Horton Road Organics hortonorganics.com.

You can catch me walking around Farmers Market eating Horton Road Organics’ “Original Salad Mix” like a bag of Kettle chips. No dressing. No nothing. I can’t put my finger on the perfection they’ve crafted so I had to reach out and ask. What makes this mix magic? 

Debra Seido Martin, farmer and co-owner at Horton, explains, “While I’d like to think our loving care and eye for the beauty and attention to each individual green matters, it is really the Coast Range mountain ecology that deserves the credit. The fine tilth of the soil, fresh air — when not smoky — and clean mountain irrigation water from the creek are all contained within the leaves we eat. In the Coast Range, we have an advantage over the valley with a slightly cooler climate that most greens desire.” 

That being said, there is a serious amount of human attention and devotion that goes into crafting their salad mix. Every four days, rain or shine, each of the eight ingredients in the salad mixes gets sown separately by hand. And each variety of leaf gets a dedicated crew member that only works with that green all summer. This approach allows for that person to really get to know the crop. its flavor and how it should be integrated in the salad mix. And finally, Martin checks all greens that leave the farm.

“Though you need a fine palate to notice, the greens are never the same twice,” she explains. “We work with what is given. Such a delight. Devotion or obsession? Yes.”

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