Farm Fresh Eggs in LV Worth the Buy
Plus: LV News Briefs, LV Recipes Wanted for Project, Farmers Market from Above, and Upcoming Park Social Project at John Baca Park
Editor’s note: We kick off this issue with another article featuring a vendor selling products at the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market. The Farmers Market, which operates every Thursday from 2:00 pm to 7:00 pm continues to grow in popularity and is offering a greater variety of products for local customers as more vendors are added. We hope our coverage of Farmers Market vendors will entice LV Update readers to make their way over to the Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market and support this worthwhile community endeavor.
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Linda Vista residents enjoyed another great week at the Love, Linda Vista Farmers’ Market. We hope by now most of you have been to the Thursday market, located at the Linda Vista Plaza Shopping Center, to try some of the many vendors’ delicious products. The fruits and vegetables are so much better than anything you get in a grocery store, and the food trucks/booths are incomparable.
This week I’m going to talk about the eggs being sold at the Farmers’ Market.
On previous visits to the Farmers Market, I had passed by the Papa’s Garden farm fresh egg booth several times, and while tempted by the sight of farm fresh eggs, I thought the price was a little too high. However, after speaking with the President of the Love, Linda Vista Farmers’ Market—Jonathan Widener—I came away with a different perspective, and from that point on I knew I needed to give them a try. Jonathan gave me a primer on farm fresh eggs, I also did a little research on my own, and then interviewed Hichem Ghali at his Papa’s Garden egg stand to learn a bit more.
I’d like to share what I learned. You know the eggs you buy in a grocery store must be refrigerated. Do you know why? In olden times, people obviously did not have refrigerators. When a chicken lays an egg, it is protected by a coating which shields it from bacteria (to make sure chicks are kept safe. This coating enables the eggs, when gathered, to be kept unrefrigerated for several weeks and to stay fresh and free from bacteria entering the shell. Eggs from the grocery store, on the other hand, are washed and therefore are no longer protected so they must be refrigerated.
After you refrigerate farm fresh eggs, they will last several months - much longer than eggs from the grocery store. Once refrigerated, they must stay refrigerated. When you use farm fresh eggs, just rinse them off under water.
I spoke with Hichem Ghali of Papa’s Garden, and learned he brings his own eggs to the market as well as eggs from Hilliker’s Ranch Fresh Eggs, a Lakeside farm which has been family owned and operated since 1942. Ghali has chicken eggs as well as duck eggs, quail eggs, humongous goose eggs, and brown and white eggs. His farm is in Alpine. The chickens are raised cage free and vegetarian fed, and the eggs he brings to market are laid that same day or the day before. Ghali is also at the La Jolla, Rancho Santa Fe, and Ocean Beach Farmers’ Markets. He also has honey and will soon be bringing passion fruit to the market. He was gracious enough to give me some information about chickens, telling me there are 300 different kinds of chickens, but the most popular is the Rhode Island Red which we have all heard about.
Ghali convinced me of the benefits provided by fresh eggs. I remember the eggs from my childhood being so tasty and the yolks so colorful and not the pale yellow they are today, so I bought a dozen. As an aside, Jonathan had told me he used some of these eggs in baking along with fresh strawberries from the produce stand to produce the best strawberry rhubarb pie he ever tasted. I brought the eggs home and gave a few to a friend to try also. She immediately used a couple for dinner and said they were excellent and very tasty. I tried them myself; they reminded me of eggs from years past. Not just fresh, but tasty fresh.
Ghali said he wished more people would buy from farmers and realize how much better the fresh food is compared to that from the grocery store. People have told me the strawberries and other things they bought from our market are the best they ever had and I can attest to that also. You may never buy a strawberry from the grocery store after tasting those at our market. So, while you are buying the fresh fruits and vegetables, come see Ghali and try a dozen of his farm fresh eggs. I think you will agree they are well worth the cost, and with prices rising so much at the grocery store, the price may not be any different. Go to Papa’s Garden stand and tell him you read about him in the Linda Vista Update. They also have fresh squeezed orange juice which is so refreshing.
LV News Briefs
—Celebración Mexicana: The Bayside Community Center reports that in support of Ballet Folklorico El Tapatio de San Dieguito (BFETdeSD), they will host their inaugural Celebración Mexicana event! This night of authentic Mexican folklore will be held June 25 from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm at Francis Parker High School in Linda Vista. As one of several small businesses that participates in Bayside's Community-Supported Microenterprise program, BFETdeSD is sure to deliver an incredible and vibrant event. Check out the flyer below for more details. Tickets are available at the door for $15.00.
—Linda Vista Community Cleanup: The Bayside Community Center will hold its monthly community cleanup on Sunday, July 10. Volunteers will meet at the Linda Vista Library at 10:00 am. A light lunch will follow at Bayside at 11:30 am.
—San Diego Loyal Soccer: The San Diego Loyal—our city’s team in the United Soccer League’s Championship division—will play its next home game on Saturday June 25 (7:00 pm) at the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium. The Loyal will be playing the Indy Eleven. You can find ticket info here.
—San Diego Wave Soccer: The San Diego Wave—our city’s team in the National Women’s Soccer League—will hold its next home game on Sunday July 3 (2:00 pm) at the University of San Diego’s Torero Stadium. The Wave will take on the Washington Spirit. Ticket info can be obtained here.
Callling All Linda Vista Cooks
Are you or someone in your family in possession of a family recipe that is so significantly representative of your ethnic/cultural background that it is worthy of being shared with and enjoyed by the Linda Vista community? Or does your recipe tell an interesting story about your family or perhaps the Linda Vista community? If so, you may be interested in participating in an upcoming project. Brian Goeltzenleuchter, an artist and teacher at San Diego State University, has been commissioned by the San Diego Commission for Arts and Culture to design a community arts project at a Linda Vista park that will show how food is used to share personal and cultural stories. His project “By Means of Smoke” will focus on a collection of BBQ/picnic recipes compiled from Linda Vista community members. For complete info on this project, see the official city website by clicking here.
Brian wants community members to know he is paying $75.00 to LV community members willing to share a recipe with him. Please see the above flyer for additional details. The project will culminate with a cooking school at the Linda Vista Recreation Center and Community Park, taught by community members who will be paid $250.00 for their time. For the moment, he is looking to get the word out that he is looking for home cooks who have a special recipe to share.
So, dig into that old recipe box and help Brian with his project. Tell everyone you know about this project, which is intended to showcase the culinary skills of Linda Vistans, and which may also make them a little cash. Talk to your parents and grandparents to find recipes which reflect on your family/ethnic culture an/or the culture of Linda Vista.
We will keep you up-to-date on the progress of this worthy project. In the meantime, however, if you want to immediately contact Brian about your recipes and participate in the program, you can contact him here.
Farmers Market Seen from Above
We are happy to report that one of our readers—Jim Bonnardel (who works as the Director of Drone Services and Field Operations for Hitec Commercial Drone Services) — recently submitted a series of photos taken by one of his drones. The photos were taken as vendors and volunteers were starting to set up for last week’s Love, Linda Vista Farmers Market. Jim let us know he happened to be in the area working on another project and took the opportunity to take some great photos of the Farmers Market set-up.
The Linda Vista Update wishes to thank him for submitting these unusual views of Linda Visa and the market.
Art Installation at John Baca Park
Upcoming Park Social Project – Tree Line
Could Linda Vista soon become a focus of San Diego’s art world? Could an unusual and creative art installation serve as a catalyst for change in the Linda Vista community? As unlikely as it may sound, an upcoming “community engagement art event” planned for a Linda Vista park certainly makes one believe these two possibilities could become a reality.
Kasi Munoz from Studio Nectary (an organization made up of carpenters, craftsman, artists, muralists, designers and landscape architects who turn thoughts into actions) contacted us about their upcoming Park Social Project which will culminate in the hosting of a community event on July 16 (10:00 am to 1:00 pm) in John P. Baca Park which is located alongside Linda Vista Road and across the street from the Linda Vista Plaza Shopping Center. They will lead three activities at this event that will then result in a final art installation. Park Social is an initiative hosted by the City of San Diego.
“Park Social – Tree Line” is a one-day community engagement art event. It is intended to “foster a sense of play, connection, and awareness through the formal and metaphorical qualities of line within this neighborhood park.”
The event will include inclusive activities that connect participants through three different series of line explorations and engagements.. They include a free-parts play activity, community weaving reflection activity, and dance activity.
Participants will be asked to bring a piece of fabric to the event which will be woven and/or quilted together and incorporated into a final installation. As stated on the project’s web site, “The length of this piece will be within the 120 feet area between the seven trees at the center of the park. Individual lines will run between trees spanning around 30-50’.” The final number and color of the art elements within the tree will be determined by community engagement and input. After being on display for two months, this piece will be removed and raffled off to an interested organization or organizations within the community so that the physical component of the art may live with the community after Park Social has concluded.
According to the organization’s website, Studio Nectary “facilitates a collaborative planning and design process that translates ideas into culturally relevant and high performing landscapes and civic spaces. We want to help you catalyze the change you wish to see in your community. We can help you achieve your goals by creating tangible, actionable plans that can be implemented with community members and local government and organizational support.”
We will continue to keep LV Update readers informed on the planning for this event and how they can actively participate. For further information regarding the event and art concept, click here. In the meantime, please let your LV friends and family members know about this event so that they too can plan on participating.
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