“Food should be grown where it’s eaten”
Photography by Angela Aurelio
Farmer Jeff Larkey started out in the 1970s selling vegetables over the back fence of his organic garden in the Live Oak neighborhood of Santa Cruz. Nearly four decades later, he’s still going strong and was voted Best Farmer for the second consecutive year by the readers of Edible Monterey Bay magazine.
“There was a little 1860s farmhouse where about 10 of us lived communally, and we had a one-acre garden along with cows, chickens, ducks and goats,” he recalls.
Larkey, who grew up in Davis, was drawn to Santa Cruz after seeing visionary ecologist Richard Merrill speak about alternative energy at the university there. Merrill was teaching horticulture at Cabrillo College, so Larkey came to study with him, while at the same time taking more interest in the garden back home than any of his housemates.
When the very first farmers’ market in Santa Cruz opened just a few blocks away at the Live Oak Elementary School in the late ’70s, Larkey was one of the vendors. He’s been a key figure in the local organic movement ever since.
“Food should be grown where it’s eaten and, fortunately, we live in this special place where that’s possible,” he says. Reducing energy use in the food system is still the mission of Route 1 Farms and something Larkey keeps in mind every day as he cultivates dozens of different fruits, vegetables and herbs on 65 acres in Santa Cruz and at Waddell Creek.
“You can grow organically and think you are sustainable, but transportation is everything. It’s all about food/pound/miles. The carbon footprint of agriculture has to enter into the equation,” he believes.
That’s why Route 1 Farms only delivers to local stores and restaurants and through five Santa Cruz farmers’ markets—although some crops make their way into the Bay Area via distributors like Veritable Vegetable.
That’s also why Larkey was reluctant to get into CSAs. “We were late to the game,” he admits. “I always pooh-poohed the CSAs because I didn’t think it was a very efficient way to deliver.”
But now Route 1 has devised a way to drop off CSA boxes on delivery runs to local shops. The farm enjoys a loyal group of CSA members that number around 150 families for the 28-week summer season and about 85 for the shorter winter season. In addition to offering weekly boxes of fresh, local produce, Route 1 provides its CSA members with a chance to meet the farmer and frolic on the farm in a popular series of summer dinners that feature some of the best local chefs and wineries.
Larkey had a scare last year, when the property he farms on Ocean Street Extension at the edge of Santa Cruz was put up for sale. But his white knight appeared, with a patch over his eye, in the form of surfing icon Jack O’Neill, who purchased the property to ensure that it will remain farmland forever.
Larkey also plans to farm forever. “It’s healthy work; I never have to go to the gym,” he reasons. “When I get old, I’ll just be the guy who points his finger. I don’t know what else I would do.”
Route 1 Farms
831.426.1075
route1farms.com
About the author
Deborah Luhrman is publisher and editor of Edible Monterey Bay. A lifelong journalist, she has reported from around the globe, but now prefers covering our flourishing local food scene and growing her own vegetables in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
