Chef Tina Jo's Tour of Viva Organica

A few weeks ago  I had the pleasure and privilege of touring Viva Organica, which is part of a cooperative of 250 farmers who ship to the US from Baja yearly.  Many of their products go to such places as Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.  The cooperative was set up by two Californians (who now also live in the same area in Baja) in 1986.  When the cooperative began, workers' wages were $3000 per year and today many make up to $20,000.  About $400 million in produce is shipped from Mexico to the US every year - including one third of all fruits and vegetables consumed by Americans.  I found these to be some amazing statistics, so you can see why I was truly honored to be allowed to roam (and pick!) freely throughout the Viva Organica farm. 

One of the co-owners, Jaime Parada Ampudia, gave us a personal tour and explained many of their growing techniques.  When we walked into the first hothouse, my immediate response was "We just landed in Oz!".  Every color was incredible vivid, the smell in the air was fresh - it smelled clean, like freshly cut grass.  It was an amazing experience.  The colors were like none I've ever seen, certainly not like any of the produce that winds up in many of the grocery store chains in the US.  Jaime then took us to his own personal  outdoor garden. 

The greens were amazing!  In fact, I was so inspired, I decided to grow an organic garden of my own. 

It by no means equal the size of Viva Organica, but we have an acre of land and about one third of it will be dedicated to my new organic venture.  Jaime has kindly offered tons of advice and counsel, which, frankly, I'm thrilled to have.  So stay tuned and I'll keep you informed, step by step, about all of my trials and tribulations in growing my very first organic garden.