Meet at the market: let it rain!

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The State Street gutters have been thirsty. Photo: Kathryn Barnes

Each week we meet up with Katie Hershfelt of Cultivate Events as she chats with farmers, chefs and shoppers at the Santa Barbara Farmers’ Market.

This week, she couldn’t contain her excitement about the weather. On Tuesday, downtown Santa Barbara embraced over a half inch of rain. It was nowhere near enough to stock Lake Cachuma or end the drought, but it was cause for celebration among water-deprived farmers.

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John Bowdish says his lettuce grew three inches during Tuesday’s rain. Photo: Kathryn Barnes (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

Rain revelry:

  • Robert “BD” Dautch from Earthtrine Farms: “I am under-dressed and overexcited!”
  • Allison Hensley from Roots Organic Farm: “Let’s just keep blaming things on the rain, and it’ll keep coming in and washing everything away.”
  • Tom Shepherd from Shepherd Farms: “I think we should have huge bladders buried in the sand at the beach that all this excess water goes into.”
  • Kim from Hilltop and Canyon Farm: “We are dancing under the avocado trees in the mud, giving so much thanks!”
  • Jesus “Chuy” Mendez from Chuy Berry Farm: “Black Lake Creek collects the water, and when I need it I use my pump for the berries.”
  • John Bowdish from Yankee Farm: “Today, my lettuce grew about three inches!”
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Tom Shepherd busted out his yellow head-to-toe rain suit. Photo: Kathryn Barnes (The original image is no longer available, please contact KCRW if you need access to the original image.)

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To check out all our past farmers’ market guests, click here.