This past Sunday evening I was lucky enough to attend a celebration that was held at Flea Street Café to honor Dru Rivers of Full Belly Farm and Temra Costa, author of the recently published book, Farmer Jane. Farmer Jane’s subtitle is “women who are changing the way we eat” and Dru Rivers is one of those women. Dru is a partner of Full Belly Farm where she and her 3 partners have created a thriving biologically-diverse 300-acre farm. Dru was selected as one of the 26 profiles of female farmers in the book because of her work around education and the exceptional job she’s done at growing wonderful organic produce that is available directly to the community.

Dru shared a few personal stories about her experience on the farm and here are a few of the highlights:

• Full Belly employs about 50 farm workers, many of whom have worked there for over two decades – as long as the farm has been around. Due to their diverse crops, they harvest 365 days a year, meaning year-round employment for their workers. The traditional seasonality of farm work can lead to pulling families apart, as well as unstable incomes. They offer health insurance to each employee and about 75% have chosen coverage. Dru said one of her biggest surprises was how wonderful it was to grow up together with all of the families and their families. There are several second-generation workers now employed at the farm.
• Dru and her husband Paul, also a partner, have 4 children all of whom now work at the farm. This is particularly exciting given that the average age of today’s farmer is older rather than younger, and these 4 are taking over with tons of energy and great care.
• She proved that her work is done out of love when she told us that she’s gotten up every Saturday morning at 2:45 a.m. (!!) for the last 26 years to do the Palo Alto Farmers’ Market, which she thoroughly enjoys and clearly others do as well – she’s somewhat of a celebrity in Palo Alto amongst farmers’ market goers, as is her 82-year-old mother who is there every week and attributes her own good health to the amazing food.

Woven throughout each of Dru’s stories, was her sincere appreciation for all of the people that support the farm and enjoy their food. So, thanks to all of you for your participation in FarmShares; as you know, each week we source at least a couple of items from Full Belly.

The dinner menu was designed based on what could be sourced from Full Belly –  and oh my, did we have a feast! Heirloom Tomato & Peach Strata, Braised Lamb, Heirloom Melon Sorbet to name a few of the dishes. In case you don’t know, Flea Street Café is owned and run by Jesse Cool. She’s a force in the Silicon Valley for the local and organic movement (aka Menlo Park’s Food Matriarch). She owns several restaurants, wrote a wonderful cookbook called Simply Organic, and collaborates with Stanford Hospital on their menu among other projects.

Temra shared several stories from the book, all about inspiring women around the country who are contributing to the sustainable food movement. It was a wonderful evening – full of delicious food and fun storytelling.

For more information on Farmer Jane-related events, check out the website.

By Natasha Tuck

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