Growing Community, New Farmstand Taps Into Local Farmers

Naming their farmstand was the last thing Batya Kagan and Janice Elizzabeth gave mind to before opening a tiny twice-a-week local market under a single tent on Freedom Boulevard this summer.

Nanny Berry Co-op takes a little explaining, but it makes sense once you spot in the basket of goats milk soap and the piles of fresh, organic strawberries littering the table. 

The farmstand, in front of at the bustling Corralitos Road-Freedom Boulevard intersection north of Watsonville, debuted June 28 and keeps regular hours on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.

The new roadside stand blossomed from a love of gardening and desire to turn that passion into a successful business.

Kagan had set out to grow garden patches in people's backyards and deliver their homegrown produce to their doorstops, but found her clients wanted just help setting up the gardens, not an in-house farmer. That realization freed up time for her to farms a patch of land on Pioneer and Green Valley roads for herself.

She grows a bounty of produce. Her blackberries, plums, wild arugula, artichokes, strawberries, chard and romaine line up alongside potatoes, onions and lemons from a farm on Eureka Canyon Road and other treats from Blue Heron Farm in Corralitos and Natures Acres Farm.

Then there's the goat soap and thyme balm, local honey, strawberry jam and whatever else can fit in the colorful display set on the two folding tables.

"There's a few other local people who drop stuff by," Kagan said, like a woman up the road who left fresh eggs. "The combination makes a lovely display."

This week, they're also offering "all those great summer things," Kagan said: fresh corn, tomatoes and basil.

Kagan also sells at the on Sundays and sells to restaurants in Santa Cruz. Elizzabeth, an artist by trade, heads to the .

Kagan said she really enjoys the chance to source local producers, especially small-time farmers, for the Nanny Berry Co-op.

"I really care about the local economy, re-localizing our economy," she said.

And the support of Alladin's owner, Gustavo Beyer, has been immeasurable.

"A big thanks for letting us be there," Kagan said.