Puente is helping South Coast farmers explore finding a new footing in a San Francisco market eager for fresh, locally grown ingredients. Expansion is the key to survival, isolated as they are between major cities, says Puente Executive Director Kerry Lobel.

“We saw that farmers need more outlets for their products, and agriculture on the South Coast needs more visibility,” Lobel says.

And if local agriculture survives, so too do local schools and businesses.

“So many small farms have been here less than 10 years. It’s hard to say what their future will be. If there is more demand, the small farms can get to be medium-sized farms,” says Doniga Markegard, who co-owns Markegard Family Grass-Fed with her husband, Erik.

Pescadero Grown! and other markets offer a limited audience for perishables, and they require a farmer to give up a whole day of work just to staff a food booth. But what if the demand were consistent enough to justify the labor involved?

That’s what Puente hopes to help farmers tap into. And the signs are very encouraging. Betsy Rix, co-owner of the Red Vic Movie House, has offered a space in the former San Francisco movie house to sell Pescadero produce one day a week. Rix and her husband Jack hope to reopen the Red Vic in March as an event space and incubator for food entrepreneurs. The couple lives in San Mateo County, and Rix is a founding board member of Pie Ranch.

“We want to use our event space to bring Pescadero Grown! in – maybe it would give them a toehold into the local market,” says Rix.

Markegard has also heard from restaurants in San Francisco and Half Moon Bay who are interested in stocking up on South Coast produce. And she believes that if South Coast farmers are willing to collaborate, they could tap into a lucrative emerging online marketplace for farm-to-person sales. Sites like GoodEggs allow customers to place orders in advance. They get exactly what they want, and growers can bypass the farmer’s market altogether.

“Whether the South Coast is ready for that is a whole other question. But it’s an amazing opportunity,” says Lobel.

Do local farmers and ranchers have enough products to sell somewhere else? Will Puente need to take on a coordinating role to help them reach those markets? These are questions Markegard will explore in the coming months on Puente’s behalf.

To learn more or participate in Puente’s efforts, contact Puente Executive Director Kerry Lobel at klobel@mypuente.org or (650) 879-1691 x144.

Why we give to Puente: Jim Brigham and Michael Scott

Sometimes it’s hard to imagine how much your neighbors need your help until you get to know them. So it was for both Jim Brigham and Michael Scott, two longtime Puente volunteers who have spent years giving their own community members a leg up on the South Coast.

For Jim Brigham, a retired clinical social worker, the first defining moments of his work with Puente began when he moved into a home with his wife, Gen, in the Butano redwoods in 2004. It wasn’t long before he met the Rev. Wendy Taylor, founder of Puente, and Carol Young-Holt, Puente’s earliest backer and volunteer. Brigham started volunteering to host La Sala, Puente’s biweekly social event for farm workers, and then began helping with food distribution.

He saw first-hand how difficult it was for farm workers to avail themselves of even the most basic medical services, so he stepped in to drive them to doctor’s appointments in Redwood City.

“Puente is the model of bringing social services to a place where there are none. It couldn’t be done any better,” says Brigham, who now lives in Half Moon Bay. He was a founding board member with Puente in 2005, and he stepped down in 2009.

Today, Brigham is a sustaining donor and plays Santa Claus in Puente’s annual Christmas celebration. A few years ago he donated his Jeep to Puente. It has since become known as the “PuenteMobile.”

Jim Brigham as Santa Claus with Puente staffer Alejandra Ortega and her son Aaron.

“Puente connects the two sides – Spanish and Anglo – so both become visible to the other in a positive way, and increases the chance of respect and understanding,” he says.

Michael Scott connected with Puente ten years ago when a friend told him about the plight of farm workers who slept in improvised shacks, without enough food or basic supplies. Scott had already founded Coastside Hospitality, which distributes funds, clothing and food to poor and homeless Coastsiders via local nonprofit services.

Scott delivered food to farms on the South Coast, and Christmas gifts in December. He bought supplies for student backpacks at the start of the school year.

“I think all of us have a responsibility to share their experience, their resources, and to help people in their community,” says Scott. “My community is the coast.”

Mike Scott with volunteers Daisy Woods and Lucy Fernandez

Scott retired from a lucrative career as a Silicon Valley venture capitalist in 2003 and used part of his earnings to bankroll a variety of basic safety net services, like a rent subsidy program and an emergency subsidy program for less fortunate neighbors. Volunteers at Catholic Worker House in Half Moon Bay, an organization supported by Scott,  feed as many as 400 locals every week.

In Pescadero, Scott made a sizeable gift to renovate the local Catholic Church. And he still goes on a major Christmas shopping spree every year on behalf of hundreds of Puente program participants.

“I have a lot of time and a lot or resources so that’s what I do,” he says.

Puente needs volunteers! To learn how you can help (or donate), contact Puente Executive Director Kerry Lobel at klobel@mypuente.org or (650) 879-1691 x144.

For Amy Glaze, fine cuisine is more than a pleasure. It’s a teaching tool.

This spring, Glaze teamed up with Puente to create Pescadero’s first after-school cooking class. For four weeks, a lucky group of Pescadero Middle School students tried out gourmet recipes under the tutelage of a master chef.

Glaze has been a cook at a three-star Michelin restaurant in Paris. She opened two San Francisco restaurants as chef de cuisine. But she says working with students and food is among the most rewarding experiences she’s had.

The tactile, rewarding immediacy of making a meal can make kids feel powerful, says Glaze.

“The thing I’ve learned about food is students who weren’t succeeding in other subjects were succeeding in cooking.  You have a real-life reason to succeed.”

That’s an important message for students who struggle with basic English.

Glaze and Puente Executive Director Kerry Lobel conceived the cooking class as a way to enrich students’ lives with new skills while creating dishes sourced from local ingredients sold at the Pescadero Grown! farmers’ market.

Glaze showed the kids how to create dishes with flavors they’d never tasted before, like a Mexican dish with charro beans, chorizo, cactus salsa and handmade tortillas. They also made quiche with local spinach, and a fresh-picked strawberry layer cake.

Students were mesmerized watching Glaze chop vegetables so quickly her hand was a blur. Catalina Perez, a 12-yrear-old middle school student, says Glaze also taught them how to cut an onion without crying.

“I thought the class was really good. This town is really small so we never get a lot of people that come from big places.  To know that she was a chef in one of the biggest restaurants in the world was pretty exciting,” says Perez. In their last class, students spontaneously gave Glaze a round of applause.

The success of the pilot class has inspired Glaze to pursue a wider plan: to teach cooking skills to Pescadero High School students, and ultimately develop a little cooking school that will give the older students job training they can use when they graduate. If the local school district gets on board, students could also earn credit.

Someday, students will be able to sell their cooking creations at the farmers’ market.

“It’s something they can do for the community and add to their resume,” says Glaze.

Funding for the project was provided by the David and Lucille Packard Foundation.

To learn more, contact Puente Executive Director Kerry Lobel at klobel@mypuente.org or (650) 879-1691 x144.