Photograph courtesy of Tom Broz
Tom and Constance Broz say they won't get rich as organic farmers, but on the other hand, their children get to run free on the land.
Couple sell their fresh organic produce at farmers' markets
Family-run Broz's Live Earth Farm grows fresh, organic produce
By Suzanne Cristallo
Tom Broz raises fruits and vegetables. He also raises the consciousness of the folks who buy them. Familiar to Los Gatos Farmers' Market shoppers, Broz's Live Earth Farm produce is a near sellout each week.
In a folksy newsletter that tells customers what's happening on the farm near Watsonville, he gently reminds them: "In this world where time seems so compressed, and everything is just a "click" or phone call away, to live and eat according to a seasonal cycle might seem strange and awkward."
Strange and awkward, indeed. For those of us used to eating asparagus in December and winter squash in July--benefits of transportation and a world market--the reminder that the world functions in a natural rhythm is almost a revelation.
Broz and his wife, Constance, live and work their commitment to preserving a natural environment. Everything they cultivate is organic, and as a way of educating their customers and keeping them committed, the pair holds Open Farm Day periodically on their 20-acre property in Correlitos. They invite customers and friends to tour the land and taste the crops while live music plays, children learn to plant and old-fashioned bonfires end the day.
"People want to reconnect with the land," Broz observes. His Community Supported Agriculture program is the means. Some 60 Los Gatos and Willow Glen customers, who have adopted the concept that originated in Japan 15 years ago, get a box of fresh, organically grown produce delivered to a convenient location each week. Their support assures the small organic farmers' survival in a giant chain-dominated food environment. The occasional customer can visit the Brozs' table of fresh picks at the Farmers' Market.
Last Sunday, Broz featured a variety of fresh vegetables, but the strawberries were the most eye-catching. They were the small, richly red and delicately sweet fruit typical of a time not long ago. For those who see only the apricot-sized berries on the market today, that look as if they pump iron and gulp steroids, the naturally grown berry can be startling.
Broz, 37, is a native of Ohio and grew up in Ecuador. He moved to New York at 18 to get a degree in agriculture at Cornell University. It was there, in an agriculture class, that he met the Parisian-born Constance. After graduation, Tom joined the Peace Corps in the South Pacific, while Constance traveled to Haiti with Catholic Relief Services.
After a backpacking tour together of Southeast Asia, Constance earned her master's degree in agricultural economics at Stanford. The two later married and settled in Berkeley, where their son David was born.
A career change came for Tom when he realized the government wasn't moving fast enough to make a difference in the public's consciousness of the earth that he felt was needed. So the couple bought the farm near Watsonville. "You don't get rich," he says of organic farming, "but I definitely feel we are making headway--and our children get to run free on the land."
Live Earth Farm, 172 Litchfield Lane, Watsonville. The produce is available Sunday 8 a.m.-noon at the Los Gatos Farmers' Market, along Montebello Way at the corner of N. Santa Cruz Avenue and W. Main Street. 831.763.2448.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
