Plates in Places: Santa Monica’s Farmers Market with Laura Avery

Join Laura Avery, former Santa Monica Farmers Market Manager, and learn about the impact of the farmers market on dining and Santa Monica’s food legacy with Chef Rich Mead, owner and executive chef of Farm House, Barbara Spencer of Windrose Farms and Peter Schaner of Schaner Family Farms. Registration is free.

 

This event concludes the Santa Monica Conservancy’s exciting virtual silent auction, Plates in Places, July 18-25. Bid on cooking classes, restaurant gift certificates, exclusive culinary experiences, luxury accommodations, specialty foods, wine and more. Participation in the auction is free. Proceeds will provide essential support for the Conservancy’s community programming and tours. Enter the auction by clicking here.

 

Laura Avery managed the Santa Monica Farmers Market Program for 36 years from 1982 until her retirement in 2018.  She oversaw the expansion of the Santa Monica Farmers Program from one market to four, which (pre-COVID) hosts 140 California farmers year-round and serves 20,000 market patrons weekly.

During her tenure she worked to expand the reach and influence of California farmers, with the establishment, in 1997, of a farmers market salad bar in the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District.  She actively formed creative collaborations with nonprofit organizations that featured the important role of California farmers in promoting food culture including the Farmer Veteran Coalition, the World Games Special Olympics, Southland Farmers Market Association, where she served as Board President, and Food Forward, a food rescue and distribution organization for which she still serves on the Council of Advisors.  The strength and value of California’s farmers markets depends on the ability of farmers to be successful; this is especially true today as farmers face unprecedented challenges to their livelihood.

Laura’s interest in farms and farming has led her to become a “soil health advocate” and to share her knowledge about the soil’s ability to heal the planet while providing nutritional food for future generations.  As public awareness grows about the benefit of regenerative farming, which is a return to the basic tenets of feeding the soil to feed ourselves, farmers markets and farmers continue to play a leading role in consumer education and outreach.

 

With more than three decades of culinary expertise, Chef Rich Mead has cultivated relationships with the highest regarded local organic farms, allowing him to create the freshest menus using locally sourced, seasonal ingredients and specially grown vegetables. In 2016, after yearsof planning, Chef Mead unveiled a unique and sustainable field-to-fork dining experience at Farmhouse, located within Roger’s Gardens. Nestled on over 6 acres in the garden-like setting, Farmhouse features exclusive wines, craft beers, signature cocktails, artisan refreshments and a healthy based seasonal cuisine.

Prior to creating Farmhouse, Mead founded, owned and acted as Executive Chef for several Southern California destination restaurants including Sage Restaurant in Newport Beach, Sage on the Coast in Newport Coast, Canyon Restaurant in Anaheim Hills and Seventeenth Café in Santa Monica. Throughout all his restaurant concepts including Farmhouse, Mead has been an integral part of the planning from concept creation to fruition and beyond, from in the kitchen to front of house, to design as well as active in developing the unique beverage program.

Mead is very active in local farms and philanthropic efforts. He has worked with Outstanding in the Field over the past few years to create food for seven of their farm to table dinners at various farms and vineyards in the area. He has participated as a guest chef for several farms to help celebrate their customer appreciation days and worked with other chefs to raise money for non-profit organizations such as Alex’s Lemonade Stand and the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market. Mead is one of the founding chefs of Green Feast, an annual farm dinner held at The Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano to raise money for the non-profit.

He is also actively involved with the Culinary Liberation Front, working to educate the public and local chefs about how and why they can do better supporting the mantra of local and sustainable. Rich was named restaurateur of the year by the Orange County Business Journal in 2007, Orange County’s Chef of the Year at the 2017 Golden Foodie Awards and Favorite Chef in Times O.C.’s 2018 Reader’s Choice Awards.

 

Peter Schaner grew up on his family farm in Placentia where they farmed 7 acres of oranges and raised 1,500 chickens.  For a small farm of that size, there were no profitable commercial outlets to sell their products and the farm shut down.  In 1984 Peter moved to Valley Center where he began his own diversified farming operation, and started his family.

He became a seller in the Santa Monica Wednesday market in 1986, where he interacted with customers and learned what products they were interested in buying so he could continue to specialize his fledgeling farming operation  As his children grew up on the farm in Valley Center, they enjoyed being outdoors and helping out around the farm.  When they got older, they began to make the trip to Santa Monica on Wednesdays with Peter to help out at the farm stand and meet and socialize with customers and their farmer neighbors at the market.  Four of Peter’s children now work full- or part time on the farm, the third generation of farming Schaners.  Peter’s hope is that there will be a new generation of young farmers operating small, diversified farms who will fill in the ranks at farmers markets and find farming to be a productive and meaningful occupation.

 

Barbara Spencer and her husband Bill are the founders of Windrose Farm in Paso Robles. In 1990 they moved  onto 50 acres of bare land and began to build what is now an oasis of beauty and diversity.  At that time, Spencer was working in the recording studios in L.A. as a cellist and commuting on weekends to start the nursery and vegetable gardens. In ’95, she moved full time to the farm and began doing Farmers Markets in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.  From its beginning, Windrose Farm has been working closely with top chefs, so coming to the Santa Monica Market was a match made in heaven!   It has been a joy introducing chefs to new tastes of each season and learning from them as well.

The farm is known for its heirloom tomatoes, specialty greens, garlic and potatoes, as well as 45 varieties of heirloom apples . Their farming practices are organic and rely on the immense diversity of crops and habitat to increase the health and beauty of the crops and the land. Since the beginning, the farm has been a destination for many to share the peace and energy of Windrose Farm.

 

We Thank Our Sponsors

Platinum Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

 

Kate is a 20+ year, Santa Monica Realtor who cares deeply about our community.

We are proud to support the Santa Monica Conservancy.

A volunteer group of neighbors dedicated to working for the interests of all residents of Ocean Park in Santa Monica.

Santa Monica Travel & Tourism works to strengthen our local economy by enhancing and promoting our community as a distinctive, compelling and welcoming travel destination.

U.S. Bank has been named one of the 2021 World’s Most Ethical Companies, learn more at usbank.com.

 

Silver Sponsors

Donors

Anne Rimer

Nina & Rob Fresco

Fred Deni

Carol Lemlein & Eric Natwig

Jan McElwee Osborn