Publisher’s Post: The Indomitable Steve Sprinkel

I didn’t intend to put long-time organic farmer Steve Sprinkel on the cover of this issue. In fact, I had two photos of the gorgeous lavender and honey recipe all mocked up to decide between. But the photo of him, submitted by Quin Shakra of Plant Good Seeds, just felt so representative of not just this issue but of summer in general. The photo, like Steve, just kind of found its place at the center of things.

I personally don’t know him that well; I’ve spoken with him more via email and on the phone than in person. But you can’t tell the stories of food and farming in and around Ojai without seeing the inevitable connections to Steve Sprinkel.

Though I had been to his restaurant/market before, I first heard of him in 2018, from a young farmer just starting out, “If I ever get really stumped with a question, I’ll go to Steve Sprinkel and he’ll give me a poem or a little limerick and then tell me what I’m doing wrong,” he told me, laughing. In 2019, Steve sent me a fantastic and encouraging email after filling out the MRI survey we sent out about readership of the magazine. He even included a sampling of his recent writing (which might still show up in a future issue). By then, I knew that he had also been a regular contributor to this magazine long before I came along.

I visited his farm on VC Farm Day that year, and a couple years later another farmer told me about how valuable regular gatherings around a table at The Farmer and the Cook had been for his success in the field—and how Steve could be counted on for blunt truths.

I’ve seen this bluntness in practice. In a phone call about his article on garden mysteries, we chatted about ideas, upcoming seed expos and people. He told me that Heath Perry (Meals at the Market) might just be naive enough to make his great idea a success. (He went on to clarify that if he and his wife, Olivia Chase, hadn’t been naive at the opening of their restaurant/market, they never would have done it, so I think it was actually quite the compliment.) And you’ll see this same characteristic in quotes from Steve in at least three of the articles in these pages.

But here is the thing about Steve: Whether it is that he has had boots in the organic fields for more than 40 years, whether it is his partnership with Olivia (the eponymous Cook), whether it is his long-time advocacy for true organic farming, he gets that local food and community are vined together inextricably. Like lavender and honey, they are both symbiotic in their growth and delightful when served together. And he has certainly done his part to expand access to both.

To me this abundance and connection of food and community also epitomizes summer. So, how could I not put him on the cover?

Happy eating, friends,

Tami