There’s a new kid in town—and a big kid at that. It’s a one-man farming operation that Randy Romero named “Big Guy Organics” as a nod to his father, Tony Romero. And Randy plans on bringing some distinctive produce to his pop-up at Vertigo Coffee Roasters every Saturday.
“When he was a seed salesman,” Randy said, “everybody would call my father ‘the Big Guy.’ He was a 320-pound dude, and every time he’d answer the phone, customers would say, ‘Hey, Big Guy.’ I’m also a big guy, so I merged us together.”
Romero has always been a farmer, starting with a summer job moving irrigation pipes and driving tractors. He now owns 15 acres on the east side of Hollister, which he initially planted with produce that he was selling to farmers market growers.
“One year,” he said, “we were busy with our other jobs, so we just put hay on it. It went fallow, and I decided to make the jump to quit my day job and start to work for myself. It was pretty difficult, but it had always been at the back of my mind.”
He started selling produce from the farm directly to restaurants and at a stand at the Carmel-By-The-Sea Farmers Market (which he still attends on Thursdays) and found a balance between selling at the market and keeping new crops coming in at the farm. The farm is small enough that Romero can cultivate it all on his own, he said, giving him the ultimate control over what and how he grows. And “control,” he said, is a good word for “low overhead.”
“I’m the planter, the tractor driver, the irrigator, the delivery driver, and the salesman,” he said. “I’m the one cultivating it, irrigating it, harvesting it, and bringing it to the market. [The produce] leaves this ranch in my truck and goes to the farmer’s market. It’s straight from me to the consumer.”
Romero said the downside is that he constantly carries the burden of working alone throughout the season in wildly changing and sometimes challenging conditions.
“You gotta love farming, I guess, to do this every day,” he said. “The work is the same in the summertime as in the winter. Anybody can farm when it’s 75° and no wind. But you still have to do the same thing when it’s 58°, and it’s raining, cold, and your boots are full of mud.”
Romero regularly offers familiar crops like cabbage, little finger carrots, kale, lettuce, leeks, cauliflower and broccoli. But he also likes growing more unusual things for restaurant chefs who are looking for novelty.
“Selling at the markets allows me to plant 20 different things,” he said. “Grocery stores want their bread and butter, their main commodities. I get to put funky things in and introduce them to the consumer. Then it’s up to me to tell my customers about them.”
At his stand, he displays some of these adventurous veggies, like sphere-shaped Parisian carrots and Chioggia beets with variegated swirls inside.
“I like to keep one beet sliced open,” he said, “So people can see they have a trippy look, like a spiral candy cane. The carrots don’t look like they are meant to grow like that. But people love those because they’re perfect for roasting when you cut them in half.”
To help customers with some of the unfamiliar items, Romero offers recipe cards at his stand, which his wife, Adeline Costa Romero, creates. (A recipe for roasted Chioggia beets in hot honey follows this article.)
“She’s helped me out tremendously,” he said, “introducing people to how to cook the vegetables I sell. It’s really easy to follow these recipes. They are failure-proof, so just stick with it and enjoy it.”
With the change of the season, Romero is preparing his next crops, including garlic and tomatoes that will be transplanted in March.
“I’ve got a lot of varieties of tomatoes,” he said. “A lot of heirloom tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, brandywines, and the Early Girls that are great for saucing. Restaurants want to try other kinds but always want the Early Girls. They’re tried and true sauce tomatoes.”
While Romero has gotten used to doing all the work on his farm himself, he welcomes volunteers who might want to spend a day or two experiencing farm life.
“I always tell people,” he said, “if you’re curious about farming, I’ll put a hoe in your hand. See if you like it or not. And you don’t have to like it. At the end of the day, you will be sweaty, dirty, and a mess. And you could say ‘this isn’t for me’ and never see me again.”
But, he said, if you do stick around and earn your share of the vegetables, you’ll learn quite a bit about what goes into organic farming. Take, for example, the rows of beneficial flowers planted straight down the middle of the farm.
“I don’t have spray programs,” Romero said. “We don’t use any pesticides. None of that. I interplant with a big seed mix of wildflowers. They attract the good pests and deter the bad pests, like the thrips and aphids. And I can also sell the flowers in bouquets.”
Romero started selling at Vertigo after discussing it with manager Ryan Morris and deciding to give it a try, beginning with Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“Ryan’s an awesome guy who does a lot for San Juan,” he said. “We’ve done it now for two weeks, and the community seems really stoked about it. I think they like knowing that a local person is bringing in fresh produce.”
Roasted Chioggia Beets
Ingredients:
- Big Guy Organics Chioggia Beets
- Goat cheese
- Hot honey
- Salt and pepper
- Cooking oil
- Good vibes
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Scrub and wash the beets
- Trim, slice and cube beets until they are similar in size (1.5-2 inch cubes)
- Toss beets in cooking oil with salt and pepper
- Place beets on cooking sheet and bake for 30 minutes
- Listen to your favorite tunes and dance around the kitchen
- When beets are golden and cooked through, remove from oven
- Top with goat cheese,drizzle with hot honey and serve immediately
Big Guy Organics on Instagram
email: randy@bigguyorganics.com
Recommendations for future Eat, Drink, Savor articles can be emailed to roberteliason@benitolink.com.
BenitoLink thanks our underwriters, Hollister Super and Windmill Market, for helping to expand the Eat, Drink, Savor series and give our readers the stories that interest them. Hollister Super (two stores in Hollister) and Windmill Market (in San Juan Bautista) support reporting on the inspired and creative people behind the many delicious food and drink products made in San Benito County. All editorial decisions are made by BenitoLink.
We need your help. Support local, nonprofit news! BenitoLink is a nonprofit news website that reports on San Benito County. Our team is committed to this community and providing essential, accurate information to our fellow residents. Producing local news is expensive, and community support keeps the news flowing. Please consider supporting BenitoLink, San Benito County’s public service nonprofit news.
The post Eat, Drink, Savor: Big Guy Organics comes to San Juan Bautista appeared first on BenitoLink.