While he specializes in peppers — especially the Padrone — he also raises chickens and grows fraises des bois, watercress and some rhubarb, all sought after by select Bay Area restaurants and farmers market goers.
The self-described “land steward of East Palo Alto,” Winsberg preserves patches of farmland that were once part of the Weeks Poultry Community on which descendants of Maltese and Japanese farmers still live, along with that of some newcomers with more land than they know what to do with. He swaps the opportunity to farm in exchange for produce, or just the assurance that the land is still cared for. He can be spotted cruising around the neighborhood right behind IKEA in an electric golf cart tending his plots and neighbors.
Winsberg spends his time tinkering, innovating and cooking up new products, collaborations and markets with the zeal and ingenuity of a high-tech entrepreneur in the backyard of Silicon Valley. His newest offering is a line of hot sauces made in a commercial kitchen for which he bartered. Happy Quail Farms is a family operation with multiple generations rolling up their sleeves including at the Saturday morning farmers market in downtown Palo Alto.
where is this??
Lisa, Thank you for this fantastic interview with David Winsberg. I think what is most impressive, besides the incredible peppers that David grows, is the fact that he is keeping agriculture alive in our community so that people can see that it is possible to grow and produce our foods close to home.
I feel so much better now, knowing that there’s a real farm nearby! I miss living out in the country. . . .
Best peppers you could ever have specially the padrones!
Great job Lisa. You really got to the heart of the matter. David is definitely passionate about what he does. It is a pleasure to get a great person to talk to. Thank you!
My grandfather grew veggies for his family of seven children in East Palo Alto. As a child I remembered helping pick the fresh corn, squash, cucumbers, lettuce, etc., but fondly remembered the smell you inhaled when putting your nose near the fresh somewhat sticky tomatoes…THEY were the BEST!!!! David, what about growing tomatoes??? Grandpa had several acres off Pulgas Avenue which he sold off because of ill health in the late 40’s. Tract type houses were built there and his farm plot was reduced to only one acre. I am so glad that the growing is still being done in EPA. I don’t think there are even many chickens left in the area, neither are there the beautiful flowers grown in the green houses…………miss all that…
Social Butterfly – it’s wonderful to read about your grandfather! There are indeed chickens in EPA. We have been lucky to have the East Palo Alto Historical and Agricultural Society, followed by Collective Roots.
Check out this Collective Roots presentation, if you’re interested in EPA’s agricultural history & what’s currently happening: http://www.collectiveroots.org/files/URBAN%20AG%20PRESENTATION.pdf
Their HQ is on Woodland and they have a lot of chickens. Some of their members have chickens, too. The employees may be willing show you around there. They also have some large community gardens, the flagship being at EPA Charter School, adjacent to the baylands. In fact, if you visit it, it feels like being in the country, since it abuts the baylands.
Collective Roots have also installed garden beds in large apt. communities and some nonprofits. You can find videos online, maybe on YouTube, or on the Collective Roots site. There is also a Backyard Gardeners Network, for those who want to raise some food at home, or in a garden bed on site at CR HQ.
There’s also a tiny ranch w/horses on Pulgas, near Bay. And speaking of Bay, if take Pulgas to Bay & turn right, head all the way down, you’ll literally run into the new Cooley Landing, a baylands park. They’re about to build there, and will be deciding on if they want to make a roof garden on it.
We’d have chickens if we didn’t have dogs. While I grew up w/both, our dogs back then never bothered our free ranging hens, but our current dogs sure would!
I may be wrong, but I thought that CR’s HQ, which is in an old house, may be one of the original chicken farms that we had 80 years ago.
This article really makes me miss my father’s half-acre lot in Cupertino, where I grew up. We had fresh fruit and veggies all year ’round, between his homemade composting and homemade greenhouses.