Have you been to Suzie’s Farm yet? Just a 20-minute drive from Coronado, the 140-acre farm is located in Imperial Beach (IB). At the time of this writing, Suzie’s is the only USDA-certified organic farm in San Diego. The farm grows over 100 species of vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs, and is also home to 300 very happy egg-laying chickens.
“We are first and foremost a family farm,” say the founders of Suzie’s. “Our mission is to feed San Diegans the freshest and highest quality produce while creating a community of people who are passionate about organic, locally grown produce.”
The best thing about Suzie’s, though, is that it welcomes families to come harvest fruits and vegetables right out of its fields, participate in Farm School, sign up to receive a weekly CSA box (Coronado’s pick up location is on H Ave!), or join the 85+ employees for their community events on the farm.
This past weekend, my family and I drove down to IB in search of the Tijuana Estuary Visitor Center, but we got the wrong address and ended up in Border Field State Park instead. Although there are apparently trails there, we couldn’t find them, so we opted to drive around the corner to visit a familiar stomping ground: Suzie’s Farm.
My family and I have lived in San Diego for less than a year, but this was our fifth visit to Suzie’s. This past Saturday my little children knew exactly where to go to find their favorite thing at Suzie’s: the strawberry field! We’ve visited three times this spring already, so they were confident by now in finding the red fruit under the leaves, waiting for their parents to wash them off for good measure (although it isn’t as necessary on an organic farm), and then eating their weight in strawberries.
We definitely honor the farm’s suggestion to eat while we pick!
After we filled up our baskets for the last time with berries we actually want to take home ($4/pint), the kids ran for the rope swings under the trees and then danced on the empty open-air stage while we watched from the hay bales.
During the community events, Suzie’s Farm is packed with eager farmers-for-the-day, many of them wearing babies on their backs or pushing strollers. For these events, there is a central theme (strawberry picking, make your own salsa, pick your own pumpkins, etc.) that the visitors can enjoy with the official farmers’ help. Suzie’s Farm also sets up a farm stand with fresh produce, hires a folksy band to play on the stage, calls in food trucks to provide local and sustainable meals and ice cream, and clears space for multiple vendors to sell their homemade wares. The events feel like a festival, with music and laughter in the air, and the fields are full of people gathering produce and flowers and herbs to take home in huge cardboard boxes.
The fields are still open for eager berry pickers every Tuesday and Saturday! Sign up for Suzie’s Farm emails or follow them on Facebook to get updates about future community events and what’s in season in their fields.
Thank you, Suzie’s Farm, for providing such a fun, healthy place to get dirty and eat well!
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“Coronado Living” is a weekly column written by one of eCoronado.com’s staff writers, Becca Garber. She writes about choosing simplicity and practicing hospitality with her family at home in Coronado. You can read more of her writing on her blog.
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Becca Garber
Staff Writer
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