Eat, Drink, Savor: Need eggs?  Try Tres Pinos Valley Farm!

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Located on Southside Road in Hollister, but just a hop, skip and jump away from Tres Pinos, the LaFournaise family’s unique roadside stand highlights the foods and flowers of their Tres Pinos Valley Farm.  And, yes, they have eggs—in a range of colors from brown to peach to teal—produced by more than 120 chickens on the property. 

“People come and get them because they are unique,” said Kerilyn LaFournaise. “But they are also pasture-raised, running around all over the farm and eating food from out of the ground instead of mass-produced food out of a bag. It gives the eggs a lot more taste and flavor.”

Having raised chickens at one point, regular customer Patty Silva knows her eggs. For the past year, she has been buying them from the farm and said she has been impressed by their consistently high quality.

“They’re raised well,” Silva said, “They’re fresh, and they’re basically organic without being labeled organic. They have nice, dark yellow yolks, and there’s nothing like them.”

The LaFournaises first opened the stand just to sell off their excess eggs, which Kerilyn said were “coming out of our ears,” and to help pay the feed bill. But she had another plan in the back of her mind.

“I knew that we were going to be building the flower farm,” she said, “and I thought that would be a good way to get people to come here and see the flowers when they were in season.” 

The flower farm began as a way to restore the soil after a barren walnut orchard had been removed. The land had not been cultivated and there were no nutrients left in this soil.

“The best way we could put nutrients in and pull toxins out was to put in sunflowers,” LaFournaise said. “That would build our soil and bring it back to life. It is a little bit of regenerative farming here that we’ve learned from our friends at Paicines Ranch.”

The sunflowers were followed a year later by cosmos and zinnias, with dahlias and buckwheat added the following year. It turned into a pick-your-own business, with flowers available by the bucketful. 

The farm multiplied from there to include pumpkins, lemon cucumbers, dill and chamomile, providing a feast for the bees in the 16 farm hives. 

“Once a year,” LaFournaise said, “the hives are taken from here to an almond orchard. Then they come back, and the bees forage in our buckwheat. That gives us the nicest, richest honey you’ve ever had.”

In 2022, Kerilyn’s daughter Violet LaFournaise expanded the farm’s lavender garden as part of an FFA project. She began creating her own line of products, including teas, sachets, soaps and jarred lavender buds. In 2024, she won a State Proficiency Award for the sales of her products.

“I noticed overgrowing lavender, so I went out and I cut it,” said Violet. “I asked my mom, ‘Can I use this to make something?’ I started selling sachets and then experimented with more products. It’s trial and error, and if it’s not good, then you try again. And you keep on going.”

Not to be left out, Kerilyn’s husband, “Farmer Chris,” is also represented at the stand with his line of roasted coffee beans. 

“We import our beans and roast them here,” Kerilyn said. “He finds different ways to bring out the flavors. We also have a special relationship with a regenerative farm in Kenya and make a kind of a farm-to-farm type of little product to help support them.” 

While Kerilyn likes that the stand allows her to be outside with her flowers and animals, she also treasures the chance to give her customers a glimpse of farm life and educate them on where their food comes from. 

“Maybe it will inspire people to think outside the box about things they could grow, produce, and sell,” she said. “I’d like to hope that we are encouraging, particularly young people, to find a way to give back to our community.” 

Come sunflower season, Tres Pinos Valley Farm will be selling entire flower heads, which, Kerilyn said, are delicious grilled.  She shared this recipe with BenitoLink readers:

Grilled Sunflower 🌻Head.

Ingredients:

• 1 large young sunflower head (seeds will all be white)
• 2-4 tablespoons olive oil, depending on the size of your sunflower 
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon pepper 

Trim the sunflower from the stalk.
Remove the outer petals and brush off the inner buds.
Brush with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place the sunflower face-down on the grates and grill, covered, on medium heat for five to eight minutes. While the sunflower is grilling, prepare the sauce/topping to use on it after it’s done grilling. 

Recipe for the sunflower topping:

1/2 cup of mayonnaise
1-2 Tbsp Lemon juice (add more or less to your liking)
1/4 tsp salt and pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1-2 fresh garlic cloves, crushed
Garnish with fresh chopped cilantro and cotija cheese

If you love Elote corn with a bit of crunch, you will love this! Sauce is optional, and you can eat it with just melted butter, salt, and pepper. Or try it with red pepper flakes and honey! 

Downloadable Grilled-Sunflower Recipe

As the weather improves, the farm will host crafting events based on what is grown there, including wreath-making with lavender and tea-blending classes. Details will be posted on the farm’s website.

Tres Pinos Valley Farm Roadside Farmstand 
6840 Southside Rd., Hollister
Fridays and Saturdays, thru November 22:  11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Farm office: (831) 200-1302  

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.

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