Fresh Flavors
Ferrer Family Farms…
When Maria Ferrer slices into one of her blood oranges to demonstrate its beauty and flavor to her farmers market customers, she knows she’s also building a network around her
fruit. “My mom really likes the relationships with the different customers she has,” says her youngest son, Oscar. “They’ve built a whole community around the farmers markets.”
Blood oranges ripen after December and have a much shorter season than the navel oranges that Ferrer Family Farms is also known for. Their unique color catches people’s attention, brightening up the dreary days of winter after holiday decorations have come down.
The blood and navel oranges are just two of many fresh produce items the family offers up year round, in a business Maria and Ignacio Ferrer have built from the ground and used to propel their children to college. Maria, from Oaxaca, and Ignacio, from Jalisco, met in the United States and began their careers as farm workers. In 2011, they leased their own land in Madera and started what is truly a family farm. All four of their children have assisted in its production. Oscar, 15, is a junior in high school and has learned to maintain the farm website and do online support, all while juggling four Advanced Placement and one honors course in high school.
In 2020, as the pandemic set in, the family quickly adopted a Community Supported Agriculture program and began delivering produce boxes around Madera, Fresno and Clovis. “A lot of times during the pandemic we put in 10-, 12-, 14-hour days,” says Oscar, noting that there was a huge learning curve to develop the program in such a stressful time. “Sometimes we’d be out delivering until 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock at night.”
Wrinkles have been smoothed out by now, and the family has developed three Community Supported Agriculture options, including a Classic Farmers Market Box at $25, Premium at $35 and Supreme at $40. Ingredients change with the season, but in early November they included everything from Asian pears to persimmons to two kinds of kale, collard greens, eggplants, oranges and much more. Ferrer Farm strawberries are especially sought after each summer. “Our customers always go crazy and ask us all year about them,” Oscar says. Everything in the boxes is raised on the farm.
Nothing is wasted, either. The family has developed a relationship with Blue Seal Bagels, a Clovis-based cottage kitchen, to use excess fruit in its jams and jellies.
Maria and Ignacio appreciate the input of their children, including Tania Mitchum and her husband, Ryan, as well as Daniel, Carlos and Oscar Ferrer, but emphasize the importance of education. “They are always adamant about school,” says Oscar, who notes Tania graduated from Fresno State University and Daniel from the University of California at Irvine, while Carlos is now a freshman at Fresno State. “They know that working the fields is really tiring for us. They want us to have the best, education-wise.” Oscar is thinking about pursuing engineering or computer science when it’s his turn to head off to college.
Through the words of Oscar, it’s clear Maria and Ignacio have also instilled the values of hard work and kindness in their children as well. When offered a chance to expound on his appreciation for his parents’ business, he offered his admiration of their respect of their customers as well as the long hours they put in. “I appreciate their long hours and all the hard work they put into it,” he says. “And it’s how loving they are with everything. They’re really kind to their customers, as well.”
That kindness and hard work can be felt year round at area farmers markets, where the Ferrers are happy to get to know the people they sell to. While a CSA box may not supply the conversation to be found at the market, the hard work shines through in the taste and quality of the produce they send out to the communities they care so much for.
Ferrer Farm • www.ferrerfarmfresno.com
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