Getting Organic in Laguna

Situated below a cliff a few blocks from the ocean, the Laguna Beach farmers market draws an affluent local clientele.

Last Saturday, Janet Mason tended a small stand with sweet cantaloupes and honeydews, plus tender baby spinach, which she delivered from the Imperial Valley, where her family owns thousands of acres of farmland. Mason and her mother, Miriam Harthill, tend the stall themselves and donate the proceeds to the Kelomar Assistance League, a charity that helps children.

The market boasts several good organic vendors, including Nathan Peterson of Fallbrook, who had pristine basil, watercress, broccoli raab, arugula and baby bok choy, along with fresh herbs (oregano, rosemary and thyme) and raspberries.

Tanaka Farms of Irvine sold organic butternut squash, green beans (both slender haricots verts and regular Blue Lakes), pale Japanese tomatoes and pumpkins, mini and large. From Nuevo, in Riverside County, New Hope Organic Farm brought tomatoes, turnips, radishes, cilantro, Italian eggplant and Yukon Gold potatoes. Beverly di Stefano, a third-generation mushroom grower, had organic portabello and crimini mushrooms from Wildomar.

Lilac Valley Orchards of Valley Center displayed ripe Hass avocados, Marsh pink grapefruit (not that pink or sweet, because of the cool summer) and juicy Valencia oranges. O-M-R Ranch sold excellent Bartlett pears and Last Chance peaches, a harbinger of the season’s end. One of the few stands from the Central Valley, Rosendahl Farms, had late-season Black Mission figs, small but sweet, and Fuyu persimmons, the flat-shaped kind, eaten crunchy like an apple.

Laguna Beach farmers market, Lumberyard parking lot, Forest and Ocean avenues, Saturdays, 8 a.m. to noon.