Strawberry. A color. A fruit. An excuse to eat shortcake and whipped cream.
The succulent seasonal fruit is widely available locally at the usual places – farmers markets, corner street vendors and grocery stores – and off the beaten path at a hand-hewn, wooden stand on Watmaugh Road near Arnold Drive. Every May, people start finding reasons to drive by the stand, as though impelled by some internal strawberry alarm clock. They scan the neat green fields for signs of red berries, until one day, the shutters are lifted and the OPEN sign appears.
San Saetern, who farms the Watmaugh field, is well prepared for the annual re-opening. His entire family weeds, waters, tends, picks and boxes by hand the hundreds of cartons of red, ripe strawberries that will fly off the shelves as soon as the gates open. People tell their neighbors and friends, and in mere hours a continuous chain of cars begins. Customers line up all the way to the gate, braving the shirt-flapping winds of the Petaluma gap, and stand patiently in the blazing sun to get their first luscious treasure of the season.
Passersby know something great must be going on and, upon tasting the produce, become instant converts. Debra and Mark Tabakin got lost on their way to Napa last week and happened upon the busy scene. Buying a carton, the Tabakins received directions and advice as they nibbled their way through the entire box while listening.
“It’s sugar,” said Mark Tabakin.
“We don’t get strawberries like this in New Jersey,” said his wife.
“We don’t get strawberries like this in Sonoma,” said a woman in line. “Except here.”
“This is how strawberries used to taste,” said Joanne Filipello, owner of Wild Thyme Catering, who was at Saetern’s stand picking up extra flats of strawberries for her event business. “We use these strawberries exclusively.”
Filipello dreams up non-traditional dishes such as grilled fruit skewers and sorbets as well as time-honored favorites like strawberry shortcake throughout the summer.
Saetern learned farming in his native Laos, where villages have small communal farms and families and friends come together to socialize and share the tending of the crops. He took over the strawberry fields in Sonoma in 2002, expanding the plot to 6 acres and refining the farming practices. He plants only Chandler variety strawberry seeds that thrive in the climate and the dry, sandy soil at the Watmaugh location.
Saetern and his wife, Man, emigrated to the U.S. in 1998. Settling in Sacramento, San got work as a janitor before coming across a fellow Laotian who wanted to sell his strawberry business. His love of farming drew him back to the land and a job that most people would find grueling, but he says gives him and his family great pleasure.
“When the first green leaves start to come out, we all feel happy,“ said Saetern. “My children get up early in the morning just to go out to the fields. They love to see the plants grow.”
Saetern’s brother ran a similar stand on Highway 12 in Kenwood until he sold the business two years ago. That stand, now owned by Kaen Saechao, offers strawberries May through August. Locals know to get there early, as the field is on the wine route and receives a high volume of tourists.
The Sonoma Farmers Market has two purveyors who grow strawberries. Ortiz Bros. in Santa Rosa has one acre planted in organic strawberries, said Julia Ortiz. Ryan O’Shannon Farms in Petaluma also sells organic strawberries, with 4 acres planted. Both vendors can be found at the Farmers Market Friday mornings and Tuesday evenings (in the Plaza) from May through August.
Though not certified organic, the Watmaugh patch uses no chemicals or pesticides; it is fed by drip irrigation. The plants are pulled out at the end of the season, the earth is tilled and a new crop is planted in the fall, then left to slumber until spring.
“This kind of farming is getting back to better food,” said Ben Dewees, who brought his young children Megan and Colin to pick out their baskets of strawberries last Friday. “I spent time at UC Davis in genetic research, learning to make bigger, more durable fruits that were essentially tasteless. My children can now know what delicious and real produce tastes like and they love the experience of coming here.”
[Editor’s note: The local supply of fresh strawberries fluctuates even during the peak season. When stands run out of fruit, they close for the day and reopen after they have harvested more berries.]
Strawberries are also available, along with other seasonal fruits and vegetables, from street vendors at locations around the outskirts of town, including Verano Avenue at the corner of Robinson Street, West Spain Street at Junipero Serra Drive, and outside city limits at the intersection of Boyes Boulevard and Riverside Drive. The strawberries are boxed in containers labeled California Strawberries, a commercial supplier in Watsonville, and are sold by itinerant vendors from Oakland and elsewhere, who said they are driven up to Sonoma for the day by a person they refer to only as “El Jefe.”
City of Sonoma Planning and Community Services Administrator David Goodison said the city was unaware of the street corner vending activity, but that it is illegal within city limits. If a complaint were filed, the city would notify the police department to enforce the regulations. The police would then simply ask the vendors to move along and cease their activity. Vending locations outside of the city limits fall under the Permit and Resource Management Department of the county.
Saetern Strawberry Field
Open daily
9 a.m. – 7 p.m.
Watmaugh Rd. at Arnold Dr.
Phone: 916.207.2870
Sonoma Farmer’s Market
Sonoma Plaza:
Tuesday 5:30 p.m. – dusk
Depot Park:
Friday 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Phone: 707.538.7023
Kate’s Strawberry Farm
Open daily
8 a.m. – 7 p.m.
9250 Hwy. 12, Kenwood
