Farewell to Boutique Farms
By Dan Pulcrano

This Column ran in Metro, Silicon Valley's Weekly Newspaper, in September 1997.

Fifteen years ago, shortly after moving to the Santa Clara Valley, I bought four laying chickens at a small farm off of highway 17 and fertilized a backyard garden plot with rabbit manure that I got from a breeder on the Campbell-Los Gatos border. The latter's droppings contain the perfect nutrient balance for a tomato and basil garden, and soon I was supplying local Italian restaurants with my overproduction.

As an egg rancher, I was less successful. My days of omelets from freshly laid and grown ingredients ended when the hens developed a taste for their own eggs. I traded what became known around the household as "the girls" to an old Italian farmer who grew fava beans and apricots in the middle of Monte Sereno.

I must sound like a nostalgic old timer now, because the rabbit and chicken farms are long gone, and I doubt I'd find people living off the land amidst the million dollar palaces of Monte Sereno any more. It happened so quickly, but time moved slowly then, in the pre-Internet days.

While Santa Clara Valley's orchards and farms had largely been replaced by subdivisions, shopping malls and electronics concerns by 1982, there were still pockets of boutique agriculture that offered an uplifting respite from the asphalt jungle. They provided, to be perfectly corny, a connection to the land and a sense of soul.

I am complaining publicly because the last few pockets of urban agriculture are disappearing faster than the clock speed on a 500 Mhz microprocessor. The Claraville dairy farm, a West Valley landmark for 60 years, is moving its 20 cows over the hill to Corralitos. The iris farm in Willow Glen, whose blooms of every color was a springtime treat, is trying to develop its land into homes and will likely never reopen in the valley. A proposal to turn the last 16 acres of Sunnyvale's Olson Cherry Farm into a Target store collapsed this summer, but the orchard's demise is only a matter of time. And this week, the owners of the Saso Herb Gardens in Saratoga announced that they will close their nursery operation this month, though the gardens will be open once a month for tours.

In the fast approaching future, will anyone have seen an egg that didn't come in a carton, an herb that wasn't dried in a jar, a cherry that didn't come from a green plastic basket or milk that didn't come with a missing kid's picture on the side? Of course they will. If they take field trips to Tracy.

Sometimes it takes an act of God to save a piece of the valley's rapidly disappearing legacy. The historic Jose Theater was granted a stay of execution Tuesday night with the postponement of a city council vote that would have undoubtedly sent the wrecking ball swinging. The meeting was rescheduled when Mayor Hammer, to whom we extend our condolences, learned of her father's death.

Preservationists think the last minute reprieve will give them more time to make their case to councilmembers, some of whom may be warming up to the old vaudeville-era movie house. They worry, however, that not enough supporters (more than 100 were on hand Tuesday) will make it to the meeting at the East Side location. For those interested, it will be held at Yerba Buena High School, 1855 Lucretia Ave., on September 16 at 7pm.

Hopefully, councilmembers will wake up to the fact that it's a boom economy now and that the city need no longer accept development proposals that damage the city's character and aesthetics to stimulate economic activity downtown. For too many years, San Jose has played the beggar and has dealt from a position of weakness, letting developers dictate deals and talk decision makers into giving away the store. Now, a strong market allows the city to cut better deals, and be a little pickier.

The block between second and third streets has been already damaged by the razing of Costa Hall, a fire and the ham-handed gutting of the Hank Coca furniture building. Conversely, handsomely restored structures housing Zanotto's, Saratoga Capital and Stratta Grille give the block a shot at becoming one of the city's downtown jewels-if the Jose can be preserved as a stage for the city's small performing arts groups and not a Hollywood set facade.

Farewell to Boutique Farms By Dan Pulcrano

Farewell to Boutique Farms
By Dan Pulcrano