageddon,” says Charlea Binford, who wears two hats at Puente: Farmers’ Market Manager and Adult Education Coordinator.

But what many people love most about the market are the things you can’t buy – the small-town connection that draws neighbors together. You see it in the worshipful way children gather around Puente’s Bike Booth to watch a woman named Every repair the broken bikes people bring in on market day. (The Bike Booth will return this year).

You see parents talking to each other while their kids do crafting projects or play bean-bag toss. This year, the Half Moon Bay Library will be at the market every two weeks, reading to children. And twice this summer, on July 7 and September 1, locals are invited to play for 30 minutes at an open mic. Neighbors who never play in public reveal their hidden talents. That’s how the community discovered that a teacher in Puente’s ESL program plays the ukulele and writes her own music and that one of the bartenders at Duarte’s plays the violin and sings. That’s also how the community heard one of the long time participants in Puente’s La Sala program for farmworkers, Miguel, play his guitar and sing. (To sign up for the open mic, contact cbinford@mypuente.org.)

From connection to transformation

This year, Puente is adding a language exchange program to the market. Each week, five English speakers and five Spanish speakers will learn each other’s languages by engaging in freewheeling conversations. The project is an extension of Puente’s hit Cafecito program, a monthly happening during the ESL “school year.”

The conversations don’t just enhance English and Spanish language skills. They make the community a more integrated place. In Pescadero, the language barrier means Latino and Anglo neighbors see each other around town but don’t always say hello. The farmers’ market language exchange will give them plenty to discuss.

“There may be some awkward moments of not knowing what to talk about – that’s inevitable when you’re talking with a stranger in a language that you’re still learning. But there will be plenty of language prompts around. And you can point to the music or the vegetables you’re seeing,” says Binford, whose passion for education gave rise to the idea of helping motivated ESL students continue to learn over the summer. “It leads to friendships, job opportunities, and less fear,” she adds.

Puente needs some English-speaking volunteers for the language exchange.

Please contact Charlea Binford for details: cbinford@mypuente.org

Another unusual feature this year deepens the focus on community health connections. Puente’s community health workers, also known as Promotoras de Salud, will have a booth at the market once a month. They’ll work to break the stereotype that farmers’ markets are for Anglo shoppers only, a stereotype that doesn’t hold up in Pescadero. They will function as Spanish-speaking market guides for fellow Latinos, helping them take advantage of Puente’s Market Match, a discount program for low-income shoppers. They may also offer a recipe or two, and demonstrate ways to use market ingredients in Mexican cooking.

Pescadero Grown! tokens

“A lot of foods that are grown here that aren’t part of a traditional Latino diet, like brussels sprouts and kale. But this will be like having a friend there who you can trust to be that extra support in what may be a new environment,” says Molly Wolfes, Puente’s Community Health Coordinator.

The health promoters have become a familiar presence at far-flung farms and ranches, where they make for appointments for Puente’s onsite health clinic. Now locals will know they can visit the farmers’ market on the third week of the month and get connected to health resources. And while they’re there, they’ll learn how to buy and prepare the fresh food available in their community.

“I think it will help create more immersion of the two cultures in this community,” says Wolfes.

That’s quite a feat for a farmers’ market.

Join us at Pescadero Grown! every Thursday from June 2 to October 27, from 3 to 7 p.m., next to the Pescadero Country Store (251 Stage Road).

Juana Corona’s favorite part of yoga class is the warrior pose: legs grounded, body pushed forward in a lunge, arms outstretched, palms open. “When I do that pose, it feels strong — like I’m a powerful woman,” she says.

Two months ago, Corona knew nothing about yoga — other than its reputation for being relaxing. That was enough to get her to sign up for Puente’s first-ever yoga class, which is for local mothers.

She loved it right away.

“It was hard some days to do some kinds of stretches, because I never did them before. But it feels good. I put my mind like in a different place. A place with a waterfall. And it relaxes me,” she says with a smile.

On Thursday mornings this spring, a group of Latina mothers tried their first downward facing dogs, bridges, trees, and plank poses in Puente’s childcare space. But this was no generic yoga class: it was part of the Madres project, a program supported by the Bella Vista Foundation to fight maternal depression by bringing women together in community rituals that foster a sense of connection.

Suzanne Hughes, a marriage and family therapist who has led several mental health workshops through Puente, is a licensed yoga instructor. She taught the class in Spanish and infused it with lessons around mindfulness and coping with stress — in words her students could recognize.

“It’s so important to have time to really be quiet and listen to what’s going on inside them, so they can explore what the landscape is like inside,” says Hughes. “They have so many pressures.”

Women in the yoga class hold warrior poses.

Corona is a single mother with three children. So, feeling powerful and relaxed are two things she rarely has access to. When she talks about her challenges, she could easily be describing the feelings of other women in the yoga class, each of whom have their own daily struggles.

“I always have a lot of stress,” explains Corona. “I have little kids and I take care of other people’s kids too during the day. When I come to yoga, it’s only me and my mind and there’s nobody around, no screaming, no fighting.”

To Hughes, yoga integrates psychology and mindfulness in a unique way. As an instructor, she can offer concepts like how to practice being grounded and fight self-criticism through yoga poses that integrate those messages in a physical, tangible way. “You can really make some progress that way, without being too personal.”

In yoga, many beginners struggle with balance poses. So when Hughes guided students into a tree pose — which involves balancing on one leg while bringing the palms together in front of the heart — she invited them to find their sense of balance by bringing their attention to a focal point in front of them. Then she turned the pose into a lesson about persistence and inner fortitude.

The women in tree pose.

“We talked about the concept of having a focal point so you don’t get pushed right or left. For some people, that might be focusing on God or on family. And keeping your priorities really clear. That’s what we do in yoga, but we should also do that in life,” says Hughes.

When students fall over in a yoga pose, that’s a lesson too: that even though things can be hard and you sometimes fall down, you can get back up and try again.

Hughes created take-home guides for students after each class to encourage further reflection on a particular theme. The handouts offer practical skills, such as special breathing techniques to reduce stress.

Hughes gave students a little massage as they relaxed on the ground at the end of the class. (“Oh my god, I loved that!” says Corona). Then Puente served them a healthy breakfast.

The yoga class grew out of conversations between Hughes, Clinical Director Joann Watkins, and Rita Mancera, Executive Director of Puente. It’s part of the Madres project, a longtime Puente program with funding from the Bella Vista Foundation. It engages local mothers in culturally-relevant art projects to combat isolation and depression, such as making art for the community’s annual Dia de los Muertos celebration.

On the physical side, Puente’s Zumba program is already extremely popular in Pescadero, and some locals founded a Pescadero women’s walking group last year, which meets every morning, rain or shine. (Last summer, they ran their first 5K).

So the yoga class felt like a natural transition. Hughes also teaches yoga to students at Pescadero Middle and High School.

Corona was right about the benefits of yoga. She’s just sad the class has ended and there’s no other morning yoga class in Spanish anywhere near Pescadero. The women in her class have already asked Hughes to teach it again as soon as possible. In the meantime, Corona wants to hold on to the sense of equilibrium Hughes nurtured.

“Hopefully I can do it at home. I’m going to try,” she says.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

The Bella Vista Foundation, for ongoing and generous support of Puente.

San Francisco yoga instructor Mark Morford, who facilitated the donations of mats, blocks and cushions—opening doors for other yoga-supply donations to Puente.

Yoga Tree Stanyan in San Francisco, for a generous donation of yoga mats, Yoga Tree Potrero Hill in San Francisco for a generous donation of cushions and blocks.

Thanks to all of you, our yoga program is a reality!

Want to help support Puente’s yoga program, Zumba, 5k Walk/Run, and other health programs?

You can! Please donate here today.