If you know, you know. The National Heirloom Expo. It was their 10th this year — first time for me and first time in Ventura, at the County Fairgrounds. To newbies like me, it was described as a “Pure Food Fair” and a celebration of all things heirloom.
It has America’s largest seed swap, an enormous squash tower (pictured above), three days packed with expert speakers, fruit and vegetable tastings and many vendors and booths. And one of those booths happened to be ours — a collaboration of Edible Santa Barbara with our hosts Edible Ojai & Ventura and Edible San Fernando Valley.
We gave away copies of our magazines and had a wheel people could spin to win prizes — which were a big hit.
One of the many speakers: Jeff Bragg along with his wife, Sandy Bragg, gave a talk titled “Reclaiming the Potato as Health Food.” Jeff spent decades in the world of commercial potato production, where he introduced dozens of varieties. Now he and his wife focus on producing organic, low-glycemic and high-nutrition heirloom seed potatoes.
There were countless heirloom fruits and vegetables displayed at the exposition hall, here are just a few that caught my eye.
We brought an array of Edible magazines from all over to give away at our booth.
And what did I bring home? Seeds of course — along with sample produce and the memories of meeting many wonderful people. Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company hosted the Expo and had a huge booth where they sold seeds at reduced prices. I can’t wait to grow these in my garden.
Thank you Baker Creek for inviting us, and I hope the Expo will be back in Ventura next year.
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