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PrintA Family Affair
A visit to the Thomas Farm in Aptos
Hidden in the fertile hills of Aptos is a handmade sign that reads “Thomas Farm.” It leads passersby to the family farm of Jerry and Jean Thomas, who live in a small home filled with photos of their two young grandchildren. Together with their son and daughter-in-law, they earn their living by raising organic flowers, apples, and other crops on their 11 acres.
Thomas Farm’s flowers and produce are sold at eight local farmers’ markets from Monterey to San Francisco, including the Campbell Farmers’ Market. In order to achieve their certified organic rating, the family uses organic fertilizers and natural composts; sprays only minimally and with accepted organic, sulfur-based sprays; and plants cover crops of mixed grasses and grains during the off-season to bring carbon and nitrogen to the nitrogen-deficient soil.
“We were an organic production when we first began,” Jerry explains. “That was when organics really took off after the 1970 Firthday, the first Earth Day, and there was significant interest in it.”
The Thomas family moved to rural Santa Cruz County in 1970 from the bustling Los Angeles area. “We were tired of commuting and all the traffic,” says Jean. “So we lived in Seacliff Beach for nine months.… Jerry loved farming, and so on the little plot at Seacliff Beach he had squash growing in the front, and we had rabbits and ducks in the backyard. And we had this glassed-in front porch where we had tomatoes growing in coffee cans. Jerry also planted the vacant lot next door, which wasn’t our landlord’s and wasn’t his. So it was time to move. It was obvious he wanted a farm.”
“When we got here in ’71, I think it would be best to describe us as ‘back-to-landers’ because we wanted to raise our children in a rural setting. We wanted to have animals and not be confined by the space they would be occupying,” says Jerry.
Some animals came with the property. A family of peacocks, whose descendents still live on the farm, were included in the deed to their home.
So was the apple orchard.
“We became apple farmers sort of by default,” Jerry explains. “Now we grow a huge variety of things.... The main things that we are doing now are what are called ‘specialty cut flowers.’ [In the winter] we grow a tremendous number of tulips, iris, ranunculus, anemones, and frost-hearty, short-lived perennials. We will start harvesting our spring flowers usually the first week of January.”
Jerry and Jean have been active in the Santa Cruz community since they first moved to the area. Jerry began the Live Oak Farmers’ Market in the 1970s and was also the founding member of the California Certified Organic Farmers, which he says is “the most prestigious of the organic certified organizations, certainly in California.”
The couple is now enjoying retirement while their son Josh is in charge of the farm and his wife Kari runs the business side. Josh says he doesn’t mind having his dad looking over his shoulder. “It’s a pretty nice setup, actually,” he says. “In an operation like ours where it is so diverse, a lot of questions do arise, so it’s really nice to have a resource walking around.”
Other farms you'll like: Everett Family Farm, Lemon Ladies Orchard, Happy Quail Farms
See Grown Local, a photo portfolio of the people who grow our local food.
